Vocapedia >
UK > Violence >
Sexual violence
Child abuse, Rape, Murder
Samantha Morton:
I was sexually
abused as a child in care homes
Video Guardian Interviews
G 12 September 2014
Following revelations of child sex
abuse in Rotherham,
actor and director Samantha Morton
felt the need to go public about
her own shocking experience
growing up in care homes in
Nottingham.
Here she talks for the first time
about being sexually abused by residential care workers,
and what happened when she went to
the police about it.
Sexual abuse victim support
►
http://bit.ly/victimsupportlink
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geoPGZSYFXM&list=PL0C73F1830698CCFF
Shannon's mother sobs
as she denies
involvement in kidnap conspiracy
• 'Violent' partner and allies accused of
frame-up
• Defendant says she was told to take blame for plot
The Guardian pp. 16-17
Friday 28 November 2008
http://digital.guardian.co.uk/guardian/2008/11/28/pdfs/gdn_081128_ber_16_21324941.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/nov/28/
karen-matthews-shannon-kidnapping-trial
abuse
child abuse
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/
uk-child-abuse-inquiry
2021
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/dec/08/
the-death-of-arthur-labinjo-hughes-and-the-crisis-in-social-work-podcast
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/01/
jimmy-savile-10-years-on-what-has-changed-in-uncovering-abuse
2020
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/03/
deeply-dark-criminal-activity-drives-rise-in-child-abuse-images-online
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/dec/01/
pandemic-has-left-legacy-of-child-abuse-and-neglect-ofsted-warns
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/08/
care-home-victims-wait-for-justice-decades-on-institutional-child-abuse
https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2017/feb/24/irelands-
forgotten-mixed-race-child-abuse-victims-video
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/03/
boris-johnson-radicalisation-child-abuse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/15/
vanessa-george-child-abuse-sentencing
child sexual abuse
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/01/
i-couldnt-deal-with-it-it-tore-me-apart-surviving-child-sexual-abuse
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/28/
nhs-and-social-services-fail-child-sexual-abuse-survivors-study-reveals
abuse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/26/
cornwall-paedophile-ring-men-jailed
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/dec/17/
childrensservices.religion
abuse >
Baby P 2007-2009
https://www.theguardian.com/society/
baby-p
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/22/baby-p-jail-mother-stepfather
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/18/childprotection-ukcrime
abuser
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/17/child-trafficking-uk-rise
abuser > paedophile
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/18/
paedophile-who-abducted-schoolgirl-while-dressed-as-a-woman-jailed-for-20-years
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/sep/29/
when-louis-theroux-met-jimmy-savile-again-gullible-bbc
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/31/
southbank-international-school-london-paedophile-william-vahey
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jan/17/
politics.schools
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/jun/10/
childrensservices.childprotection
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/dec/02/uk
crime.childprotection
paedophile site
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/13/
shining-a-light-on-the-dark-web-how-the-police-ended-up-running-a-paedophile-site
be forced to watch
pornography
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/18/
paedophile-who-abducted-schoolgirl-while-dressed-as-a-woman-jailed-for-20-years
repeated sexual assaults
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/18/
paedophile-who-abducted-schoolgirl-while-dressed-as-a-woman-jailed-for-20-years
UK > Independent Inquiry
into Child Sexual
Exploitation in Rotherham (1997-2013)
UK / USA
Independent inquiry CSE in Rotherham
Information relating to the
Independent Inquiry
into Child Sexual Exploitation in
Rotherham
http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/1407/independent_inquiry_cse_in_rotherham
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2014/sep/16/
keith-vaz-shaun-wrights-resignation-not-enough-video
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/16/
rotherham-child-sex-abuse-pcc-shaun-wright-resigns
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/
opinion/sunday/ross-douthat-rape-and-rotherham.html
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/sep/02/
rotherham-12-more-child-sex-abuse-victims
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/
rotherham-muslims-victims-sexual-abuse-vulnerable-girls-muslim-communities
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/02/
police-investigate-rotherham-child-abuse-scandal
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/01/
home-office-rotherham-child-abuse-research-stolen-claim-panorama
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/
rotherham-abuse-case-raises-questions-over-victorian-education-official
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/
rotherham-muslims-victims-sexual-abuse-vulnerable-girls-muslim-communities
