Nineteen North Yorkshire men seek help to stop viewing child images

Nineteen men from North Yorkshire have sought a charity’s help to deal with their attraction to sexual images of children.

A helpline has been working with these men in the last 12 months to help them stop viewing sexual images of children online.

The men called a confidential helpline operated by Stop it Now! A sexual abuse prevention campaign run by child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

The helpline offers anonymous support for those worried about their own or someone else’s online sexual behaviour.

The calls from North Yorkshire, made between 15 November 2015 and 14 November 2016, represent 1.3% of the 1,461 calls received from across the UK from adults concerned about their online behaviour during the same period.

The figures for people accessing help through the Stop it Now! helpline and website come at a time when the police are reporting an escalation, across the UK, in online viewing and sharing of child abuse images.

In 2013 the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) estimated that as many as 50,000 individuals in the UK were involved in downloading or sharing sexual images of children. But it's now believed the numbers are much higher.

Child sexual abuse prevention expert and founder of Stop it Now!, Donald Findlater, said:

“Over the past 14 years Stop it Now! has worked with thousands of sex offenders, including many men who had been arrested for viewing sexual images of under 18s online. We help them change their behaviour and get their lives back on a decent track. Most had not thought that others would ever find out - seeing their online lives as somehow separate from the real world. Few had considered the consequences of getting caught. Following arrest, their lives are often in turmoil.

“Imagine what it is like for a husband and father to have to tell his wife and children that he has been arrested for viewing sexual images of children online. To have to tell his Mum and Dad. Then having to tell his boss. And then his friends. Most have bitter regrets about the harm they have done to their families, to the victims in the images they viewed, and to themselves. But they also tell us they might never have stopped their illegal online behaviour if they’d not been caught.

“We need the tens of thousands of men still viewing these images today to realise that what they are doing is illegal and harmful and to make sure they stop. Here at Stop it Now! we give them all the help we can - by phone and online. And it is confidential. If this is you, please make that call.

“But we also want to hear from wives, partners, parents who are worried about a loved one’s sexual behaviour online. We must not turn a blind eye to this behaviour. Confidential help and support is available from Stop it Now! “

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