Unfortunately not many people will stand up for this type of offence publicly due to the obvious backlash and misconceptions made by the crowd.

Personally I sympathise with most "offenders", especially those convicted of offences like this. I think the knock-on effect is massively disproportionate to making the mistake of "viewing content". I don't believe it benefits society as a whole or anyone other than those employed in the public sector looking to maintain statistics and funding. I think that for "image viewing" offences there should be a warning before prosecution for many reasons. He makes a great point about there should be more done by the tech companies to prevent this material becoming available in the first place.

The terminology just shows how twisted the justice system and reporting come across and unfortunately the majority of people can't see past that and will put someone guilty of an images offences in the same boat as someone who has physically harmed children themselves.

I can relate to being labelled by an ambigious term. I would describe my own offence as retaliating to someone with online harassment who antagonised me first, however the law in Scotland seems to have redefined the word stalking as "sending text messages" instead of the traditional following people around/sitting outside their house in the bushes etc.

You can certainly hear the anger, frustration and emotion in this letter. I can relate to a lot of this having appeared in the press for my conviction and the effect it had on sooo many people around me and, more frustratingly, still does. I don't have children of my own, but I understand there is another level of hurt here too.

However, targetting journalists is wrong. Even after being on the receiving end, a free press is far more important than this for many, many reasons. The decision to publish a story is as important if not more important than being aware of a story and NOT publishing it.

What I believe does need independently evaluating is The Google Effect and news being online. Local rags have always been aware of court stories but a story which was once disregarded as fish and chip paper the next day now lives forever online in clear view in one click. In addition, the tinderbox that is social media - cue the argument about Fake News and at the moment that social media platforms such as Facebook act as publishers because it is published a linkable piece of media with the story (which terrifyingly could include wrong details). Importantly, a point about having all these labels thrown at the offender and NOT going to prison while still living in society. Finally, the huge rate of suicides to do with this crime, especially triggered by fear of press coverage. Although, as we know, making a noise in public about all of this would attract very little sympathy. It's all unfortunate and, in my view, hopelessly inhumane.

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Fighting or Accepting - its difficult to know which is right and when.

Hi punter99,

You have discovered a powerfully worded document and I am pleased you shared it.

In honesty the "offence" does not matter as you could replace the word "images" with any of the words of our offences and the emotional impact of the document would not change.

We know the reason why the "media" and so called Justice System allow and assist in creating this type of reporting, so I will not repeat those facts or my dislike that it is allowed.
We know the style of reporting will never change however if a restriction / ban on publishing the address of the offender would be created then that in one small way, may help protect the unintended victims we created when we offended.

It is not a perfect solution for obvious reasons but it could assist in limiting the damage to the unintended victims.

Again thanks for sharing it.

Society suggests I must let go of all my expectations but I disagree, as whilst I have a voice, I have hope.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
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This forum supports these words, thank you Unlock and your contributors.

I've reprinted this letter, which I came across, on another forum. It's written by the partner of an offender and it's very good. It was described as an open letter and published on a website that is open, for any member of the public to read, so I don't feel like I am compromising anyone's privacy by reprinting it here.

"Dear Journalist,

It will just be another day for you. Sitting in the courtroom, listening to the details of yet another indecent images case. Yet another, because in recent years, you have noticed that there are a lot more of these cases coming through the courts. Perhaps you have thought about that. Perhaps not.

When you get back to your desk, as your fingers hover over the keyboard, you can decide which socially taboo label to use as a headline grabber. You have the power to decide the angle of the story and the impact it will have. And quite rightly, where children are involved in crimes, there is a visceral reaction from the public.

What you won't see on that day, after you submit your story to the editor, will be the lasting impact that it will have on my children. The impact that it has already had, as their worlds have been turned upside down this year. Firstly, by the arrival of the police: 'The Knock' as it is commonly known. Secondly, by the restrictions placed upon the family by social services, and their father not being allowed to be as present in their lives. Thirdly, by the misery and sadness suddenly permeating the household. And fourthly, the fear of the media reporting the case and stigmatising them, by default. What the people sharing the story online won't see, is that every time it is shared, my children are stigmatized further.