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/world/europe/reckoning-starts-in-britain-on-abuse-of-girls.html
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/31/rotherham-child-sex-abuse-police
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/27/
poor-children-seen-as-worthless-rotherham-abuse-scandal
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/26/rotherham-sexual-abuse-children
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/26/
rotherham-abuse-report-blatant-failures-of-care-system-condemned
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2014/aug/26/
rotherham-child-abuse-police-apologise-report-findings-video
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/26/
rotherham-abuse-report-child-b-groomed-raped-trafficked
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/26/rotherham-child-sex-exploitation-capital
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/27/abused-children-unknown-fates
sex offender
Sir James (Jimmy) Wilson Vincent Savile
(1926-2011)
abuse scandal
2012-2013
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/
jimmy-savile
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/oct/02/
the-most-disgusting-human-being-ive-ever-met-
a-jimmy-savile-survivor-speaks-out
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/01/
jimmy-savile-10-years-on-what-has-changed-in-uncovering-abuse
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/sep/29/
when-louis-theroux-met-jimmy-savile-again-gullible-bbc
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/02/
research-finds-jimmy-savile-abused-at-least-500-children
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/18/jimmy-savile-abused-1000-victims-bbc
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-abused-children-hospitals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-report-key-points
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-abused-children-hospitals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-report-institutions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/11/savile-scandal-missed-chances-prosecute
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-police-report-timeline
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-report-turning-point
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-report-case-studies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/11/savile-review-sexual-abuse-complaints
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/11/bbc-appalled-jimmy-savile-sexual-abuse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-abuse-cases-detailed-data
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-met-police-video
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/26/
rotherham-abuse-report-child-b-groomed-raped-trafficked
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/video/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-report-police-video
abuse images
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/11/vanessa-george-plymouth-court-children
paedophilia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/03/paedophilia-bringing-dark-desires-light
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_wilson/2007/08/when_is_paedophilia_not_paedop.html
paedophile ring
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/26/cornwall-paedophile-ring-men-jailed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/10/colin-blanchard-sexually-abused
child sex abuse ring
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/21/oxford-child-sex-abuse-ring
physical and mental abuse
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2007/mar/21/adoptionandfostering.childrensservices
child abuse scandals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/03/childprotection
child abuse > mothers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/06/mothers-child-protection
child abuse >
Jersey child abuse investigation / Jersey 'punishment room'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/25/hautdelagarenne.jersey.childabuse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/10/ukcrime.childprotection
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/10/ukcrime.childprotection1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2008/feb/27/childprotection.ukcrime1
abuse / neglect > harmed children
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/15/baby-p-child-abuse
neglect
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/dec/08/
the-death-of-arthur-labinjo-hughes-and-the-crisis-in-social-work-podcast
murder
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/01/
cumbrian-man-reese-kelly-guilty-of-murdering-four-month-old-baby-son-dallas
murder
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/01/
cumbrian-man-reese-kelly-guilty-of-murdering-four-month-old-baby-son-dallas
child sex abuse
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/18/
publicschools.topstories3
the killing of Baby P
2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/nov/15/child-protection-social-care-babyp
Shannon Matthews kidnap
2008
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/
shannon-matthews-kidnap
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/14/2
sex vetting flaws
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/jan/17/
childrensservices.schools
sexual abuse / sex abuse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/the-northerner/2013/feb/07/child-sexual-abuse-izzat-honour
