Huw Edwards got me thinking…

The law doesn't need changing, you'd need to use commen sense and go to the police if you received images of csa . That's what any normal person would do

It's not even commen sense , any normal person would be repulsed and go to the police so they could investigate the person who sent them to you

Stop being an apologist . 40 separate pictures over a year including 7-9 year old. He isn't a fool he is a paedophile.

And as for the police officer that isn't what happened, why are you manipulating this story to give credence to the idea that HE is just a victim of being sent images?

if it is, is that not quite scary? So I could be sent such images without my consent, delete them, ask not to be sent more, and be guilty of ‘making indecent images’ as well as the stigma that comes with being a convicted paedophile.

No, that wouldn’t happen.

17yr olds wouldn't be in gay magazines. He likes young boys.

He is. 100 per cent.

If your not asking 17yr olds for naked pictures for 2k then you don't need to worry either 🙄

If your not in conversation with a convicted child abuser then I should t think you need to worry 🙄

There was an incident of a very senior police officer who had been sent an inappropriate WhatsApp message from her sister, never opened it, but ended up losing her job over it. It's a minefield. Edwards opened the images, was asked if they were too young and responded that he didn't want young images. He's an absolute fool and I am still flabbergasted that such an excellent journalist who seemed so genuine was anything but. I suppose the fact that in the previous part of his fall from grace, the young man and the photos, is similarly weird. Paying £30,000+ for photos of this man, why not buy a gay magazine!?! Bit cheaper.

What on earth does anyone get out of seeing a child being raped it's utterly disgusting and vile.
What would they say if their child was raped?

They should worry that there is something really wrong with their brains and ask for help, not wait until they are caught?

How low can you sink to want to see an image of a child being raped?

Why does every peadophile supposedly have mental health issues? Tell a therapist not a judge when you’ve offended.

I specifically said that none of us should be discussing the Edwards case because none of us heard all of the evidence.

No one needs to hear all of the evidence, @Friendsfestival, unless they are involved in the case or work in this area. A decent summary of the evidence is enough. And yet you chose to ignore that and quibble about imaginary cases.

Why is that? Do you know?

If it was their teenage son...

Mad the world ATM. .. I'm so shocked some women are like this.

Have you actually read about it? He was chatting with a paedophile for around 2 years exchanging images.

A surprising number of people are only bothered about their own children being sexually abused and don’t actually care when it happens to other children.

I cant believe people sympathising with the guy. Read the facts.

You started the post with a lie

I read that Edwards received the photos without asking for them, then deleted them, then asked that similar ones not be sent again

You are an apologist. Start a thread about the issues surrounding receiving unsolicited images but don't use a post to make excuses for a paedophile.

It’s an interesting taking point. So perhaps op had been better off not mentioning HE and stating that he’d received images he hadnt asked for, which isn’t true.

I think there may have been a better discussion around the subject of ‘making images’ had she not mentioned him.

A few years ago I received an indecent image of a woman and an animal, I reported it to my local police station, they made a report and supervised me in deleting the image from whatsapp, my phone and the cloud, took the person (I had no idea who they were) number and I blocked them.

I didn’t continue talking to that person for months on end, or ask for more images from them, I also didn’t provide them with my personal email address and ask to receive images via email as well.

If having pictures of a child being raped is okay, are you happy for your partner to have them on their phone, your childs teacher, childminder, nursery nurse?

So if your 16 year old daughter sent her boyfriend nudes.

And accidentally sent you some/ your phones synced.

You are now guilty of making indecent images. You should also immediately report her to the police as she is guilty too and worse, she disturbutee those images.

But no one actually would do that to their own daughter. You'd delete it all and bollock her.

Yet the law says you both committed crimes. Her deliberately and you innocently.

Surely we are discussing what the law says and how innocent people can be caught rather than a particular case?

I don’t believe he would have been prosecuted in those circumstances.

He's not a 16 year old girl though is he? What a ridiculous way of trying to justify it. He had more than enough money to buy a new phone/get a new number

Must I point out he was in contact with the other peadophile for a couple of years. Use your critical thinking to actually research HIS case and why HE has been charged rather than that of the imaginary 16 year old girl

There should be no fear in reporting a random image you’ve been sent that you think might depict an underage person being sexually abused. Yes you’ll almost certainly have your phone etc seized and scrutinised but if you have nothing to hide, you won’t be worried. People don’t get convinced when they’ve reported the issue immediately.

HE didn’t report it. Ever. He was only caught because the other disgusting nonce he was communicating with got caught. He didn’t report it because he was happily receiving images of slightly older, although still illegal, boys. He was discussing the images with the follow paedo in graphic detail. None of it was received by HE unsolicited.

The law is very very widely drawn. We're dependent on the police, the CPS, the courts and if all else fails the jury to say "this does not warrant investigation/prosecution/conviction"

But that's not unique. People commit negligent criminal damage all the time, by clumsily/recklessly dropping a pint in a pub for example. Loads of sixteen year olds have had some form of consensual sex, or other sexual activity with fifteen year olds. Seventeen year olds send boob shots to their boyfriends. The system works (insofar as it does work) by the exercise of human judgement at every step.

However this offence does seem unusual in that it can be committed passively. I'd be tempted to create a specific defence of "unless the recipient immediately reports the unsolicited image and its source to the correct authorities" but that's off the top of my head.