Nine arrested over alleged online child exploitation
By Jordan Harris | Staffordshire | Crime
Police have arrested men from Codsall and Cannock as part of a series of warrants executed in connection with online sexual offences.
total of nine men have been arrested by Staffordshire Police from across the West Midlands as part of Operation Safenet, which aims to detect online abuse and bring offenders to justice for the possession and distribution of indecent images of children.
A 37-year-old man from Codsall was arrested on November 2 on suspicion of attempted sexual communication with a child, as well as a 23 year old on suspicion of possession and making indecent images of children.
A 43-year-old and a 74-year -old from Cannock were also arrested today on suspicion of possessing, making and distributing images of children.
Detective Sergeant Jon Heathcote, of the Staffordshire Police child exploitation team, said: “This week of activity has tackled a range of individuals who exploit children over the internet through various means including; distributing indecent imagery of children, seeking to groom children over the internet and those who are actively discussing the sexual abuse of children through online chat platforms.
"I would like to send a clear message to those individuals within Staffordshire and the wider region, who are looking at indecent imagery of children on the internet or using the internet as a vehicle to sexually exploit children in any form; that you will be identified and brought to justice."
Warrants were also executed in Leek, Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme in recent weeks. All of those arrested have either been bailed with conditions or been released from custody whilst the criminal investigations continues.
Explaining how Operation Safenet works, Detective Heathcote said: "We work closely with the National Crime Agency, international law enforcement, internet service providers and social media companies to highlight these individuals and bring them to justice.
“We use the latest digital forensic techniques to set up a mobile forensic laboratory in the home of the suspect in order to quickly identify the nature of offending and safeguard children at the earliest possible stage.
Asylum seekers who formed child sex
grooming gang caged for vile abuse
The Kurdish immigrants plied the youngsters with drugs and alcohol after targeting vulnerable girls.
Soran Azizi, Palla Pour, Ribas Asad and Saman Obaid have been caged for their preying on kids (Image: Northumbria Police)
A sex grooming gang who used code names such as "Star" and "Shark Tooth" targeted vulnerable teenage girls, holding them in thrall with a constant supply of drink and drugs.
The four men, all asylum seekers who originally entered the UK illegally, abused and trafficked the youngsters who were as young as 13.
The Kurdish gang, who lived in Newcastle, would contact the girls on Facebook to discuss sex parties and on one occasion demanded sex in return for paying for a tattoo.
The girls, who were aged between 13-16 at the time, were plied with drugs such as cocaine , ecstasy, speed and cannabis.
Soran Azizi, 28, was convicted of two offences of trafficking for sexual exploitation .
Palla Pour, 25, was convicted of four offences of sexual activity with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, supplying controlled drug to another and permitting his premises to be used for the supply of drugs .
Ribas Asad, 29, was convicted of sexual assault, supplying a controlled drug, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual activity with a child.
Saman Obaid, 29, was convicted of four offences of supplying controlled drugs.
Azizi, Pour and Asad had been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK, but could now face deportation after their conviction.
Obaid has failed so far in his asylum application.
Prosecutor Anne Richardson told Newcastle Crown Court: "The case involves sexual exploitation and trafficking of young women and girls in the Newcastle upon Tyne area of the North East.
"The alleged offences occurred over a number of years, namely between 2007 and 2014 and those who make these allegations are, for the most part, immature and vulnerable people.
"It was the Crown's case that these personality traits were exploited by the defendants and that each of the young women were lured to various houses and flats where drugs and or alcohol were made freely available to them.
"In return the complainants were expected and encouraged to provide sexual favours and services, not because they wanted so to do or through their own free will but because they were beholden and in thrall to these men."
The girls, some of whom had been placed in the care of social services, were sexually assaulted while too drunk to consent on some occasions.
One victim said in a statement it had had a massive impact on her life and she now suffered from panic attacks, PTSD and depression.
She also said her four children had been taken into care because she was unable to look after them.
Another girl said she had twice attempted suicide by overdose and hanging.
Judge Robert Spragg paid tribute to the "extraordinary courage these young women have shown in giving evidence in this case and relive those dreadful episodes in their lives".
He jailed Pour for 12-and-a-half years, Asad for nine-and-a-half years, Azizi for six years and Obaid for four years and nine months.