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/25/child-sexual-abuse-speaking-out
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/nov/19/publicschools.schools
extreme sexual abuse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/21/oxford-child-sex-abuse-ring
be coerced into
having sex with N
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/21/oxford-child-sex-abuse-ring
rape
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/06/police-arrest-eight-men-suspect-grooming-rape
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/21/oxford-child-sex-abuse-ring
cruelty
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/22/baby-p-sentencing
child protection
https://www.theguardian.com/society/
childprotection
https://www.theguardian.com/child/0,7368,350542,00.html
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2008/nov/15/
baby-p-child-abuse
social work
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/dec/08/
the-death-of-arthur-labinjo-hughes-and-the-crisis-in-social-work-podcast
social worker
https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/dec/08/
the-death-of-arthur-labinjo-hughes-and-the-crisis-in-social-work-podcast
vanished children
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/14/
schools.children
child sex trafficking
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jan/17/
child-trafficking-uk-rise
groom
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/14/oxford-gang-guilty-grooming-girls
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/the-northerner/2013/feb/07/child-sexual-abuse-izzat-honour
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/11/jimmy-savile-abused-children-hospitals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/17/child-trafficking-uk-rise
children being groomed
through
webcams and live streaming
by predators
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/03/
deeply-dark-criminal-activity-drives-rise-in-child-abuse-images-online
grooming
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/dec/03/
deeply-dark-criminal-activity-drives-rise-in-child-abuse-images-online
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/mar/06/police-arrest-eight-men-suspect-grooming-rape
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/09/investigation-grooming-teenage-girls
predatory
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jan/11/
jimmy-savile-abused-children-hospitals
self-harm
cut
children at risk from extremism
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/03/
boris-johnson-radicalisation-child-abuse
Corpus of news articles
UK > Violence >
Sexual violence >
Child abuse, Rape
Abuse Cases in British City
Long Ignored, Report Says
1,400 Children in Rotherham, England,
Were Sexually Abused, Report Says
AUG. 26, 2014
The New York Times
By KATRIN BENNHOLD
LONDON — A report released on Tuesday on accusations of
widespread sexual abuse in the northern England city of Rotherham found that
about 1,400 minors — some as young as 11 years old — were beaten, raped and
trafficked from 1997 to 2013 as the local authorities ignored a series of red
flags.
Some children were doused in gasoline and threatened with being set on fire if
they reported their abusers, the report said, and others were forced to watch
rapes and threatened with the same fate. In more than a third of the cases, the
victims appear to have been known to child protection agencies, but the police
and local government officials failed to act.
Within hours of the report’s publication, the leader of the local government
council resigned.
“Having considered the report, I believe it is only right that I, as leader,
take responsibility on behalf of the council for the historic failings that are
described so clearly in the report, and it is my intention to do so,” said Roger
Stone, the leader of the Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council since 2003.
The vast majority of perpetrators have been identified as South Asian and most
victims were young white girls, adding to the complexity of the case. Some
officials appeared to believe that social workers pointing to a pattern of
sexual exploitation were exaggerating, while others reportedly worried about
being accused of racism if they spoke out. The report accused officials of
ignoring “a politically inconvenient truth” in turning a blind eye to men of
Pakistani heritage grooming vulnerable white girls for sex.
It was not until 2010 that the first case of child sexual exploitation in
Rotherham, a South Yorkshire city of about 250,000 people, made it to court.
Five men received long prison sentences for grooming three teenage girls for
sex. It was one of several high-profile prosecutions over the past four years
that revealed sexual exploitation in cities including Oxford, Rochdale and
Derby.
The Times of London later published a series of articles claiming that the local
authorities had been aware of several instances of sexual abuse that were not
prosecuted. The Rotherham Council eventually commissioned an independent inquiry
that led to Tuesday’s report.
Alexis Jay, the author of the report and a former chief inspector of social
work, said that vulnerable girls as young as 11 and largely from disadvantaged
backgrounds had been brutalized by groups of men.
“They were raped by multiple perpetrators, trafficked to other towns and cities
in the north of England, abducted, beaten and intimidated,” she wrote.
