Lawyers criticise ‘loopholes’ in call for mandatory reporting in England and Wales
Managing the seven-year inquiry into child sexual abuse to a set of conclusions will itself be seen as a triumph for Prof Alexis Jay. Its findings, however, have not gone far enough for many victims.
Lady Jay took over in November 2016 amid concerns the inquiry would have to be abandoned. She joined after three high-profile resignations of previous chairs over a three-year period.
Continue reading...Ian Russell’s campaigning after his daughter’s death has made case for online safety bill unavoidable, says peer
The online safety bill’s progress through parliament has been paused, but it is hard to see that delay lasting much longer after the conclusion of the Molly Russell inquest.
The regulatory landscape for the online world is undergoing significant change in the UK and Molly Russell’s family have contributed to that shift after becoming prominent campaigners for improved internet safety.
Continue reading...Magistrate says teenager ‘has shown no contrition’ but accepts his prospects for rehabilitation are ‘strong’
An unremorseful teenage boy who attacked and raped a fellow high school pupil at a house party in the Blue Mountains will be held in youth detention for at least two months.
The boy was initially involved in consensual activity with his victim before pushing further, sexually assaulting her six times and intentionally choking her over a two-hour period in the living room of a home west of Sydney.
Continue reading...Advocates call for immediate action following incidents including suicide attempts among incarcerated juveniles
There have been three suicide attempts by children transferred to an adult prison in Western Australia since mid-July, and 13 incidents of “minor self-harm”, prompting advocates to call for their immediate transfer and wider reform of the juvenile justice system.
Last month the WA government transferred 17 young people, some as young as 14, from Perth’s Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre to an adult jail at Casuarina after “escalating” disruptions from young people. The juveniles are being detained in a separate area from the adult prisoner population.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or chat for support. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...In decision quashed by federal court, citizenship application was rejected despite father’s name on birth certificate and Medicare card
The Department of Home Affairs rejected an Australian-born child’s citizenship application after her estranged Australian father couldn’t be reached to provide a DNA test, which her lawyer says rendered her “stateless”.
In a decision quashed by the federal court, the overseas-born mother of the child was told the department did not have proof of a biological link to the father – despite his name being listed on the girl’s birth certificate and Medicare card, his payment of child support and photos of the pair together.
Continue reading...Redfern Legal Centre says $20,000 in fines issued is ‘unjust’ and ‘sets children up for failure’
About 500 children aged under 15 were fined a total of $20,000 for not wearing or carrying a mask in New South Wales in the past 12 months, including 34 who remain in an unpaid work and development scheme to reduce their debts.
The state government has faced sustained criticism for its pursuit of children over Covid rule breaches, particularly given the confusing and shifting nature of public health orders and the disproportionate impact Covid fines are having on the most disadvantaged.
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Continue reading...61-year-old says what he saw and experienced at Edinburgh Academy has ‘stayed with me all my life’
BBC presenter Nicky Campbell has claimed he was the victim of abuse at a Scottish private school during the 1970s.
Campbell, 61, said witnessing incidents of both sexual and physical abuse at the Edinburgh Academy had had a “profound effect on my life”.
In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331.
Continue reading...Heads of GCHQ and NCSC say client-side scanning could protect children and privacy at the same time
Tech companies should move ahead with controversial technology that scans for child abuse imagery on users’ phones, the technical heads of GCHQ and the UK’s National Cybersecurity Centre have said.
So-called “client-side scanning” would involve service providers such as Facebook or Apple building software that monitors communications for suspicious activity without needing to share the contents of messages with a centralised server.
Continue reading...Report singles out failings by police and council and suggests senior officials may have misled MPs
Vulnerable children were left exposed to sexual exploitation in Oldham because of “serious failings” by the police and council, a damning independent review has found.
The report found there were multiple missed opportunities to prevent abuse stretching back to 2005, including offences committed by a council welfare officer who was later convicted of 30 rapes.
Continue reading...Lawyer acting for families says it is ‘happening more than people would believe or understand’
At least 68 children have been left on buses in Australia in the past five years – a rate of more than one a month.
