London university releases statement after
professor sentenced for a child sexual offence
Barry Langford was a Professor of Film Studies at Royal Holloway
| UPDATED
Royal Holloway, University of London has released a statement after a professor pled guilty to a child sexual offence.
Barry Langford, who was a professor of Film Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, was sentenced at Central Criminal Court on 30th September. He connected with abusers online about a shared interest in child sexual abuse. Barry Langford admitted to arranging the commission of a child sex offence, possessing extreme pornography and making an indecent image of a child. He is no longer employed by the university.
A spokesperson for Royal Holloway, University of London told The Tab: “The university was not informed of the criminal proceedings by either the relevant authorities or the individual concerned. The conduct in question is utterly abhorrent and has no place whatsoever within this university. We can confirm that this individual is no longer employed by the university.
“We recognise that this news may be distressing to many of our students and colleagues and have support in place. Our focus remains on supporting our community and we will not be commenting further at this time.”
The Metropolitan Police arrested Barry Langford at his home in London in October 2023. Police found illegal images, a catalogue of extreme sexual interests, and chat logs in which Langford and an accomplice planned a child sex offence.
Wiltshire man paid to watch sexual abuse of child in Philippines
Police attended Dunkerton's house [not pictured] after he was discovered by an undercover unit (Image: Police)
62-year-old Adrian Dunkerton appeared at Swindon Magistrates Court on 14 July.
The defendant, of Orchard Leaze, Christian Malford, pleaded guilty to intentionally arranging or facilitating a non-penetrative child sex offence in Philippines.
Dunkerton was ordered to register as a sex offender at Melksham Police Station within 72 hours ahead of his sentencing at Swindon Crown Court on 28 August.
The lengthy of time he must remain on the register will be determined by the length of the sentence handed down.
Thousands of child-on-child sexual offences reported at schools in England and Wales
Exclusive: Average of nearly five sexual crimes a day against under-13s were reported to police between 2021 and 2025
Lawyers and campaigners have condemned the “horrifying” scale of child-on-child sexual abuse in schools after a Guardian investigation revealed at least 1,700 sexual offences against under-13s, including multiple rapes, are reported to police every year.
Close to five sexual crimes against children aged 12 and younger were recorded on average by police every day in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, according to Guardian analysis of police data for 2021-25.
The figures include reports of almost 2,000 rapes and attempted rapes, which is equivalent to an average of one allegation of rape at a school received by the police every single day. More than a third of the rape victims were children under 13.
The new data showed at least 8,500 sexual offences against under-13s were recorded by police as having occurred on school premises or nearby between 2021 and 2025 – equivalent to 4.7 offences reported each day.
While most of the police reports did not specify the age of the alleged perpetrator, they are likely to be fellow pupils, and in at least 1,890 of the offences reported as being committed against under-13s the offender was described as under 18.
Girls are more likely to be victims of sexual offences than boys, according to the analysis, which found that close to two-thirds of reported crimes affecting under-13s where the sex of the victim was documented had involved female victims.
Responding to the figures, the children’s commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, described peer-on-peer abuse in schools as “widespread, normalised and too often brushed under the carpet”.
“We have taken important steps in the last few years,” she said. “But as these figures show we have a long way to go. This is not simply a school or college issue, it is a societal one.”
The data, obtained via freedom of information requests, also includes reports of a further 6,140 crimes involving the possession, taking, making or distribution of indecent or prohibited images of children under 18.
This has become a significant problem in schools, particularly with the introduction of AI and deepfakes, but headteachers are hoping phone bans and social media restrictions will help to turn the tide.
Andrew Lord, a partner with Leigh Day solicitors who represents survivors of sexual abuse, said: “This new dataset evidences clearly the horrifying true scale of sexual abuse of children within schools.
“Those in authority can no longer claim that they were not aware of how prevalent an issue this is. Parents deserve to know that their children are safe while undertaking their education, and anything short of concrete action to tackle this problem is simply not good enough.”
The data also detailed reports of at least 2,300 sexual crimes against children aged 13 to 16 and a further 9,100 sexual crimes against those aged 13 or over recorded by police as having happened in or in the vicinity of schools between 2021 and 2025. Three-quarters of these involved a female victim.
The true figure is likely to be significantly higher, since the analysis is based on data provided by 33 police forces that replied to FoI requests, out of a total of 43 in England and Wales. There may also be variation in the ways forces collect data.
Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) campaign, said: “This data is shocking but sadly not surprising, and underlines the urgent need to protect children from sexual violence at school.
“We’ve long raised the alarm about this national crisis in schools. However, despite what should have been numerous watershed moments, young people continue to be harmed en masse.”
Excluding 2021, when schools were closed between January and March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the rate of sexual offences increased by 4% outside London, with 26.6 offences per 100,000 children under 13 in 2022, rising to 27.6 in 2025.
A government spokesperson described the figures as appalling. “No child should be unsafe at school, and no child should have to carry this alone. That is why schools’ duty to respond to sexual violence and harassment is now statutory, and why staff are trained to spot concerns early and support victims.
“As part of our strategy to halve violence against women and girls, we have pledged to make sure all young people are taught about healthy relationships and consent from an early age – and we’ve forced tech companies to tackle harmful content and protect young people online through the Online Safety Act.”
Acting chief constable Becky Riggs, who leads on child protection and abuse investigation for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said the number of sexual offences reported in school settings was “deeply concerning”, but might also reflect growing awareness and greater confidence among child victims to come forward and report what has happened to them.
“These findings underline the urgent need for a stronger focus on prevention through age-appropriate education, digital resilience, effective safeguarding measures and greater support for parents, schools and professionals to identify concerns early and intervene before harm occurs,” she said.
