'Too easy' for abusers to tutor - 90 caught
Tony Smith & Angus Crawford
More than 90 private tutors in the UK have been convicted of sexual offences involving children over the past 20 years, the BBC has found.
The children’s commissioner for England is now calling - in light of our findings - for reform of the system, which doesn't require people offering private lessons to be checked before working with young people.
Dame Rachel de Souza says private tutors should undergo the same checks as teachers.
Research published in 2023 by the educational charity, the Sutton Trust, suggested that 30% of 11–16-year-olds in the UK had received private tutoring at some point.
Jane (not her real name) found out that the man who had tutored her daughter had touched her sexually.
He had been tutoring her and a number of other children in his own home for several years.
Jane only found out after her daughter finally broke down and told her.
She felt she had failed as a parent in the most basic duty of keeping her child safe: “It was one of those ‘bottom falling out of your world’ moments.”
“I guess I kind of assumed there was some sort of protection in place,” says Jane.
Teachers in schools must undergo what are known as enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) background checks. These reveal details of any spent or unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings held on the Police National Computer.
However, there is no legal obligation for private tutors to undergo any background checks or be qualified to teach.
The Tutors Association, which represents more than 50,000 tutors across the UK, does require all its members to have enhanced DBS checks and follow a strict code of conduct.
But its president, John Nichols, says the current legal situation can’t be allowed to continue: “Anyone could call themselves a tutor, in any subject, and advertise themselves as such, regardless of their suitability.”
Mr Nichols says he has written to the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, to ask that DBS checks become mandatory for anyone seeking to operate as a professional tutor.
One mother told us she had been advised to go to her local police station to consult the Sex Offenders’ Register.
The BBC investigation has found that, over the past 20 years in the UK, 92 private tutors have been convicted of sexual offences involving children.
There is more to this story on BBC at:
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New Mexico's attorney general files a suit saying
Snapchat allows child sexual extortion
New Mexico’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the company behind Snapchat.
AP Technology Writer -- New Mexico's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the company behind Snapchat, alleging that site's design and policies foster the sharing of child sexual abuse material and facilitate child sexual exploitation.
Last December, Torrez filed a similar lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, saying it allows predators to trade child sexual abuse material and solicit minors for sex on its platforms. That suit is still pending.
Snap's “harmful design features create an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,” Torrez said in a statement. Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves persuading a person to send explicit photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or engages in sexual favors.
“Snap has misled users into believing that photos and videos sent on their platform will disappear, but predators can permanently capture this content and they have created a virtual yearbook of child sexual images that are traded, sold, and stored indefinitely,” Torrez said.
In a statement, Snap said it shares Torrez’s and the public’s concerns about the online safety of young people.
“We understand that online threats continue to evolve and we will continue to work diligently to address these critical issues," the company based in Santa Monica, California, said. "We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our trust and safety teams over the past several years, and designed our service to promote online safety by moderating content and enabling direct messaging with close friends and family."
According to the complaint, minors report having more online sexual interactions on Snapchat than any other platform, and more sex trafficking victims are recruited on Snapchat than on any other platform.
Prior to the lawsuit, New Mexico conducted a monthslong undercover investigation into child sexual abuse images on Snapchat. According to Torrez's statement, the investigation revealed a “vast network of dark web sites dedicated to sharing stolen, non-consensual sexual images from Snap,” finding more than 10,000 records related to Snap and child sexual abuse material in the last year. This included information related to minors younger than 13 being sexually assaulted.
As part of the undercover investigation, the New Mexico department of justice set up a decoy Snapchat account for a 14-year-old named Heather, who found and exchanged messages with accounts with names like “child.rape” and “pedo_lover10."
Snapchat, the lawsuit alleges, “was by far the largest source of images and videos among the dark web sites investigated.” Investigators also found Snapchat accounts that openly circulated and sold child abuse images directly on the platform.
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Youth counselor faces child sex charges,
rape in 21-count indictment
WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WXIX) - A West Chester man who worked as a youth counselor and social worker is accused of grooming and sexually abusing multiple boys for nearly 20 years.
His indictment says the alleged crimes date back to April 2008.
Lesko befriended and groomed the victims while he also worked as a personal mentor and owned a privately run counseling service out of his home on Cox Road, according to a township spokeswoman spokeswoman.
Due to the grooming activity, ages of the victims and the trusted positions Lesko held, it is possible that there are other victims that have not been identified, she said.
Sexual abuse also was reported in Montgomery and Warren counties, his indictment shows.
Lesko used to be a manager of social services at UC Health, but is no longer employed there, a UC spokesperson said.
His LinkedIn account says he was the social services manager from November 2020 to April 2024.
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