A WEBSITE that aims to help people stop viewing sexual images of children online had 89 visitors from Worcester last year.
In 2016, the Stop it Now! Get Help website had a total of 171 visits from people in Worcestershire, with 89 of those coming from Worcester.
The sexual abuse prevention campaign run by child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, offers self-help tools to help users address their behaviour and stop looking at illegal images of children on the internet.
It also provides information and support to partners and friends of people arrested for, or suspected of, accessing online child abuse websites.
Steve Davies, Practitioner and the Project Manager at the West Midlands-based charity, The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, said: “For many years we have worked with thousands of men who have been arrested for viewing sexual images of children.
“The majority of men tell us that being arrested was a real wake-up call and were actually glad the police had intervened.
“Many knew what they were doing was wrong, but really struggled to change their abusive online behaviour on their own. That’s where our work at “Stop it Now” comes in.
“We work with these men to help them understand the harm they have caused the children in these images, and also the serious consequences for them and their families if they don’t get to grips with their online behaviour. Once they understand this, they become far less likely to reoffend.”
More than 16,000 people from across the UK have taken action to stop their illegal online activity behaviour since October 2015, but the charity is encouraging others to do the same.
Over the last year, 16 men from Worcestershire also called the confidential Stop it Now! phoneline, seeking advice, and these make up just 1 per cent of the 1,504 calls received from across the UK in 2016.
Visit www.get-help.stopitnow.org.uk or call 0808 1000 900 to get help.
