Dear Sir,
I am instructed to convey to you the deep concern of this presbytery over the activities of the group known as Paedophile Information Exchange, and urge you to condemn it publicly, by prosecuting its members for immorality, by withdrawing from it all financial support from public funds, and by launching a public campaign against the kind of licentiousness it represents. In a day when Christian standards of morality are being eroded at an alarming rate, nothing short of determined and effective government action will prevent the spread of this degraded and perverse form of libertinism.
Yours faithfully,
J. M. Brentnall (Clerk).
Summary of Reply from the Home Office
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your letter. The Home Secretary appreciates your concern, but — in a democratic society — it is not possible to prevent people from expressing their views on how the law might be changed. However, if people break the law, they render themselves liable to prosecution.
The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis had a thorough investigation carried out in 1975 into the activities of P.I.E. and other similar bodies. After receiving a report of this investigation, the Director of Public Prosecutions advised that their activities provided no grounds for prosecution. The police, however, continue to watch this organisation, and will not hesitate to prosecute if the law is broken.
P.I.E. receives no financial assistance of any kind from the Government. A grant is made, however, to the Albany Trust, which provides help for those with psycho-sexual and socio-sexual problems.
The Government has no plans to amend the law in response to P.I.E.’s campaign for the lowering of the age of consent. A Committee on Sexual Offences is advising the Government on this matter. It will, of course, ultimately be for Parliament to decide upon the question.
Yours sincerely,
D. Hillier (Home Office).