Arrest in Beechwood Children's Care Home Child Rape Investigation

A man has been arrested on suspicion of child rape at a former care home in Nottinghamshire, UK. 

It follows an investigation into claims of child sex abuse dating back to the 1970s at the Beechwood home, in Mapperley.

The Beechwood Children's home is at the centre of the abuse claims

The BBC understands a man in his 50s was questioned on suspicion of raping a child during the 1980s, and has since been bailed pending further enquiries.

It is unclear whether the man worked at Beechwood, which closed in 2006.

Nottinghamshire Police have said they are still following other lines of inquiry which refer to a number of potential suspects.

The investigation has been extended to four other children's homes in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Jury Discharged - Unable to Reach a Verdict on 14 Charges Against Amanda Spencer

Amanda Spencer will be sentenced on Tuesday
for a string of child prostitution offences

The jury in the trial of child sex ring leader Amanda Spencer has been discharged after failing to reach verdicts on 14 remaining charges.

The 23-year-old was found guilty of 16 child prostitution offences at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday and cleared of eight similar offences.

The jury heard she was 16 when she began luring "weak and vulnerable" girls into prostitution.

Spencer was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing on Tuesday.

During the trial the court heard she forced her victims - some as young as 13 - to have sex for cash, using the money to fund her drug and alcohol addictions.

Judge Michael Murphy QC thanked the jury of 11 women and one man for their efforts during the two-month trial and granted them exemption from jury service for 10 years.

Addressing the jury he said: "I've never seen a case like this in terms of the vulnerable witnesses we had and I know you have been faced with some pretty challenging and pretty harrowing evidence and you have done it with considerable restraint."

Prosecutor Peter Hampton said a decision on whether to seek a retrial on the remaining counts would be made in the coming days.

Det Ch Insp Bob Chapman, from South Yorkshire Police, said: "I'm very pleased that the evidence given by the victims in this trial has, in the main, has been vindicated by the verdicts.

"The victims have had to attend court and relive the terrible events they suffered all over again.

"They have been extremely brave and the investigation team and I am very proud of them all."

Ian Foster, 68, from High Green, will also be sentenced on Tuesday after he was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault.

Ian Foster - likes them young

Foster had previously been found guilty of 12 child sex offences at a separate trial in February, it can now be revealed.

Details of the case can only now be reported after a judge at Sheffield Crown Court lifted a reporting restriction.

Jurors in that trial heard Foster bought his victims - some as young as 12 - alcohol and cigarettes and took them to nightclubs before abusing them at his home.

Please pray that all these victims get their lives in order and get the healing they need. Also, please pray my 3:15 PM prayer - we so desperately need God to intervene in child sex abuse, perhaps the worst scourge in the history of mankind.

Nigerian Police Still don't Know How Many Girls are Missing - Military Planning Offensive

Police in Nigeria have appealed to parents of more than 200 abducted schoolgirls to come forward with photographs of their daughters.

The girls were taken from their school in Borno state by suspected Islamist militants more than two weeks ago. And almost everyday we get a different count of how many were taken and how many escaped. If this is a reflection of the competence of Nigerian police or military, it could be a long time before those girls are rescued, if they ever are. Please pray for a major breakthrough to happen to bring those girls home.

Borno state's police chief told the BBC that the authorities needed to confirm exactly who was missing as the school records had been burned in the attack. He said it was now thought that 223 girls were still missing.

The Islamist group Boko Haram has not made any response to the accusation that its fighters abducted the girls from the school in Chibok town in the middle of the night on 14 April 2014.

Protests were held on May Day, a public holiday,
calling for more to be done to save the girls

The group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language, has staged a wave of attacks in northern Nigeria in recent years, with an estimated 1,500 killed in the violence and subsequent security crackdown this year alone.

Tanko Lawan, Borno state's police commissioner, said the headmistress of the school in Chibok had been working to produce a list of those believed to have been taking their final year exams.

Her task had been hampered as students from surrounding areas had also come to the school to take the exams as it was believed the town was relatively safe from attack.

He said current figures showed that 53 of the girls were believed to have escaped.

