August 13, 2014
No one can seem to explain why it is that pornography is legal, except that it maybe has something to do with human rights. Or perhaps free speech.
It does not seem to be very helpful to society, however.
A judge condemned the corrosive effect of online pornography after a schoolboy who visited vile websites abducted and raped a girl of ten.
The boy, who was 14 at the time, stopped his victim as she walked home from school, claiming he needed help looking for something he had lost.
Once they were alone, he grabbed her by the mouth and told her not to scream as he violently assaulted her using methods he had seen on free porn sites.
A judge said he ‘used, abused then abandoned his victim’ after repeatedly watching internet porn that ‘treats women as objects and not people’ on his home computer.
At Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday, Judge Robin Onions said the boy wanted someone to have sex with and ‘because of your age and build, it was not going to be an adult woman and you looked for someone weaker and smaller than you’.
He said it was a sustained and persistent attack, adding: ‘There was also a degree of planning as a result of the corrosive effect of the viewing of adult pornography and isolating the victim from being seen in what was a busy part of the town.’
The teenager’s mother was reportedly unaware that he had visited such sites from his bedroom at their Shropshire home.
Last night MPs called for urgent measures to stop children using such sites.
Helen Goodman, Labour’s media spokesman, said: ‘This horrific case goes to show how dangerous online pornography is for young people.
‘The Government’s failure to introduce a legal requirement for internet filters… is letting down young people.’
Jon Brown, of the NSPCC, said: ‘This case is a horrendous example of just how badly wrong things can go when children get access to inappropriate and abusive adult material.’
The Daily Mail’s campaign against online porn calls for internet service providers to block adult content unless a household opts to see it.
The Government has pledged that by the end of 2014 all internet users will be asked whether they want to install a family-friendly filter. Last year, BT, TalkTalk and Sky agreed to offer such filters.
In April, the Government revealed that it is drawing up plans that will force UK-based pornography sites to prove their users are over 18.
David Cameron has also said that possessing online porn depicting rape will become illegal in England and Wales, in line with Scotland.