“Tackling child sexual abuse requires a whole-system response, with policing, education, social care, health services, technology companies and communities working together to prevent harm, protect children and hold offenders to account.”
Soma Sara is the chief executive and founder of the Everyone’s Invited campaign, which has played a key role in highlighting sexual violence in schools. She now runs education programmes for young people. “When we first launched [in 2020], people refused to even refer to rape culture,” she said.
“It is now accepted as an issue both in wider society and within our schools. But we cannot expect schools to tackle it alone, particularly when the online world is changing so rapidly.
“The proliferation of violent pornography and the increasing harms young people are exposed to online are creating challenges that are incredibly difficult for teachers to keep pace with.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The prevalence of these incidents is simply appalling and a source of great concern for everyone working in education.
“We hope measures being taken by the government to better protect children online will improve matters but ministers must be prepared to go further in regulating online platforms.”
Figures from some forces were taken from keyword searches of police summary notes, so may include cases that mentioned schools but happened outside school premises. Some other forces recorded schools as a location for crimes both on and nearby school premises.
Internet Watch Foundation reports huge rise in AI child sexual abuse material
Abuse material monitor says number of AI images assessed this year is already 40% higher than last year’s total
AI-generated child sexual abuse material is proliferating online, with the amount of illegal material investigated this year already exceeding the total for 2025.
Internet Watch Foundation reports huge rise in AI child sexual abuse material
Abuse material monitor says number of AI images assessed this year is already 40% higher than last year’s total
AI-generated child sexual abuse material is proliferating online, with the amount of illegal material investigated this year already exceeding the total for 2025.
Analysts at the Internet Watch Foundation have found more photorealistic child sexual abuse material in the first half of 2026 than for the whole of the prior year. The UK-based IWF, which monitors abuse material globally, said it had assessed 6,310 AI images that met the legal definition of child sexual abuse, 40% higher than last year’s total of more than 4,500.
Instances of AI-made child sexual abuse material have been rising for several years, with a huge surge in videos in particular, although the latest IWF figures refer to still images only. The majority of the images seen by analysts were of girls, and of children aged seven to 13.The IWF said the figures underlined the need for new statutory regulation on AI.
Andy Burnham’s government has not signalled that a new bill focused on the technology is imminent. Kanishka Narayan, the UK’s AI minister, has said “nothing is off the table” in terms of fresh regulation, but that the test for any legislative proposal will be: “Will it make the British people safer?”
Hannah Swirsky, the head of policy at the IWF, said she backed calls from parliamentarians for “binding legislation on AI” to compel companies to build safer models. “It is incumbent on tech companies to build tools which cannot be abused this way,” she said. This problem has been created by technology, and if companies won’t build tools which are safe by design.”
AI-generated child sexual abuse material is illegal in the UK and the government has also made it illegal to adapt an AI model to create abuse material or to distribute such models to others. Developing a model designed to produce hyper-realistic child sexual abuse material carries a criminal sentence of up to five years.
A government spokesperson said: “UK law is clear that child sexual abuse material is illegal, regardless of whether it is AI-generated or not. We are going further by banning AI models that are used to create this type of abuse material and produce sickening, hyper-realistic imagery that often contains the likeness of real children.”
AI has also enabled online predators to create explicit images of children. The Report Remove service, which blocks intimate images from appearing online, has received 420 reports from children concerning images of themselves that they believed had been faked or manipulated to appear explicit. The number has already exceeded its 2025 total of 397.
The use of AI tools to create abuse tools has led to the National Crime Agency and IWF encouraging parents and guardians to keep pictures of their children off social media. The guidance suggests making social media accounts private or sharing pictures of children through a “close friends” group only.Analysts at the Internet Watch Foundation have found more photorealistic child sexual abuse material in the first half of 2026 than for the whole of the prior year. The UK-based IWF, which monitors abuse material globally, said it had assessed 6,310 AI images that met the legal definition of child sexual abuse, 40% higher than last year’s total of more than 4,500.
Instances of AI-made child sexual abuse material have been rising for several years, with a huge surge in videos in particular, although the latest IWF figures refer to still images only. The majority of the images seen by analysts were of girls, and of children aged seven to 13.
The IWF said the figures underlined the need for new statutory regulation on AI.
Andy Burnham’s government has not signalled that a new bill focused on the technology is imminent. Kanishka Narayan, the UK’s AI minister, has said “nothing is off the table” in terms of fresh regulation, but that the test for any legislative proposal will be: “Will it make the British people safer?”
Hannah Swirsky, the head of policy at the IWF, said she backed calls from parliamentarians for “binding legislation on AI” to compel companies to build safer models. “It is incumbent on tech companies to build tools which cannot be abused this way,” she said. This problem has been created by technology, and if companies won’t build tools which are safe by design.”
AI-generated child sexual abuse material is illegal in the UK and the government has also made it illegal to adapt an AI model to create abuse material or to distribute such models to others. Developing a model designed to produce hyper-realistic child sexual abuse material carries a criminal sentence of up to five years.
A government spokesperson said: “UK law is clear that child sexual abuse material is illegal, regardless of whether it is AI-generated or not. We are going further by banning AI models that are used to create this type of abuse material and produce sickening, hyper-realistic imagery that often contains the likeness of real children.”
AI has also enabled online predators to create explicit images of children. The Report Remove service, which blocks intimate images from appearing online, has received 420 reports from children concerning images of themselves that they believed had been faked or manipulated to appear explicit. The number has already exceeded its 2025 total of 397.
The use of AI tools to create abuse tools has led to the National Crime Agency and IWF encouraging parents and guardians to keep pictures of their children off social media. The guidance suggests making social media accounts private or sharing pictures of children through a “close friends” group only.