The judge said one of the girls had summed it up perfectly by saying "they were much older and pretended to be my friend and drove me around. But they were just totally using me for sex when I was a child".
South African child brides 'sold off to lascivious men'
DAILY NEWS / BARBARA COLE
FILE- In this Saturday, July 20, 2013, file photo, a woman protests against underage marriage in Lagos, Nigeria. Child marriage affects nearly 15 million girls around the world, and West and Central Africa has six of the 10 countries with the highest rate. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)
Durban - Girls as young as 12 are getting married with the full consent of their parents - and then dropping out of school.
The child brides, aged 12 to 17, are being sold to “lascivious” men by poverty-stricken parents, who cannot afford to feed them and consider them a drain on their resources.
“If a family has six children and there is a daughter the family cannot support, it is a way of getting rid of her,” said Professor Deidre Byrne, chairperson of the Unisa-Africa Development Programme which was set up to promote girls’ rights.
Instead of treasuring their daughters, there were parents who viewed them as sources of revenue, Byrne said.
A social worker with the Open Door Crisis Centre in Pinetown spoke of one poor rural KwaZulu-Natal family which had married off four of their underage daughters for money.
“If no one at home is working, it is a form of income,” she said. “It is not like the children have a choice, either.”
Asked what the going rate for a young bride was, she said: “It depends, but R4000 (284USD, 244Euros) is a lot of money (if you have nothing).”
Byrne was explaining the shock statistics about underage marriages in the country that have been compiled by Statistics SA which reveal that there are more than 91000 girls between 12-17 who are married, divorced, separated, widowed or living with a partner as husband and wife, the latter being the majority.
And KZN ranks the highest, with 25205 young girls in the grouping, with Gauteng second with 15929 from a population of three million nationwide.
The eThekwini region has the highest number of underage girls in legal marriages (including customary and traditional) in the country, with the figure standing at 849.
There are also 477 KZN underage girls living with a man as husband and wife, and almost 5000 who are widowed, 627 of them in eThekwini.
Byrne says that according to the 2015 Africa Index, nine of the world’s 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage are in Africa. And while the South African statistics are lower than the rest of Africa, “the fact that child brides are a reality in South Africa, a country with one of the world’s best constitutions, is frightening”.
Byrne says the legal age of marriage is 18, but if both a girl’s parents give their permission, she can marry younger.
The conundrum is that the age of sexual consent in South Africa is 16, so men could be charged with statutory rape. However, having been paid, parents are not likely to lay charges against their son-in-law.
Byrne points out that patriarchy, reinforced by cultural beliefs and practices, values the life of a son far higher than that of a daughter because of a boy carrying the family name, continuing the family business and contributing to the home.
Referring to the number of underage girls living with an older man as a married couple, with or without parent’s approval, Byrne said this was a girl seeking financial security.
Thora Mansfield, of the Open Door Crisis Centre, said this was known as the “blesser” syndrome, where an older man showered a young girl with gifts, before moving on to the next girl.
“It’s very widespread: it’s another form of abuse.”
Byrne said: “These appalling statistics only highlight the need for placing girls’ education at the top of the agenda.” It was vital to keep girls in school to break the cycle of abuse and child marriages.
“As a society, we owe it to each African girl-child to protect them from marriage, violence and sexual abuse, to empower them with knowledge and give them access to a life of dignity, opportunity and prosperity,” she said.
The Unisa-AGDP programme was a joint initiative of Unisa’s Gender Institute, the Thabo Mkeki Africa Leadership Institute and the AU. It was designed to identify, develop and promote emerging African female leaders, equipping them with the knowledge of how to address issues facing women and children. A scholarship for high school pupils will allow girls from impoverished areas the chance to study through Unisa.
Facebook allowed child abuse posts to stay online
for more than a year, Indian court hears
Post advertising rape videos was also permitted to stay online
despite being reported several times
Gulf News
Michael Safi, Guardian News and Media Ltd
Delhi: Facebook refused for more than a year to remove a page featuring images of children taken in public under which users posted graphic descriptions of sexual abuse, according to submissions made to India’s supreme court.
