I have no idea how paedophiles are presently treated, but obviously it has not been successful. In order to deal with the “scale of the problem”, it has been recommended that some child sex offenders should receive a police caution and then be managed within the community instead of sent to jail.

Jim Gamble, of the Child Exploiation and Online Protection Centre has recommended this as a practical way of dealing with the huge scale of the problem.

This would indicate that the problem has not been managed successfully so far. It is a cheapskate way of dealing with these offenders as our prisons are full. 

Whichever way you look at it, viewing child porn is sickening and is often the tipping point for child abuse. I want tougher sentencing to be imposed, with treatment, not softer options. It has to be remembered that if there was no demand for child pornography, innocent children would be spared this horrific abuse. Where is the data to prove that a police caution and treatment in the community is successful?

My local paper reports this week of an 11-year-old schoolgirl’s terror when a man tried to lure her into his van. Wife in the North recently described how a man tried to pick up a young child outside a school in a nearby village.

This ludicrous idea will send shivers and feelings of outrage amongst our civilised society.