A documentary featuring Cheshire Police’s sexual consent campaign will air on BBC One and BBC Three this week.
This comes following the publication of the PEEL (Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy) inspection report by HMICFRS (His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services) where the constabulary was graded ‘outstanding’ at protecting vulnerable people and managing offenders, with the consent campaign recognised by inspectors as innovative practice.
The documentary – Hunting The Online Sex Predators – follows an entrepreneur and social media influencer from Northern Ireland, James Blake, as he takes an in-depth look at ‘cybersex’ crime in the UK and beyond.
The documentary sees James sit alongside students from The Whitby High School in Ellesmere Port to see first-hand how Cheshire Police is helping to educate young people about cybersex crimes, and witness the Constabulary’s educational consent campaign being delivered to pupils.
James then discussed the campaign with the students, who highlighted how beneficial it was for them, whilst flagging their concerns of how harmful and violent content pops up on their social media channels.
This leads James to investigate what’s going on, explore algorithms, whether social media is promoting harmful content, and to the discovery that British men are among the worst in the world for the purchase of live-streamed abuse.
As part of his research, he also follows a live investigation by the Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT), where a 21-year-old man was subsequently arrested for possession of indecent images of children.
Detective chief inspector for the Force’s Protecting Vulnerable People team, Adam Alexander, said: “Online sexual offending is wide ranging, it includes the sexual grooming of children, the taking and distribution of child sexual abuse material, the live streaming of children being sexually abused and ‘sextortion’ – a form of online blackmail where criminals threaten to share sexual pictures, videos, or information about a victim.
“These types of crimes can leave victims and survivors with devastating physical, psychological and emotional traumas that they subsequently have to live with for the rest of their lives.
“It is so important to educate young people on the possible dangers of the online space and protect them from these dangers. I am pleased the public will see just how hard the constabulary works to keep young people in Cheshire and further afield safe and make sure anyone involved in these heinous crimes are made to face the consequences of their actions.”
Hunting The Online Sex Predators will air on BBC One tonight from 10.40pm, and BBC Three on Wednesday, February 26, from 9pm.
The programme will be available to view after broadcast via BBC iPlayer.
The Constabulary’s sexual consent campaign was launched in September 2024 to all secondary schools across Cheshire following an increase (since 2019) of just over 60 per cent in recorded sexual offences in Cheshire where the victim and the suspect/offender are both under the age of 18.
