Former Leamington teacher to stand trial over
child sexual abuse charges
A former Leamington schoolteacher is to stand trial at the end of next month over a series of allegations of sexually abusing four girls a number of years ago.
David Wesley first appeared at Warwick Crown Court in December last year to face a total of 21 charges. They included allegations of indecent assaults on girls aged under 16 and under 14 and unlawful intercourse with a girl under 13.
The 65-year-old, of Cubbington, Leamington, is alleged to have committed the offences against four girls on dates between 1977 and 1992.
At the time of the allegations he was a teacher at North Leamington School, and was also a youth club leader at Cubbington Methodist Church.
Following a request of his barrister Scott Coughtrie, who said it was ‘a very complex historical case’, he was not arraigned at the hearing in December – but later entered not guilty pleas. And at a pre-trial review hearing at the court, Martin Liddiard, prosecuting, said a date has been fixed for the trial to begin on October 30. It has been given a time estimate of six weeks, but Mr Liddiard told Judge Stephen Eyre QC that was ‘a long-stop time estimate’.
Judge Eyre adjourned the case until the trial, and Wesley was granted bail. Conditions of his bail, which were set at an earlier hearing, are that he has no contact with a number of witnesses and no unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16.
'It's a life sentence' - victims of monstrous paedophile on devastating effects of abuse
Two women and a man abused as children at the hands of lorry driver John Joughin, now 82, feel "unable to love"
BY JONATHAN HUMPHRIES
The victims of horrific childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a monstrous paedophile described how they feel “unable to love” as adults.
John Joughin, 82, ruined the childhoods of two girls and a boy as a much younger man, but was brought to justice as a frail and unwell pensioner on Friday.
The former lorry driver was jailed for 11 years and three months at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting nine counts of indecent assault and seven of indecency with a child, relating to offences committed over a 30 year period in the Litherland area.
The male victim, who was repeatedly orally raped by Joughin, said: “I often wonder why I didn’t say anything as a child about what (Joughin) did to me.
“He was a larger than life character, and everybody appeared to love being around him. He appeared to be a loud, funny and generous man.
“I felt so much shame and still do... sometimes I feel it was my fault even though I was a kid, I don’t remember ever telling him to stop.”
The now adult man, who cannot be identified, described how his sex life can be brought to a halt by sudden, traumatic memories.
He said: “I will often binge drink vodka just to block it out. In my early 20s I smoked a lot of marijuana and I have abused substances all my life...
“Finally after all this time I have the strength and courage to bring this to light. I know he does not have much life left but I hope he spends it all in jail, for me I have been given a life sentence.”
One of the female victims, who was forced to perform sex acts on Joughin alongside the boy to “win a pound” described feeling jealous of other children who “had normal lives”.
She said: “The things that happened to me when I was a child make me feel very isolated and lonely. I could never make friends because of what happened...
“I felt like nobody loved me, I was like a nobody in life. It made me feel dirty and completely violated as a child.”
The third victim, who was forced to strip naked and made to perform sex acts on Joughin, said her life had been “ruined in so many ways”.
She said: “Every relationship I have been in has failed because I’m unable to feel love for any man even though I have tried, I always think they only want me for sex.”
“Some days I cry so hard just to get the pain out of me.”
Judge Robert Warnock, sentencing, told Joughin he had “stolen the victims’ childhoods” and said: “I have heard the victim personal statements; they were brave, they were courageous, and they were a clear exposition of the damage that you have done to them and the consequences it has had for them, both through their childhoods and their adult lives.
“Their courage stands in very stark contrast to what you have done for your own sexual gratification.”
Philip Clemmo, prosecuting, described how the victims would know when they were about to be abused “because of the look on the defendant’s face”.
He told the court: “In what the court may feel a particularly sad part of the case, (the boy) went along with the oral sex because that’s what he had always done.”
Mr Clemmo said one of the female victims was forced to watch pornography with Joughin, which she hated. He said: “One time she took Playdough to distract herself, but all he did was make models of intimate parts of the body and got her to name them.”
The court heard Joughin had been jailed for 18 months for indecent assault in the 1990s, after another victim came forward over abuse that happened more recently.
Joanna Rodikis, defending, urged the court to take into account her client’s health problems, including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), diabetes, kidney disease and mobility problems.
Joughin, now of Marshall Avenue in Bewsey, Warrington, was classed as an ‘offender of particular concern’ and handed an extra year on licence. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.