4 of the girls who succeeded in escaping

But he added that it was difficult to know for sure, as some parents may not have informed the authorities if their daughters had returned home.

"That's why we're appealing to parents to come with their photographs so that we know actually [that] these are the numbers we are dealing with," he told the BBC Hausa service.

Since the kidnapping, the number of missing girls has been disputed and parents have criticised the government's search and rescue efforts.

Earlier this week, a community leader in Chibok said that 230 girls were missing - a significantly higher figure than officials had been quoting - and 43 had escaped.

This week protests have been held across Nigeria, calling on the government to do more to help secure their release.

It is thought that the militants initially took the girls to the Sambisa forest; there have been subsequent reports they have been taken over the borders into Chad and Cameroon and possibly forced to "marry" the insurgents.

Swathes of north-eastern Nigeria are, in effect, off limits to the army, allowing the militants to move the girls with impunity, says the BBC's Will Ross in Abuja.

A security source told Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper that four army battalions have been deployed to the area and an offensive on the forest was planned.

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for international military assistance to be offered to Nigeria in the hunt for the girls. That would be nice, and maybe get rid of those lunatics while they are at it.

"We could provide military help to the Nigerians to track down the whereabouts of the girls before they're dispersed throughout Africa - like air support, for example, if that was thought necessary," he told the UK's Guardian newspaper. Would have been nice to have that within a couple days rather than a few weeks.

Last week, an advisor to Nigeria's president said the government would welcome international assistance.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau first threatened to treat captured women and girls as slaves in a video released in May 2013.

It fuelled concern at the time that the group was adhering to the ancient Islamic belief that women captured during war are slaves, with whom their "masters" can have sex, correspondents say.

Parents Frustrated by Lack of Joint Inquiry in Madeleine McCann Abduction

The parents of Madeleine McCann have told the BBC they are frustrated there is no joint British and Portuguese police inquiry into her disappearance.

Her mother, Kate McCann, said she also finds the slowness of the Portuguese investigation "distressing".

Madeleine was three when she disappeared in Praia da Luz, Algarve, seven years ago on Saturday.

Mrs McCann said she walks in that area every year to feel closer to Madeleine.

Madeleine's bedroom at the family home in Rothley, Leicestershire, has been kept exactly as it was when she went missing, her mother said.

"She might want to change it a bit now she's a bit older," Mrs McCann said. "It's absolutely the same."

Mrs McCann's visits to Praia da Luz take place once or twice a year, with the most recent being in April 2013.

"That's obviously the last place we were with Madeleine," she said.

"I'll still walk those streets and I guess try to look for answers. It helps me, most of the time."

She admitted she went "quietly" so as not to generate publicity which some local people "resent".

The Mark Warner Ocean Club apartments in Praia da Luz pictured in April 2008

 Scotland Yard launched a new investigation - codenamed Operation Grange - into Madeleine's disappearance last July, two years into a review of the case, and made renewed appeals for information.

A high-profile campaign run by the McCanns and the Portuguese police investigation had so far failed to locate the missing child.

Mrs McCann said she was particularly frustrated that police in Portugal had so far ruled out a joint inquiry with their British counterparts.

"As a parent, I find the slowness of action in Portugal really hard to take. I find it quite distressing," she said.

"Even though we're seven years down the line, waiting weeks or months, particularly for letters of request to be processed basically... it is frustrating.

There is almost always rivalry or jealousy between police forces as immature police leaders are always afraid of being shown-up by other police forces. They are more interested in protecting their pride than in solving cases and ending the anguish of this family. Pleased pray that the Portuguese will get past that and put solving this crime as the most important thing.

"I suppose I do struggle with the fact. Please work together."

Madeleine McCann wearing an Everton football shirt

Mrs McCann said she had not been given a reason why a joint team had not been set up.

"To us, it makes sense that the two police forces should work together, to have a more streamlined approach to avoid duplication and basically to progress the investigation at a faster pace," she added.

Her husband Gerry said: "What is very, very clear is that there are lots of lines of inquiry and a lot of further work needs to be done in Portugal.

"The Met can only do so much with the information that they have."

