Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many arrests in the UK have resulted from Operation Rescue; how many charges were brought following those arrests; how many open investigations remain from those identified; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green

Operation Rescue was an investigation into a website that promoted the distribution of Indecent Images of Children. From 2007 to 2011, 240 intelligence packages were disseminated by the SOCA affiliated Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP) to Police Forces across the UK.

At the end of the intelligence dissemination phase of the operation in 2011 CEOP had been notified of 121 arrests; of these 33 individuals were convicted and 7 cautioned.

Further information regarding charges, convictions and open investigations is handled at a local level by the relevant police force and is not recorded centrally.