The report described the failures of the political and police leadership as
blatant. Even as social workers reported that the sexual exploitation of
children was becoming a serious problem in Rotherham, senior managers in the
local authority and South Yorkshire police ignored them. When victims came
forward, Ms. Jay said, the police often regarded them “with contempt.”
Three earlier reports, published from 2002 to 2006, detailed the abuse, and
according to Ms. Jay, “could not have been clearer in the description of the
situation in Rotherham.” But the first one was “effectively suppressed” and the
other two “ignored,” she said.
Some officials were apparently ordered by their managers to withhold information
on the ethnic origin of the abusers, the report said. As a result, no contact
was made with local Pakistani leaders for help in identifying gangs that
continued to assault and abduct teenagers.
A version of this article appears in print on August 27, 2014, on page A11 of
the New York edition with the headline: Abuse Cases in British City Long
Ignored, Report Says.
Abuse Cases in British City Long Ignored,
Report Says,
NYT,
26.8.2014,
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/
world/europe/children-in-rotherham-england-
were-sexually-abused-report-says.html
Jimmy
Savile abused children
at 14
hospitals across six decades
- report
Savile's offending footprint
was vast, predatory and opportunistic
as he 'groomed the nation', say Met police
Friday 11
January 2013
13.05 GMT
Guardian.co.uk
Sandra Laville and Josh Halliday
This article was published on guardian.co.uk
at 13.05 GMT
on Friday 11 January 2013.
It was last modified at 14.53 GMT
on Friday 11 January 2013.
It was first published at 10.23 GMT
on Friday 11 January 2013.
Jimmy
Savile abused children across six decades at 14 hospitals including Great Ormond
Street and a children's hospice, according to a police report. He also carried
out 14 alleged assaults at schools.
Commander
Peter Spindler of the Metropolitan police said Savile used his fame and
celebrity status to "hide in plain sight", adding that he had "groomed the
nation".
The report into his activities reveals his offending spans from 1955-2009. Most
of his victims were children – 73% – and he committed most of the offences when
he was aged between 40 and 50.
Spindler said the report "paints a stark picture emphasising the tragic
consequences of when vulnerability and power collide. His offending footprint
was vast, predatory and opportunistic".
Some of the hospitals where the TV and radio presenter abused children are:
Leeds general infirmary, Great Ormond Street, Exeter hospital, Saxondale mental
health hospital in Nottinghamshire, and Wheatfield hospice in Leeds, a Sue Ryder
hospice for dying children.
According to the report, called Giving Victims a Voice, 450 victims have come
forward to allege incidents, and Savile committed 214 criminal offences in 28
areas of England and Wales.
Savile offended while working at the BBC between 1965 and 2006, the year he
sexually assaulted a teenage girl at the final recording of Top of the Pops.
Most of the victims were aged between 13 and 16.
Savile raped 34 people, including 28 children. He used every opportunity and
every institution to which he had access because of his fame to target young
people.
Fifty-seven of the allegations took place in 14 hospitals and a hospice in the
UK. He assaulted 16 victims at Leeds general infirmary, one at Great Ormond
Street hospital and he assaulted someone who was visiting a dying child at the
Sue Ryder Wheatfield hospice in Leeds. At Great Ormond Street the child Savile
abused died, but someone who witnessed what happened came forward.
He also assaulted children and young girls 33 times in TV and radio studios and
there were 14 assaults in schools. Savile was invited into the schools – which
have not been named – by children who wanted to appear on Jim'll Fix It, police
said.
The youngest of Savile's victims was an eight-year-old boy who he touched
sexually, and his last victim was a 46-year-old woman who was assaulted in 2009.
DS David Gray, who led the inquiry, said: "He has spent every minute of every
working day thinking about this. Whenever an opportunity came along he took it.
He picked on vulnerable victims and he was clever enough to choose people who he
knew would not speak out."
