Sir Andrew has made his forthright views known to ACPO via Terry Grange, Chief Constable of Dyfed and Powys, who is responsible for the association's strategy in relation to child protection. He added: 'When an offence of this gravity is liable to occur and the view is that to obtain evidence would be an interference with the human rights of the victim, one may be looking at it through the wrong end of the telescope.' There has been a tug-of-war between the obvious need to detect or prevent cases and the trepidation many people feel about the Human Rights Act and its spin-offs.' 'It would be a strange result if the investigation were to be inhibited, let alone derailed, by some overriding concern-for her privacy. 'It strikes me that the criminal legislation, which carries the maximum sentence of life for having sexual intercourse with children under the age of 13, is for the protection of the child. Sir Andrew said: 'I personally take the view, in the context of a suspected offence against a child, that it is obvious the safety of the child comes first and I therefore don't consider that the right of the child to privacy can play a significant part when it comes to deciding whether, for her own protection, covert surveillance should be used to detect or prevent an offence against her.
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Now, ACPO has been advised by Sir Andrew Leggatt, the former Lord Justice of Appeal who was appointed Chief Surveillance Commissioner in 1998, that the safety of the child must over-ride her right to privacy. The loophole was first highlighted by Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who wrote to the Prime Minister and the Association of Chief Police Officers with his concerns.
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Helpless parents desperate to end these illegal sexual relationships were told officers were unable to intervene unless the child herself made a complaint.Īnd officers claimed they were in danger of breaching the child's human rights if they gathered evidence without her co-operation. The breakthrough comes in the wake of a Mail on Sunday campaign which revealed how paedophiles were seducing girls as young as 12, and police were unable to stop them.
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The Government's Chief Surveillance Officer, who reports directly to the Prime Minister, has agreed that such techniques can be used in the battle to protect young girls from paedophiles: a move that has been welcomed by Chief Constables. Police have been given the allclear to use bugging and secret filming to track down sex perverts who are using a legal loophole to prey on young girls.