St Paul's Girls' School Reveals Former Pupils Have Alleged 'Sexual Abuse'
1970s-1990s pupils come forward after #MeToo campaign
Paul Waugh Executive Editor, Politics, HuffingtonPost UK
Britain’s leading girls’ school has revealed that some of its former pupils have alleged they suffered “sexual abuse” while in its care.
St Paul’s Girls’ School in West London has written to its alumni to alert them to the claims, which were prompted by the #metoo campaign to report current and historic cases of assault and harassment in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Two former St Paul’s pupils, known as ‘Paulinas’, have passed on information about their personal experience over a period stretching from the 1970s to 1990s, while others have related allegations set out by friends.
The school says that ‘relevant authorities’ have been informed of the allegations and High Mistress Sarah Fletcher has urged the former pupils to identify to the police the individuals responsible for the abuse.
In her letter, seen by HuffPost UK, Fletcher adds that she has now asked St Paul’s own Local Authority Designated Officer to carry out “an independent safeguarding inspection” to ensure that current pupils are as safe as possible.
The £24,000-a-year fee-paying school, in Hammersmith, West London, regularly tops the national league tables for exam results. Its alumni include high achieving women in business, science, the arts and politics.
‘Old Paulinas’ include Tory MP Vicky Ford, journalists Sophie Raworth and Susanna Reid, TV presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell and actresses Rachel Weisz, Emily Mortimer and Joely Richardson. Novelist and broadcaster Rachel Johnson also attended the school. There is no suggestion any of them have alleged abuse.
According to its website, the school’s “first full-time appointments of men to the academic staff” were made in 1967.
The revelations of abuse follow a project set up by the school’s drama department which invited former pupils to send in their own experiences of harassment.
Director of Drama Isabel Foley had emailed alumni earlier this month to offer 30-minute, anonymous interviews that would help inform a play to be staged at the Edinburgh Festival in 2018.
“Following the spate of recent allegations, resignations and poorly-judged comments emblematic of a problematic culture across all sectors, we are hoping to create a piece of theatre which addresses this issue, to illuminate and educate our society of what must not be tolerated,” Foley had written.
High Mistress Sarah Fletcher
Fletcher said that the St Pauls’ email, “in conjunction with #metoo and the stories about abuse currently in the press, prompted a small number of OPs [Old Paulinas] to get in touch with the school”.
“They have told us of past sexual abuse at St Paul’s. Two wrote from personal experience, others about what they had heard from friends. The allegations relate to a period spanning from the 1970s to 1990s.
“We immediately passed the information onto the relevant authorities, and we remain in close contact with them. I have written to everyone concerned thanking them for coming forward and expressing our absolute condemnation of all such behaviour.
“I have let staff and parents know, and will be talking to our students. The police can only do their job, however, if they have a name. I have, therefore, asked these OPs to consider whether they would feel able to identify the individual(s), so that they can be held to account. I realise this is a big and difficult step to take, and we shall do all we can to support anyone who decides to go to the police”.
Fletcher added:” We can never say “it could never happen here”. We can, however, try our hardest to make sure that we are robust in setting the highest standards in safeguarding that we can.”
St Paul’s Girls is the sister school to St Paul’s School, which is already under investigation after allegations of child abuse stretching back nearly 60 years.
St Paul’s, which lists George Osborne and John Simpson among its own alumni, is the subject of a “serious case review” by Richmond Safeguarding Children Board.
Earlier this year former rowing coach Patrick Marshall became the fifth member of staff to be convicted for abuse since 2013 when he was jailed for 18 years for sexually abusing pupils.
France: Child sex laws for review after controversial cases
France is to consider a change to its laws around sexual consent, according to the minister for gender equality.
Marlene Schiappa said the government was considering setting a fixed age below which sex was automatically a serious offence.
In France the age of consent is 15, but prosecutors still have to prove sex was non-consensual to prove rape.
Despite its age of consent, France currently does not have any law which defines sex with someone below a fixed age as rape.
Currently in France if there is no violence or coercion proved, people may only be charged with sexual abuse of a minor and not rape - this has a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of €75,000 (£66,000; $87,000).
Autistic man who was caught with 90,000
child abuse images is spared jail because
he ‘wouldn’t survive prison’
By Sebastian Murphy-bates For Mailonline
An autistic 27-year-old with an 'insatiable appetite' for sex abuse photos who hoarded 91,169 indecent images of children was spared prison today.
Over a 10-year period, Brett Walker collected videos and photos that featured children as young as six being raped but told police paedophiles should be castrated when he was arrested.
He was handed a 16-week jail sentence - suspended for two years - because he 'would not survive prison' after appearing at Liverpool Crown Court today.
Walker downloaded the material between December 2007 and July 2016, with 968 of the images - included 255 videos - rated Category A, the most serious for sentencing guidelines, the Liverpool Echo reports. Of the other images, 976 fell into Category B and 88,152 came under Category C.
Walker pleaded guilty to three counts of downloading indecent images of children and possessing 91,169 indecent images. He also admitted one count of possessing animal porn.
Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, said: 'As a result of an ongoing operation by Merseyside Police a particular IP (internet protocol) address from a computer was identified and was designated as having viewed and downloaded indecent images of children.'
The investigation led police to search an address on July 20 last year and subsequent computer examination recovered the material that led to Brett Walker's arrest, when, Ms McCloskey said, he denied being interested in indecent images of children.
'He said he had no interest in children with no underwear on and said he was not that way inclined,' she said. 'He said people interested in these things should get help and counselling, and be chemically castrated. 'But when he was asked about his own internet porn usage he said "no comment" and "that’s private".'
Ms McCloskey said Walker became 'very distressed' when he was interviewed later following further examination of the computers. 'He said he could not put his family through it and he needed help, and was a "f****** idiot",' she said.
He told police 'he knew it was wrong' and admitted downloading the images on eDonkey - a peer-to-peer file sharing site. But he claimed to have no sexual interest in children and failed to explain why he had downloaded the images.
John Ballam, defending, said his client suffered from 'extreme autism', would learn no lessons in prison and wanted help. 'The fact is he has clear problems which he wishes to address,' he said.
'He’s not going to survive in prison and he is certainly not going to learn any lesson in prison.'
Walker, from Rock Ferry, was found to be suitable for a sex offenders’ course.
Sentencing, Judge Clement Goldstone QC said Walker's claim not to be sexually interested in children 'may have been a defence mechanism' and described him as 'an intelligent young man who has significant problems'.
'One of those problems was that over a 10-year period, beginning when you were 17, you had an insatiable appetite to see pornographic imagery, varying from the least serious to the ultimate in seriousness and perversity,' he said.
'I have no doubt that someone of your intelligence fully understood that the type of offending... has victims. The victims are those who are exposed and exploited because if there was not such a high demand for this pornographic material those children would not be at such risk – but they are.'
He said Walker’s autism, remorse and willingness to get help meant the sentence could be suspended.
Walker was ordered to attend the course and 20 Rehabilitation Activity days with the Probation Service.
He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years and is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order limiting his internet usage severely.
New Zealand man used social media app to spread
child sex images
STUFF
A Tauranga man used social messenger apps popular with youth and a folder named after a popular American TV dance show to distribute more than a thousand child abuse images and videos.
The 46-year-old man pleaded guilty to three charges related to supplying and possession of images and video of child sexual abuse in the Tauranga District Court on Monday. The man, who has name suppression, previously pleaded guilty to five other counts of the same offence.
Why is his name suppressed? He plead guilty!
The court heard messenger apps Kik and Chatstep were used to send to the images.
Most of the images were located on a google drive under the account abbyleedancecompany0791, mirroring the real-life name of the dance studio starring the reality TV Show 'Dance Moms'. The show follows young girls competing in dance competitions across America.
The defendant used the Kik app, which has a high youth user base due to its anonymous nature, to send images and videos to other users.
The messenger app has been redflagged in New Zealand and abroad as creating an uneven platform for sexual predators and for the sharing of child abuse images.
Kik staff alerted Canadian authorities who then informed New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs.
When one account was shut down there was nothing stopping him opening other anonymous accounts to continue his distribution on Kik and American-based application Chatstep
On September 20, 2017 a search warrant was executed by police at the defendant's address in Tauranga. A number of electronic devices were seized for analysis and the authority to take over the man's social media accounts was granted.
Forensic investigation uncovered a cache of child images on the man's phone as well as two shared drives containing more than 1,100 video and picture files. The content consisted of children posing for photographs, as well as engaging in sexual acts with other children and adults. Some of the material was classed as "extremely graphic".
Ukraine source of 100s of 1000s of images
The extent of the child pornography problem online was made apparent with the water marking on some of the images reading "LS Magazine." which is connected to the illegal activities of Ukrainian Angels Studio which created hundreds of thousands of child pornography images and sold them via the internet.
Approximately 1500 models were recruited and exploited before the publication was shut down but not before its creators turned a massive profit.
Wikipedia:
The Ukrainian Angels Studio, better known as LS-Studio, (and also LS-Studios) based in Ukraine and was an online subscription service and photography studio that created hundreds of thousands of photographic images (and hundreds of videos) of young teen and prepubescent girls and sold them via the Internet from 2001 to August 2004. During that time it produced approximately 80 issues or collections, such as LS-Magazine, LS-Island, LS-Land, LS-Dreams, LS-Stars, LS-Barbie, LS-Flash, LS-Girls, LS-Fantasy, etc., and had thousands of members worldwide. Subscription was done entirely online, and members paid for the service with credit cards.
While early collections often featured nude girls in natural poses, later collections also contained many images of girls in sexually suggestive poses. No actual sexual acts were portrayed but there were implied sexual acts. Many later collections also featured the girls wearing custom-tailored costumes. The backgrounds appeared to be custom-built, similar to stage-play sets.