Gray said he expected the number of crimes recorded to rise above 214.
The Crown Prosecution Service said in a separate report released on Friday that
had police and prosecutors taken a different view to allegations from four women
as recently as 2007 Savile may have been brought to justice.
The director of public prosecutions, Kier Starmer QC, issued a statement on
Savile's offending. He said the report by Alison Levitt QC on the CPS's handling
of cases brought before it had concluded the investigations into four complaints
from women by Surrey and Sussex police could have been dealt with differently.
"Whilst most of the complainants continue to speak warmly of the individual
officers with whom they had contact, most of those spoken to by Ms Levitt QC
have said that, had they been given more information by the police at the time
of the investigation, and in particular had each been told that she was not the
only woman to have complained, they would probably have been prepared to give
evidence.
"Having spoken to the complainants, Ms Levitt QC has concluded that, although
there are a number of imponderables, had the police and prosecutors taken a
different approach a prosecution might have been possible in relation to three
of the four allegations."
The CPS review revealed how Savile had batted away the allegations made by four
women in 2007-08 of past abuse. He told Surrey police in 2009 that the sexual
assault complaints against him were "invented" and an "occupational hazard" for
a famous entertainer.
Savile made the comments when he was interviewed under caution. He told police
he had a "policy" for dealing with sexual assault complaints made against him
and that he had sued five newspapers in the past. A police log of the interview
records Savile as saying: "If this [these allegations] does not disappear then
my policy will swing into action."
His offending took place predominantly in Leeds and London, his home town and
his main work location respectively.
Gray said Savile was not part of a paedophile ring but detectives were
investigating whether he was part of a loose network of paedophiles who knew
each other and took advantage of their position to sexually abuse children.
The report said the institutions and agencies that missed past opportunities to
stop Savile must do all they can to ensure their procedures for safeguarding
children are as robust as possible.
"Only then can the victims who have come forward be reassured that it is
unlikely to happen again."
Gray said: "The offences started before he was a BBC celebrity but it seems
clear that his peak offending coincided with his peak status."
He said Savile did not order victims to be silent, he just abused them then
discarded them. "His force of personality was powerful. He dismissed his victims
afterwards; he did what he wanted to do then just discarded them and they were
too frightened to speak out."
The prime minister's spokesman said: "These are further appalling allegations.
What is required is that every organisation involved has to investigate what has
gone on and get to the bottom of it.
"There are a series of investigations that were already ongoing into a number of
hospitals. The Department of Health had already announced that Kate Lampard QC
was overseeing those and she will also report to the secretary of state on what
lessons can be learnt for the health system as a whole."
Jimmy Savile abused children
at 14 hospitals across six decades - report,
G,
11.1.2013,
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jan/11/
jimmy-savile-abused-children-hospitals
Child sex trafficking in UK on the rise
with even younger
victims targeted
White, black and Asian children at risk
with abusers using mobiles
and web to
groom victims,
say Barnardo's
Monday 17 January 2011
The Guardian
Alexandra Topping
This article appeared
on p3 of the Main section section
of the Guardian on
Monday 17 January 2011.
It was published on guardian.co.uk
at 00.01 GMT
on Monday 17 January 2011.
It was last modified at 01.08 GMT
on Monday 17 January 2011.
The trafficking of British children around UK cities for sexual exploitation
is on the increase with some as young as 10 being groomed by predatory abusers,
a report reveals today.
The average age of victims of such abuse has fallen from 15 to about 13 in five
years, according to the report by Barnardo's, the UK's biggest children's
charity.
But victims continue to be missed as telltale signs are overlooked "from the
frontline of children's services to the corridors of Whitehall," said Anne Marie
Carrie, the charity's new chief executive.
"Wherever we have looked for exploitation, we have found it. But the real
tragedy is we believe this is just the tip of the iceberg," she said.
Calling for a minister to be put in charge of the government's response, she
said: "Without a minister with overall responsibility the government response is
likely to remain inadequate."
