Parents, lawyers and politicians are calling for the laws to ban the possession of child pornography.

Owning kiddie porn is outlawed in the UK, Canada, and America, but loopholes in Bermuda's Obscene Publications Act 1973 mean people caught with it here cannot be penalised.

They can only be prosecuted if they imported or published obscene material.

And the 1973 law has no provision for porn stored on computer which arrived via the Internet - the main medium for paedophilia as users are keen not to draw attention to themselves.

Broadcasting Commission Chairman and lawyer Tim Marshall argued that it would be possible to prove under the present law that child perverts had imported the material if they printed it or downloaded filth from a server based abroad.

But The Royal Gazette understands the Department of Public Prosecutions rejected an attempt to use the Obscene Publications Act for this purpose two years ago because it would be shot down in court.

One legal source said it would be tricky to prove someone had willingly downloaded the filth as the computer user could have innocently opened junk mail, which they had not solicited, to find that it was obscene.

Mr. Marshall said the lack of a law to nab people who owned obscene material was a big worry.

He said: "There is a gap that needs to be addressed.

"The Commission is going to meet on this issue and make recommendations that the legislation be appropriately amended."

He said it would be up to the Government to decide whether to amend the Obscene Publications Act or bring in a new act to cover the latest technology.

One parent of a child abuse victim told The Royal Gazette that it was outrageous that child perverts were given free reign to indulge their fantasies.

She said: "We have to change these laws. It isn't illegal here but it's illegal everywhere else."

She said a policeman had told her of a known offender who had child porn but they could not arrest him because it was not illegal.

Shadow Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley said: "This is a no-brainer.

"I am sure everyone on my party would support tightening the legislation as this sort of thing appears to be more prevalent, not only here,but throughout the world.

"Unfortunately we can't make the changes, but we will wait for Government and support any correct changes they make. This is one subject we don't know how deep it goes because everyone hides behind closed doors."

Overseas police can snare paedophiles by entering Internet chat rooms where indecent pictures and contacts are swapped, but here Police are hamstrung by the lack of legal teeth to go after child molesters.

This week a convicted paedophile was jailed for five years in the UK for possessing 404 images of young children on his computer, according to Britain's The Mirror newspaper.

Stephen Thrower from Basingstoke, in south-east England, also became the first person to be banned for life from working with children after admitting failing to register with a sex offenders' list which keeps tabs on released offenders.

Thrower had joined a tennis club where he coached young boys.