Mr McCann said it was a "big step forward" that the Portuguese investigation had been reopened but admitted the bureaucratic process was causing delays.
"The concern that we have, and I think also that the Metropolitan Police have, is that at the minute, there's almost parallel investigations going on, which doesn't make sense," said Mr McCann.

"We're not quite sure why there's resistance to the joint investigation team, because clearly resources in Portugal is an issue and this would be one mechanism by which they could have additional funding."

Madeleine's 11th birthday is on 12 May

The seventh anniversary of the day Madeleine went missing from the McCann's holiday apartment will be marked with a small gathering in their home village.

They said they planned to celebrate Madeleine's 11th birthday later this month with their other two children, nine-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

Mr McCann said: "It's really hard. She's not there. It's by far the toughest day of our year, every year."

The family still has a birthday cake for Madeleine every year, said Mrs McCann.

She added: "You think - 11, she's due to start secondary school in September. Which is just.... It's a long time."

Madeleine's younger brother and sister were described by their mother as "great kids".

"They really are wonderful," said Mrs McCann. "They've grown up with a big sister not being there.

"She's talked about frequently... we're a family of five, they've got an elder sister and they've handled it incredibly well."

Her husband added that the pair are "normal, happy nine-year-olds."

The best-case scenario, said Mr McCann, would be if Madeleine had been "taken by someone who wanted a child" and has been "loved and cared for".

High-profile cases of missing women found years after they were taken, including Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight who were rescued from a house in Ohio last year, have given them hope, the McCanns said.

"If you're one of those people, then statistics mean nothing." said Mrs McCann. "It is real hope. We're not blinkered.

"We know what the statistics say. But we also know about all of these cases.

"For each one of those children, now women, that have been found, statistics would have said they were dead."

Asked for a message for Madeleine, her mother said: "We love you Madeleine. We miss you every day, as we did that very first day, and we're waiting for you.

"We're never going to give up. We'll do whatever we can to find you."                           #madeleinemccann

Celebrity Publicist Max Clifford Jailed for Eight Years for Sex Assaults on Children

Disgraced celebrity publicist Max Clifford has been jailed for a total of eight years for a string of indecent assaults against girls and young women.

Police said the publicity generated by high profile cases
 like Clifford's had led to a rise in reports of sexual abuse

On Monday the 71-year-old became the first person to be convicted under Operation Yewtree.

Sentencing the PR man, Judge Anthony Leonard said he had groomed and degraded his victims.

Mr Leonard ruled that Clifford should serve his eight sentences of between six and 24 months consecutively.

He said that Clifford - whose lawyer later said an appeal was being considered - should serve at least half his total sentence in jail.

The judge said some of the offences would be charged as rape if they had happened today.

Clifford posed for the cameras before
he was sentenced and throughout his trial

After hearing his sentence, Clifford turned off his phone, took off his hearing loop, turned to friends in the seats behind him and smiled, before being led to the cells.

Earlier, the court had heard how Clifford's abuse changed the course of the four women's lives.

In statements read out by the prosecution, one victim - who was 15 at the time - revealed how she had missed out on having her first sexual relationship with someone her own age because of what Clifford did.

Another said she would cry whenever she saw him on TV following the assault and feared police would laugh at her when she finally came forward.

Max Clifford victim: "I'll never forget what happened"

Prosecuting barrister Rosina Cottage QC said one of the women felt she had "lost the last 20 years" of her life.

Speaking after the sentencing, the Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders said Clifford "thought he was able to abuse his position of power".


Richard Lister
BBC News correspondent
Max Clifford was defiant to the last.

On his way into court he said he was standing by everything he said in the trial - that he didn't assault anyone. He rejected every opportunity to apologise to his victims.

Every seat in the court was taken. Behind him was a group of his friends and supporters. On the other side of the court sat some of the women he had abused. Journalists filled every other spare seat - even in the jury box.

As the judge read out details of his assaults Clifford sat impassively in the dock, occasionally shaking his head.

He stood to hear the sentence and as he was being led away he gave a small smile, and turned to wave to his supporters, some of whom were in tears.

