Child sex doll seizures lead police to unknown paedophiles
Written by News on 31/07/2017
Dozens of previously unknown suspected paedophiles have been identified through seizures of "anatomically accurate" child-like sex dolls.
Border Force officers have seized 123 of the lifelike silicone sex aids since March 2016, leading to seven men being charged with importing them, including one jailed in June for two years, eight months.
Of those seven, six have also faced allegations linked to child abuse images.
The latest, former primary school governor David Turner, 72, pleaded guilty to importing the child sex doll after his claim that the doll was not obscene was dismissed at Canterbury Crown Court.
Turner had earlier admitted possessing or making more than 34,000 indecent images of children aged three to 16.
Dan Scully, deputy director for intelligence operations at the Border Force, said the dolls were often going to people who were committing other offences in relation to the harm of children.
"They were also, critically, people who were otherwise unknown to UK law enforcement in having an interest in sexual activity with children."
The dolls, which can cost thousands of pounds and weigh around 55lbs (25kg), are often manufactured in Hong Kong and China and arrive in the UK via online shopping sites.
They are extremely lifelike, according to Liz Stewart, operations manager at the National Crime Agency’s (NCA’s) Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP).
"They are the weight of a seven-year-old child, they are not something that is the traditional blow-up doll…(They are) very, very different – very, very more accurate anatomically," she said.
As well as having false eyelashes and crooked fingers and toes, their silicone skin can be warmed up via a USB device. Other accessories include wigs and a cleaning device.
It is not illegal to own a child sex doll, forcing authorities to prosecute under a specific charge of importing an indecent or obscene article.
Neil Brown, director of law firm decoded:Legal, said: "This is different to the possession of indecent images, or images of extreme pornography, where mere possession alone is a criminal offence. Perhaps we will see a new law soon, covering possession of obscene dolls or objects?"
Ms Stewart endorsed that view, saying: "I think it’s got to be through the full range of this criminality, from manufacture to sale, to import, to possess.
"And we need to make sure it’s future-proofed in case there is the introduction of sexbots, the sex robots."
Jon Brown, head of development for the NSPCC, said he wanted more to be done to tackle the issue .
"The NSPCC is calling on Government to take action to criminalise the manufacturing, distribution and possession of these grotesque dolls, in the same way it does indecent images of children," he said.
"There is a risk that those using these child sex dolls…could become desensitised and their behaviour becomes normalised to them, so that they can go on to harm children, as is often the case with those who view indecent images."
(c) Sky News 2017: Child sex doll seizures lead police to unknown paedophiles
