Former online child protection chief warns over agency merger

Jim Gamble, who resigned as chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre last week, said child protection issues simply would not be able to compete with terrorism, gun crime and drugs in a list of broader priorities.

He also warned that costs would rise under the National Crime Agency (NCA), as at least one internet service provider (ISP) – which tracks down internet addresses to individuals – says it would charge the larger NCA administration costs for the service which it currently provides to Ceop for free.

These costs would be about 100,000 per year for each ISP.

Campaigners including Kate and Gerry McCann, the parents of missing Madeleine, and Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was murdered, urged the Government to reconsider the move.

But Home Secretary Theresa May said the country did not need a "new quango" to carry out child protection work.

Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee yesterday, Mr Gamble said it was important for Ceop to be able to continue to fight for children, instead of "fighting for air time amongst drugs, terrorism, organised crime, guns and firearms".

Children "do not sit as easy bedfellows" with such issues, he said. "When you're categorising and prioritising what goes where and who does what, children do not come up on that list in that company."

He added that incorporating Ceop into the NCA's responsibilities would also detract from tackling organised crime.

Call to right jail tariff 'injustice'

Prison governors will call today for the immediate release of 2,500 prisoners jailed indefinitely for the public's protection and who have now served more than their minimum tariff.

Eoin McLennan-Murray, president of the Prison Governors Association, will describe the sentences as a "blatant injustice".

Prison governors had a duty to speak out, he will say, and will urge the Government to "urgently review those cases with a view to immediate release.

Figures show there were 2,468 IPP prisoners in jail beyond their minimum tariff on January 19 and, as of February 5, 276 of these were still inside more than two years after their minimum sentence expired.

Mr McLennan-Murray will also warn jobs are at risk if Government succeeds in cutting the prison population.