THIRTY-THREE men from Cheshire have contacted a charity helpline in the past 12 months to get help to stop viewing sexual images of children online.

The men called a confidential helpline operated by ‘Stop it Now!’, a sexual abuse prevention campaign run by child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

In addition to these 33 men who rang the Stop it Now! Helpline, a further 12 adults from Cheshire rang over the same period to express their concerns about the online behaviour of another adult. These calls are typically from wives or parents.

The helpline offers anonymous, effective support for those worried about their own or someone else’s online sexual behaviour.

The calls from Cheshire, made between October 1, 2015, and September 30, 2016, represent a 10 per cent increase in the number of calls received from the same region over the previous 12 month period.

The 33 calls received in the 2015-16 period make up 2.1 per cent of the 1,551 calls received from across the UK from adults concerned about their online behaviour during the same period.

The figures come at a time when the police are reporting an escalation, across the UK, in online viewing and sharing of child abuse images.

In a BBC TV interview in October 2016, National Police Chiefs Council Lead for Child Protection, Chief Constable Simon Bailey, said that at least 100,000 people in the UK were now regularly viewing online sexual images of children.

Chief Superintendent Chris Green, from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Titan, said: “Every one of us has a part to play in putting a stop to the sexual exploitation of children online and I would encourage parents, grandparents, teachers, health professionals, social services and any other adults to take time to better educate themselves.

“Titan, working alongside forces across the region, is committed to the protection and wider safeguarding of young people, and in doing so we will work with partner agencies to, where possible, prevent such abuse and investigate such incidents.”

People from Cheshire accessing help to stop looking at indecent images of children are part of an overall figure of over 13,500 people from across the UK who have taken similar action to stop their offending behaviour since October 2015.

Many of these people are seeking help thanks to a Stop it Now! public awareness campaign.

Child sexual abuse prevention expert and founder of Stop it Now! , Donald Findlater, said: “Imagine what it is like for a husband and father to have to tell his wife and children that he has been arrested for viewing sexual images of children online. And then having to tell his boss. And then his friends.

“We have worked with thousands of men after they have been arrested - all with bitter regrets about the harm they have done to their families, to the victims in the images they viewed, and to themselves. We need the tens of thousands of men still viewing these images to realise that what they are doing is illegal and to make sure they stop. Here at Stop it Now! we give them all the help we can – by phone and online. And it is confidential.

“But we also want to hear from wives, partners, parents who are worried about a loved one’s sexual behaviour online. We must not turn a blind eye to this behaviour. Confidential help and support is available from Stop it Now!”