Cases of UK child sexual abuse up 31%, says NSPCC
Charity made more than 4,600 referrals to police and social services in 2016-17, a ‘deeply worrying’ rise on the previous year
The NSPCC’s helpline also gave advice about sexual abuse against young people nearly 4,000 times over the year. Photograph: Mixmike/Getty Images
Matthew Weaver
The number of reported cases of child sexual abuse in the UK rose by almost a third last year, according to NSPCC figures that the charity described as “deeply worrying” but said showed a greater public willingness to report the problem.
The charity said it referred an average of 90 calls a week to police and social services over concerns that a young person had been sexually assaulted. This was an increase of 31% on the year before.
The NSPCC said it made a total of 4,677 referrals UK-wide last year, up from 3,578 in 2015-16.
Astonishing 340% rise in Scotland
NSPCC Scotland reported the biggest year-on-year increase in referrals from 78 to 265 cases last year.
The figures prompted opposition calls to reverse government funding cuts for child protection.
The NSPCC also reported a further 3,912 contacts where helpline staff gave advice about sexual abuse against young people.
The NSPCC said children will not always realise they are being sexually abused, while non-physical offending can occur through live-streaming.
It's physical to the child being offended.
John Cameron, the head of helplines at the NSPCC, said: “It is deeply worrying that so many children are potentially being exposed to such a devastating experience, but at the same time it also suggests that as a society we are much more alert to the risks and much more willing to come forward and share our concerns.
“Sexual abuse can do huge damage to a child’s life and, left untreated, will often haunt them long into adulthood.”
The figures were launched to coincide with a Light Up Christmas for Children appeal to help vulnerable young people over the festive period.
Emma Lewell-Buck MP, the shadow minister for children and families, said: “This is the latest evidence that demand for child protection services is going up, just as funding is being cut. The government’s own figures show that spending on children’s services has already fallen by a tenth under the Tories, and we are heading for a £2bn shortfall by 2020. Ministers should cancel their latest multibillion-pound tax break for bankers and start protecting the most vulnerable children instead.”
Accused child rapist walks free after police are caught keeping evidence from lawyers… again
Same Met Police officer involved, and he's still working
in the same department!!!??
FILE PHOTO © Adrian Dennis / AFP
An accused child rapist has walked free after police were caught withholding crucial evidence from lawyers for the second time in a week. The defendant was released after prosecutors offered no evidence in court.
It is understood that evidence recovered from the phone of the complainant by police was handed over to defense lawyers for Isaac Itiary, who had been accused of raping an underage girl, undermining the prosecution’s case.
Police have a duty to disclose evidence to prosecutors and the accused’s defense team. In the Itiary case, one source with knowledge of the proceedings told The Guardian that “the Met could have moved quicker. They were a bit slow.”
Itiary’s abortive trial is the second time that rape charges have been dropped following a string of possible police errors. Last week, student Liam Allan was cleared of rape and sexual assault charges in similar circumstances.
Allan, 22, was charged with 12 counts of rape and sexual assault, with his trial collapsing after police were ordered to hand over thousands of phone records that had been withheld from the prosecution and defense teams. The 40,000 messages were between Allan’s accuser and her friends, revealing that the alleged victim had pestered the man she accused of rape for "casual sex."
One text message, allegedly sent to a friend weeks before Mr Allan was arrested, reportedly said “it wasn’t against my will or anything.”
Both bungled cases involved the same investigating police officer. The detective remains on full duty in the sexual offences investigation unit, as confirmed by the Met. The Met has confirmed that a review of all digital evidence for any open sexual assault case will now be undertaken.
“As a precaution, every live case being investigated by the child abuse and sexual offences command, where the MPS (Metropolitan police service) is in discussion with the Crown Prosecution Service, is being reviewed to ensure that all digital evidence has been properly examined, documented and shared with the CPS to meet obligations under disclosure,” the Met said.
A spokesperson said the force could not say how many cases that the review of gathered evidence would involve. The Met would not disclose who would carry out the review, or how many officers and staff would participate.
“Isaac Itiary, 25, was charged in July with the rape of a child under 16, and other offences, after consultation with the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) in July 2017,” the Met said.
“Since then the MPS investigation team has been working closely with the CPS to progress the investigation and provide full disclosure.
“In response to the defense case statement received by the officer in the case on 15 December, all material was reviewed to identify any further relevant information likely to assist their case. This resulted in the identification of relevant material which was passed to the CPS to disclose.
“Given the time elapsed between the charging decision and receipt of the defense case statement, the MPS will carry out a review of this investigation to ensure that all reasonable lines of inquiry were pursued at the earliest practical opportunity.”
