Female teacher sentenced for possession of child sexual abuse images

Successful conviction of a female English Teacher for possession of child sexual abuse imagery shows need to remain vigilant.

IWF CEO Susie Hargreaves says: “If today’s sentencing of a senior female teacher for making and possessing indecent images of children tells us anything, it’s that anyone can be guilty of this crime and we must remain vigilant. All too often the possession, creation or sharing of these images is seen as a victimless crime. But the children in the images are real and their suffering is very real.

“Our recent annual report identified 68,092 URLs that were confirmed as containing illegal child sexual abuse imagery. 69% of the children in the images were assessed as being aged 10 or under. 1,788 were confirmed as two or under. A third of these images were assessed as category ‘A’, which is the rape or sexual torture of a child. These are hideous images of very young children.

“We’re working closely with internet industry, Government, police and charity partners to stop online child sexual abuse imagery and believe in a robust, zero tolerance approach. Each and every time an illegal image of a child is viewed or shared, that child is re-victimised. That’s just not acceptable and it’s something we’re working hard to put an end to.

“In the last two years, since we started proactively searching for these images, we’ve seen an increase of over 400% in confirmed reports of online child sexual abuse imagery. Yet despite our success in identifying and taking down these images from the internet, we know this is no time to become complacent and we’ll continue to be vigilant.”

Ends

Contact: Lisa Stacey, IWF Communications Manager

+44 (0) 1223 203030 or +44 (0) 7929 553679.

Notes to editors:

Click here for a copy of the 2015 Annual Report.

What we do:

We make the internet a safer place. We help victims of child sexual abuse worldwide by identifying and removing online images and videos of their abuse. We search for child sexual abuse images and videos and offer a place for the public to report them anonymously. We then have them removed. We’re a not for profit organisation and are supported by the global internet industry and the European Commission.

The IWF is part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, working with Childnet International and the South West Grid for Learning to promote the safe and responsible use of technology.