Author John Grisham sparks controversy with defence of men who view child sex abuse images

Top-selling novelist John Grisham has said that people who view child sex abuse images online "probably had too much to drink" and should be given lighter prison sentences in a controversial interview with The Telegraph.

Grisham, 59, criticised the length of prison terms for offenders who download images of children being sexually abused as he revealed that one of his "good buddies" was jailed for three years for viewing the images in Canada.

"We have prisons now filled with guys my age. Sixty-year-old white men in prison who've never harmed anybody, would never touch a child," said Grisham, who has sold more than 275 million books during his 25-year career.

"But they got online one night and started surfing around, probably had too much to drink or whatever, and pushed the wrong buttons, went too far and got into child porn...We've gone nuts with this incarceration."

The author of legal thrillers such as The Firm and A Time To Kill, said that the site viewed by his friend 10 years ago was labelled "sixteen-year-old wannabe hookers" and that his friend's drinking was "out of control" at the time.

"I have no sympathy for real paedophiles," he added. "God, please lock those people up. But so many of these guys do not deserve harsh prison sentences, and that's what they're getting."