‘My 17-year-old son was arrested for sharing child abuse images – he said it was a relief’

A mother describes how her autistic son became one of thousands of under-18s caught viewing or sharing indecent images of children

Louise* thought she had been open and clear with her two children about the dangers of the internet. But last year there was a knock on her door at 6am. It was the police looking for her 17-year-old son.

There were five or six police coming up my stairs," she says. When they said they were looking for my son because of indecent images I thought I was going to pass out.