VIEWERS who tuned into Channel 4 this week may have been surprised to spot some familiar sights in Hampshire in the latest episode of Crime and Punishment.
Aired on Monday evening, the episode dedicated to highlighting the challenges faced by Hampshire Constabulary’s Internet Child Abuse Team (HCICAT) and their quest to see a predator deemed a risk to children locked up.
Following Detective Claire Lyons, the programme started with her team hunting down a suspect who had uploaded indecent images of children to social media site Tumblr.
With a username ‘Proud_child_lover’ , the suspect had posted vile comments and images of children to his account despite his 15 other accounts being blocked for posting illegal content.
The opening scene saw Det Claire's team heading to raid a property where they believed the suspect named James* was living.
Officers were shocked when they enter the property to find human faeces and sex toys scattered on the carpet, but they quickly find the multiple devices which they believe contain the indecent images.
Initially, when asked by Det Claire James said he only accessed such sites on his mobile phone. But a search quickly found several laptops which he "forgot about".
Later, officers made a grim discovery on his devices which showed him sexually abusing two children as well as thousands of indecent images and videos of babies toddlers and children.
In a heated exchange, James* denied the allegations, leaving the police unable to charge him.
When asked if he had ever sexually assaulted a child James* replies: “No, I haven’t sexually assaulted anyone of any age.”
Det Lyons then asks the suspect about a chat log found on his social media account in which he describes a four year old girl as ‘gorgeous’ and states ‘I swear if I could marry this child, that I absolutely would.’
The suspect denies everything angrily shouting: “I don’t know, I didn’t do it.”
Det Lyons was visibly frustrated at being unable to keep James in custody saying: “That’s ridiculous. Yes really disappointed. Gutted. Well [CPS] have not had the same experience meeting this person, seeing how much of a risk he is. They can just see it on paper black and white.”
When asked why it took so long for the predator to be charged, Andrea Hills CPS Senior Crown Prosecutor said: “ It was about 10 months [before he was charged] but unfortunately examination of devices does take a huge amount of time, there were a lot of devices in this particular case. And you have to take into account the police assembling the evidence in a format that we can assess it and similar us having time to simulate that, have meetings with the police and decide any further lines of enquiry that had to be completed.”
She added: “I do consider this suspect presents a threat, and this evidence that this man has recorded himself sexually assaulting a young victim, and in my mind, I think he is a very dangerous individual.”
It is now estimated that around one in 35 men in Britain has ‘some sort of sexual interest’ in children, according to statistics revealed in the documentary.
Det Lyons also added that Hampshire Constabulary arrest on average one suspect a day who is accused of online child sexual offences. But charities predict the true figure of online offenders is far higher.
James was eventually sentenced to 10 years in jail, 25 months after his initial arrest thanks to Hampshire Constabulary.
To watch the episode on All 4, click here. There are some scenes which viewers may find upsetting.
For free and confidential advice on abuse, contact the NSPCC or to report online abuse to the Internet Watch Foundation.
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