Parents of tragic girl criticise PM on web child abuse

Paul Jones said he felt “hoodwinked” by the Prime Minister, who he accused of reneging on a vow to take tough action on blocking internet images of abuse.

Last July, Mr Cameron threatened to impose tough new laws on internet giants if they fail to blacklist key search terms for horrific images, as part a crackdown on online porn.

He set out reforms to protect children from ‘’poisonous’’ websites that are ‘’corroding childhood’’, including introducing family-friendly filters that automatically block pornography unless customers choose to opt out.

In November, Google and Microsoft promised to introduce new software that will automatically block 100,000 ‘’unambiguous’’ search terms.

But today April’s father said not enough had been done in the fight. He said: “I think he’s hoodwinked us a little bit by coming out banging the drums, but hasn’t actually put any money in place – he’s left it to the internet (companies). When I last met David Cameron I said aim high – but he’s fallen well short.”

Coral and Paul Jones launched the high-profile campaign in the wake of Mark Bridger, 47, being found guilty of their daughter’s abduction and murder last year.

Bridger snatched the five-year-old from outside her home n Machynlleth, Mid Wales, while she was playing out. The case highlighted the growing problem of internet abuse after the killer was found to have accessed child abuse images online just hours before her death.

As a result, Mr Cameron agreed to meet the parents last year to discuss the problem.

It comes as online video regulator the Authority for Television on Demand (Atvod) said laws should be changed to protect children from seeing adult material on the internet and called for pornography websites to carry out age checks before granting access.