The main findings from the report, called Puppet on a String, include:
• Trafficking becoming more common and sexual exploitation more organised.
• Grooming methods becoming more sophisticated as abusers use a range of
technology – mobile phones, including texts and picture messages, Bluetooth
technology, and the internet – to control and abuse children.
The charity dealt with 1,098 children who had been groomed for sex last year, a
4% increase on the previous year.
A recent focus on the ethnicity of abusers risks putting more children in
danger, said Carrie. "I am not going to say that ethnicity is not an issue in
some geographical areas, it clearly is. But to think of it as the only
determining factor is misleading and dangerous."
The issue has come under the spotlight after cases in Derby, where ringleaders
of a gang of Asian men were jailed for grooming girls as young as 12 for sex,
and in Rochdale, where nine mainly Asian men were arrested on Tuesday last week
on suspicion of grooming a group of white teenage girls.
Carrie warned of the risk of the issue becoming dangerously simplified after
comments from the former home secretary Jack Straw, who said some Pakistani men
saw white girls as "easy meat".
The charity dealt with white, black and Asian victims, she said – whose voices
were being lost. "Profiling and stereotyping is dangerous – we are scared that
victims will say: 'I don't fit into that pattern, so I'm not being abused'."
The report identifies many different patterns of abuse, ranging from
inappropriate relationships to organised networks of child trafficking.
Of Barnardo's 22 specialist services surveyed for the report, 21 had seen
evidence of the trafficking of children through organised networks for sex,
often with multiple men.
Among the cases highlighted is Emma, who met her first "boyfriend" when she was
14. In his 30s, he bought her presents, said he loved her, then forced her to
have sex with his friends. She was shipped around the country and raped by
countless men. "I got taken to flats, I don't know where they were and men would
be brought to me. I was never given any names, and I don't remember their
faces," she said.
The "inappropriate relationship" usually involved an older abuser with control
over a child. Such cases included Sophie, who was 13 when she met her "gorgeous"
18-year-old boyfriend at a cousin's 21st birthday party. After initially
treating her well, he isolated her from her family and became violent. When
police rescued her, they told her the man was 34, with a criminal record for
child abuse. "I said they were lying. I thought I was in love, I thought it was
normal," she said.
The "boyfriend" model, sees girls groomed, often by a younger man, who passes
her on to older men. In one case an Asian teenager from the north-west described
being dragged out of a car by her hair by her "boyfriend", who took her to a
hotel room "to have his friends over and do what they wanted to me".
Boys are also vulnerable: a 14-year-old, Tim, was groomed by one man then
expected to have sex with many more. "After a while there would be three or four
guys all at once. It was horrible and very scary," he said.
Abusers are increasingly using the internet and mobile phone technology to
control victims. Teens are being coerced into sending, or posing for, sexually
explicit photos which are then used to blackmail and control them, said Carrie.
"The abuser then sells the images, and threatens to send the pictures to the
girl's parents or school if she does not do x, y and z."
Often abusers target the most vulnerable: children in care, foster homes or from
chaotic backgrounds. But children of all backgrounds are at risk, said Carrie.
Penny Nicholls, director of children and young people at The Children's Society,
said the Barnardo's findings echoed their experiences. "We join Barnardo's in
calling on the government to take urgent action, ensuring a minister has special
responsibility for overseeing a countrywide response to combat sexual
exploitation."
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "This is a complex problem and we
are determined to tackle it effectively by working collaboratively right across
government and with national and local agencies."
Child sex trafficking in
UK on the rise
with even younger victims targeted,
G, 17.1.2011,
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/jan/17/
child-trafficking-uk-rise
Jersey:
Haut de la Garenne
children's home abuse scandal
ends with one last conviction
Three-year probe ends in jail sentences
for 'bullying' couple
Friday 7
January 2011
The Guardian
Ian Cobain
This article appeared on p14 of the Main section section
of the Guardian on
Friday 7 January 2011.
