THE head of the National Crime Agency has warned not enough paedos are being jailed.
Graeme Biggar said the present balance between rehabilitation in the community and prison “does not feel right”.
The NCA also issued a stark warning on the dangers of end-to-end encryption introduced by social media giant Meta, which it says will make it harder to keep children safe.
The agency advised parents “to think very carefully” about allowing children to use the company’s platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.
Mr Biggar spoke out as figures showed only a fifth of people convicted of viewing indecent images of children received a custodial sentence — with the rest given suspended or community sentences.
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He said: “We are in ongoing discussions with the Home Office about this. I think the balance needs to shift.”
Asked if he thought that more people should go to jail, he replied: “I do.”
Rob Jones, head of operations at the NCA, admitted the huge scale of online child abuse means that not all paedophiles could be jailed.
The NCA estimates there are between 680,000 and 830,000 adults in the UK who pose a sexual risk to children.
Mr Jones said: “We need to do other things in terms of treatment, diversion and disruption because they are not all going to be in prison.
“There is no ‘just looking at images’. You have got to confront somebody who gets gratification from seeing horrendous images.
“It is all the real world, particularly for victims.”