Mediation talks begin in 100 child sex abuse
cases against Guam diocese
Mindy Aguon |The Guam Daily Post
Attorney David Lujan arrives at the District of Court of Guam for a hearing yesterday on a motion to dismiss the case against Archbishop Anthony Apuron. David Castro/The Guam Daily Post
The first discussions to determine mediation protocol in nearly 100 child sex abuse lawsuits will be held in Hawaii tomorrow, Guam time.
Attorneys for most of the parties flew to Hawaii to meet with retired federal judge Michael Hogan, who will serve as an alternative dispute resolution mediator, to discuss a possible global settlement for the cases filed against the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America, and numerous members of the clergy.
The Archdiocese of Agana has retained Seattle, Washington-based attorney Michael Patterson as defense counsel for all pending litigation filed against the Catholic Church in Guam.
Attorney David Lujan, who represents the bulk of the victims who have filed child sex abuse lawsuits, confirmed that the settlement discussions will also include several cases that have not been filed in court.
Lujan said he represents several clients who are claiming sexual abuse by members of the clergy but have not agreed to file the cases in court.
The mediation is non-binding, which means any of the parties can choose to opt out of any settlement and go back to the court and for the cases to proceed to trial. This has been an important condition for most of the victims who have expressed an interest to settle the cases but on their terms.
A temporary stay has been granted in all of the cases, with the exception of the four filed against suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron, to allow for possible out-of-court settlement discussions.
Apuron objected to the stay as he awaits a decision from a Vatican tribunal for sexual abuse claims filed by Walter Denton, Roy Quintanilla, Roland Sondia, and Doris Concepcion on behalf of her late son, Joseph “Sonny” Quinata. The four allege they were sexually abused by Apuron when they were young altar boys in the 1970s.
The suspended archbishop has also moved for the dismissal of the lawsuits arguing he has no liability on his part and the victims’ claims are time-barred. Apuron also alleges Public Law 33-187, which provided a mechanism for victims to pursue civil action for past sexual abuse, is "inorganic and unconstitutional."
Lujan said the Hawaii meeting is expected to detail how each claim will be individually mediated and how to determine a dollar value based on the evidence presented in each case.
Should the parties agree to the mediation protocol, settlement discussions are anticipated to begin in Guam in late October or early November.
Thousands of Cambridgeshire primary school pupils learn how to avoid abuse thanks to NSPCC workshop
Seb Pearce
The NSPCC’s Speak Out Stay Safe programme, which focuses on how to tackle child abuse, reached over 20,000 primary school pupils in Cambridgeshire last year.
A scheme that empowers children as young as four to stay safe from abuse reached more than 20,000 primary school pupils in Cambridgeshire last year, new figures reveal.
The NSPCC’s Speak Out Stay Safe programme was delivered to 8,603 children at 22 primary schools across the local education authority during the last school year. The figures come as volunteers prepare to speak to more youngsters in Cambridgeshire as the new school term begins.
The fully ??? initiative sees assemblies take place with reception and years one and two pupils, as well as more in-depth interactive talks and workshops with older students.
Primary school children are taught about different forms of child abuse, such as neglect, bullying and physical and sexual abuse.
Michelle Newton, NSPCC schools service co-ordinator, said: “It’s important that children all over the country are empowered about how to speak out and stay safe from abuse.
“The Speak Out Stay Safe scheme can help protect a generation of children from abuse and neglect and we are always looking for volunteers and schools to sign up to take part in this vital programme.”
There needs to be programs like this in every school in the world!
Labour's Sarah Champion warns left is ‘failing vulnerable child sex abuse victims for fear of being called racist’
CHLOE CHAPLAIN
The Evening Standard
A former Labour frontbencher who was sacked after speaking out about sex crimes in the UK has warned the left risks failing vulnerable children due to fears of being perceived racist.
Labour MP Sarah Champion was forced to quit last month after facing backlash for writing a Sun column saying the UK “has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls".
Following her resignation Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would not "blame" or "demonise any particular group" and accused the paper of inciting Islamophobia.
Ms Champion issued an apology for her "extremely poor choice of words" but, in an interview with The Times, warned the "floppy left" is afraid of speaking out on issues of sex grooming gangs for fear of being accused of racism.
Let's see... what can we call it.... Truthophobia?
The former shadow women and equalities secretary said: "If I'm on the floppy left, to be accused of racism is probably the worst thing you can call me. That fear will motivate me to step away from a lot of topics I'd maybe tackle head on if I didn't have that phobia."