In fact, the oldest child has already spent two nights in hospital, suicidal, due to the changes in our lives caused by the interventions of various agencies, and is currently experiencing the all-consuming fear of what lies ahead with press reporting, and how to possibly be able to navigate the path ahead, the path of public shame and vitriol. It shouldn't be something that a child should have to worry about.

As I type, I am between packing up boxes of our possessions. My children and I are effectively going into hiding. Plagued by fear of reporting of the court appearances ahead. Not knowing whether we can return to our home town safely, whether we might need to change our (rare) surname. The children like their name. It's part of their identity and they are rather attached to it. They won't be joining their friends and starting back at school this term (one at primary, one at secondary- huge rites of passage, missed) in fear of the press reports and what lies ahead.

Now you might shake your head and say, well these offenders should know what all of this does. They should realise that they are putting their own children at risk from the fallout and it's the offender's problem not mine. I am here to report the news and if I don't do so then we don't have a free press. They should have known they would lose everything. Absolutely! A point on which we agree. Offenders should take responsibility for the vast impact of their actions upon their relatives. For the harm that is caused to children in viewing this hideous material. For breaking the law and looking at things that should never be looked at, or searched for. Surely they must have known that it would come to this?

What if, however, the 'hung, drawn and quartered' approach to reporting of people accused or convicted of viewing indecent images isn't actually helping the cause? What if it isn't actually acting as a deterrent? (and evidence strongly points toward the fact that it isn't, with cases growing and growing). What if the reporting is not deterring the crime, and instead, is actually harming the relatives and children of offenders by ostracizing them from society?

Public awareness of these crimes is low. The terminology doesn't help: 'making' an image is almost always interpreted by readers as someone having created an image. A quick look at the comments section on any news report will bear this out. Why does this matter? Because perhaps if people realise the truth it might prevent at least some of the crimes (I am not naive enough to think that it would deter all!). What if people realised that 'making' an image can occur when an image is viewed? (as the cache makes a copy), or even when an image is searched for? Or when a link is clicked on? Perhaps better education around the actual offences might make people think twice. And surely that would be a good thing. It would actually protect those children who have their lives ruined by having featured in this vile material.

I didn't have a clue until learning more from these forums and from Lucy Faithfull and indeed the police (who informed me of the large amount of legal adult material that they discovered) that watching legal adult material can become an addiction and can lead otherwise law-abiding people down a dark and deviant path of destruction. Why didn't I know about this? Why didn't I know the signs of internet addiction, in the person who is closest to me in the world?? I understand that legal adult material is completely unregulated online. It should not be possible that legal material provides links to horrific and deviant material. But it can and does.
Perhaps you could use your platform to call out the tech companies, the ones who are not held to account (as yet, no regulator exists). Perhaps someone can attempt to discover why it is that advertisers will withdraw from a platform who carries fake news, yet they don't back out when it's reported that the same platform allowed for over 50% of child grooming cases to occur on its watch.

Will the Online Harms Bill ever get done?

I read that there are 70 MILLION or so indecent images out there online, with the same number of searches for indecent material being blocked by the Internet Watch Foundation in April this year in the UK alone! I have also read an estimate that 100,000 people a year are viewing this vile deviant material. Why? How is this allowed?

I think perhaps that we have the same goals in mind. I, like you, would like for the truth to be told, and to create a shockwave in society, ultimately with the goal of protecting children from these awful crimes, and protecting the 'secondary victims' (a term used by Professor Belinda Winder) who are dragged into this, simply by being related to an offender.

I feel that the way to do this has to change. There has to be more public awareness around what constitutes a crime. There has to be more consideration as to when and how these crimes are reported in the press. And there has to be a call for the tech giants to do their part and also to help to educate the public around the gross perils of the internet. Where are the people who are creating this content? I very rarely read about these people being brought to justice. I barely ever read about the child victims being found.

So, if you sit in the courtroom on the day, please think of my children too.

As I sit in the hallway, staring at the boxes, I don't know what our future holds. Can we return to our home? Do we have to run away? Do we keep running forever? Change our identity?

Please think of a better way that we can achieve our goals without throwing these young people and families into the lion's den, by association. There must be a different way than this, surely.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my request,

Best wishes"