A revenge porn victim whose ex-partner received a suspended prison sentence for months of harassment has backed Boris Johnson's plans to introduce tougher prison sentences for violent crimes and sexual offenders
The Prime Minister said he is determined to "come down hard" on crime, and "reverse the balance of fear" saying he wants "criminals to be afraid - not the public."
Kim Arthurton, 55, of Wymondham, waived her anonymity to speak out after her ex-partner, Michael Young, of Lowestoft received a 12-month suspended prison sentence at Norwich Magistrates' Court.
He launched a seven-month campaign of harassment against her which made her life "torture" as well as sending explicit sexual videos and pictures of Ms Arthurton to her teenage daughter, friend and brother of her late-husband.
Reacting to Mr Johnson's announcement, she said: "I believe emphatically that the police needs more money."
She added officers needed more time to investigate cases.
Mr Johnson's comments come as the government announced it would be investing £2.5b in creating 10,000 new prison places.
Since taking office last month, Mr Johnson, who wants to boost stop-and-search powers, has also revealed plans to recruit another 20,000 police officers within the next three years.
But the announcements have been met with criticism by the region's opposition MPs who pointed to evidence which shows prison sentences were only half the issue when it comes to cutting down on crime and preventing re-offending.
Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South, said: "Simply handing out tougher sentences on their own won't work.
"You can't begin to tackle crime by acting as a hard man on prisons, you have to look at causes and particularly austerity and cuts."
Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk said the Prime Minister's comments pointed to preparations for a general election. He said: "These comments come after years of cuts to police numbers. Lots of people raised concerns about impact of that and the idea that simply by locking more people up we're going to sort out the crime problem in this country is misguided."
Andy Symonds, chairman of the Norfolk Police Federation said that while the recent announcements were positive, they should have come sooner.
He added the increased stop and search powers would give huge amounts of reassurance to communities and would give officers on the ground back their discretion to use their professional skills and knowledge of the law.
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