BBC Documentaries

The Truth About Child Sex Abuse (2015x274)

Air date: Nov 24, 2015

As the Children’s Commissioner releases the results of the most comprehensive study of child sexual abuse ever conducted in the UK, we investigate its shocking findings. What do we really know about the impact of this horrific crime? How much still remains hidden behind closed doors? How many paedophiles are there in the UK? Who are the offenders and what drives them to abuse children? This programme has had full access to the report and digs deeper into the issue and its findings. Professor Tanya Byron, a psychologist who specialises in working with children and adolescents, and investigative journalist Tazeen Ahmad pick apart what the most up-to-date statistics actually mean and meet some of the victims and offenders to explore the truth about child sex abuse. A remarkable 17 year-old, abused from the age of six by her mother and stepfather, describes why she didn’t feel able to speak out and a teenage victim of abuse describes the fears around testifying in court. While the parents of April Jones, the five year-old kidnapped and killed by a paedophile, talk openly about their tragic experience. They are calling for a better understanding of the crime of child sex abuse, which is what this programme will try to achieve. And what of the offenders? A convicted internet sex offender is questioned about whether viewing online pornography could lead to perpetrating contact offences and we meet another convicted sex offender who believes he has been ‘cured’ by therapy, as well as the clinician who treated him.