11 April 2014
"A paedophile is allowed to have intimate photos of a young girl he abused because the police cannot erase them from his confiscated laptop before they return it to him.
The man was jailed for nine years in 2013 after admitting a number of sex offences including assaulting a child under the age of 13.
He has formally asked for a laptop and a mobile telephone to be handed back, according to human rights campaigner Liberty, which is representing the victim and her family.
Photos of the victim dressed in swimwear and leotards are on the computer, but Dorset Police say they cannot delete them because they are not legally classified as indecent or prohibited.
Consequently, the man, who is in his 50s and cannot be named for legal reasons, will still have access to a large number of personal photos of one girl when he is freed"
23 April 2014
"Dorset Police will delete images of sex attack victims from an offender’s laptop despite being told it would be against the law to do so. Earlier this year, officers were asked to refuse the return of a laptop and other electronic devices to a man who had been convicted of sexual offences. The equipment was seized during the initial stages of the investigation, but was not used during court proceedings as it contained no indecent images.
Current legislation indicates the police should return all equipment to its owner in its original condition. However, Dorset Police believe returning the images would be incompatible with the victims’ privacy rights under European law"
Good news you may think, and in this case, a resounding YES.
However, current legislation that was used to seize this offenders laptop & phones states that if nothing illegal is found on them they need to be returned in their original condition - despite there being photographs of his victim on them in leotards and swimwear (not considered "Indecent" under categories A to C of IIOC).
Staggering isn't it?
The (in)human rights of the offender yet again outweighs the rights of the victim.
Ask yourself, should someone who abuses a child and has images / films of them stored on his/her computer be allowed to keep these images? These images may not be "indecent" in themselves, but the purpose of them being kept is certainly "indecent".
Should victims have to simply acknowledge legislation as it stands and put up with it?
No, of course not. Legislation as it stands is wrong. Sex offenders and paedophiles should not be allowed to keep images/films of their victims.
And this is where YOU come in.
Martyn Underhill, Dorset's Police & Crime Commissioner has started a petition to get this legislation changed.
Please click Here to add your name to this petition to stop sex offenders retaining photo's of their victims.
Please please share this as well - please help Martyn get this to 100,000 signatures and therefore considered for debate in the House of Commons. This needs to change and change ASAP!
Imagine if your child was a victim of a paedophile.
Imagine if the offender had photographs or films of your child on their computer.
Would YOU be happy for them to legally keep these photographs.........?
***** Small update from Jersey - please see below reply from the relevant authorities here:
"In any proceedings locally the court will make an order for destruction of devices containing Indecent Images of Children (IIOC) OR relevant material.
We would ensure that in these circumstances, as you set out below, the court were asked to make a complete destruction order. Any image of a victim we would argue is ‘relevant’."
Good news here then! ******
Speechless, just speechless. Paedophiles demanding to keep photos or filmed images of these children? What kind of rights justification can there really be, that can ever outweigh decent child protection?
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