Hundreds of Glasgow paedophiles seeking help for online child porn habit

More than 800 people from the city have visited an online service since it was set up in October 2015, seeking help to stop viewing the explicit pictures or videos. 

The Stop It Now! Get Help site has seen a growing number of people looking for advice in the last two years, with bosses acknowledging the issue is “a massive problem”.

Experts say the resource, which can be accessed anonymously, is helping to tackle child sexual abuse and argue the number of people who are convicted of  the crime is just the “tip of the iceberg”.

Around a third of the total number of Scottish visitors to the site have come from Glasgow, which has the highest number of visitors of any Scottish city. 

Since October 2015, a total of 836 people from the city have visited the website compared to Edinburgh’s 791 and Dundee’s 173 people.

In the first 12 months since launching, around 300 people from the city visited the site, however in the last 10 months the number has risen by almost 80 per cent, with 555 people using the resource between October 2016 and today. 

Organisers say the increase is in line with the rising number of visitors throughout the UK, with a total of 3579 people from Scotland and more than 43,000 across the using the site since 2015.

Stuart Allardyce, national manager at Stop it Now Scotland said: “One of the things we do know is that the amount of images that are online and are being accessed by adults is increasing. 

“That is partly because self-produced images by adolescents are sometimes being uploaded onto websites, but in the majority of cases those images are generally created in the context of a child being sexually exploited.

“There are real victims here. This is not a victimless crime.”

Mr Allardyce, who is a former social worker, said the scale of the problem is “too big for the police” and said: “We know that this is a massive problem. 

“In Scotland last year around 640 people were charged with viewing and downloading indecent images of children.

 
“From several studies, we now know that the scale of the problem goes way beyond that – maybe as much as 10 times the size of that. 

“We know that those who are charged by the police are just the tip of the iceberg and it is a problem that is way too big for the police. We need a range of responses to make sure the police can target their resources on the most dangerous individuals.”

Mr Allardyce said his organisation, along with Police Scotland, has been running a campaign since July to encourage people, mainly men, to use the website if they are looking at indecent images

He explained: “What we have been doing is trying to explain to people that looking at these images is illegal. There is no grey area.

“We have also been trying to explain why these images are illegal, and that there are victims in this.

“Also, the implications of being arrested are massive – it can lead to sex offender registration, custody...it will have huge implications for your employment, for your family. 

“The repercussions are extremely serious.”

Detective Superintendent Elaine Galbraith, Head of Child Protection, Police Scotland, said: “Sharing and viewing indecent images of children is child sexual abuse and a criminal offence and as such we utilise our specialist departments and officers across local policing to pursue such offending behaviour.

“Police Scotland works with a range of partners to ensure there are pathways to prevention programmes to reduce the likelihood of escalation and re-offending either when someone is concerned about their sexual thinking or behaviour towards children or young people, or following a police investigation into offences. 

“We treat all reports and information that suggest that a child is at risk of online sexual abuse  with the highest priority and we will pursue and target the people involved.”

Anyone who is concerned about their own online behaviour or that of a loved one can visit Stop It Now for help at www.get-help.stopitnow.org.uk