We cannot arrest every paedophile, police admit

The head of the National Crime Agency said 50,000 people were regularly downloading illegal images and  it was 'unrealistic' to expect they would all be arrested
The head of the National Crime Agency said 50,000 people were regularly downloading illegal images and it was 'unrealistic' to expect they would all be arrested
GETTY IMAGES

The sheer number of people accessing child abuse images online in Britain means that many paedophiles will escape prosecution, the country’s top law enforcement officer has admitted.

Keith Bristow, head of the National Crime Agency (NCA), said that about 50,000 people were regularly downloading illegal images and that it was “unrealistic” to expect they would all be arrested.

The NCA would target suspects who were accessing more serious images or were more likely to have direct contact with children, he said. “Our responsibility is to focus on the greatest risk. But the wider responsibility that falls to all of us is to stop people getting involved in this activity, to help young people protect themselves.”

He said that to bring all those people to justice