Approximately 1500 children, ages eight to 16, were recruited as models in Kiev, Kharkov and Simferopol in Ukraine. Various nude photos were taken and uploaded to servers in the United States and Canada. Quality and quantity of material from that studio was unmatched, and soon it became the most popular child erotica website in the world. The site brought in several hundred thousand dollars in profit during the three years it was in service. It has since been shut down.
The man has been given name suppression until November 21 and will reappear for sentencing on January 15, 2018.
Clear and present danger of child porn
That Singapore accounts for a disproportionate number of Asia's webpages containing images of child sexual abuse will shock citizens who take pride in the country's stringent child-protection laws.
Child porn websites, created and frequented by perverts, are a universal curse. For Singapore to host so many of them is particularly shameful. The problem with policing such content is that the webpage hosts may not be based here physically. It is easy for a person to buy domain space, hide behind a mask, and use a complex networking approach to hide his physical location. Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), which is dedicated to removing child sexual abuse images, has noted how devious operators are.
The IWF identified commercial child sexual abuse websites which display the criminal imagery only when accessed by a "digital pathway" of links from other websites. Legal content was displayed when the pathway was not followed or the website was accessed directly through a browser. This made it more difficult to find and investigate illegal imagery. The IWF developed a way of revealing that imagery, making its removal possible and opening the websites to investigation. Technology for good must strive against the technology of evil.
However, the challenges are immense. The foundation has revealed both the global dimensions and national concentrations of the scourge. Of more than 57,000 URLs last year related to child porn, an overwhelming 92 per cent were hosted in the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, France and Russia. Nevertheless, Singapore's unwanted place on the inglorious map of Internet child porn deserves to be erased, as decisively and swiftly as is possible. Internet service providers must observe their larger social responsibility by ensuring that their content and services comply with local regulations, including preventing user access to undesirable, harmful or obscene content. Since there are inventive pathways to the despicable destination of child porn, there must also be blocked gateways to it.
The stakes are high. Pornography insults and exploits the sexual integrity of humans, particularly when it involves vulnerable children whose violated innocence should indict the conscience of the adult world. Indeed, the unhealthy curiosity manifested in being attracted to child porn could indicate deviant sexual interests and fantasies, including latent paedophilic tendencies. Blocking access to child porn will not remove these disorders, but it will help to draw social boundaries more firmly against the encroachment of commercial porn into one of the most hallowed aspects of any society: the safety of its children from sexual harm. Singaporeans must act vigorously against sexual assaults, whether actual or virtual, by offering perverts no place to hide.
Tasmania's Quaker Friends' School informs parents of sexual abuse allegations
By Aneeta Bhole
The Quaker Friends' School in Hobart has been named in historic abuse allegations
An elite Tasmanian private school has informed parents investigations are underway into a claim of historical sexual abuse against a senior staff member who worked at the Quaker-led institution decades ago.
The principal of The Friends' School, Nelson File, wrote a letter to parents saying a former student had come forward alleging they had been sexually abused by a senior staff member.
In the statement, Mr File wrote, "Naturally I am shocked and horrified by an allegation of this nature, The school abhors all abuse, especially children, whose social, emotional and spiritual well being is central to the purpose and concerns of The Friends' School."
"I have communicated with the former student expressing the school's deep concern for their wellbeing," he said.
The matter has been referred to police and the school has also arranged for an independent investigation.
"I felt it appropriate that you should hear this information directly from me," Mr File said. "As this matter is now the subject of an investigation you will understand I am unable to comment further at this time."
It is unknown when the sexual abuse occurred.
Tasmania Police confirmed they had "received a referral of allegations of sexual abuse at a southern Tasmanian school".
"The referral was made by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse," it said. Police said the matter would be "assessed by Hobart CIB".
"I can confirm that the former member of staff has not worked at the school for numerous decades."
The Friends' School adopts principles from the Religious Society of Friends, more commonly known as Quakers.
Hobart, Tas
Warwick man accused of child sex abuse
TWENTY-FIVE child abuse charges have been laid against a Warwick man facing a hearing in Warwick District Court.
The 37-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include 11 counts of rape as well as indecent treatment of a child under 12.
Crown Prosecutor Michael Gawrych said the offences were committed against four alleged victims, three young girls and one boy, who were aged between six and 13 at the time of the alleged abuse.
Mr Gawrych said the man was in an on-again, off-again relationship with the mother of one of the young girls.
The court heard that on one occasion the man she saw as a father-figure and called "Dad" drove both her and her cousin to a park. Mr Gawrych said that after pulling the car over, the man then abused both girls and threatened to leave them in the park if they didn't comply.
"You'll hear that he touched her lots and that's over and above the specific acts and occasions she can recall," he said.
A jury of three men and nine women have been empanelled to deliver a verdict. They were told the man also offered money and threatened to hurt family members to keep the abuse a secret.
The crown alleges the abuse occurred between 2003 and 2013 in Warwick and surrounding areas in cars, a caravan and bedrooms.
Mr Gawrych said on some occasions, the then-children witnessed the abuse of their family members.
Police officers and parents of the alleged victims, who are all now adults, will give evidence during the proceedings.
The defence team did not give an opening statement.