The Crown Prosecutor Service confirmed that previously requested but as yet unseen evidence had been dumped on legal teams on Sunday - two days before Itiary was set to have his day in court.
“Prosecutors decided that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and we offered no evidence against the defendant at a hearing today,” the CPS said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors said the new material meant the Itiary case no longer met the threshold test applied when the decision is made to prosecute.
“A decision to charge under the threshold test must be kept under review, and prosecutors are required to take account of any change in circumstances as a case develops,” the CPS added.
The two disastrous rape cases are public embarrassment for the Met. Commander Richard Smith, who oversees rape investigations, said police force is committed to a public review.
“I completely understand that this case may raise concerns about our compliance with disclosure legislation given the backdrop of the case of R v Allan last week,” he said. “The Met is completely committed to understanding what went wrong in the case of Mr Allan and is carrying out a joint review with the CPS, the findings of which will be published.
“Rape investigations are by their nature very complex, and often hinge on the contradictory accounts of the alleged suspect and the complainant about what has taken place. We are reviewing all our investigations, where we are in discussion with the CPS, to assure ourselves that we are meeting our disclosure obligations in an acceptable timescale based on the volume of data that some cases involve.”
UK Deputy Prime Minister resigns
following porn scandal
Damian Green has resigned as the UK’s First Secretary of State after an investigation found he misled parliament and the public over pornography found on his office computer.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s right hand man finally fell on his sword Wednesday evening after a protracted saga involving the discovery of “extreme” pornography on his parliamentary computer.
A seven week inquiry found that Green and his solicitor knew about the material which was found on his computer in 2008. The probe found the politician made “inaccurate and misleading” statements about what he knew and his actions fell short of the ministerial code.
After May was presented with the findings she wrote a letter to Green asking him to resign. The prime minister expressed “deep regret” at his departure, according to the BBC.
The findings differ greatly from Green’s public comments. He previously strongly denied the claims which he labelled “outlandish smears” made by people who had “ulterior motives.” On Wednesday, however, he apologized for his actions.
“I regret that I've been asked to resign from the government following breaches of the Ministerial Code, for which I apologize,” Green said in a letter to May, according to Reuters. He reiterated his claim that he did not download or view any pornography on his office computer.
Yeah, it was the porn fairies; I'm sure of it!
Green was also facing sexual harassment allegations. Conservative Party activist Kate Maltby alleged that he inappropriately touched her and sent her a suggestive text message. The inquiry did not issue a ruling on her claims but it did find them "plausible".
‘Christmas truck’ driver, sentenced to
10 years behind bars
Tara Bradbury tara.bradbury@thetelegram.com
WARNING: This story contains graphic details that some readers may find upsetting.
More than 40 years after their childhoods were stolen from them, five people who were repeatedly sexually assaulted by Chris Snow left a St. John’s courtroom feeling at least a little bit vindicated Wednesday.
See also: ‘Christmas truck’ driver Chris Snow found guilty of child sexual abuse (2nd story on link)
“It’s a very happy day. Very happy,” one of the female complainants said outside the courtroom. “We weren’t able to be saved as children, but we were able to save the children of the future and that’s a victory. Ten years is good. I wanted more but I figured at this stage, any time he has to serve behind bars is good time. Justice has been served.”
Snow is known to many in the St. John’s area as the man with the Christmas truck: he often drove around the metro area in a pickup decorated with coloured lights and tree boughs, blaring music.
In sentencing Snow on 12 counts involving indecent assaults and acts of gross indecency, Justice William Goodridge told him his actions were “cruel and despicable, among the worst things you could ever do,” and noted Snow had preyed on his victims, some as young as six years old, while they had no way of escaping.
“As far as I’m concerned, you took advantage of them in their own beds, where children should feel the safest,” Goodridge said. “You saw it here yourself: they’ve lived their whole lives with trauma. In my view, from hearing their victim impact statements, you took their whole childhoods away from them.”
The five complainants — male and female — testified individually about what Snow had done to them as children. He fondled them in their beds while also fondling himself, they said, and would sometimes leave them money. He tried to force the boys’ mouths and hands on his genitals and attempted to anally penetrate one boy a number of times, starting when the boy was nine. Goodridge noted two of the children were physically injured by the assaults, which happened on a near-daily basis.
In one incident, Snow locked a boy in a closet until he agreed to his demands.
Goodridge noted there were a few mitigating factors in the case, particularly when it comes to Snow’s own childhood. The court heard he was raised in an abusive home, which Goodridge called a “house of horrors.” Snow had received no parental guidance, Goodridge said, and his father had taken him out of school in Grade 2 to “essentially be a slave,” forcing him to perform strenuous chores and beating him into submission with a stove poker.