It was published on guardian.co.uk at 08.34 GMT
on Friday 7 January 2011.
It was
last modified at 12.48 GMT
on Friday 7 January 2011.
A
long-running child abuse investigation that brought turmoil to the island of
Jersey has finally ended with the conviction of two former children's home
workers.
Morag Jordan and her husband Anthony were jailed for a series of assaults they
inflicted on children at the Haut de la Garenne home over a period of more than
10 years in the 1970s and 80s. Five others - not all of them connected to the
home - had previously been convicted of a number of sexual assaults as a result
of the investigation, and received sentences of up to 15 years in jail.
Police say their three-year investigation, Operation Rectangle, has now ended.
The inquiry faced a series of criticisms, both from leading political figures on
the island and from senior officers flown in from the mainland to review its
progress. At one point, police said they believed they had recovered the remains
of a child from the cellar of the home, only to later admit what they had
thought to be a fragment of skull was a piece of coconut shell.
Despite the criticism, evidence of widespread abuse at the home was discovered:
as well as the seven people convicted, police gathered evidence that could have
led to the prosecution of a further 30 people who died before they could be
brought before the courts.
Jordan and her husband, both 62, from Kirriemuir, Angus, were found guilty in
November of eight separate charges.
During the two-week trial at the Royal Court of Jersey, they were accused of
inflicting "casual and routine violence" while working as houseparents at Haut
de la Garenne. Prosecutors said they acted like "intimidating bullies" and had
carried out "frequent and callous" assaults on vulnerable residents.
Jordan was jailed for nine months and her husband for six months. Some of their
victims sat in the court's public gallery to hear the sentences.
Morag Jordan was employed as a housemother between 1970 and 1984. She was
convicted of charges relating to assaults on four children. Her husband was
found guilty of common assault against two children. Morag Jordan was acquitted
of a further 28 counts and her husband four.
Others convicted as a result of the abuse inquiry were:
• Gordon Claude Wateridge, found guilty of assault on three girls while working
as a houseparent between 1969 and 1979
• Claude James Donnelly, jailed in 2009 for 15 years for rape and indecent
assault
• Michael Aubin, given two years probation for sexual offences at Haut de la
Garenne between 1977 and 1980
• Ronald George Thorne, convicted of gross indecency between 1983 and 1984,
spent 12 months in prison
• Leonard Miles Vandenborn, jailed for 12 years for the rape and indecent
assault of two young girls in the 1970s and 80s.
Last month, Jersey's chief minister, Senator Terry Le Sueur, apologised to all
the children who suffered abuse at Haut de la Garenne. He told the island's
parliament, the States of Jersey: "On behalf of the island's government, I
acknowledge that the care system that operated historically in the island of
Jersey failed some children in the States' residential care in a serious way. To
all those who suffered abuse, whether confirmed by criminal conviction or not,
the island's government offers its unreserved apology."
A number of victims are now bringing civil proceedings against the island's
government.
Last July, a report commissioned from Wiltshire police levelled 19 criticisms at
the investigation. It concluded that senior officers lacked leadership skills
and worked ineffectively with the media, pointing out that the £7.5m cost of the
investigation included more than £1m spent on travel, meals, hotels and
entertainment.
At one point the island's chief police officer, Graham Power, was suspended,
although disciplinary action was later abandoned. Power always denied any
wrongdoing.
Haut de la Garenne was opened in 1867 as an industrial school for "young people
of the lower classes of society and neglected children". During the second world
war, occupying German forces used it as a signal station, and in 1945 it became
a children's home again. There had been rumours for decades that children were
suffering sexual and physical abuse – suspicions that the island's authorities
appeared reluctant to investigate.
