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‘UK shy of enough land to lock up all child sex abusers’

Sunday, 31 May 2015 5:47 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 31 May 2015 6:00 PM ]

Britain’s child protection chief says the UK does not have enough land to build prisons and put all of its child sex abusers behind bars.

The Deputy Children’s Commissioner for England, Sue Berelowitz, who is currently chairing a government inquiry into the problem, pointed out that the public would be shocked by the sheer scale of the problem when she reports in November, the Telegraph said.

She blamed the spread of pornography through the Internet and social media for the growing problem of an increasingly sexualized society.

Speaking at the Hay Festival, Mrs Berelowitz said: “We live in a highly sexualized world in which for the most part it is considered quite acceptable to do as they want with females, and too many females think that is something they must comply with because they think it is a part of growing up.”

“Child porn and the proliferation of indecent images of children, and all the stuff we are seeing on social media which is undoubtedly having an impact on young people growing up and their impressions of sex and sexuality.

“I want us to keep in mind that people who sexually abuse children are somehow another breed. They are here and in our midst.

“If the CPS were to prosecute everyone we would need a rolling prison program. I would say there probably isn’t the land to build enough prisons."

Now Peter Saunders, founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, says such comments might technically be correct “because there are so many offenders that we wouldn’t be able to build enough prisons to house them all.”

“The issue of paedophiles sexually abusing children is a massive, massive problem, a huge problem that permeates every sector of society,” Saunders told Press TV on Sunday.

He also called for mechanisms to address the widespread issue in the UK.

The Berelowitz report comes in the wake of abuse scandals in areas including Rotherham, where it was reported that 1,400 children were abused between 1997 and 2013.

A previous inquiry into sex abuse by gangs revealed that from August 2010 to October 2011, at least 2,409 children were sexually exploited by gangs and groups across England.

Scotland Yard is also being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) over claims that it covered up child sex abuse because of the involvement of influential MPs and police officers between the 1970 and 2000s.

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