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For 15 years senior police dragged their feet over investigating
a vast Manchester paedophile ring
Despite having identified 97 potential abusers, GMP closed down Operation Augusta in 2005, leaving them free to prey on even more vulnerable girls. It quietly reopened the case last year.
Jen Williams reports, Manchester Evening News
Multiple girls had told both social services and police officers of harrowing sexual exploitation
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
It is now the best part of two decades since Victoria Agoglia, a 15-year-old girl in the care of Manchester council, died after being injected with heroin.
Almost as long has elapsed since the grooming investigation prompted by her death, Operation Augusta, was closed down in July 2005.
It wasn’t for lack of evidence.
As a review commissioned by mayor Andy Burnham reveals today, by the time it was axed, Augusta had amassed details of nearly 100 ‘persons of interest’, a network of older predominantly Pakistani men suspected to be using takeaway premises in south Manchester as a base to abuse young girls in the care system.
Officers had phone numbers, car registration plates and locations. Abusers had been operating ‘in plain sight’ of the authorities, according to the review, picking up girls from care, taking them to sex parties and returning them with impunity. In some cases their so-called ‘boyfriends - men preying on girls as young as 12 - were even allowed to visit them in their care homes.
Multiple girls had told both social services and police officers of harrowing sexual exploitation, of being paid for sex and plied with hard drugs. It took less than four months, between February and May 2004, for an initial police scoping report to identify not only a huge network of suspects but at least 26 potential victims, more than half of whom were prepared to cooperate.
Victoria Agoglia (Image: GMP)
But the short-lived operation that followed, the review finds, had ‘fundamental’ flaws in its resourcing from the start.
Its small team - several of whom were not trained detectives, while others were having to juggle the investigation with other cases - initially couldn’t even find space in a police station, eventually being placed at a syndicate in Wythenshawe.
One detective recalled them feeling like an ‘annoying add-on’ at a time when several major murders and an ongoing gangland crisis were sapping major incident resource.
Tensions simmered over which division should provide staff and money. The senior investigating officer was also keenly aware of the Operation Cleopatra investigation in the late 1990s, a probe into abuse in care homes that had become much larger than expected.
He ‘knew of Cleopatra and wanted to put tight constraints on the operation so it didn’t balloon out of control’, one detective constable on the operation told the review.
The SIO conceded that the Augusta’s terms of reference ‘were kept deliberately tight and focused on a precise number of victims, due to the scale of the task and resources available’.
There is much more on this story to be found in the Manchester Evening News.
While this inquiry revealed some disturbing things, it still missed the mark by a wide margin. The sudden, complete shutdown, the disappearance of much of the documentation from interviews, reveals a conspiracy, not a case of shoddy work. They are still covering up for Pakistani Paedophile rings.
There needs to be yet another investigation by someone who doesn't have a vested interest in covering up allegations against police and council.
Man called largest child porn purveyor gets 27-year sentence
Michael Kunzelman
The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, September 15, 2021 6:59PM EDT
GREENBELT, MD. -- A man described by U.S. authorities as the world's most prolific purveyor of child pornography at the time of his arrest in Ireland was sentenced on Wednesday to 27 years in federal prison.
Eric Eoin Marques, 36, created and operated computer servers on the dark web that enabled users to anonymously access millions of illicit images and videos, many depicting the rape and torture of infants and toddlers. Law enforcement had never seen many of those images before finding them on Marques' servers, according to prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang told Marques that his crimes were the equivalent of those of a drug kingpin.
"This crime was truly despicable," Chuang said.
Prior to learning his sentence, Marques apologized to the victims and asked for mercy from the court.
"I have destroyed my reputation and my family's reputation. Please give me a second chance," he told Chuang.
How many thousands of children's lives have you destroyed? Many of them may not get a second chance.
The judge agreed to recommend that the federal Bureau of Prisons give Marques credit for eight years he has served in custody both in Ireland and the U.S. since his 2013 arrest. The judge also ordered him to pay restitution of $87,000 to victims of the child pornography that he helped distribute.
The original version of the plea agreement between Marques and prosecutors called for a prison sentence of 15 to 21 years. Chuang rejected that deal during a hearing in May, calling it "too flawed" and saying he was inclined to give Marques a longer sentence than 15 to 21 years.
