MP Welcomes Better Child Protection

Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow, has welcomed the passage through the Commons of the Sexual Offences Bill, which he says will provide much better systems of child protection. Neil has been a member of the Committee dealing with the detailed examination of the Bill, which was agreed by the Commons on Monday.

"The law has needed updating for some time" said Mr Gerrard. "The huge increase in the use of the Internet is just one example of the law needing to be changed to keep up with the way criminals now operate. There have been some very real concerns about paedophiles grooming young girls and boys through the use of Internet chatrooms. In a few cases this has lead to the young person being in very real danger because they have been persuaded to meet someone who have pretended to be of a similar age, but was really much older. Now grooming will be a criminal offence, and there will also be much tougher penalties for sexual assaults on children."

"During the passage of the Bill the Committee members met senior officers from Scotland Yard who specialise in dealing with paedophiles and sex offenders. Some of what they explained they had to deal with every day was quite shocking. What is often not realised is that the vast majority of offences of this nature against children are not carried out by strangers. Much more commonly it is family members, or someone already known to the child who is responsible, which can make these very difficult crimes to investigate and prosecute. The Bill we have just passed will go some way towards helping the Police in this task, by shutting off some of the loopholes which have been used to escape prosecution."

November 2003

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