He left, and from somewhere in the court a woman shouted "Good!".

"People think they can be immune somehow because of the positions they are in. And there is a very clear message here. Nobody is immune, nobody is above the law and it doesn't matter when things happened, we will prosecute when we have the evidence to do so."

Children's charity the NSPCC tweeted: "Max Clifford thought no-one would believe his victims. He was wrong. This sentence proves victims of non-recent abuse can get justice."

Director Peter Watt added: "It's clear the judge has recognised the pain and suffering Clifford caused and the additional distress he put his victims through by forcing them to relive their ordeal in court."

Adam Pemberton, assistant chief executive at Victim Support, said: "This prison term reflects the impact the crimes Max Clifford committed has on his victims and the courage they showed in finding the strength to give evidence against him.

"We should not forget it was the compelling testimony of the women Clifford abused many years ago which convicted him even as he tried to claim they were liars and fantasists."

The judge said Clifford would serve at least half his sentence in jail

In comments before he handed down the sentence, Mr Leonard said he had learned about Clifford standing behind a television journalist who had been reporting on the guilty verdict outside court.

The judge said Clifford had "mimicked his actions in a way that was designed to trivialise these events".

"I find your behaviour to be quite extraordinary and a further indication that you show no remorse", he said.

He told Clifford the sentence would take into account "this additional element of trauma caused by your contemptuous attitude".

Mr Leonard said Clifford led a double life and referred to his charity work and care for his disabled daughter.

But he concluded: "Whilst at the trial you were able to rely on your good character, on the jury's verdicts you lost your good character in 1977 when you were aged 34."

Clifford's victims

15-year-old girl assaulted four times in 1977 or 78
19-year-old woman assaulted in 1981 or 82
A 17-year-old assaulted twice between 1982 and 84
18-year-old woman assaulted in 1983 or 84

Mr Leonard said he was sure that, in addition to the charges on which he was convicted, Clifford had assaulted a 12-year-old girl in Spain.

While the details of how he was alleged to have abused the girl in a whirlpool bath were revealed during the trial, Clifford could not be prosecuted over the incident because it took place before offences that happened abroad could be pursued in the British courts.

The woman was in court to see the sentence handed down and cried when the judge raised her case.

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said more complainants were believed to have come forward during the trial, and police and the Crown Prosecution Service were discussing how to proceed. Let's hope and pray that more charges are brought against Clifford. I don't think 4 years in jail is nearly long enough for him.

Speaking outside the court, Det Ch Insp Michael Orchard, the senior investigating officer in the case, praised the victims' bravery and said the publicity had persuaded more alleged victims to come forward.

He added: "As a result of high-profile cases such as these we have seen a significant increase in the number of sexual abuse allegations reported to police."

Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders said that, as well as those involving famous figures, there were regular convictions for historic sex abuse "up and down the country" which generate less publicity.

OJ Simpson and Max Clifford

The Crown Prosecution Service applied "the same tests in every case no matter who the defendant is", she added.

Clifford was a key player in the British media in the 1990s and 2000s, orchestrating tabloid revelations about the sex lives of politicians, including David Mellor and John Prescott, sporting figures such as David Beckham and Sven-Goran Eriksson, and actors including Jude Law.

An Exponential Increase in Child Molestation is Very Likely Due to Live Child Porn Streaming

The live online streaming of real-time child sexual abuse is becoming an "emerging trend" that will grow over the next three years, according to Britain's organised crime fighters.

The National Crime Agency says that while the scale of existing forms of production of indecent images of children is likely to remain stable over the next year to three years, live streaming and paedophiles' use of the "hidden web" – sites beyond the reach of search engines – are likely to rise sharply.

The NCA says paedophiles are using the increasing availability of the internet in developing countries to live-stream the abuse of children to paying customers across the world.

In January, 17 British men were among those arrested for
streaming live child sex abuse from the Philippines

In January the NCA announced that 17 British men were among those arrested in an international police operation that broke up a paedophile ring that streamed live child abuse from the Philippines. Three other inquiries are under way into men who pay to see abuse via webcams with 139 Britons among 733 suspects.

