This article contains adult themes that may be unsuitable for younger audiences
Police found 1,552 downloaded indecent photographs, including 78 at the highest category, 233 indecent videos, with 103 at the highest level; the total runtime of the videos exceeded six hours. The search uncovered footage that the offender had taken himself sexually abusing children and an adult woman. Pictures found on his mobile phone showed him removing the clothing of sleeping children, and molesting them, and molesting a sleeping woman unaware of the abuse. As well as making and possessing indecent images of children, the offender admitted raping a child aged between three and five, sexually assaulting another three year old, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of two children, and the sexual assault of the adult woman.
The offender, who was jailed for six years and eight months, and further to that, once released was to be placed under supervision for a further 10 years. This was just once case study provided to us via the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) but it's part of a much larger national picture which shows that the number or recorded offences are going up, but those being charged are falling.
This is just one of many stories that both children, parents, the police, charities and countless other services have to face every single day. For the first time, Birmingham Eastside along with UK By Numbers has gathered information from across the United Kingdom in order to paint a picture of the situation.
The figures, provided via 15 forces (with 12 responses not in the right format and 14 forces not responding) from the UK begin to paint a picture of the growing occurrence of this crime.
Having an indecent photo of a minor has increased by 123% since 2011. Whilst those arrested for distribution of an indecent photo has risen by 650%. Those caught for making the content has gone up by 171% and arrests for showing indecent photos of a minor has risen by 230%.
Yet, whilst the figures for those being caught is going up, the same forces also showed an across the board increase for those not being charged or caught for the crime.
The number of cautions has fallen by 31% and those charged with an offence also fell by 41%. Evidential difficulties, which leads to a lack of prosecution has seen a 2857% increase in occurrence. Yet, it's those categorised by the CPS and Police as having a lack of public interest in a prosecution that has seen the greatest increase with a shocking 11000% increase since 2011.
However, what may be most concerning is the 7700% increase in the cases where no suspect has been identified by the police.
Throughout our investigation, we spoke to Matt Whitticase of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. The foundation works to protect child sexual abuse and is built on a self-descried foundation to safeguard children and young adults from sexual abuse.
Back in 2002, the foundation set-up the Stop It Now! helpline. The helpline which is based on a similar US based project sees anywhere between 700 to 800 people in the UK call every month and allows both those concerned about someone else's behaviour or equally if they are concerned about their own behaviour to speak to someone about their concerns and to equally formulate actionable steps to prevent the issue from recurring.
It's key to note that this crime is not new. The foundation has seen a gradual increase in those contacting them and with the turn of the 21st century and the introduction of web platforms such as social media and the dark net, access to the content is certainly not hard to get and as Matt said;
From our helpline, we know of many people who have said that it was easy to get the material. There's a misconception that in order to access this content you have to be tech savvy or really determined.
In another example provided by the NPCC, the police executed a search warrant in the East of England and arrested a 50-year-old male. Officers discovered that he had frequent contact with children through his employment and put safeguarding measures in place. A forensic examination of computers found 92 illegal images and 50 videos containing illegal content. The offender has been charged with 10 offences including the making of indecent images of children and the possession of extreme adult pornography.
Whilst there is no direct evidence between the viewing of 'adult' pornography and the viewing of indecent images of children, it's one that the Lucy Faithfull Foundation is aware of.
Sometimes they have a history of looking at adult porn and over time they become disinhibited with it and with what they are looking at online until the point that they start looking at illegal content.
In fact, often the two ends of pornography are related. In another example an individual who stated when interviewed that he had searched for adult pornography and had inadvertently seen child abuse images. Examination of his computer equipment revealed a number of images and in particular what appeared to be first generation (never seen before by law enforcement) images of a young girl. Further investigation identified the girl as a former girlfriend, who stated in an interview that the defendant sexually abused her.
It's also key to note that often the concept of indecent images can only just scratch the surface and in many cases can be the forefront of much more serious crimes like sexual abuse and rape.
But what exactly is the law?
We may know it as looking at indecent images of minors, that being children under the age of 18 but in the legal world (and we take this definition from Sytech Digita Forensics) it's known as Section 1(1) of the Protection of Children Act 1978.
By law, it's an offence for a person to do the following:
- Take or permit to be taken, or to make any indecent photographs or pseudo- photographs of a child.
- To distribute or show such indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs.
- To have in their possession indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs with a view to their being distributed or shown to themselves or others.
Sytech Digita Forensics goes on to report that if you are accused of the crime you will have a defence provided you can prove that the subject is either over 16-years old in the photo and married to the accused or that they had a legitimate reason for having the content on their possession.
Though they themselves admit that the concept of 'legitimate' can be a quagmire to explore within the legal process. They state that often this comes down to two concepts. Firstly, that they had not seen the content and did not know or have any cause to suspect that it to be indecent or secondly, that the content was sent to them without any prior request made by them or by a third party and that they did not keep it for an unreasonable amount of time.
In 2014, the General Sentencing Council introduced a new 3-tier system, replacing the old 5-grade system in order to simplify and add consistency to the grading.
