Man charged with child sex offences at former children's home near Wigan
David Mann, 67, from Westhoughton, Bolton, is due to appear in court in October
BY PAUL BRITTON
A GMP spokesman said David Mann faces charges relating to three separate incidents between 1982 and 1987
A man has been charged following a police investigation into allegations of historic abuse at a former children’s home.
The police enquiry - codenamed Operation Milan - focused on the Wood End Assessment Centre in Atherton, near Wigan, between the 1970s and 1990s.
Police said David Mann, 67, from Westhoughton, near Bolton, has been charged with three serious sexual offences.
He has been bailed and is due to appear at Wigan Magistrates’ Court on October 11, a GMP spokesman said.
Operation Milan was launched in 2015 following a number of allegations of sexual and physical abuse at the centre, which was a children’s home in Wigan.
A GMP spokesman said Mr Mann faces charges relating to three separate reports between 1982 and 1987, from individuals aged 16 and under at the time.
Wood End was originally opened in 1969 as a remand home for young boys and was taken over by Wigan council in 1974, when it was also used to house youngsters in care.
It was closed down in 1990.
Madrasa student forced into unnatural sex
Kozhikode, Kerala, India: A student of Quwwat ul-Islam madrassa at Karaserry in Mukkam was forced into unnatural sex, according to a complaint.
The incident related to the case took place on Thursday night.
Based on a complaint, the Mukkam police registered a case and initiated investigation.
Police suspect that the student was abused by man who visited the madrassa the same day.
As he arrived from a distant place, the in-charge of madrasa allowed him to stay there. He slept in the student’s room and left the madrassa the next day.
Though the student informed the madrasa officials that he was subjected to harassment, they did not take it seriously. The incident came to light after he returned home on Friday. As the child complained of difficulties, his parents took him to medical college where an examination confirmed he had been sexually assaulted.
Aussie coalition takes aim at pay-per-view
online child abusers
The Australian
PRIMROSE RIORDAN
Nick Xenophon, Skye Kakoschke-Moore and Sterling Griff. Picture: AAP
The Turnbull government will push for broader changes to crack down on child sex offenders, and target Australians accessing child sex abuse material online on a pay-per-view basis.
Organisations and authorities are warning of an increasing prevalence of Australians live-streaming online child exploitation, essentially paying to watch the abuse of children in developing countries.
To be introduced in the spring parliamentary sitting, which starts today, the laws follow the rollout of federal legislation to take passports from convicted child-sex offenders to stop them travelling overseas.
“Having implemented this important measure, the government is focusing on a broader package of reform which considers all aspects of the child-sex offender crime cycle,” a spokeswoman from the Attorney-General’s Department said. “Our aim is to ensure that children in Australia and overseas are better protected from the dangers of sexual exploitation and abuse, and to improve justice outcomes for survivors.”
The changes come after a push from the crossbench for clearer laws and harsher penalties.
“I was given evidence today of an Australian pedophile in Australia hiring a baby from her mother in The Philippines for less than $100 for his real-time gratification on Skype, and that baby was three months old,” Derryn Hinch told the Senate in June.
At the time, Nick Xenophon Team senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore suggested amendments to child exploitation sections of the Commonwealth Criminal Code that relate to child pornography.
“The amendments to sections 474.26, 474.27, 272.8 and 272.9 of the code would have made it abundantly clear that a person committing an offence under these sections does so when they are in the presence of the child by means of communication that allows the person to see or hear the child,” she said in a media release.
Senator Kakoschke-Moore proposed to “clarify the obligation of internet service providers and content hosts” to report the presence of child exploitation material to the AFP. The proposal included a noncompliance penalty.
The Attorney-General’s Department spokeswoman confirmed that the government considered these amendments as part of the changes.
“The government is aware of the proposed amendments put forward by the NXT Party and is considering these as part of the implementation of these reforms,” she said. The department said the new laws would consider both changes to penalties and changes to the wording of laws to reflect the new nature of these crimes.
Window cleaner sentenced for sexual abuse of 8-year-old
A window cleaner from Kempston in Bedfordshire has been sentenced for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl and making indecent images of children.
Martin Baker, 44, of Bedford Road, was convicted in June of one count of sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13 years old and three counts of making indecent images of children.
He was sentenced at Luton Crown Court to a total of 17 months behind bars. Baker was initially arrested on suspicion of indecent image offences, with officers finding multiple indecent images, including some of the most severe category, on his laptop.
Shortly afterwards an eight-year-old girl then disclosed to police that she had been sexually assaulted by Baker.
“This case shows how the viewing of indecent images is far from a harmless crime, it can often lead to the offender sexually abusing a child in real life, as was the case with Baker....
I would like to praise the victim for her incredible bravery and strength that she has continued to show. Thanks to her, and her strong network of family and friends, a dangerous sexual predator has been locked behind bars.