"Extreme poverty, the increasing availability of high-speed internet and the existence of a vast and comparatively wealthy overseas customer base has led to organised crime groups exploiting children for financial gain," said the NCA.

The NCA lists live online streaming of child abuse with the supply of heroin and new "legal highs" and the criminal exploitation of the legal trade in guns as among the fastest growing organised crime threats facing Britain over the next one to three years.

The agency's first national threat assessment estimates there are 36,600 criminals involved in about 5,300 organised groups in Britain involved in child sex abuse, cyber-fraud, the trade in drugs and guns and people trafficking.

With 750,000 men on the internet at any given moment looking for sexually abused children, the market is strong and will be for a long time. One of the worst aspects of this new trend is that it is performed for individual clients (read perverts). Most pornography is available to thousands, if not millions of perverts meaning, theoretically, one child is molested for thousands of customers.

With the live 'one-on-one' trend, each molestation satisfies only one pervert. The likelihood of there being an exponential increase in child molestation is very high - the trend is increasing and there is no shortage of sick people looking for increasingly disgusting sex fantasies.

Please pray my 3:15 PM prayer and pass it around so others can pray. While it's great that there are NGOs and GOs that are fighting this horror, only God can actually reverse the trend or stop it altogether.

Child Sex Abuse in China Being Addressed but More Needed

New York Times column by Lijia Zhang

Lijia Zhang

BEIJING — When I was 13, living in the outskirts of Nanjing, my math teacher molested all the girls in our class, including me. Under the pretense of checking my work, he would lean over me, his face so close that I could smell his garlic breath, and he’d move his hand up my shirt, touching my chest.

Apart from trying to avoid him, we didn’t take any action. We knew what he was doing was wrong, but it never occurred to us to report him. A teacher in a Chinese classroom holds tremendous authority over students, and we didn’t even know the term “sexual abuse.” Most of us made it through the trauma, except for his main target, a plump girl who dropped out of school before she turned 14.

In May of last year, a sordid story of child sex abuse made headlines. Chen Zaipeng, then the principal of Wanning No. 2 Primary School, Hainan Province, together with a government official, took six pupils between 11 and 14 years old to a hotel and sexually abused them. Mr. Chen was convicted of rape and sentenced to a mere 13-and-a-half years in prison for his crimes.

The case sparked a national outcry, particularly over the light punishment Mr. Chen received. In one act of protest, a rights activist, Ye Haiyan, went to the school in Wanning, brandishing a poster that read: “Principal, if you want to ‘get a room’ look for me; leave the students alone!” Images of her action went viral.

Ye Haiyan - my hero for the day! God bless you girl!

Ms. Ye’s protest and others like it rippled through the Internet and, along with widespread exposure of Mr. Chen’s crimes, brought child sex abuse out into the open. Chinese people started to discuss the issue publicly and, as a result, other victims came forward. By the end of May, some 20 more sex-abuse cases, mostly at schools, were reported and publicized.

The trend has continued. According to a Chinese government report, 125 cases of child sex abuse were documented in 2013, a record number for China, where people don’t normally talk about these things.

There is insufficient data to claim that sex abuse of minors is rising. What has changed is that the issue is finally getting the attention it deserves, and that the government is reacting.

In the wake of these scandals, the central government issued sex-abuse-prevention guidelines in September for provincial governments, the education bureau and other departments that oversee children. They recommend an increase in sex education: Students, girls in particular, need to know what sex abuse is and how to seek help if it occurs. School authorities are asked to improve background checks on teachers. Local governments are urged to establish hotlines.

In October, China’s top legal authorities issued their own guidelines, stipulating seven circumstances that warrant severe punishment. Though not law, the guidelines provide a legal and moral framework that officials are expected to follow. The guidelines promise “maximum protection” to children, and zero tolerance to offenders.

Heavier sentences are sought for offenses committed by teachers, health workers or other officials responsible for educating or protecting children. If they are caught having sex with a girl under age 14 — whether or not the act is consensual — it will be regarded as rape.