Category A:
Is the most serious one and contains the most severe type of content and as such, carries the heaviest sentence. If the content contains gross assault, sadism, bestiality, penetrative activity or shows a child subjected to pain then you would be charged with this category. Sentencing guidelines start at years custodial up to a three-year sentence. However, making this content will bring a heavier sentence distributing this content will see you get a minimum of year's imprisonment whilst production starts at 6 years.
Category B:
Content marked under this category includes both non-penetrative sexual assault and explicit sexual activities including mutual masturbation or any oral sexual activity. Possession carries a minimum 26 weeks' custody whilst distribution and production offences carry a sentencing guideline of anywhere between 1 to 4 years' imprisonment.
Category C:
Under the new guidelines, category C contains the least explicit content, often with content depicting some sexually suggestive content, in fact, the image is often not considered at this stage, instead, the person's intentions are as the images are not necessarily sexual in nature. Sytech says that often commercially published images to family photographs are categories under this one. Possession of these types of images often don't carry sentencing but instead, high-level community orders whilst production does carry an imprisonment sentence of between 1 to 3 years.
Yet, how much difference will this make?
Well, if you ask the Lucy Faithfull foundation it will make some, but it's not the golden key to solving this growing issue.
We can't only arrest our way out of this, yes it's important but we feel that industry and tech innovation will play a place as well as for as organisations such as ours that can make a difference.
But even if you could, would it work? As the data showed, the number being charged is falling which leads you to ask the question?. But, as the Lucy Faithfull Foundation suggests, locking people up may not be the best solution, instead, support and treatment may be both a cheaper and more long-term viable solution.
Take the case of Daniel Taylor, 26 who was the subject of the headline, Man who admitted downloading baby rape video is spared jaill. With over 110 Category A videos you may be screaming at your screen saying he should be locked up and the key is thrown away, but instead, the judge placed him on a three-year treatment programme alongside a community sentence.
Now sadly, there is no data on how many of those convicted were given treatment options over a sentence (we asked, but they not recorded as that), so in many ways it's extremely hard to say if the sentencing figures are down, because the home office sentencing guidelines fail to incorporate treatment as a 'sentencing' option.
In fact, the foundation was glad at the serious stance that both David Camerons and the current Theresa May administrations have put on the seriousness of the crime but did acknowledge that 'stretched' resources and the scale of the problem require more than just a legal stance
We're delighted that the acknowledgment of the seriousness of the problem under the leadership in that regards, but at the same time police resources are extremely stretched just as are all agencies and we know the scale of the problem is such that it can't just be the responsibility of the police and social workers to respond to the issue.
But how exactly do the Lucy Faithfull foundation respond to such an issue? Well, that brings us back to their Stop It Now! campaign and support network.
ultimatelyAccording to Matt the entire helpline, including its purpose can be summed up by saying that it was designed to give those who are concerned about their behaviour,
Practical, realistic steps that they can take that will make a difference.
When speaking to Matt, one thing came to my mind more than anything.
Confidentiality.
Yes, it's easy to say that as an organisation that you want to give those who are concerned about their behaviour support, but when the issues of children aged under 18 become involved, especially when those issues involve sexual acts, where do they draw the line between offering the person support and reporting them to the police?
Matt was clear that a key point about the helpline is confidentiality and that he acknowledged that being reported to authorities often stopped people from reaching out in the first place;
One of the things that can stop people from calling is the signficant concern that doing so will mean they are reported to the authority.
Can they pay their mortgage?
Will they lose their family?
Will they lose their job?
Will they go to prison?
These were all issues that Matt stated stopped people from calling in, and whilst yes, these can be consequences of looking at indecent images the Lucy Faithfull Foundation is clear about the confidentiality of the people that contact them.
So on the helpline, we're really clear about the confidentiality agreement at the start of the call. They don't have to give us their name or any other identifying details, no number identification. If they email, their email address is scrambled.
But they were clear on where the line is drawn between confidentiality between themselves and the contact and the need to involve others, either to protect the children or themselves.
If however, they do disclose information that suggests someone is at harm and that they can be identified or if the person themselves is at risk of suicide, or if they disclose offences that are not known to the authorities and they let us know who they are, then we would pass that information on to the police.
But once someone has crossed the line and decided to view explicit images of children, that's a very significant point in the development of their behaviour and for some, the acceptance of both what they have done and the support offered by the Lucy Faithfull foundation makes them seek out support, with 'offenders' asking them to contact the police.
But the support they offer goes much further than simply letting the person talk. It's not a confession where they only listen but instead, it builds on the relationship by offering practical advice that they can take away and use.
People can call us more than once, at the start it's about graduate intervention, talk about their situation. For example, does this relate to online viewing or are their other, offline concerns for example?
We may think of this as an online-only crime, but it can happen offline as well and the foundation offers support for all types of abuse of children, not just indecent images.
After that, we then help then think about what their options are for managing and ultimately changing their behaviour. Is it about talking to someone in their family, having some form of monitoring on their internet device or even getting rid of it?