“I say it was mitigating because your parents didn’t intervene and you had nothing to tell you right from wrong,” Goodridge said, “But this was a long time ago.”
Snow cried while the judge summarized the details.
The closest Snow had come to expressing remorse for his crimes, Goodridge noted, was when he spoke at his sentencing hearing, saying he understood he had to do jail time and promised not to be back before the court.
Goodridge noted the violent nature of Snow’s assaults on the children and their lifelong effects, saying the victims’ “raw emotional pain was obvious when they testified in court.”
“At a time when other children were enjoying playful innocence of youth, these five victims were forced into lives of fear and depravity at the hands of someone from whom they could not escape,” Goodridge said.
In addition to the 10-year prison term (minus credit for the 65 days he has been in custody awaiting sentencing), Goodridge ordered Snow to provide a DNA sample, banned him from firearms for 10 years after his release, and ordered him to be named to the sex offender list. He also banned Snow for life from attending a public park or swimming area where children under 16 could be expected, as well as daycares, school grounds, playgrounds and community centres; banned him from seeking employment or volunteer work that involves being in a position of trust or authority of children under 16, and banned him from using a computer to communicate with anyone under 16.
Snow’s son, David Snow, 35, is also facing child sexual abuse charges, (5th story on link) in unrelated incidents said to have happened between 2011 and 2015. David Snow has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference, three counts of exposing his genitals to a child under 16, 10 counts of observing a person for a sexual purpose and one count each of making child pornography and possessing child pornography. David Snow is also in custody, and will make his next appearance in Supreme Court in January, at which time he’s expected to make a plea deal.
Chris Snow’s victims said they have no regrets about going to the police with what he had done to them, even though it was years ago.
One of them said she’d like to become an advocate for those who’ve suffered sexual abuse, and had advice for others who may be contemplating going to the police.
“Please don’t wait 50 years,” she said. “If it’s happening to you, come forward. You will never be alone. Take your power back.”
‘No rapists on our streets’: Swedes protest gang rapes in Malmo, demand govt to act
© Ana Devi / Facebook
Dozens of Malmo residents gathered Tuesday to demonstrate against gang rapes that shook the city in just one month, demanding the government take more decisive steps to protect women.
Actually, it looks like a few hundred people to me from the brief video below. It is still not enough! There needs to be thousands in the streets or Lofven will just continue to ignore them.
“We have a government that claims to be feminist, but at the same time does not act, when the legal system signals that women's bodies are public property," said medical student Camilla Lundgren who organized the protest.
Unfortunately, feminism is trumped by a suicidal desire to pretend Muslims are all nice, polite, peace-loving people. Many of them are, but many are terrorists and rapists and the government of Sweden seems hell-bent and determined to commit cultural suicide and sacrifice young Swedish girls and women on the altar of political correctness and insanity.
Over the course of one month, three women were raped by several assailants, with the latest victim being 17-years-old. In the wake of the attacks, Malmo police advised women to only go out in pairs after dark. They promptly retracted the “unfortunate” statement (3rd story on link) following criticism.
However, it was the news of a Swedish court releasing three men, accused of raping a woman in the Stockholm suburb of Fittja in 2016, that prompted Lundgren to call on local residents to join the demonstration. On Tuesday, the court acquitted all five defendants in the case due to insufficient evidence.
The government, the media, the police and even the courts are part of the charade of protecting the worst criminals in the country from facing justice lest Swedes find out how awful many of these people are. Protecting criminals while throwing girls under the bus. What insanity!
"I was not surprised, but at the same time I'm totally disturbed. It feels hopeless. It's like our politicians do not think women are human,” Lundgren said of the decision.
Oh, they know you are human, they just don't think you are as important as Muslim criminals.
video 0:30
Protesters carried lit candles and banners, reading, “No rapists on our streets” and "Lofven, take your responsibility," referring to Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. The government needs to “treat rape as a serious and specific crime that needs to be managed by competent, specially trained lawyers and by more resources towards police and arrest services,” Lundgren told the Local.
Branding Sweden “the most equal country must be the biggest joke," said another speaker, Desiree Linnea Monsen, according to the SVT Nyheter.
Protesters welcomed the government’s proposal of a new sexual consent law, which would require adults to receive any sign of approval from their partners to act.
Which would not have helped in the case above. One suspects a lot more enthusiasm from the police, prosecution services and judges for protecting girls from rapists is in order.
Still, Malmo residents demanded tougher penalties for rapes. They also want a competent justice minister who is well versed with violence against women issues and a police chief, who “cares for women.”
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