Ms Champion, who is the MP Rotherham - the scene of a recent grooming scandal - told the newspaper there is a difference in attitude between people living in “multicultural” London and northern parts of the UK.
Her constituency is among several towns, including Rochdale, Oxford and Newcastle upon Tyne, where groups of men largely of Pakistani origin have been convicted of sex crimes against vulnerable white girls.
She said many Labour members and politicians based in London had "never been challenged by a reality that's different" from their largely "tolerant, multicultural world".
"London is not representative of the UK and it's definitely not representative of the north of England in relation to race," she added. "Rotherham and many post-industrial towns are still segregated. [The] multicultural policies that I, through my working career, grew up with, and which Jeremy Corbyn grew up with, need a translation to come outside London"
Ms Champion stressed: "It's not that Yorkshire's racist, it's that Yorkshire is very blunt and doesn't sugar-coat anything.
"In Rotherham, people's frustration is that if they all knew what was going on, why didn't the people who were meant to protect them do anything about it?
“I want us to be in government and I wanted to let people know we're taking this seriously. I wanted to reach out to people that we don't normally reach out to."
Ms Champion was strongly criticised last month when she called for more research into understanding why most convictions relating to gang-linked sexual exploitation were Pakistani men.
She acknowledged that most child sexual abuse took (takes) place within the family and most convicted child-sex offenders in Britain were white men.
But she added: "If, 15 years ago, we'd acknowledged there was a particular issue among a criminal subsection of men in the Pakistani community we could have addressed it, carried out the research and gained the understanding to challenge it, tackle it and eradicate it."
But you didn't; and you still are not addressing it in a meaningful and effective way. Truthophobia rules.
People Must Be Kept Anonymous Until Found Guilty, Insists Andrew Castle
The Metropolitan Police Service has paid compensation to retired field marshal Lord Bramall and the family of the late Lord Brittan over false accusations of child sex abuse.
The Met has not revealed the amount paid but it is reported to be £100,000. Both men were accused by a man known as "Nick", who is being investigated for perverting the course of justice.
Andrew said it simply isn't fair that someone can have their reputation trashed so quickly for no reason.
Andrew Castle is a former tennis pro, now a TV & radio presenter in the UK.
Andrew Castle says people like Lord Bramall should be protected with anonymity. Picture: LBC / PA
Andrew said: "Lord Bramall - a Normandy veteran, retired from the House of Lords in 2013. He was accused of these offences in t2014. He's a former head of the Army, a distinguished military man. His wife died before his name could be cleared. You will know Lord Brittan, a former Conservative Home Secretary. Allegations he raped a nineteen-year-old woman- all absolutely false.
"The credibility of this bloke Nick absolutely shot to pieces and as I say, now he's under investigation for perverting the course of justice.
"Why shouldn't they have anonymity? Why should you be dragged through the streets in some medieval fashion and have your life just trashed publicly? Your reputation, hard won, is easily lost.
"Look at what happened to Cliff Richard. This was ridiculous. All charges were dropped. That was an absolute circus. He says now that he still finds the whole thing incredibly traumatic, thinks about it all the time. And of course it affects you for the rest of your life."
If you are an avid reader of this blog you probably have noticed that a lot of countries protect the names of people charged with child sex abuse. I prefer to have it out in the open for the number of cases where people are proven innocent are few and far between and many of them don't deserve to be found innocent. Also, there is the problem with allowing pedophiles out on bail awaiting a trial that may be 2 years down the road. I want their names out there.
Far North detectives ‘getting better’ at tracking
child sex offenders
Janessa Ekert, The Cairns Post
EVERY week or two the child protection detectives are investigating a new matter involving child exploitation material in the Far North.
Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit Detective Senior Sergeant Mick Gooiker said there had been more than 20 cases this year alone.
“We’re probably looking at least one new case every one to two weeks,” Det Snr Sgt Gooiker said. “I suspect there’s no increase, we’re just getting better at locating the offenders.”
This could be due to the specialist training and equipment upgrades rolled out across all units. “It has involved … big technology upgrades in relation to the ability to forensically examine computers,” Det Snr Sgt Gooiker said.
Matters currently before the Cairns Magistrates Court include former teacher Darren Arthur Archer, who has been charged with possessing child exploitation material.
Another man, who cannot be named yet, had been charged with 73 child sex offences including grooming, making children exploitation material and procuring an underage person for sexual activity.
