CAMPAIGNERS last night (Tuesday) welcomed the decision of Judge Howard Crowson to jail a sex offender - even though he might not receive treatment to cure his "addiction".

The National Association for People Abused in Childhood was the first to back The Northern Echo's calls for offenders to be dealt with on the merits of their crimes.

The charity's chief executive, Pete Saunders, said their need for treatment - which he said has not been proved to work - should not be put above victims.

Mr Saunders said: "Great. This judge clearly 'gets it'. Images of children being raped and tortured are not even remotely victimless crimes.

"People pay others to trade in these vile scenes but we must never forget that there are real victims involved. Some will never cope with what they suffered.

"Others will grow in to deeply hurting adults who may also never come to terms with what they suffered as children. Some may take their own lives.

"Children only get one go at childhood. Anyone who severely disturbs that process deserves not sympathy but the full force of the law. And our children, at the very least, deserve protection from such abusers."