– INVESTIGATION OFFICER PAUL BADDELEY
Manchester teacher arrested in Spain over alleged child sexual abuse images
This is the moment a British teacher is arrested by Spanish police on suspicion of distributing child sex abuse images over the internet.
The teacher, who was born in Manchester, was arrested in a city in northern Spain, following an international investigation that began in Canada.
Detectives in Canada discovered that an email address based in Spain was being used to share illegal images.
Canadian officers then alerted Spanish police through Interpol and they later arrested a man.
In a statement, Spain’s National Police said that a teacher ‘suspected of storing and distributing images of child pornography through a cloud storage service’ was detained.
The statement, issued on Sunday, added: “At the moment police are working to identify all the victims in the images.”
Photographer faces sexual abuse charges spanning two decades
By Australian Associated Press
A Queensland photographer accused of using his studio as a front to procure his victims has been charged with sexually abusing seven more children.
The 39-year-old man was charged by child exploitation team Taskforce Argos in January 2017 with 79 sex-related offences relating to three children.
Police alleged the man solicited parents via social media to attend his Enoggera-based photography studio that specialised in 'fine art' and 'artistic dance portraits' of young children.
Last month investigators charged the man with another 49 offences relating to seven different victims over two decades.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, did not appear in person in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday and remains in custody.
It is not known if the recent allegations are connected with the man's business.
The earliest victim, a boy aged under 16, was allegedly indecently dealt with in Bundaberg on four occasions between April and December 1997.
Three other boys were also allegedly indecently dealt with on separate occasions at the photographer's Geebung home between 2010 and 2013.
One of those boys, and a separate underage girl in 2006, were allegedly stupefied with alcohol in order for the man to commit an indictable offence.
Two girl victims were allegedly abused in remote areas, including a national park, as well as at the man's home.
Many of the offences against the man involve taking indecent pictures of the children and exposing them to indecent acts.
The case will return to court on September 4.
Salesian priest jailed for child sex crimes at Rupertswood, Sunbury
SHANNON DEERY, Herald Sun
ANOTHER priest is behind bars for sex crimes against children while teaching at the notorious Salesian College, Rupertswood.
Former students say a sickening club of sex abusers roamed its grand halls and manned its dormitories at Sunbury in Melbourne’s northwest for decades, from as early as the 1950s.
Frank de Dood was for a short while in the 1980s in charge of monitoring the dormitories, and like dorm masters before him took his chance to abuse a young boy as he slept.
The child was one of five boys de Dood has admitted abusing between 1978 and 1983.
Four of the students were abused at the Salesian’s Rupertswood college where de Dood taught between 1981 and 1986. One student was abused at the Salesian campus at Chadstone.
At the County Court today de Dood was jailed for three years, with a non parole period of 20 months.
He joins a raft of his former clergy colleagues from the school including Julian Fox and David Rapson who are both serving significant jail terms.
Those priests terrorised students with sexual and violent abuse that was rife throughout decades of the school’s dark history. The school, which de Dood attended himself as a student, has been dubbed a “school of horrors”.
Rupertswood Mansion
De Dood, 64, pleaded guilty to six indecent assault charges against boys aged 11 to 16. He abused boys at random, sometimes as punishment and sometimes to “teach them about love”.
He told one victim that no one would believe his complaints and he would be expelled if he told anyone about his abuse.
Judge Susan Cohen said de Dood exploited vulnerable youths and their families who had put their trust in him as a priest and teacher.
“All of these incidents clearly involved serious breaches of trust by you,” she said.
“Adolescent boys are generally at a vulnerable stage of life ... you may have been relatively sexually immature yourself ... but as a priest carried a level of respect and authority with each of these boys.
“You were also a teacher at the school and that role carries an extra level of authority and trust,” she said.
Judge Cohen despite his pleas of guilty, de Dood had not fully accepted responsibility for his actions.
“I accept you feel some genuine remorse for the suffering of your victims ... but it is outweighed by your regret for the consequences to yourself personally,” she said.
David Rapson
At least six former staff from the Rupertswood college, including principals, have now been jailed for child sex crimes. Salesian officials have admitted to paying out thousands of dollars to victims.
In 2011, former Salesian head Fr Frank Moloney told the Herald Sun that De Dood had not had contact with children for many years: “He works as a farmhand and doing maintenance at our property in Lysterfield,” he said.
But he was also sometimes loaned out to parishes as a stand-in priest.
But several sources have told the Herald Sun de Dood was in frequent contact with children at Lysterfield, where the Salesians ran retreats.
In 2004, the Australian chapter of the Salesians — the world’s second-largest Catholic order — was engulfed in scandal after it was alleged local superiors knowingly moved priests accused of sexual assault across state borders and even abroad to evade authorities.
One, who cannot be named for legal reasons, became principal of a college in South Australia.
