More than four in five offenders convicted over child sexual abuse images avoid prison. It’s time to crack down on paedophiles.

Read that again.

These are offences involving images and video of children, often incredibly young, being sexually abused and exploited. Yet new analysis of Ministry of Justice sentencing data shows that just 17.9% of those convicted in 2025/26 received a custodial sentence.

Ten years ago, the figure was 23.4%. Still shameful. But instead of getting tougher, we appear to be getting weaker.

The same data shows how warped the criminal justice system's priorities are. Someone convicted of going equipped to steal (but not actually stealing) was almost twice as likely to be sent to prison, with 32.8% being jailed.

That being caught preparing to steal a bike is more likely to land you in jail than making child sexual abuse images should trouble us all.

My own county even has cases where a teacher made indecent images of children but still avoided jail.

Every child sexual abuse image has a victim at its heart who lived through horrific abuse and exploitation.

Whose trauma was photographed or videoed for the gratification of others.

Every time the material is downloaded, viewed or shared, the abuse is perpetuated.

Offenders are not passively looking at images on a screen. They are participating in a complex ecosystem of child sexual abuse.

As Hertfordshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner, it’s been a privilege to meet some of the detectives who identify and investigate paedophiles and protect their child victims. They are incredible people doing vital but difficult work.

And the threat is getting worse.

Earlier this year, the National Crime Agency warned that child sexual abuse was increasing in severity, complexity and accessibility. Police forces are now arresting around 1,000 suspected offenders a month. The NCA says offenders increasingly exploit children to produce more indecent and depraved imagery.

Our police officers do their job. Too often the rest of the criminal justice system then seems unwilling to match their determination.

That frustration erupted into public view this week when Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley made an extraordinary intervention following the sentencing of Zafer Dogan. Despite police and prosecutors opposing bail, the court allowed him to return to his flat overlooking a children’s playground.

Sir Mark’s response should be heard in Westminster: “The children should be put first, not the paedophile”.

He is right.

His intervention concerned bail rather than sentencing policy, but it points to a wider problem. Police chiefs, officers and public increasingly question whether our criminal justice system gives sufficient weight to protecting victims and the public from those who pose a risk.

That is why the Government should now review sentencing for child sexual abuse images offences.

Parliament should examine whether the threshold for custody is right, whether sentences reflect the seriousness of the offending and whether a stronger deterrent is needed. Sentencing must keep pace with the growing threat.

Prison can’t be the answer to every crime. But neither can prison overcrowding become an excuse for not taking the sexual abuse of children seriously, especially when you’re more likely to be jailed for going equipped to steal a bike.

Technology has transformed the threat. The NCA is warning us about its growing scale and severity. Our sentencing framework must keep pace.

The message from our justice system should be unmistakable: children first.

If you participate in their sexual abuse and exploitation, you should expect serious consequences.

With more than four out of five paedophiles currently avoiding prison, that message simply isn’t being sent loudly enough.

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Jonathan Ash-Edwards is the Hertfordshire Police & Crime Commissioner.

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