I understand the thought processes of the chief constable who feels that those who merely look at pornographic images of children should not be pursued with the full machinery of the law. After all, just looking does nobody any harm, does it? What he should have considered is that behind every image on the Web is an exploited, probably damaged, child. Adding a click to the count of views of the disgusting web-sites only encourages abusers to persist.
Moreover, serious abusers can get away with "coughing" for a lesser offence as prosecuting authorities are intent on securing easy convictions. Such was the case with Peter Righton, as detailed by Cathy Fox. He "worked in children's homes, including in Maidstone, Kent, and was a lecturer in child protection and residential care, including at the Open University and in Birmingham. He was Director of Education at the National Institute of Social Work, and vice-chairman of governors at New Barns School in Toddington, Gloucestershire. He was also a consultant to the National Children's Bureau."
In spite of a sickening record of child abuse, which he had even documented, "Righton had been allowed to die with just one minor conviction for possession of indecent images of children".
The most chilling paragraph of Cathy Fox's report is this:
Much has been made of Savile being given the keys to Broadmoor.
Righton didn’t need the keys, he could walk in to any children’s home or local authority boarding school in the UK on ” official business ”
Those premises may have included facilities in South Wales.
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