A Facebook post advertising rape videos was also permitted to stay online despite being reported several times, the court heard, while police in the western state of Kerala allege another page was being used to run a child-sex ring.
The three cases were raised during an Indian supreme court inquiry into how technology giants including Facebook and Google handle abusive content from India on their platforms.
Last week the supreme court ordered the companies and the Indian government to overhaul their processes for dealing with child-abuse materials and videos depicting rape or gang rape.
The ongoing investigation has raised questions over the adequacy of the moderation systems used by Facebook and others vying to tap a fast-growing and hugely diverse Indian market with users posting in dozens of languages and hundreds of dialects.
Affidavits submitted by Facebook indicated the company does not automatically report the existence of child-abuse material to Indian police - but to American authorities instead - despite a legal requirement to do so under local child-protection laws.
Facebook is aggressively seeking to rapidly grow its user base in India, already one of the world’s largest online markets, and one forecast to more than double to 829 million people by 2021.
But the extent to which the company, and others that trade on the openness of their platforms, have the capacity to monitor how these hundreds of millions of new members will use their services remains to be seen.
Facebook told the court that between March 2016 and August this year it received 7,802 user complaints from India about possible child-abuse material. It said in an affidavit it “investigated all reports and took appropriate action”.
But in the course of hearings, the court heard that Facebook had declined to take down a page whose name was written in Roman script but translated in the southern Indian language, Telugu, to “little vagina”.
The page featured pictures of of women and girls taken in public, apparently without consent, under which users left graphic comments describing sexual acts they wanted to commit.
According to screenshots tendered in court, a user who reported the page was told it did not violate Facebook’s community standards.
Only when the court asked Facebook to remove some of the posts, more than a year after the page was reported, were they finally taken down, according to Aparna Bhat, a lawyer arguing the case for the Indian anti-trafficking non-government organisation Prajwala.
The court also heard the company declined to remove a post listing a mobile phone number users were told they could call to access a video depicting the sexual assault of an actor who was kidnapped in Kerala state in February.
Yet another page, which the court heard was reported but not initially judged to violate community standards, was being used to run a child-sex ring in Kerala state, police allege. More than 40 children were rescued and at least 39 people arrested after the page was reported to Indian authorities.
Facebook said in a statement it was “committed to providing a service where people feel safe”.
By 'people', do you mean pedophiles? Certainly not children!
“There is no place on Facebook for content that threatens or promotes sexual violence or exploitation, and we work hard to keep it off our platform,” a spokeswoman said. “We respond to valid law enforcement requests and report apparent child exploitation content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
“We will continue to work with safety experts and the Supreme Court Committee in India to help combat this abhorrent activity.”
The supreme court last week ordered the technology companies involved in the probe, who also include Yahoo, WhatsApp, Microsoft and Google, to work with the Indian government to expand their list of key words associated with child abuse material. Key words in Indian languages and slang must also be added, as should terms associated with rape and gang-rape imagery, the court said.
India’s elite Central Bureau of Investigation has been asked to set up a special unit to handle reports of abusive material being circulated on social media or elsewhere only. The Indian government was also ordered to subscribe to the database of the US-based NCMEC, to which Facebook and other companies are required to report online child-abuse material under US law.
NCMEC told the court it has received more than 100,000 reports of abusive material relating to India. But because India is not signed up to NCMEC’s reporting system it is unclear how many have been seen by local police. India relies on Interpol to relay relevant NCMEC reports.
The supreme court’s orders were based on recommendations agreed by a committee that included representatives from Facebook, Yahoo, WhatsApp, Microsoft and Google, as well as lawyers and police.
Other changes sought by child-protection advocates, but opposed by the technology companies, are currently the subject of reporting restrictions but will be considered in private by the supreme court in December.
The supreme court took up the investigation after Prajwala highlighted the existence of hundreds of videos and images of rape and child abuse being shared across social media platforms. Bhat, who represented Prajwala in the proceedings, questioned why Facebook and other companies complied with US requirements to report child-abuse material, but not those of India.
“If there is reporting of these instances of child pornography to authorities in one country, why can’t they do the same in India?” she said.
She called on web companies to take greater steps to protect vulnerable women and children, even if it meant fundamentally changing the way their services operate. “If a person is being violated because of the design of your service, and you are hosting a crime on your portal, you need to take another look at it.”
