Child sexual abuse images convictions

One in three of those convicted of possessing child abuse images has also committed other serious sex offences against children the NSPCC reveals today (27 July 2011).

Some of these have been found guilty of indecent assault, gross indecency, grooming and inciting children to carry out sex acts on webcams.

The details are revealed in a review of 284 UK court cases over a six month period last year involving those found guilty of possessing indecent images.(1) In 98 of these cases the offenders had also been grooming children or had committed sex assaults on under 16s.

The cases involved a total of nearly 3,000,000 images. There were also hundreds of films and DVDs. One man had so many child abuse clips put together that he could have watched them for two-and-half days without a break.

In one case an offender pleaded guilty to making or distributing over 500,000 images and another had 6,500 which showed nothing but babies and toddlers under two suffering serious sexual assaults from adults.

Those found guilty of possessing indecent images were aged from 18 to 76 and worked in various areas, including teaching, driving, farming, law enforcement and health.

NSPCC head of strategy and development for sexual abuse Jon Brown said:"Trying to stop the terrible trade in these images is obviously a huge task. But it should not be seen in isolation. It's part of a much bigger sex abuse problem.

"We must never forget that children - even babies - are being assaulted and raped so these images can be produced.
 
"The internet has made it much easier for people to access this kind of material.  We have seen cautions and convictions for child abuse images offences rise rapidly over the past two decades - from 62 in 1989 to 1,619 in 2009.(2)

"There's no clear evidence to show that looking at these dreadful pictures is going to lead to someone going out and physically assaulting a child. But as we can see a significant number who do possess them also commit other sex crimes.

"We need a better understanding of the links between possessing these pictures and contact sex offences if we are to prevent more children being abused in such an appalling way."

The NSPCC is urging anyone who has concerns about the welfare of a child to contact its 24-hour Helpline on 0808 800 5000, text 88858, email help@nspcc.org.uk or visit www.nspcc.org.uk.

Ends

NSPCC media office 020 7825 2602; out of hours mobile 07976 206 625.

Notes to Editors

1. We analysed court cases involving convictions for making, possessing or distributing indecent images of children reported in local and national media over a six month period, April to September 2010. 

In total, we found 284 court cases reported in the media which resulted in a conviction for child abuse images offences.  In a third of cases (98), the offender had also been found guilty of grooming children or had committed sexual assaults on children - either previously or in same court case.

The total number of child abuse pictures and films, where reported, in all 286 court cases was nearly 3 million (2,992,014). 

2. The number of cautions and convictions at all courts for indecent images of children offences has risen from 62 in 1989, to 303 in 1999, and to 1,619 in 2009.  Source: Ministry of Justice.

For more NSPCC statistics, click here