Another Far Northern man, who also can’t be named, is accused of engaging in child sex crimes outside Australia as well as child exploitation material offences.
Det Snr Sgt Gooiker said there were a number of other matters that began as child exploitation material on a computer before police found the offender had also committed contact offences like taking photos of kids in the region and sending money overseas for child pornography.
“The electronic age means there’s a lot more material available to people,” he said. “We’re literally finding thousands and thousands of images which my investigators … have to go through, individually view and classify. Which you can imagine is an awful job.”
His said his staff at times has to spend days looking at images during an investigation. Detectives have to classify the images into six categories of severity. This can include sexualised glamour-type images and movies to depraved and degrading acts, to anime.
According to data gathered by Act for Kids one quarter of Australians believe someone they know has been a victim of child abuse or neglect. Research suggested that 42 per cent believed everyone was accountable to protect children, while 48 per cent admitted they had no idea where to report abuse.
In the 2015-16 financial year Australia child protection authorities received 355,935 reports of child abuse or neglect.
And over the last five years, the number of children who were the subject of child abuse or neglect has increased by 21 per cent.
Survey finds adults are unaware of child abuse
signs or how to report it
Amy Mitchell-Whittington
A study has found one third of Australians surveyed would not immediately tell someone if they thought a child was being abused or neglected.
The national online representative survey, carried out by Pure Profile and funded by Act for Kids, asked 1004 Australians aged 18 and over a range of questions about whether they knew the signs of child abuse and what they would do.
More than a third (37.4 per cent) said if they thought a child was being abused they would want to know more about what signs to look for before telling anyone while 16 per cent said they would wait to see if it got worse or continued before doing anything.
Of those surveyed, one quarter said they did not know the signs of child abuse and neglect while 41 per cent admitted they would need to Google how to report suspected abuse.
Act for Kids chief executive Dr Neil Carrington said the survey highlighted a lack of knowledge that Australians have about child abuse and neglect.
“What worries me is that over 90 per cent of people who harm children are in a position of love and trust and the fact that one in four Aussies aren’t confident about what to do in terms of identifying signs of child abuse is really quite worrying,” he said.
“It really highlights the need for more education, not just for our kids, but also for adults to be able to identify the signs of child abuse and neglect and know what to do in that situation.”
The number of allegations of child abuse reported to authorities increased by 30 per cent from 273,000 in 2012-13 to 356,000 in 2015-16, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The most common type of abuse in substantiated cases was emotional abuse, followed by neglect, physical harm and sexual abuse.
When the survey respondents were asked what was necessary to break the cycle of child abuse, 69 per cent said making sure everyone was better informed to identify the signs of abuse. A whopping 78 per cent felt the public could do better to intervene and improve the likelihood of child abuse and neglect in communities.
Act for Kids National Ambassador Sascha Chandler, who was targeted by convicted paedophile Andrew Dean McIntosh during his school years, said people needed to learn how to recognise child abuse and act on it.
“The way I describe it is that child abuse ignored is child abuse, a lot of these kids don't have a voice of their own,” he said.
“I think people are really sensitive that they don't want to offend someone unnecessarily because it is a huge accusation to make but I think there are ways to remove a child from risk whilst the investigation goes on without offending the person necessarily.”
He said in the three years he was abused, he felt he couldn’t tell adults for fear of getting someone in trouble. “I had people asking me if anything was going on and I was outright lying about it,” he said.
“I had been threatened and decided that I wouldn't tell anyone and I truly believed that if I had of told someone they wouldn't have believed me.”
He said the manner in which adults react to what they hear from children who disclose abuse was extremely important. “There are ways of approaching a child and having a conversation about whether there is something going on,” he said.
“There is no point in the adult getting angry and saying ‘I am going to hurt the person’, “it is about remaining cool, calm and collected because if a child is exposing abuse, they are putting a lot of trust in that adult.”
It took the birth of Mr Chandler’s first child for him to come to grips with what happened to him, to speak up about the abuse he endured. “I realised that as an adult had a level of social responsibility to ensure that any child was protected, particularly my own,” he said.
He has urged anyone who is concerned for a child to go straight to authorities rather than family or friends. “It is best to go straight to the authorities because someone needs to investigate it,” he said.
“The same if it happens in a school or church environment, the authorities are trained to investigate this stuff without emotion. For anyone in a position of either themselves having been abused and wondering whether to go forward about talking about it or those people who are suspicious of someone's actions towards a child, please come forward, it is always better to investigate and be wrong than not investigate at all when a child's innocence is at risk.”