Every call then ends with 'at least one piece of practical advice' and from that, the caller is then asked to call back at a later date to see what impact it has had on them and what the next practical steps are.
It's not just a case of being a listening or councilling service, as Matt described they are all about people taking action.
But who contacts them? Perhaps unsurprisingly a vast majority, Matt placed an estimate on the high 90's, would be adult men. However, within that group, it's a self-described 'diverse' group.
Half of them are cohabitants or married and about half would have children. When you look a the demographics of people who commit it, it's very difficult to find a single characteristic to define that group.
Yet despite the fact that the service is for adults, the organisation has had calls from those aged 15, 16 and 17.
But what does the future hold? The web is not going away and if the trends continue, the figures will only get higher so what would the Lucy Faithfull Foundation like to see happen in the future?
I suppose generally, speaking of children sexual abuse we would we would like to see an overarching strategy of prevention rather than just picking up the pieces after the child has been harmed. We would like to see cross-departmental conversations about that. But at the same time and taking nothing away from that comment, we are aware that the online environment has received a lot of attention, and indecent images are seen as a critical part or prioritisation of police work.
So it seems like a further integration of companies, officials and charities working together is the key to stopping this issue, if it can at all be stopped.
But then comes the argument of what role do companies like Facebook play in combating this crime and where do their responsibilities lie?
It's just as a general observation, but there is more every sector could be doing organisations such as Facebook and Twitter could be taking greater prevention to stop this behaviour, the scale of the problem is.
Headlines like the BBC's, Facebook failed to remove sexualised images of children perhaps shows just how important and vital the support of social media companies are.
In their investigation found that out of 100 images (all of which broke Facebook's terms and conditions) they reported, only 18 were reported.
Speaking to the BBC, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to (NSPCC) also voiced concern.
"Facebook's failure to remove illegal content from its website is appalling and violates the agreements they have in place to protect children," said a spokeswoman. It also raises the question of what content they consider to be inappropriate and dangerous to children."
It also begs the question, does anyone actually know how big the scale of this problem is? With the more traditional print methods of viewing the images, to the ever expanding internet groups on platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Snapchat to name just three platforms that the Lucy Faithfull Foundation cited, is there even one solution fits all?
The honest truth that you also need to ask yourself is this: Is there even enough money to support the infrastructure needed to combat all the incidents on all the platforms? The answer, no.
By most accounts, it could be anyone who commits the crime. It could be the individual arrested in April 2015 who the police discovered first generation (never seen before by law enforcement) photograph, depicting the abuse of a child. Or it could be the individual arrested for possession of indecent images of children, which on further investigation led to the suspect being arrested for rape and subsequently admitting numerous counts of rape of a child.
Equally, it could be the suspect arrested at his home who had previously been employed working with children (though no abuse was found at his job) before retirement and had since adopted the role of grandfather to two children in the family he resided with. The investigation discovered that he had taken multiple indecent images of the younger of the two children. Indecent images of other family members over many years were also found.
Whatever one thinks of the ethics of forgiving and support or prosecute and punish, the question and more so the line of how to tackle those who commit the crime will be debated for many years to come.
Yet this week, as I write this article six police forces from across the east of the country are launching Operation NetSafe in partnership with The Lucy Faithfull Foundation in order to tackle the very issue of online child sexual abuse via the use of images and film. NetSafe sees forces from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire joining forces to tackle the issue.
The operation will use both traditional and social media, posters to communicate deterrence messages to both existing offenders and potential ones, more so it will focus heavily on the Lucy Faithfull foundations concept of prevention.
Messages to be included in the campaign include showing that you can be arrested for the crime and as such loose your job, family, home and risk being placed on the sex offenders register. Which, you may think is contradictory considering this was stated by the Lucy Faithfull foundation as a reason why many don't seek out their support but the focus of this campaign is stopping those from committing the crime and getting them to seek out support before it gets to the point where those impacts are a possibility.
In fact, speaking at the launch of this campaign the National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Child Protection, Simon Bailey back lodged the rise in occurrence of this crime saying that;
Police services across the UK are dealing with an unprecedented volume of child sexual abuse reports, including online indecent images and these numbers continue to rise.
But he also acknowledged that prosecution is not always the answer and that every case may require a different approach.
Police forces are responding to the threat, and we have to consider different approaches such as rehabilitation and treatments as well as prosecution to deal with offenders to ensure children are safeguarded. Children deserve nothing less than that all agencies and members of the public work together to keep them safe from sexual abuse.
But, given the widespread access everyone has to the internet, there are clearly limits to what a PR campaign can achieve by itself, perhaps it's the future combination of agencies and forces as seen in Operation NetSafe working in-synch with charities such as the Lucy Faithfull Foundation that might bring an end, or at least bring the levels down, for the thousands that commit the crime and the likely thousands that either have not been caught or are tempted by the ease of the web.
Confidential and effective help is available from Stop it Now! via 0808 1000 900 or by visiting the Stop it Now! website.