Senior police officers opened their inquiry in September 2007 and took 1,776
statements from 192 former child residents who identified around 150 people as
abusers. A number of former residents went public to tell of their ordeal. Peter
Hannaford, one of Jersey's leading trade union officials, who was sent to the
home as an orphaned child, waived his right to anonymity to tell the Jersey
Evening Post how his earliest memories were of abuse.
"Boys and girls were raped when I was there," he said. "The abuse was anything
from rape and torture. It happened every night. And it happened to everyone."
• This
article was amended on 7 January 2011 to clarify
that not all of the five people
mentioned
as previously convicted
of sexual assaults were connected
to the Haut
de la Garenne home.
Jersey: Haut de la Garenne children's home abuse scandal
ends with one last conviction,
G,
7.1.2011,
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/06/
jersey-childrens-home-scandal-ends
Baby P abuse
could and should have been stopped,
finds
report
• Agencies were 'lacking urgency', 'lacking thoroughness'
• Staff should be 'deeply sceptical' of parents' excuses
Friday 22 May 2009
11.07 BST
Guardian.co.uk
James Sturcke and agencies
The "horrifying" abuse and killing of Baby P "could and should
have been prevented", according to the second serious case review, parts of
which were published today.
Doctors, lawyers, police and social workers should have been able to stop the
situation "in its tracks at the first serious incident", the executive summary
of the report said.
Even after the boy, who was named Peter, was put under a child protection plan,
his case was regarded as routine "with injuries expected as a matter of course".
Agencies were "lacking urgency", "lacking thoroughness" and "insufficiently
challenging to the parent".
The review, carried out by the Haringey local safeguarding children board, found
that agencies "did not exercise a strong enough sense of challenge" when dealing
with Peter's mother and their outlook was "completely inadequate" to meet the
challenges of the case.
The review was commissioned by the children's secretary, Ed Balls, because of
concerns over the conclusions of the first review.
Today's report concluded that Peter "deserved better from the services that were
there to protect him". It found that agencies would only have been willing to
move him if the injuries he suffered were found to be "non-accidental beyond all
reasonable doubt".
"When such injuries did come they were catastrophic, and he died of them," the
review found. "The panel deeply regrets the responses of the services were not
sufficiently effective in protecting him."
Graham Badman, the chairman of the safeguarding children board, said: "I believe
the most important lesson arising from this case is that professionals charged
with ensuring child safety must be deeply sceptical of any explanations,
justifications or excuses they may hear in connection with the apparent
maltreatment of children. If they have any doubt about the cause of physical
injuries or what appears to be maltreatment, they should act swiftly and
decisively."
He said every member of staff in the agencies involved with the case had been
"appropriately qualified, well motivated and wanted to do their best to
safeguard him … but his horrifying death could and should have been prevented.
"The serious case review says that if doctors, lawyers, police officers and
social workers had adopted a more urgent, thorough and challenging approach, the
case would have been stopped in its tracks at the first serious incident. It's a
dreadful tragedy that he did not receive better protection."
The findings come after documents revealed that council lawyers at the centre of
the case have privately admitted there was probably sufficient evidence to
justify taking Peter into care days before he was killed.
The admission contradicts the legal advice given to social workers a week before
the toddler died that proceedings to remove him from his family could not go
ahead because the risk "threshold" to trigger an application to take him into
care had not been crossed.
Baby P abuse could
and should have been stopped, finds report,
G,
22.5.2009,
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2009/may/22/
baby-p-second-review
Related > Anglonautes >
Vocapedia
violence,
knife crime / stabbing,
gun violence,
abuse, domestic violence,
prostitution, sexual violence, rape,
kidnapping, crime, police > UK
school > pupils > bullying > UK
law, justice, prisons > UK
Related > Anglonautes >
Vocapedia >
Faith > Roman Catholic Church
> Abuse
Clergy sex abuse worldwide
Clergy sex abuse > Australia
Clergy sex abuse > Ireland
Clergy sex abuse > USA
Ireland > Tuam >
Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home
Clergy sex abuse > Vatican, Popes
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