The revised agreement recommended a prison sentence between 21 and 27 years, but Chuang wasn't bound by those terms. Prosecutors recommended a 27-year sentence followed by lifetime supervision after his release, a requirement that Chuang also imposed.
Justice Department prosecutor Ralph Paradiso said Marques created an online community for sexual predators to anonymously abuse and exploit children and share the horrific images that they created. "They all got together and they sexually exploited children," he said. "They reveled in that sexual exploitation."
Defense attorneys requested a 21-year sentence for Marques, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Ireland. Marques can return to Ireland after he completes his prison sentence.
"There is no one in this courtroom who is not repulsed by what happened in this case," said assistant federal public defender Brendan Hurson, one of Marques' lawyers. "He will not do this again, and he is remorseful for what he has done."
He is remorseful that he shamed his family and himself. Not for the fact that he destroyed thousands of children.
The original plea deal wouldn't have given Marques credit for the time he spent in custody while fighting extradition after his 2013 arrest in Dublin. But Chuang criticized that provision. The judge said in May that he can't tell the Federal Bureau of Prisons to refrain from counting those years when Marques likely was entitled to get credit for that time.
Marques pleaded guilty in February 2020 to creating and operating a web hosting service called "Freedom Hosting" on the darknet between 2008 and 2013. The darknet is part of the internet but hosted within an encrypted network. It is accessible only through anonymity-providing tools.
Investigators found what appeared to be more than 8.5 million images and videos of child pornography on the Freedom Hosting server, according to a court filing that accompanied Marques' guilty plea.
Marques was living in Ireland at the time of the offenses. He was extradited to Maryland in March 2019. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to advertise child pornography.
In an April court filing, a prosecutor said a government witness was prepared to testify that investigators had identified Marques as the largest purveyor of child pornography in the world and that he had made approximately $3.6 million in U.S. currency from his servers.
Marques' lawyers say he made money from his legitimate web-hosting services, not Freedom Hosting.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lenzner said Marques caused "unspeakable damage" to children. This is the first case that I'm aware of where we went to the seeds of the trade, the main engine driving so much of the illegal child pornography trade globally," he said.
Chuang told Marques that he hopes he reads the written statements submitted by his victims.
"It is heartbreaking to see what has happened to these individuals," the judge said.
Europe’s top human rights organization calls on Poland
to change criminal definition of rape
16 Sep, 2021 14:28
In a statement released on Thursday, the Council of Europe called on Poland to change its definition of rape to ensure women are better protected, warning that, currently, the law could let assailants walk free.
Europe’s top human rights body urged the EU member state to alter its current legal definition of rape over concerns that it doesn’t cover “all non-consensual acts,” with existing legislation focusing on a “force-based definition.”
“Without a consent-based definition of rape in criminal law, prosecutors will invariably decide against seeking an indictment in cases where the sexual act is undisputed, but consent is not,” the Council of Europe warned.
The statement from the Council of Europe comes after Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party imposed stricter anti-abortion laws, essentially banning the procedure despite strong protests from women’s rights activists.
The Council of Europe issued a number of reforms, beyond altering the definition of rape, that are designed to ensure women are better protected within the Polish healthcare system. Other recommendations include improving emergency care and services for individuals who suffer sexual abuse, bolstering training for healthcare professionals and police so they are properly equipped to cope with cases, and encouraging greater communication between officials and women’s rights groups.
The European body’s concerns were sparked by a review taken by the Council of Europe into the implementation of the 2014 Istanbul Convention, a treaty aimed at preventing and fighting violence against women. Currently, of the EU’s 27 member states, six – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia – have failed to ratify the treaty. Poland has signed and ratified the convention but has clashed with the EU over its domestic women’s rights policies.
Paedophile posed as teenager to chat with young children
while high on cocaine
Officers discovered the 30-y/o also had more than 20 indecent images of children
By Louise Lazell, Senior Reporter
07:21, 16 SEP 2021
Essex live
Christopher Lawrence, 30, from Chigwell (Image: Essex Police)
A paedophile posed as a 19-year-old online to send messages to children as young as 11 while "high on cocaine".