Both sets of guidelines indicate official recognition of the severity of the problem, but they don’t go far enough. A war on all fronts is needed.

The controversial “soliciting child prostitution” law should be scrapped. Introduced in 1997 as part of the revised criminal code, it was meant to deter men from paying child prostitutes. But many men accused of child abuse are able to argue that the victim was a prostitute and that they should be sentenced under the soliciting law, which has lighter punishments than child abuse laws.

The October guidelines have made it significantly harder to abuse the child prostitution law and its abolition is being considered by the authorities. There should be no more delay in repealing it.

But China is infamous for having strong laws that go unenforced. And compared to Western countries, Chinese courts tend to give sex offenders, well-connected officials in particular, light sentences. Changing some laws is a first step. More concrete actions should follow.

Governmental social services are essentially nonexistent. Beijing should set up a child-protection network, including a national department for child protection. Social workers, legal workers and psychologists need to be brought into the system.

A change in attitude is essential. A new emphasis on sex education would help. The subject is mostly ignored by teachers, and children seldom hear “the facts of life” at home. Lack of sexual knowledge and the awareness of potential abuse make young girls, like the group in my elementary school class, prone to exploitation.

Toxic traditional beliefs are another hurdle. A long-held Chinese myth says that having sex with a virgin can boost a man’s virility. The modern version has it that deflowering a girl can enhance a man’s chance of promotion because the word “virgin,” chu, is contained in the term chuzhang, which means section chief. Well, how can you argue with logic like that? Good grief!

Chinese society will have to continue to open up, enabling more victims and their families to come forward. Up to now, a large number of cases went unreported, and few victims took legal action because the battles were so hard to fight, the punishment to abusers so lenient, and compensation extremely low. Victims’ families are still often stigmatized.

Today’s China is a much better place than the country of my childhood, but we have a long way to go. I often wonder what became of my classmate, the victim of the child abuse. Would she fare any better today?

Lijia Zhang is the author of “Socialism Is Great! A Worker’s Memoir of the New China.”

Belfast Man Sentenced to 16 Years for Sexually Abusing 2 Young Brothers

A Belfast man who sexually abused two young brothers, attacking one of them when he was four to five years old, has been jailed for a total of 16 years.

The victims both waived their right to anonymity so their abuser, Harry McFerran from Orangefield Parade, could be publicly identified.

Last month, McFerran was convicted of 22 sex abuse charges against the pair.

One brother said he was elated by the sentence and called on other victims of historical sex abuse to come forward.

Laganside Courts, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Speaking after Thursday's sentencing, the now grown man warned other sexual abusers: "You might hide and long runs the fox, but you will be caught and the justice system will deal with you".

He added that going through the trial process was "a hard thing to do", but added: "I have done it and have come out the other side better than I expected".

"I would urge others to come forward and tell your story. I am not going to say it is easy, but its worth it in the end.

"It really really is, the sense of justice of being believed at last by 12 people that didn't know me," the victim said.

The Belfast Crown Court trial had heard that McFerran had committed 20 of the 22 against the older brother, and that he abused the boy "in every conceivable manner" over a ten-year period.

The offences date back 43 years, to when the victim was a vulnerable four or five year old child.

The victim went on to say that his whole life "has been very much on hold" but added that "now of the first time I can get on living my life".

"I would reiterate, that if there is anybody out there thinking of reporting it, please do so...whether historical or not," the man said.

Earlier he and other members of his family listened as the judge told 68-year-old McFerran he was guilty of "an extreme breach of trust".

She said his crimes were made all the more serious by his constant denials, which had meant the brothers had to "contend with the unpleasant experience" of having to give evidence in open court.

The offences ranged from indecent assaults, to gross indecency and one occasion of rape.

The judge said McFerran's abuse of the brothers was both "systematic and sustained" and had been carried out over a prolonged period of time when they would have been vulnerable.

The court heard that according to victim impact reports, McFerran's abuse has had a lasting impact on both of his victims' lives.

230 Neighbourhood Children Disappeared and Few Seem to Care

I have covered this story 3 times since April 15th. Other than that, you rarely hear about this nightmare for 230 teenage girls and their families. When Malaysian flight 370 disappeared with 239 people on-board, that's all you heard on the news for 3 weeks - even while they found absolutely no trace of it.

