A petition calling for tougher sex-offending laws signed by hundreds from Dartford has been backed by the area's MP.

The e-petition, called April’s Law, was signed by more than 127,000 people in total with 341 coming from Dartford.

Gareth Johnson, the MP for Dartford, took part in a debate on the petition last week.

Mr Johnson said: “This petition illustrates the strength of feeling on this subject in Dartford. There needs to be better protection of children, rehabilitation will always be important but the protection of children must come first.”

The petition calls for tougher laws on sex offenders following the death of five-year-old April Jones who was murdered by Mark Bridger in 2012. Bridger had over 500 indecent images of children on his computer.

The petition said: “We the undersigned call on the Prime Minister to make all sex offenders remain on the register for life no matter the crime, for service providers and search engines to be better policed regarding child abuse images and harder sentences on those caught with indecent images of children.”

Mr Johnson, who has campaigned for more offences to be covered in the Unduly Lenient Sentencing scheme, wants to see these offences included in the scheme.

He said: “The creation and distribution of indecent images of children is one of the offences where there is no power for the prosecution to appeal against sentence if it is too lenient. This is wrong and we need the law to change.”

The petition has reached its 100,000 signature target and is being debated in Parliament.