Police in Lancashire are joining forces to support a campaign lead by a national child protection charity to tackle increasing numbers of sexual images of children online after 1,500 recorded offences in Lancashire last year.

The campaign forms part of a regional effort to tackle the growing demand for sexually explicit images of children and will bring together robust law enforcement work with work already being undertaken by UK child protection charity, The Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

The charity works to prevent people from viewing such illegal material in the first place, and to get them to stop if they have already started.

It directs offenders to the charity’s Stop it Now! Get Help website that hosts online self-help resources, as well as the Stop it Now! Confidential helpline (0908 1000 900) where they can get help to address their behaviour.

In 2022, there were 24,722 recorded offences of viewing and sharing indecent images of children across the North West reported to the foundation – a 37.1 per cent increase on the year before.

The Stop it Now! campaign has been running since 2015 with the support of the Home Office, police forces, other law enforcement agencies, local authorities and others to raise awareness of the consequences of offended and the confidential support available.

Police in Lancashire have been working extensively to detect and prosecute people downloading and sharing sexual images of children online.

Detective inspector Rachael Ashcroft said: “Within Lancashire alone, between 2021 and 2022, 1,5000 sought support from Stop it Now! Our message to anyone worried about their own or a loved one’s online behaviour is to seek support from the Stop it Now! helpline as soon as possible.

“Their helpline is confidential and anonymous but it could be instrumental in helping to prevent serious crimes from taking place with unimaginable consequences for both you, your family, or anyone else involved.

“Every day in Lancashire we deal with individuals who commit these types of offences from all walks of life. If we can, we need to prevent these types of offences from occurring in the first place and safeguard future victims.”

Lancashire police and crime commissioner Andrew Snowden said: “Online grooming and the exploitation of children are abhorrent crimes. I will continue to support digital innovations that give the police more ways to target those people taking part in online grooming and child abuse, to bring them to justice. Ensuring that victims can access help and support is also really important.

“The chief constable is delivering my Fighting Crime Plan to detect and prevent these crimes. We take every opportunity to work with regional and national partners to strengthen the response here in Lancashire, with campaigns like this supporting the work we do to relentlessly target offenders.”

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation provides support if:

  • You’re worried about your own thoughts or behaviour
  • You’re worried about another adult’s behaviour
  • You’re worried about a child or young person’s behaviour
  • You want information on how to keep children safe offline and online