WHY EVIL GROUP WON’T BE BANNED (Daily Star, 24th August 1983)
Premier Margaret Thatcher and Home Secretary Leon Brittan want to outlaw the Paedophile Information Exchange.
But Home Office experts have warned that it would be difficult and would need new legislation.
Mr. Brittan has been advised that he could ban PIE and make it illegal for anyone to be a member of the group.
But the experts believe the child sex perverts could just change the name of their organisation to get round the law.
MPs are hoping that PIE leaders – by openly advocating sex with children – can be prosecuted for conspiracy.
Last night Mr. Brittan angrily condemned the beasts of Brighton – three perverts who sexually attacked a six-year-old boy.
The Home Secretary, who broke his holiday to speak on behalf of every parent, said: “I am horrified and revolted at the attack.”
It is almost unprecedented for the Home Secretary to speak out publicly on a crime under investigation by the police.
But Mr. Brittan, drafted into the Home Office to toughen up the Government’s law and order policies, was so outraged he decided to hit out.
He has also called for a full report from Sussex police into the attack, which has attracted a reward of £55,000 to catch the perverts.
The Home Secretary’s strong words are a clear signal to the courts to react to public feeling and hand out tough sentences on men who sexually abuse children.
Mr. Brittan is also to study the growing file of child sex attacks which yesterday led to police chiefs telling the Daily Star that no child in Britain is safe.
Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens has written to Mr. Brittan protesting about the activities of the PIE group, and last night a senior Home Office official confirmed: “This matter is now being urgently studied.”
MPs expect Mr. Brittan to deal with the problems of sex attacks on children when he speaks at the Tory Party conference in October.
Crime Correspondent James Nicholson writes Sir Thomas Hetherington, the Director of Public Prosecutions, is to be presented with a bulky file on PIE in the next few days.
The file has taken two years to compile.
Scotland Yard detectives from the obscene publications squad have been investigating the group following the jailing of several of its members.
A Scotland Yard detective said last night: “There has been an ongoing investigation into this question of sex with children which is the alleged aim of the organisation.
“It just happens that the report is to be sent to the director at a time when there are several sex assaults being made prominent.”
PIE was established in America and was know to have links with Britain in 1975.
Several men connected with the organisation have appeared before courts.
In 1978, four men accused of offences with boys they met through PIE were given long jail sentences.
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WHY EVIL GROUP WON’T BE BANNED (Daily Star, 24th August 1983)
Premier Margaret Thatcher and Home Secretary Leon Brittan want to outlaw the Paedophile Information Exchange.
But Home Office experts have warned that it would be difficult and would need new legislation.
Mr. Brittan has been advised that he could ban PIE and make it illegal for anyone to be a member of the group.
But the experts believe the child sex perverts could just change the name of their organisation to get round the law.
MPs are hoping that PIE leaders – by openly advocating sex with children – can be prosecuted for conspiracy.
Last night Mr. Brittan angrily condemned the beasts of Brighton – three perverts who sexually attacked a six-year-old boy.
The Home Secretary, who broke his holiday to speak on behalf of every parent, said: “I am horrified and revolted at the attack.”
It is almost unprecedented for the Home Secretary to speak out publicly on a crime under investigation by the police.
But Mr. Brittan, drafted into the Home Office to toughen up the Government’s law and order policies, was so outraged he decided to hit out.
He has also called for a full report from Sussex police into the attack, which has attracted a reward of £55,000 to catch the perverts.
The Home Secretary’s strong words are a clear signal to the courts to react to public feeling and hand out tough sentences on men who sexually abuse children.
Mr. Brittan is also to study the growing file of child sex attacks which yesterday led to police chiefs telling the Daily Star that no child in Britain is safe.
Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens has written to Mr. Brittan protesting about the activities of the PIE group, and last night a senior Home Office official confirmed: “This matter is now being urgently studied.”
MPs expect Mr. Brittan to deal with the problems of sex attacks on children when he speaks at the Tory Party conference in October.
Crime Correspondent James Nicholson writes Sir Thomas Hetherington, the Director of Public Prosecutions, is to be presented with a bulky file on PIE in the next few days.
The file has taken two years to compile.
Scotland Yard detectives from the obscene publications squad have been investigating the group following the jailing of several of its members.
A Scotland Yard detective said last night: “There has been an ongoing investigation into this question of sex with children which is the alleged aim of the organisation.
“It just happens that the report is to be sent to the director at a time when there are several sex assaults being made prominent.”
PIE was established in America and was know to have links with Britain in 1975.
Several men connected with the organisation have appeared before courts.
In 1978, four men accused of offences with boys they met through PIE were given long jail sentences.