Catching Paedophiles: Crime and Punishment

[Wetnoseandfurryears]

Did the policewoman in charge of the main investigation just say that 1 in 35 men in Britain have some sort of sexual interest in children? Did I hear that right? I'm shocked at that statistic tbh.

The whole programme was so unremittingly hideous and depressing, I feel quite sick. I was never one of those people that thought a paedophile was lurking behind every lampost but, according to this programme, they are!

What the hell is going on? She said it was facilitated by the Internet. Would the interest be there to the same degree without the tech facilitating it or is it the other way around?

Why aren't emergency laws being drafted in Parliament to close the perpetrators' access to the sites? Those officers did really well, but the problem is too extensive for the police to control effectively. . And the courts and prisons can't cope now.

The only solution lies with the platform providers surely? What is currently being done about this, does anyone know?

The programme was shocking. Left me cold.

I can’t believe such a serious problem is not being dealt with more quickly. It took months to jail that guy for it. They seems to need to gather so much evidence. I thought the fact he admitted it and they had the evidence in his computer would have been enough.

Then I was stunned he was swanning around at the swimming pool etc where little ones were. But nothing could be done. WTF.

The platforms must be made to change their ways to protect the innocent. They are enabling the widespread sharing of this filth.

It’s absolutely disgusting that so many men have sexual thoughts about children. I just can’t understand it.

My thoughts exactly Elieza. I don't think he did admit to the offences though did he, hence the trial? Or have I got that wrong? And yes the fact that he was hanging around swimming pools and kids' films at the cinema was completely shocking.

And yes what on earth is happening to so many men? Why are they more attracted to children than adults? What the hell is happening to society that we are allowing this to happen? ?

Is it because some men are finding it harder to negotiate relationships in reality than on-line? Is the Internet fostering this behaviour by influencing some boys from a young age so they in turn do not develop properly? After all allowing our dc to virtually grow up on-line is a massive social experiment; who knows how it will effect developing brains? Sorry to rant but what's going on?

@Wetnoseandfurryears which channel was this on? Thanks

www.channel4.com/programmes/catching-paedophiles-crime-and-punishment

@Wetnoseandfurryears thank you 😊

God.
I've just finished watching.
1 in 35.
It's crazy.

And the fucking CPS! Talk about detached? The officers disappointment was palpable.

The guy admitted to watching stuff and it was on his computer.

But that wasn’t enough to detain him as they had to get more evidence. Then eventually they could detain him.

Someone said something ages ago that stuck with me - that it’s all to do with porn. That women in porn have shaved all their body hair so that’s what guys watching porn associate with sex. Young girl have no body hair. Put two and two together…

Plus so much porn is around now that the guys watching it can feel it’s real life to them. Much realer than relationships.

I don’t know if that’s all bollocks the situation that adult men are attracted to children is so worrying.

Normalisation.
There is just so much, everywhere. They need more and more extreme stuff.

What possible help will 10 years do? He won't change, he doesn't believe he's wrong. He will do it again guaranteed.

I used to work in this area or similar to it and you have no idea how massive it it. Well you do after watching the programme but it was a good 6/7 years ago and it was huge then. Men from all walks of life, respectable, prestigious jobs etc downloading and watching this stuff. It's horrific.

There's too many to prosecute. You usually get slapped with a leaflet on stopping. Now with the Dark Web etc, it just moves too fast to keep up, as the Detective said.

If it means that 1 in 35 men might find a15 year old girl attractive, that's not much of a surprise (I would've thought likely much higher proportion). If it means they would force themselves on a 5 year-old, that is obviously very serious. I know both are crimes, of course....

Did you see the programme Sam?
The statistics she was alluding to were the child abuse images (if I understand it right)
It's unsavoury to be fancying teens but this was abuse images.

I did watch it, yes - she didn't say anything about images, but rather that 1 in 35 has some sort of sexual interest in children.

The other thing I didn't like about it was that having an obviously socially inadequate guy living in a bedsit with poo on the floor obscures the fact that most abusers outwardly respectable, not at all the stereotype that the programme presented....

I know what you are saying Sam , that they overlooked the respectable , professional man in a suit, but I think they focused on this particular case because his activities had come to light via ordinary social media use, not dark Web in this instance. Someone had tipped them off about it and the policewoman said (surprisingly) that that wasn't unusual.

Also, yes he was mildly autistic, but he seemed able to lie very persistently and seriously and was very determinedly pursuing victims despite living rough.

I don't know how they reach the 1 in 35 stat.

Looking at child abuse images and anything else to do with paedophilia is almost by definition below the radar. It's not something people are open about. And the men who do this are often very plausible, putting on a perfectly acceptable facade to the world.

Given all this, the number of men doing this is almost certainly much higher than 1 in 35.

I'm not keen on the term "paedophilia" tbh. Why not say what it is: people (men far more often than women) who want to rape children. "Paedophilia" runs the risk of making ti sound like a disease, something we should pity these people (mostly men) for.

@TurquoiseLemur You think it's more than 1 in 35? I thought that was shocking enough.

Why did they blur out his face? Because he's autistic?

I will watch it. I do think there is a one on every street and always was.

I'm watching it now, it's horrific, and it's the disgusting entitlement of believing your sick fantasies need to be indulged at the expense of human life. If you want to fantasise about sick stuff then you do you, but keep it in your head, why do innocent children have to have their lives ruined because that's how you get your kicks.

What can be done? It's so fucking depressing.

[quote RevolvingPivot]@TurquoiseLemur You think it's more than 1 in 35? I thought that was shocking enough.

Why did they blur out his face? Because he's autistic? [/quote]
1 in 35 IS shocking, absolutely. But not all paedophiles are out in the open, are they? Far from it. If the 1 in 35 figure comes from the number of convictions, or at least the number of men investigated, then that means there are other men out there attracted to children who are not included in the figures.

I suspect easy internet access has made all this worse but, sadly, there have always been men like this. at least we are talking about it now.

Forget COVID, child sex abuse and domestic abuse of women are epidemics and received woefully inadequate funding, etc

Well said user764329056

A horribly depressing thought that there could be an even greater prevalence of these men, although that term is too good for them.

I couldn't agree more about the sick sense of entitlement blushroom but where does it come from? What in our society is fuelling and facilitating it? Again, it has to be the internet providers who must be made accountable.

They blurred his face to protect the identity of the real children he committed physical crimes against. I suspect they were family members. Awful.