Essex Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT) arrested Christopher Lawrence in June last year as part of an investigation into indecent images of children.
Seizing the 30-year-old's phone and iPad, they found he had posed as a 19 year-old man to have 23 separate conversations on social media with children aged between 11 and 15.
Lawrence, from Limes Avenue in Chigwell, had created the profile using a fake name and stock images from the internet before making sexual comments in the conversations.
Officers also found more than 20 indecent images of children on the device.
When interviewed by police, Lawrence admitted to engaging in sexual conversations with people he knew were children while high on cocaine - but denied having a sexual interest in children.
After being charged, Lawrence admitted in Chelmsford Crown Court in June this year to 12 counts of sexual communication with a child, three counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
At the same court on September 6, he was jailed for three years and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
Former teacher jailed for abuse of young boys was pillar of community
Chris Bishop, Eastern Daily Press
Published: 4:47 PM September 17, 2021
A former teacher handed a 25-year sentence after abusing young boys was a pillar of his local community.
Dr Tyrone Murray Castles, 59, was described by a judge as someone who had been concealing a lie, presenting himself as a respected teacher but hiding that he was a "monster".
On Friday, he admitted a number of indecent assaults on boys under 14 years of age and two serious sexual offences on one boy when he appeared in the dock at Norwich Crown Court.
The offences are said to have taken place in the late 1980s and early 1990s, while Castles now of Dockray, Cumbria, taught at Glebe House School, in Hunstanton. Castles later went on to be head of Earlham High School, Norwich, but none of the charges relate to his tenure there.
Castles bought the Royal Hotel at Dockray for £964,999 after he left Earlham High School in April 2007 and lived there with his wife of 20 years and their three children.
Villagers said in recent years Castles had appeared to run the hotel almost single-handedly, doing all the cooking and waiting on tables as well as serving behind the bar.
Castles became a community stalwart in the Matterdale area of Cumbria, a handful of remote villages tucked away in the fells west of the town of Penrith. He was chair of the parish council until he resigned last summer. The council had no inkling of his past.
Its minutes from the time say: "The resignation of Dr Castles was noted with regret; by common consent he had been an extremely good chairman.
Tyrone Castles ran the Royal Hotel in Dockray, near Penrith in Cumbria - Credit: Google
"He has to concentrate on his business, which had been closed for several months due to Covid-19 regulations, but would hope to rejoin the council in year or two if a vacancy arises."
Castles was also a churchwarden at Matterdale Church, which is near the hotel. Before leaving Norfolk, he had been a churchwarden at St Mary the Virgin Church at Redgrave, near Diss, when he lived in the village.
He was on the board of governors of the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith, Cumbria, from 2015 until 2019 and also coached rugby at Patterdale Primary School.
Det Con Carl Ritchie, of Norfolk Constabulary's Child Abuse Investigation unit, said: "He operated in circles where he drew quite a lot of respect, he was a very charming man.
"He always presented as a very charismatic person, very smartly dressed. He was a man who had a presence about him. It's been said when he walked into a room people turned to look at him."
But the pillar of the community came crashing down in June, when he appeared before King's Lynn magistrates charged with a string of historic sex offences.
Where Castles taught
Tyrone Castles' career spanned 11 schools including Earlham High in Norwich, where he was the head and Mildenhall Technology College, in Suffolk, where he was deputy head.
The offences he was jailed for all took place while he taught at Glebe House, in Hunstanton and there has been no abuse alleged at any other school.
Castles trained to teach in his native South Africa, where he taught at three different schools along with one in Namibia, before he moved to the UK in January, 1988.
He became a temporary science teacher at St Lawrence College in Ramsgate, Kent, before moving to Glebe House School at Hunstanton, where he taught science and games from September 1988 to August 1990.
He taught maths and science from 1990 to 1992 at St Bede's School in Hailsham, East Sussex. From 1992 to 1998 he was deputy head of sixth form at The Howard School in Rainham, Kent.
From 1998 to 2000, he was head of sixth form at Prudhoe Community High School in Prudhoe, Northumberland.
From September 2000 to August 2003, he was deputy head at Mildenhall College of Technology.
From September 2003 - March 2007, he was the head at the former Earlham High School, in Norwich, which became City Academy in 2009.
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