UK plans to tighten the net on internet paedophiles

The UK government plans to update the laws on sexual offences, including taking account of the way that paedophiles are using the internet to contact children.

The practice of using the web to cultivate relationships with children, known as 'internet grooming', could soon be made illegal, if it can be shown that the intention behind making contact was to abuse the child concerned.

The Queen's Speech, which was delivered on Wednesday morning and lays out the government's legislative agenda for the next 12 months, included a commitment to bring forward a bill to review the laws on sexual offences.

The precise details of the bill will not be published until later this year, but it is likely that this bill will outlaw the grooming of children by paedophiles, following pressure from child protection charities.

A Command Paper, which precedes the full bill, was published on Wednesday. According to a Home Office spokesman, this explains that the sexual offences bill will introduce "a clear, coherent and effective set of laws that better respond to the issue of sexual abuse today, for example paedophilic use of the internet."

The Home Office spokesman said: "The command paper includes two elements - measures against those who exploit children via the internet, and civil orders to restrain people from contact with children for sexual purposes, whether online or offline."

He added "The government is committed to addressing this issue, and we've said in the past that we'll look at it."

Wendy McAuliffe, safety and privacy officer at Habbo, which operates Habbo Hotel, a chat and gaming website for teenagers, said: "Internet grooming was first brought to the public attention two years ago, and the problem has since continued to escalate. Children are becoming more aware of the risks that they face online, but education will never be enough to stop them from trusting strangers who they befriend online.

"No amount of parental control or filtering software will stop children from handing over their mobile phone number or home address to someone who has been carefully grooming them over a period of time.

"New legislation is key to deterring predators from this activity, and catching them before a sexual offence has been committed offline."

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet.co.uk