Philip Thompson, 27, of Stockton-on-Tees England, pleaded guilty in Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough to being The "librarian" of an archive of nearly 250,000 images of child pornography.

He pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs of children, taking and distributing indecent photographs of children, possessing pictures showing child abuse, and causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The Judge gave him an indeterminate prison sentence, saying he must prove he is not a risk to society before he can be released.

I don't inow how one would go about proving he isn't a risk to society, but what interested me most about this case is that, given the indeterminate sentence, it's possible this guy can serve as little as three and a half years.

Now this isn't just a guy who had a collection of pictures. He himself took and distributed the pictures. He enticed children to pose for the pictures he took.

Is a three and a half year minimum too little? Should he ever be released?

The guy is a predator of children. If he were not a human being and preyed on children we would kill him without a moment's hesitation. I suggest he has forfeited his humanity by his actions and as such ought to be treated as no better than the ravenous predator he is.

I'm usually not one for vigillante justice, but in this case, it does'nt sound like a bad idea. All I know if I was one of the parents of one of the children in the pictures, this man probably would'nt make it to prison if I saw him first.

The minimum sentence is definately too short except when I think about the "indeterminate sentence" part. If they can't decide on a sentence then they must be wondering if it is really such a bad crime. Maybe they don't think it is one of the worst of crimes.

Due to recent events in my life I find this subject very hard but I must put my thoughts on this type of case here.

I know (from experience) that he will serve more than 3 1/2 years as he will given treatment/help with what he did. When he gets released from prison he will be very closely monitored as the UK has one of the strongest Sex Offenders Management Teams in the world. Take the recent release of Gary Glitter and Britain being the only country to accept him.

Not only will he be monitored but he will probably be give a SOPO (Sex Offenders Prevention Order) which will prevent him from using computers with internet connection in private. And then of course he will probably be signing the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Everyone who lives in the civilized world knows that exploitation of children is wrong, whether it is forcing them to work or using them as sex objects.

Everyone knows that anyone found guilty of such a crime will be loathed and despised by society at large for the rest of his life, will be forced to register as a sex offender, so his picture, name and address will be public knowledge.

He will be restricted as to the places he can live, and will be shunned by every decent person.

And yet, somehow, cases of this kind crop up every day, everywhere. What is it about some people that a sexual attraction to children blinds them to their obligations to society or their own behavior?

It stands to reason that these people must be totally unable to control their sexual desires, and as such, if they are caught, they should not be let out.

Locking this guy up in a dark cave forever doesn't sound too bad. At least society doesn't have to deal with him anymore then.

Feed him to Mayra Rosales and then shoot her in the head, if she's guilty, of course.

I'd say that indeterminate sentance is probably the best sentance available.
For example, if he was given a 20 year sentance he would be out at the latest age 47, and with time off for good behaviour, parole etc he might be out a lot earlier than that.
The only other sentance that would make sense is a life means life sentance, however i'm not sure if that is an option available to the judge in cases like this.
The advantage with this sentance is that if somehow they do cure him and make him safe to go out in public, he can be released.

Dax

Quite correct they cannot. Just as for example without medication neither can people with sever bipolar condition cannot control their emotions.
On the numbers involved, I'm not sure what the stats are, but i wonder what % of global population is
(i) paedophile
(ii) physco
(iii) sociopathic
and various other mental disorders.

Hopefully one day we will understand enough about these to cure them all.