According to Act for Kids website, there are often behavioural or physical signs of stress when a child has been or is experiencing abuse.
These can include aggressive or submissive behaviour, being overly obedient, low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, excessive rocking, humming, sucking or biting, bedwetting, sleeping difficulties, unexplained bruising, alcohol or drug abuse, suicidal tendencies and inappropriate sexual knowledge or actions for the age of the child.
Child Protection Week kicks off today and includes a range of family fun days, community breakfasts and education sessions to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect.
The Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability services has committed $750,000 over the next five years to Act for Kids to continue to raise awareness.
If you have a reason to suspect a child is experiencing harm, or is at risk of experiencing harm or being neglected, contact Child Safety Services in Queensland, Child Protective Services in NSW, or Child Protection Services in Victoria.
Commissioner: RCIPS ‘must accept’ its failures in
child abuse cases in Caymens
By Brent Fuller
Police Commissioner Derek Byrne, left, and RCIPS Inspector Kevin Ashworth discuss the findings of an independent report that reviewed 92 police Family Support Unit investigations. Serious problems with evidence and/or delays were found in three of those cases. - Photo: Brent Fuller
Overall mismanagement, rather than specific individual officers’ failures, was the primary reason a number of child sexual abuse cases investigated by local police will never get to court, Royal Cayman Islands Police Service Commissioner Derek Byrne said Friday.
Following a review conducted by three U.K. officers who looked at investigative delays and issues at the RCIPS Family Support Unit in the past five years, Mr. Byrne said, it was determined that two child sex abuse cases would likely be abandoned, while a third, which also had serious errors, may still go to court.
“The organization has to accept there were corporate failures in this, not just individual failures,” Mr. Byrne said.
The independent review, a summary of which was released on Friday, painted a picture of stressed out, overworked, under-resourced police officers at the Family Support Unit. The officers, Mr. Byrne said, were trying to get through too many cases at once, and dropped the ball on a few.
The review found that of the 92 investigations it considered since 2012, 89 were satisfactory. The three that were “red-flagged” occurred between 2012 and 2014 and are still pending a final decision.
“You had people working down there … [in] small teams, [case] referrals being made, people running from one case to another without finishing it, not supported by any process, or any structure, or any audit, or any regular meetings,” Mr. Byrne said. “This is the failure. I don’t think it’s that [the cases] weren’t taken seriously. I think you had a volume of work that people couldn’t cope with.”
One police constable and one police supervisor were reassigned from the unit as a result of the review. Mr. Byrne said their careers at the RCIPS were “not over” and that no officers had been fired because of the investigative blunders.
“There was an over-reliance on some persons; some persons had a better capacity to manage their work. Other persons, unfortunately, didn’t have that self-management capability or capacity,” Mr. Byrne said. “Not everything was wrong; we’ve had some very good prosecutions.”
However, the commissioner noted, the investigation of Family Support Unit cases is still one of the major “risk” areas within the police service, and he said the RCIPS must remember who really suffers from these failings. “While we’re getting it wrong, it impacts upon the victim at some level,” he said.
The U.K. officers’ review was ordered after police discovered a number of problems in the investigation of sexual abuse cases, highlighted by a September 2016 not-guilty verdict in Grand Court from two suspects alleged to have assaulted an underage girl. The initial complaint of abuse was given to police in 2012, but the case did not come to court until July 2016.
During court proceedings it was revealed that police had delayed their investigation into the matter for some 18 months and could not fully explain why that had occurred. Judge Timothy Owen said the police investigation into the matter had been “grossly incompetent.”
Commissioner Byrne said that case represented a “watershed moment” for the RCIPS and led to a complete re-evaluation of the police department’s handling of family unit cases. The new department unit, called the MASH Unit, provides a more focused approach and seeks to work more closely with other government and civil society organizations involved in the protection of children.
MASH, which stands for Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub, includes eight social workers, a Health Services Authority psychologist and eight police officers tasked with coordinating other public agencies’ responses to allegations of abuse.
With the reorganization of the Family Support Unit, Mr. Byrne said, an additional follow-up review will be done in November to check RCIPS’s progress. For now, he said, all the RCIPS can do is apologize to the victims of crimes for the delays in cases where they may never receive justice.
“We have not met our obligations in the past, but we’re moving forward,” he said.
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