But have you seen even one first-hand report from Nigeria about these girls? I saw my first one this morning! Why is that? How do the news-rooms of the world decide what is important and what isn't? Obviously, they have decided that 230 black, teenage girls being abducted by murderers and rapists is not interesting enough for their audiences.

Why every news service in the world doesn't have people in Nigeria covering this is too sad a question to answer. Please get involved! Push this poster until we embarrass the news services, the many governments who could do something to rescue these children, and the military of Nigeria who have, as yet, failed to rescue a single girl.

In the 21st century, everyone is our neighbour. These girls are our neighbour's children. Let's not turn our backs on them as they are now living in Hell. Some have been taken as wives - all have been taken as slaves. In ancient Islam, slaves were subject to the sexual whims of her master. Some believe Boko Haram adhere to this ancient doctrine.

Some of these girls may be moved out of country and sold or traded into sexual slavery. All of them are living a horrible nightmare that we can help end.

Boko Haram is the insane, terrorist Islamic group believed to be responsible for the abductions. Boko Haram, in the Hausa language, means "western education is sinful, or forbidden". In English, to quote Malala, it means, "I am afraid of little girls with books"!

Please forward this as much as possible and pray for the safe return of all the girls. #bringbackourgirls

Amanda Spencer Guilty of Running Child Sex Ring

A woman who used drugs and alcohol to lure "weak and vulnerable" girls into a life of prostitution has been found guilty of running a child sex ring.

Amanda Spencer, from Sheffield, was aged 16 when she began befriending her victims - some as young as 13 - later forcing them to have sex for cash.

She used the money to fund her own drug and alcohol addictions.

Spencer, now 23, was found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court of 14 counts relating to child prostitution.

She was found not guilty of one count of arranging or facilitating a child sex offence.

Amanda Spencer

During a trial lasting more than two months the jury heard how Spencer deliberately targeted vulnerable girls in Sheffield.

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC said Spencer gave the girls alcohol and drugs and "when [they were] weak, introduced them to a life of prostitution".

"Amanda Spencer was a fraud, say the prosecution," she said.

"She hung around the town centre identifying and befriending vulnerable children."

"She made them feel loved, she gave them a shoulder to cry on, a friend who purported to understand whatever sadness they were experiencing in their lives and in turn lured them into a life of abuse, which she exploited and profited from."

Ms Colborne told jurors Spencer groomed the girls for abuse.

She said: "She told them how to dress more provocatively, to lie about their age and to close their minds to the reality of the sexual experiences, concentrating instead on the drugs.

"Those who had the temerity to refuse to do as they were instructed felt her wrath, she was violent and they were very frightened of her."

Between 2006 and 2011 Spencer befriended and exploited the girls, forcing them to have sex with men, both at her own flat and at other homes across South Yorkshire.

One girl told the court she was forced into prostitution just days after meeting Spencer in 2008.

Judge Michael Murphy QC said the girl had told police: "She [Spencer] used to take me to people's houses and sell me for money.

"If I did not do it she would beat me up and if I did she would get money and she would just go and get drugs. She used to do that every day and I used to fall for it because I used to take drugs as well."

The court heard that on one occasion the girl was locked in a room and forced to have sex with seven men in one night. When she refused Spencer punched her, giving her a black eye.

She estimated she was abused by 16 different men on up to 50 occasions over a period of about two years.

The Law Courts, Sheffield

Spencer denied the charges, claiming her victims had either made up their accounts or that she had never met them.

The jury is considering a further 23 counts also relating to child sex offences.

In addition, Spencer was found guilty of 12 counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of child prostitution.

She was also convicted of two counts of causing or inciting child prostitution.

One man, who cannot be named, has been found guilty of two counts of sexual assault.

It's hard to see a young woman throw her life away like this, but even harder to see how she threw so many other young lives away without any indication of remorse. I hope they put this monster away for a long time. Meanwhile, let's pray for her victims to get the help they need and get their lives in order.