Network First The Boy Business (1994– ) Online

Although the central theme of this documentary was unproven then, is unproven now, and almost certainly fantasy, it still makes disturbing viewing. Allegations by the programme's informant, Edward, date to 1991. He claims to have seen snuff films that feature the murders of no fewer than five boys.

Do snuff films exist? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. In the United States (where else?) Leonard Lake and Charles Ng murdered perhaps 25 people between 1983 and 1985, most but not all of them women. They videoed the torture of some of their victims. Another serial killer, Maury Travis, videoed the actual murder of at least one of his victims; he committed suicide in June 2002 while on remand. In August 2011, the murder of Leroy James was filmed on a mobile phone; this was a gang-related crime, but if serial killers and even juvenile delinquents will stoop so low, why not dedicated paedophiles?

Of the sickos documented herein, Warwick Spinks is arguably the most depraved. He was given an inarguably lenient 7 year sentence in the UK a couple of years before this film was released, which was reduced to 5 years on appeal, and incredibly by 1997 he had been released on licence, when he disappeared. Most of his activities, and much of what is related here, took place in The Netherlands. In 2012, Spinks was arrested in the Czech Republic after spending 15 years on the run, but 15 and now 18 years on, the most serious charges he has faced are the admittedly revolting ones of abusing the young. One would have expected some credible evidence to have been found if he had indeed been hard at work torturing boys to death either for his own amusement or as a commercial concern.

Whatever the truth about snuff films, "The Boy Business" contains enough testimony, including from level-headed police officers, for the viewer to mull over; the $64 million question though must surely be why aren't men of such depravity given realistic sentences, in particular life for a second conviction of this nature?