Boy, 7, found with indecent images, Echo investigation finds

Information released by police forces across the region following Freedom of Information (FOI) Act requests showed the number of under 18s reported for the possession of indecent images had doubled from 2014.

The Northern Echo understands that many of the cases relate to youngsters sexting one another. Sexting involves sending someone sexually explicit photographs or messages from a mobile phone.

Durham Constabulary said that in 2018, the number of children reported for possessing indecent images of children had risen to ten from five in 2014.

Overall, 26 youngsters were reported to the force for possessing indecent images of children in that time period – many below the age of criminal responsibility. The youngest child reported was just seven years old while the oldest was 17. The average age was 13.

Most of the cases ended with “community resolution” which can include a written or verbal apology or counselling.

Cleveland Police also saw an increase in youngsters taking, possessing, and distributing indecent photographs of other children and themselves. The number of incidents dealt with by the force rose from four in 2017 to six in 2018, with all suspects male, and two thirds aged under ten.

Detective Inspector Steve Bell, from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team, said: “Cleveland Police has a dedicated team that looks to keep people safe by educating people around online safety. In cases where the suspects may be juveniles, we look at the most appropriate sanction based on the individual and the circumstances.”

An FOI response from North Yorkshire Police found that since 2012, four cases were reported of children sharing images on Skype, Facebook and eMule, a free peer-to-peer file sharing application.

The release of the data follows a warning from Durham Police informing youngsters who engage in sexting, that they may actually be committing a criminal offence by creating indecent images.

The force warned the images could get into the wrong hands, leaving the youngsters vulnerable to paedophiles.

Now the NSPCC is calling on the Government to create an independent regulator to hold social networks to account following the police warnings to youngsters using social media.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “With the online world an increasingly prominent part of children’s lives, we all have a duty to work together to make the web as safe as possible.

“Our online tools Share Aware and Net Aware offer safety help and guidance for parents, but for all children to have a safe experience we need everyone – including the Government and social media companies – to play their part.”

Police officers in Northumbria were made aware of several accounts across the North-East sharing explicit images of young people via the social media app Snapchat, a mobile messaging application used to share photos, videos, text, and drawings. The app said it works with law enforcement to obtain the necessary information to report and take action against an offending account and preserve account information as required by law.

Facebook said they do not allow child exploitation or grooming on the site and have developed powerful tools to fight child exploitative content.

A Facebook spokesperson said: “We have a deep responsibility to keep young people safe on Facebook – which is why we work with child protection experts and specialist law enforcement teams including the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Unit in the UK to keep young people safe.

“Our technology proactively searches for evidence of child sexual exploitation on the platform which we escalate to law enforcement, and our reporting tools allow users to report any profile, post or piece of content to our dedicated teams of reviewers.”

Children’s charity Barnardo’s, said the internet can leave children exposed to harm through potentially unrestricted and often unsolicited access to pornography.

Steve Oversby, pictured above, director of Barnardo’s East, said: “Unrestricted access to explicit adult material can lead to unhealthy attitudes towards sex and relationships.

“However, the picture is a complex one and children who seek out abuse images of other children may be trying to process harm they have experienced, be that as a result of sexual abuse, domestic violence or neglect.

“Our experience shows that a criminal justice response is not the best or most effective response in these instances.

“These children need support to deal with their own experiences and reframe their own relationships with others.”

TEENAGER TELLS OF WEB BLACKMAIL ORDEAL

After being coerced into sending sexually explicit images for two years, a teenager told Georgia Banks of his harrowing experience with an online predator.

A YOUNG footballer was just 14 when he was approached on Facebook by someone pretending to be a female friend of a player on his team. The pair talked for weeks about their friends, family and school. He gave out his phone number and Snapchat handle before the profile revealed “her” true identity.

“She” was actually a man and had been extracting personal information from him to use against his family.

The perpetrator claimed he would kill the boy’s parents unless he sent explicit photos. The teenager complied with the escalating demands and was then asked to stream explicit videos using his webcam.

“One day I came home from football training and went straight to my room,” said the youngster. I decided to try and end my life, so I didn’t have to deal with what was happening.

“Anxiety has played a major part ever since. I couldn’t leave the house for ages and still feel sick when I go outside – but that just feels normal now. It feels normal to always feel like I’m going to be sick.”

The teenager’s personal details and pictures were passed on to other predators who bombarded him with further demands until the abuse was uncovered.

He said it had been very difficult for the whole family to cope with what had happened – and believes they won’t ever be able to forget.

However after figures showed an alarming rise in under 18s being reported for creating and sharing indecent images of themselves and other children, the teenager and his family have spoken out in a bid to raise awareness of the dangers posed by online predators.

The boy hid the issue from his parents for two years, and they were devastated when the abuse was revealed.

The couple were unaware of the dangers facing children online as they didn’t grow up with the internet. They bought him a laptop when he was 13 to watch films and complete homework and didn’t suspect anything was going on.

They were alerted to the problem after they were called by his school who were worried about some images on his laptop. The police were called and his parents were asked to come into the school.

His father said: “There was nothing to make us think there was anything going on, we couldn’t have guessed – not in a million years. It’s affected us terribly as a family – there have been huge barriers put up between us meaning we can’t talk to each other like we used to.

“We blamed ourselves, you just feel like you haven’t done your job as a parent. You feel like you haven’t done enough to protect your children, who mean the world to you. You ask yourselves ‘why didn’t we see it? Why didn’t we notice?’”

After the abuse was uncovered, the main perpetrator was sent to prison for four and a half years. The teenager is now warning other children to be more careful online, and not add people they don’t know to their accounts.

He said schools need to educate people, just as they do in other subjects, and believes social media platforms have a responsibility to keep people safe.

His calls were echoed by Barnardo’s, which believes social media giants are not doing enough to protect children online and is calling on the Government to introduce an independent watchdog.

Steve Oversby, director of Barnardo’s East, said: “If playgrounds need health and safety in place before children can use them, the online world should have the equivalent safeguards. The controls intended to keep our children safe have proved inadequate. It’s clear that tech giants are simply not doing enough to keep children safe. The industry must be required to provide safety features.”

Police, meanwhile, have warned children it is a criminal offence for anyone under the age of 18 to create, possess or share indecent images of themselves or another underage person.

A spokeswoman for Durham Constabulary said: “There is a growing trend among children and young people to take indecent photographs of themselves to send on to each other or post in public places.

“By sending this content on to another person, they have distributed an indecent image of a child. By receiving content of this kind from another young person, they are then in possession of an indecent image of a child. Many young people see it as harmless fun but they may actually be committing criminal offences. They also need to be aware of the potential for the images to get into the wrong hands.”