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Tracking down the child abusers
Stories about child pornography are increasing. But is
the crime more common, or its detection more
effective? How do police catch paedophiles and what
toll does it take on officers?
In the first of a two-part
series, Owen Amos finds out
JOHN Marshall, 58, an ex-soldier from Norman
Road, Richmond. Steven Moore, 43,
a hod-carrier from Samuel Street, Stockton.
David and Allan Crisp, both 52, from
Phillips Avenue, Middlesbrough. William
Beamson 57, of Grange Road, Hartlepool. Colin Welburn,
49, of Ronaldshay Terrace, Marske. All North-
East men. All sentenced in the past six months for
child pornography offences. This list is by no means
exhaustive.
The stories are becoming more common.
Type child pornography into The Northern
Echos 1990 electronic archive and there were 12 articles.
In 1995, there were 13. In the first third of
2008, there have already been 34.
And its not just humble hod-carriers. Who, buying
My Gang, thought Gary Glitter was a paedophile?
Who, watching The Thick Of It, thought
Chris Langham downloaded child pornography?
Who, entering Barnard Castles All Things Books,
thought the owner, Phillip John George Webb, was
distributing it?
(The term child pornography, incidentally, is
rejected by many online watchdogs for legitimising
the activity. They prefer child sex abuse images.)
So are there more paedophiles?
Or are the police better at catching
them?
A bit of both, probably, says DI
Geoff Smith, Durham Polices
head of economic crime. We seize
around 80 to 100 bundles a year to
examine, around 20 per cent more
than three years ago. But one of
those bundles could contain three
or four computers C there could be
two laptops, six pen drives, hundreds
of DVDs. Whereas before
there might be 100 pictures, now
there are three, four, five thousand
on each drive.
The driver is technology. Twenty
years ago, paedophiles needed
knowledge. They needed contacts
and meeting places and stamped addressed envelopes.
Now, anyone with a phone line and computer
has access to vast amounts of child
pornography.
Ten years ago, you had child pornography on
wet film photos and people would distribute them
by meeting up, says DI Smith. The growth in the
internet, from 2000 to 2004, allowed the images to be
exchanged far more widely.
So where are these images made? Is child pornography
made in the North-East?
Certainly, says a spokeswoman for the Child
Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP),
the UK centre for eradicating child abuse images.
Child sex abuse is far more prevalent than we
think and would like to admit. If you produce child
abuse images, you have to have access to children.
Children are being abused in their homes and often
by people they know C often by adults in a position
of trust. The NSPCC statistics back that up.
Unfortunately, they do. In total, 16 per cent of
children under 16 C thats one in six C experience
sexual abuse during childhood. If its filmed, its
child pornography.
The Internet Watch Foundation found 80 per cent
of child pornography victims are
female and 91 per cent appear
under 12. Of those, ten per cent
appear under two, with 33 per
cent between three and six. In
total, the percentage of level four
and five cases C the most severe C
increased from seven per cent in
2003 to 29 per cent in 2006.
How is this murky, secret world
of child pornography investigated?
How are offenders C from
Chris Langham to Gary Glitter to
Phillip Webb C brought to justice?
Most seizures start from a tipoff
C usually from a partner,
someone with access to the offenders
computer, or another offender.
Credit card traces are not
the powerful tool they were. People are wary of
putting credit card details on the internet now,
says DI Smith. Originally they thought If the sites
not overtly named, Im all right. Now they are more
wary. People share pictures, peer to peer, like they
share music. Having said that, computers give you
a sense of anonymity C but they are not as anonymous
as people think they are.
Authorities are now receiving more tip-offs online.
From April 2007 to April 2008, for example,
CEOP received 5,812 reports C a 76 per cent increase
on 2006/2007. In 2006 C the last year for which figures
are available C the IWF processed 31,776 reports, a
34 per cent increase on 2005.
Unfortunately, finding the sites is easy. Any mug
who knows his way round Google can do it. Taking
them down is harder, as most hosts C the companies
that provide web space C are outside UK
jurisdiction.
Taking them down depends on which country
the site is hosted in and what protocols are in place
with that country, says DI Smith. Some are in
Kazakhstan, Afghanistan. Its possible to track
where they are being hosted, but thats just part of
it.
Barely any child pornography websites are hosted
in the UK. The IWF says in 2007 there were 2,755
child pornography websites, of which 2,204 were
commercial websites. Of those, 55 per cent were
hosted in the US, 28 per cent in Russia, eight per
cent Europe and seven per cent in Asia.
The war on child pornography, DI Smith says, is
not the same as the war on drugs C users are pursued
as vigorously as providers. But when those
computers are seized, someone has to check them.
And that isnt easy.
WE do have technology which can identify
most images, says DI Smith. Quite
often its the same images we have seen
before. The software can also categorise the images.
But the officer in the case might have to look at
image if the software cant process them.
Its just one of the many nasty parts of police
work that, unfortunately, someone has to do C
whether thats going through scenes of crime or
death messages. Its just a horrible thing someone
has to do. Its not something that the average person
wants to do or has to do, but thats the job.
Were one of the smaller forces C I dread to think
what other forces deal with. Remember also, its not
just us that has to go through them C theres the
judge, barristers. Some of the images are disturbing.
Just grotesque.
ö Tomorrow: inside a paedophiles mind.
9:20am Tuesday 6th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Dr NL Oldfield, Doncaster, UK on 4:12pm Tue 6 May 08
"The term child pornography, incidentally, is rejected by many online watchdogs for legitimising the activity. They prefer child sex abuse images."
It is neither (although it may be either or both), it is 'indecent images of children.'
"Unfortunately, finding the sites is easy. Any mug who knows his way round Google can do it."
Really? How would you know?
This is about as accurate as much of your piece.
Just grotesque.
WM
CritEst
"The term child pornography, incidentally, is rejected by many online watchdogs for legitimising the activity. They prefer child sex abuse images."
It is neither (although it may be either or both), it is 'indecent images of children.'
"Unfortunately, finding the sites is easy. Any mug who knows his way round Google can do it."
Really? How would you know?
This is about as accurate as much of your piece.
Just grotesque.
WM
CritEst
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