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for December 11.
Ross Kemp in Barlinnie: Viewers horrified as paedo says ‘kids enjoy’ sexual abuse in documentary
Aftab Ali
TV viewers have been left horrified after a paedophile in notorious Glasgow prison Barlinnie said “kids seem to enjoy” being sexually abused.
The astonishing statement was made in Ross Kemp’s ITV documentary in which the soap star turned investigative journalist explored life behind bars at the Riddrie-based facility.
Speaking to the sick criminal in E Hall - which holds around 280 sex offenders - the man, who is serving four years for his third offence of downloading indecent images of children, told Kemp he wants to “keep an open mind” when asked if he ever thinks about the young children who are abused in the photos.
The paedophile further left viewers open-mouthed when he said he believed he should be released - because he “didn’t see what harm [I] would do on the outside.”
Sex offenders are the fastest-growing group of inmates in the UK prison service today and E Hall now holds four times as many child abusers than it did a decade ago.
An increasing number are older in age as historic abuse claims now go through the courts; the oldest sex offender in Barlinnie is 89 years of age and needs carers to visit him twice a day.
Barlinnie Prison, Scotland
Norfolk police accused of failing to investigate
doctor jailed for sex offences against police
Kevin Rawlinson
A sexual abuse scandal engulfing a police force deepened on Friday as it emerged that many more officers have come forward to allege they had been abused by a colleague than previously thought.
Norfolk police failed to bring its former medical examiner to justice for the campaign of sexual abuse he led during the 12 years he worked there, despite twice investigating complaints against him going back to 1993.
Dr Hugh O’Neill, who was already serving a prison sentence for sexual offences against two children, finally admitted to abusing 13 female colleagues in 2016 – 13 years after the force’s second investigation into him. But, since then, 20 more Norfolk police have made similar allegations, highlighting the extent of the force’s failings.
“The fact this offending took place within a police force and that two inquiries did not result in criminal action being taken against O’Neill is concerning,” said Norfolk police’s chief constable, Simon Bailey.
“Hugh O’Neill was a sexual predator who operated in plain sight using his professional role to abuse the trust of the very people who are expected to protect others from such abuse.”
The force first investigated O’Neill in 1993, about two years after hiring him, and again in 2002-3. But it failed to find enough evidence for charges to be brought against the GP.
He left the force in 2003 and his crimes only came to light when, in December 2014, he pleaded guilty to raping and sexually abusing two children. While committed during his time at Norfolk police, those crimes were not related to his professional role, it was reported at the time.
The following year, O’Neill admitted to offences against 13 female Norfolk police officers. And, since then, the new allegations have been made against him.
The force confirmed it paid out £269,500 in a settlement with a host of complainants who brought a civil case against it, though it refused on Friday to say how many people were in that group.
The senior Norfolk police officers who failed to being O’Neill to justice in 1993 “should have [his] sexual assaults on their conscience”, one victim told the Eastern Daily Press, which revealed the extent of the scandal on Friday.
“You have to ask the question – had police done something in 1993, would that have prevented him from doing what he did next?” said the woman.
A review into that investigation by Essex police, ordered by the police watchdog, found that two police officers may have cases to answer for gross misconduct. But, because they had since retired, no action could be taken against them, Norfolk police said.
Bailey said: “Our primary focus in any investigation is the victim or victims and I am acutely aware of the impact non-recent sexual abuse cases can have on those involved.” He added that O’Neill’s eventual conviction was the “result of a lengthy inquiry and is one of many complex cases investigated by the force which has led to successful prosecutions in recent years”.
In a statement released on Friday, Bailey acknowledged that O’Neill had committed a series of offences between 1991 and 2003, while working for the force. He said the review carried out by Essex police was “one of the most detailed and extensive in the constabulary’s history. It was imperative that we examined and assessed the organisation’s response to the original allegations made”.
Bailey said: “The report found some failings in both previous investigations, which is a matter of great regret. However, it is important to recognise the way the police service and society responds to allegations of this nature has changed considerably since these original inquiries took place.
“In my role as the national policing lead for child protection, I have seen a number of cases where people in positions of power and trust have used it to their advantage.”
