Convicted paedophile Melvin Martin should have received a harsher penalty, the Coalition for the Protection of Children believes.

Martin, 24, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years this week for sexually exploiting young girls.

"I would have liked to have seen a heftier sentence, something that would work as a deterrent," said the Coalition's executive director Sheelagh Cooper yesterday.

"There really should have been a longer sentence attached to the exploitation of a minor."

Martin became the first person to be jailed under child porn legislation introduced in May. He admitted sexually exploiting a minor, unlawful carnal knowledge, accessing child pornography and making child pornography.

Police found the evidence in his laptop where pictures and videos of several girls aged 11 through 15, where stored in his hard drive.

Some of the girls were pictured alone. Others pictured were involved in sexual acts with Martin.

The maximum sentence for sexual exploitation of a minor is 20 years.

Puisne Judge Charles Etta Simmons sentenced Martin based on his previously clean record and early guilty plea.

Time was also shaved off his sentence because he was not in a position of power over the girls. During his imprisonment and subsequent two-year probation, Martin is expected to receive psychological treatment.

"To my understanding, the treatment of sex offenders in prison has been sporadic," Mrs. Cooper said. "It's on again, off again.

"It's very difficult for the prisons to find and hold experts for these types of positions. These people need follow up treatment well after they're released. That's the more vital part of the programme."

She added that a more worrying aspect of the case was that two girls, aged 11 and 12, had taken the pornographic pictures themselves.

The 11-year-old said she sent the pictures to a friend and didn't know how Martin obtained them. The 12-year-old said she sent the pictures to someone she was getting to know online.

"That's very worrying to me," said Mrs. Cooper. "Parents are not keeping an eye on their own children, especially when it comes to the online world.

"You have to be a hands-on parent."

She added that the case also debunked the myth that paedophiles fit a " certain, monolithic group that you can easily identify".

"Here's a situation where this isn't the case. The person was a popular, attractive person who's very sick, but not identified as such."

Ms Cooper called for more education on sexual abuse and suggested programmes be introduced to primary schools.

"Only one in ten crimes against children are reported to a parent, much less the police.

"Only some of those are prosecuted, and only a few of those result in convictions."

She also called for those charged with sexual exploitation of children to be named in the press: "The paedophiles we don't know are far more dangerous than the paedophiles we do know."

Under current legislation, many charged with sexual offences involving children cannot be identified as doing so could also lead to the identification of the victim.

It's a rule Mrs. Cooper believes needs to be abandoned.

"It should be the right of the victim," she said. "Personally, I have yet to meet a victim that didn't want the name of the accused to be published.

"If we want to protect the names of the accused, it should be done across-the-board, not just for some offences."