Julian Fox, a former Rupertswood principal, became a Salesian rector in Fiji before being moved to Rome.
It is understood moves are now underway for de Dood to be laicised.
Mormon high priest Darran Page admits
21 child sex offences
WAYNE FLOWER, Herald Sun
A DEPRAVED movie director who was a high priest in the Mormon church when he molested young boys has pleaded guilty to a series of child sexual assaults.
Darran Scott — formerly known as Darran Page — faces years behind bars for his sickening acts of depravity committed against vulnerable boys under his care.
Scott, 52, is most notable for writing and directing the independent movie The Spirit of the Game, which told the real-life story of a team of Mormon basketballers who helped the Australian team prepare for the Melbourne Olympics in 1956.
He also worked as an actor and freelance cameraman for Channel 9 affiliate WIN.
Today (Monday) he pleaded guilty in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court to 21 charges, including two of raping a boy aged under 16.
Scott met six of his young victims through his position of authority with the Church of Jesus Christ.
On earning the trust of his victims’ parents, Scott used the boys like his personal sex slaves.
In an act of vile depravity, he forced two teenage boys to strip naked and shoot each other, and himself, in the testicles with an air rifle that fired plastic pellets.
Court documents allege Scott routinely asked his victim’s to measure their genitals where he would laugh and mock them.
The attacks took place within his own home and often while the boys were away with him on holidays.
Police allege one young boy was molested over a four-year period, including on a holiday. He allegedly assaulted the boy in a hotel room and asked him to go skinny dipping with him in a lake.
Scott admitted to plying some of his victims with sedatives, cannabis and booze.
The abuse dates back to the mid 1990s, with some victims coached by the fiend while playing at a junior football club in Melbourne’s southeast.
Court documents state Scott would threaten the boys if they ever spoke out about their abuse.
One boy claimed Scott warned him that nobody would believe him and if he told his dad he would beat Scott up and go to jail, leaving his family destitute.
Scott was bailed to reappear in court later this month.
Paedophile who groomed girl and had 12,500 child abuse images - jailed
Teesside - Matthew Dabbs admitted two offences of causing or inciting a teenage girl to engage in sexual activity and one of sexual activity with a child
A paedophile who blamed his vulnerable victim and downloaded more than 12,500 child abuse images has been jailed after a scathing speech by a judge.
Matthew John Dabbs appeared at Teesside Crown Court having already admitted two offences of causing or inciting a teenage girl to engage in sexual activity and one of sexual activity with a child.
He also pleaded guilty to two offences of making indecent photographs of children as young as four.
Adrian Dent, prosecuting, said the “very vulnerable” teenager, sexually abused by Dabbs, had a mental age of eight and had been groomed through a messaging app between May 2016 and his arrest in April this year.
Mr Dent said that, after police seized Dabbs’ computer equipment, the transcript of the pervert’s sexually explicit chats with the girl ran to 1,200 A4 pages.
He was caught out when the victim’s mother found some of the messages on her daughter’s phone.
In a statement read to the court, the victim’s mother said: “She functions at the age of an eight-year-old.
“She is very trusting - if an adult says something then that’s it for her.
“She feels like she’s being punished despite our assurances that she is not.
“She is struggling to find an appropriate way to vent her emotion.
“This has had a huge impact on our entire family.”
Mr Dent said that analysis of Dabbs’ computer and an iPhone had revealed a collection of 12,563 indecent images of children, some as young as four.
He added that 1,021 of the images were of the most serious category in law.
Andrew Turton, defending, said that his client had been suffering from depression and had been drinking heavily at the time he committed his crimes.
At a previous hearing Mr Turton had requested that a probation officer interview Dabbs and produce a pre-sentence report.
But at Friday’s hearing, Mr Turton said: “I found the report unusual. I have received instructions from the defendant with clear overtures of remorse. Unfortunately that does not seem to come through in the report." He added: “His best and only mitigation is his early plea.”
But Teesside’s top judge, Simon Bourne-Arton, was unimpressed by Dabbs’ apparent lack of remorse.
He said: “Over a period of at least a year, you groomed this young girl. She was particularly vulnerable - a fact you understood and took advantage of.
“You may have suffered from depression yourself - your disadvantage in that respect is nothing when compared to hers. You incited her to carry out sexual activity.”
The judge then slammed Dabbs for statements he made in his probation interview.
He said: “You said that it was the victim who badgered you. You said she was a nuisance. You failed to see her as a child. You knew perfectly well she was vulnerable. She didn’t badger you. You were grooming her.”
The judge then turned to the thousands of indecent images found in Dabbs’ possession.
“This is not a victimless crime. Children are subjected to appalling abuse so that men like you can get sexually perverted pleasure from watching them - and here the children were as young as four.”
He jailed Dabbs, of Parliament Walk, Stockton, for a total of six years and placed a sexual harm prevention order on him.
Dabbs will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.
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