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Norfolk, UK
2 Victims speak out on the years of
child sex abuse by Turkish barbers
A report was released on Wednesday (2nd story on link) (Nov. 2) outlining a shocking child exploitation case in Yeovil.
The Somerset Safeguarding Children Board report states that between 2010 and 2014, Ahmet Kurtyemez, (right) 29, and Mehmet Citak, (left) 34, who worked at Legendz barbers and piercing shop on Middle Street at the time “systematically abused” six children, aged 14 and 15 at the time.
Now, two victims have come forward to speak about the horror they experienced.
One woman, who can’t be identified, met Mehmet Citak when she was just 13 years old.
The BBC reports that six months into the relationship she found out he was actually 15 years older than her, and was married with children.
He waited most days outside of her school, and then would take her back to the barbers shop.
Mehmet Citak, left, and Ahmet Kurtyemez were jailed for a total of 32 years for rape and sexual offences.
The victim told the BBC: “I was raped and beaten for five years, sometimes pinned down and pierced.
“He used to feed me drugs, I had to take cocaine, marijuana, speed, most of them, I think he fed me every single one, apart from heroin.
“I’d get hit, many times I would go back to my parents with black eyes, completely beaten up. I’d have to lie to my parents and say that I got into a fight.”
The BBC reports that during the course of a five year relationship, the victim fell pregnant four times.
She said: “I had three miscarriages when I was 15, they weren’t natural miscarriages, they were beaten out of me.
“I couldn’t leave, I had no choice, I was terrified of him. You know what he’ll do if he doesn’t get his own way, he put me in the boot of his car."
Reported >10 times; police did nothing!
“I reported him more than ten times, the first time I was 14, the police took statements, but nothing was done, there was no further action all the time.”
The Somerset Safeguarding Children Board outlines 14 missed opportunities by the authorities to establish that the exploitation was happening.
Another victim, who was 14 when she met Mr Citak, said that the first day she was introduced to him, the pair had sex.
She said: “He gave me a free piercing, and it was expected that I would give him something in return.
“I was way too young and he was way too old.
“All of them let me down; police, social services, the hospital, everyone, they all let me down.
“At the hospital I was covered in bruises, blood everywhere, hand marks, none of it made any difference, they weren’t going to look into it.
“It makes me feel sick, my childhood disappeared, I didn’t have a childhood.”
Class IX boy booked for sexual abuse
STAFF REPORTER PUDUCHERRY,
The Mudaliarpet police on Thursday registered a case against a Class IX student of a government school in Puducherry for sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl.
A Child Welfare Committee member informed that the accused was a friend of the girl’s brother and resided in the same neighbourhood.
The girl who was profusely bleeding after the alleged abuse has been admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Women and Children’s Hospital.
Queensland teacher faces court on child sex offences
SAM BIDEY, Townsville Bulletin
PARENTS of two of the children allegedly shown a nude photo by a teacher’s aide have hurled abuse at the accused on his way in and out of court. Angered at the alleged offender, the school that employed him, and the entire Education Department, parents are now calling for people to be sacked.
The 25-year-old accused faces three charges of exposing a child under 16 to an indecent image. He fronted Townsville Magistrates Court yesterday where his matters were adjourned until November 29.
It will be alleged the man, who is European and in Australia on a working visa, showed three Year 4 children the nude image of himself at school on October 19.
It is understood he was not the holder of a blue card despite being employed at the school since May.
Parents said the children were told not to tell their parents what had allegedly occurred.
The parents said they received a call from the principal at 4.50pm on the day of the alleged offence informing them an incident had taken place, but no details were given. “(They said they) cannot discuss it or disclose it with anybody because it’s being investigated,” one mother said.
The parents said they felt “sick” when their children told them what was alleged to have happened. One father said he had been in discussions with the principal and numerous people from the Education Department, demanding answers.
The parents have called for the principal at the school to be sacked and teachers investigated. They also want someone at the Education Department to be held to account.
The parents also claim the department did not offer counselling for their children. Two families said they had to seek counsellors out on their own because their children had changed following the incident.
A spokesman for the Education Department said a review into the incident was being conducted and “as the matter is also before the courts, the department is unable to provide further comment”.
The accused is not required to be present for his next court date on November 29.
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