COPINE success - Project leads way in war on child abuse

THE excellent work of COPINE (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe) in tracking down perverts who prey on young children is having truly global repercussions.

In the latest demonstration of its international role, the UCC-based project came up with crucial information helping US police arrest one of the world’s worst child rapists.

In a remarkable piece of internet detective work,

Professor Max Taylor’s team tracked down the culprit responsible for unspeakable abuse of six young boys over a two-year period.

As often transpires in such cases, the perpetrator had acted as foster parent for several children, ranging in age from four to seven.

It would be hard to exaggerate the importance of the work of COPINE. Were it not for its invaluable archive, compiled over endless hours of painstaking research on internet sites, the police would find it difficult to track down the monsters behind horrifying crimes against children.

The success of the latest international investigation, ranging across Ireland, Britain and the US, shows there are no longer any borders in crime or, thankfully, in policing.