Anger as expert says jail is not the 'best place' for paedophiles Some can be 'managed', claims chief

THE man leading Britain's battle against online paedophiles wasyesterday accused of being soft on child pornography.

Jim Gamble, a former senior police officer, infuriated children'scharities by suggesting some internet offenders should not go tojail.

Mr Gamble is chief executive of the Child Exploitation and OnlineProtection Centre or CEOP, a body set up last year to make the websafer for children.

CEOP has helped catch offenders who prey on children online,trawling chatrooms and websites for youngsters to groom.

But Mr Gamble does not think jail is necessarily the best placefor those paedophiles who have still to live out their deviantfantasies offline.

Yesterday he said: "We shouldn't be sending everyone that evercommits an offence - particularly of the viewing kind - to prison.

"If someone is at the beginning of the spiral of abuse, wherethere is evidence to indicate during the investigation that thisperson may well benefit from a police caution and be managed, thenof course that needs to be done."

Few argue that paedophiles who manage to hurt children are noworse than those who merely view abuse, through pornography. Butcampaigners yesterday said there should be no soft option for thosewho download dangerous images.

Michele Elliott, director of children's charity Kidscape, said:"I agree with Mr Gamble that these people need treatment.

However, to treat them in the community sends a message that whatthey have done is not very serious.

"I believe that if you download child pornography, you are justas guilty as the people who are taking the photographs. You create amarket, because you want to view child pornography, therefore achild is abused for your pleasure.

"As far as I am concerned, that means prison.

"Obviously, that means different length prison sentences fordifferent crimes, but as far as I'm concerned, there's a childvictim out there, and justice demands that you go to prison forhaving been involved in the abuse of a child."

She added: "Offenders, while locked up, should receive mandatorytreatment, but they should not be left in the community. Jim Gambleis effectively saying 'we've caught people doing something that'sabhorrent, but we've got too many to deal with', but that's crazy."

Other charities admit jail may not be the only answer to childpornography users.

Dame Mary Marsh, the director of the NSPCC, said: "The full forceof the law must be brought to bear on people who sexually abusechildren. Child sex abusers should be sent to prison when theseverity of their crimes merits such a sentence.

"However, prison alone cannot deal with the scale of child sexualabuse. A range of measures needs to be developed, including the useof custody, treatment for those who sexually abuse, and effectivemonitoring and supervision of sex offenders living in thecommunity."

CEOP has a team of child experts and police officers workingonline but Mr Gamble yesterday also admitted they simply could notbe everywhere at once.