To be absolutely sick of excuses being made for men's disgusting sexual behaviour? Trigfer warning. Hugh Edwards sentencing.

[UCConfuseMe]

Just read that Hugh Edwards ahs been given a suspended sentence.

And if course it's not his fault. He had a mean Daddy and some mental health issues and some bad things going on in his life, poor lamb.

All that made him say 'amazing' when sent photos of children as young as 7 being molested.

Having a rough time and a strict father doesn't make you a fucking paedophile!!!

Take responsibility for your predatory and vile behaviour!!

I was surprised at the suspended sentence, not in a good way

First of all you need to prove that being abused makes it more likely that you will abuse children. Seeing as many more girls than boys are abused as children but the vast, vast majority of child abusers are men, your excuses for this behaviour don’t add up, therefore, irrelevant.

There will be plenty of restrictions as he will doubtless have been given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to run alongside his other sentence requirements. This will contain a list of things that he can and cannot do including conditions relevant to internet use etc.

I’m angry that Edwards gets to use his own poor mental health as mitigation when he obviously didn’t care an iota for the mental health of his victims. And he’s had suicidal thoughtts? Only after he was caught and exposed, though. This is yet another case where the maxim of ‘blind justice’ is bastardised in favour of the abuser. Sickening.

FWIW i do think there is a more general conversation to be had, with our MPs when they are up for election for eg, about what we expect from our justice system.

I want to see people who are convicted of posession of child sex abuse to see a minimum of 1 month in prison, just so they know what they are facing.

I want drunk drivers to face much harsher penalties, involving prison time if they harm/kill people. I want them doing very visible community service and have at least 10 years driving ban if they just cause property damage. for eg.

I want rapists to do much more time. But i don't necessarily want to see people jailed for non-violent one-off crimes. Mitigation in a lot of crimes is really important. CSA isn't one of those, usually.

Thanks for this thread OP.

This is yet another signal to paedophiles that this is no big crime. Absolutely sickening.

In a male dominated world, the laws and judiciary are defined by male standards. Sexual crimes against women and children? No biggie. The amount of stories I've read over the years for custodial sentences for a lot less FFS😡

i have dealt with females, males, and those that self identify.

@Haroldwilson you’ve given a perfect example of false equivalence.

I don't care how the law works, it's a bullshit system and it's the women and children who suffer, who have pick up the pieces after these nonces get caught, the children whose lives are ruined because they were abused for these filthy paedophiles to get the images in the first place, the children who can't see their fathers becuase he's on "the register" , the kids who get bullied because their dad/uncle/granddad/big brother is a nonce.
Then there's the women who have to deal with all this as well as the fact their partner/husband or close family member is a nonce and they have to keep the children safe. The women who suddenly find out the last however many years have been a lie, the women who will forever worry whether that nonce of a family member abused her child. All the while these vile nonces get a slap on the wrist and are free to go wreck some more childrens lives. It makes me sick!

Mitigation isn't about excusing and offence though. It might be about someone expressing remorse versus someone who hasn't, or engaging with therapy versus someone who hasn't. That's relevant.

It's not about excuses, it's context. The court is trying to build up a picture of what this person is like and the circumstances of the offence. There's nothing that makes sexual offending ok. There might be things that suggest what sentence is appropriate.

Stop defending him by saying "it's women too"

This issue is a man charged with indecent images of children.

A MAN!!!!!

It’s a shame you feel that way, as I can assure you that you are quite wrong. As it stands, I manage to work, volunteer and study in the field so where there’s a will, there’s a way.

I'd also like to point out to people posting on here who do work in the system (and thank you for that, it is always useful to see) that there is a lot of disagreement in the general population about some of the publicised sentencing decisions.

Why is that? often, of course, it is media sensationalisation. But as people pointed out on twitter there was ONE journalist in Rotherham last week when that gang were sentenced to hefty terms. One.

And i am betting that all media/news outlets are all over the Edwads sentence. So that tells me we also have a huge communication problem. If the people working in the system tell us the people involved in CSA are being effectively handled, and public perception is that they are getting off scott free.

So how do we fix that?

Oh, OK - I guess women just aren't trying hard enough to solve sexism and male-violence, then.

I'm off to "will" a new reality for us all. Thanks!

Sorry, you’re right. Better to complain on MN instead.

I’d better go and inform the magistracy that I should be looking after my children and elderly parents more and I no longer have the time to attend court. The patriarchy will be delighted!

You may think it’s a pathetic comeback…..but it’s how it is. I am glad you wrote to your MP, we should all be as politically engaged as we can be.

I was just thinking of making a post about men.

I think this place is the worst for seeing the horrid side of men.

I want the women of Mumsnet to stop letting men treat them as doormats, to see that controlling finances, not sharing finances, changing for men, putting up with their criticism, needing to ask if they are being unfair about their husband's when they should know you should never have to ask if this behaviour is OK! Are people really that lonely and insecure that they cannot stand on their own two feet and would rather just put up with the abuse of men??

It's like this hidden world of gradually increasing men with inferiority problems, narcissistic gaslighters, paedophiles, rapists, abusive men! And they all get away with it because someone has an excuse/justification for it. I feel sorry for their children whom will grow up thinking it's normal. They do not stand a chance.

Men? Please don't speak for my dh and ds(s), this piece of shit is from the shit BBC woke culture, nothing to do with 'men'. Have some respect for those with sons and normal husbands and those who do not hate men en masse.

Absolute mental scum. Upbringing my arse. Sleazy cunt

Yes, how dare women discuss things with other women? You're so right - I'm off to conjure up some spare time to overhaul the British legal system.

He already wasn’t ‘allowed’ to wank over pictures of 7 year olds being abused, didn’t stop him though, did it?

No one gives a shit about your husband or sons, ffs. We're talking about stats and the fact that over 90% of sexual violence is committed by males.

Its a man world and the vile pigs can do what they like.

Also, the women screaming "women do it too!" please, go away/

This isn't the thread for NAMALT.

Yes. Apparently he hasn’t even paid back the BBC wages they ‘asked’ him to.