Earlier this month, three-year-old Nevaeh Austin was treated in intensive care after being found unconscious on a bus outside her Queensland childcare centre. She had been left on the bus alone for six hours in temperatures over 30C .
Continue reading...Timothy Tymoshenko was sent to Poland because of his distress but does not qualify for Homes for Ukraine scheme
A British man who has turned his Polish castle into a makeshift hotel for Ukrainian refugees has accused the UK government of showing “no humanity whatsoever” for not allowing a severely autistic teenager to come to live with an approved foster carer in Lancashire.
Pleas are mounting for compassion to be shown to Timothy Tymoshenko, 16, who fled the war in Ukraine without his parents. He is living with his 17-year-old brother, Yurii, in what was once a private palace for the prince-bishop of Wrocław in Piotrowice Nyskie, a tiny Polish village near the Czech border.
Continue reading...Former attorney general refused to refer cases to WA court of appeal, despite an earlier ruling finding a miscarriage of justice in a similar case
The former attorney general Christian Porter rejected a plea for mercy from six Indonesians who said they were wrongly jailed as children using unreliable evidence, telling them they had no chance of success despite their lawyers pointing to a landmark ruling years earlier finding a miscarriage of justice in a similar case.
The six Indonesians, then aged between 13 and 17, were detained on a series of people smuggling boats in 2009 and were prosecuted by the commonwealth and jailed as adults in maximum security prisons in Western Australia.
Continue reading...Senior social worker calls for action in the only country of the UK that has not had a recent review
A root and branch review of children’s social care in Wales is needed after the case of five-year-old Logan Mwangi, who was killed by his mother and stepfather after being removed from the child protection register, a leading social work expert has said.
Prof Donald Forrester said the case highlighted critical issues affecting many children’s social services in Wales, ranging from social worker capacity and staffing shortages to high and increasing numbers of children being taken into care.
Continue reading...Francois Olwage convicted of grooming after arranging to meet undercover officer he believed to be 13-year-old girl
A Metropolitan police counter-terrorism officer has been found guilty of three child sex offences after he arranged to a meet a 13-year-old girl for sex when he was “on duty working from home”.
Francois Olwage, a detective constable who was serving with the Met’s specialist operations unit, was convicted of grooming someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl he had met on the Lycos online chat forum.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Supporters concerned they lack numbers needed to pass bill after Kiama MP’s suspension
The suspension of Kiama MP Gareth Ward from the New South Wales parliament has jeopardised a bill based on a landmark inquiry that found the removal of Aboriginal children from their families was escalating “at an alarming rate” in the state.
The Family Is Culture bill would for the first time require magistrates to “presume” an inherent harm in removing Aboriginal children from their families, in what advocates have hailed as a landmark reform to NSW’s scandal-plagued out-of-home-care system.
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Continue reading...Mother of London toddler given 13 years for manslaughter and ex-partner life sentence after abuse culminated in murder
A man who murdered his ex-girlfriend’s two-year-old son in south London has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years after the couple’s horrific abuse was captured on secret recordings.
Kyrell Matthews was left with 41 rib fractures and internal injuries by the time of his death in October 2019 after weeks of cruelty at the hands of Kemar Brown and Phylesia Shirley, the Old Bailey in London heard.
Continue reading...Religious orders called on to pay compensation for physical, sexual and psychological abuse carried out for more than 70 years
Victims of sexual, psychological and physical abuse of children in care in Northern Ireland have rejected a formal apology by religious orders and called on them to pay compensation.
Ministers and representatives of six institutions at the centre of the scandal on Friday issued a long-awaited statement saying sorry for what was described as “vile” and “unimaginable” abuse carried out for more than 70 years.
Continue reading...Darknet survey finds 42% sought contact after watching sexual abuse online, with escalating porn habits driving users to illegal material
The largest ever survey on the thoughts and behaviours of people who watch child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online has found significant evidence that those who watch illegal material are at high risk of going on to contact or abuse a child directly.
Nearly half (42%) of respondents to the survey, the first of its kind, said they had sought direct contact with children through online platforms after viewing CSAM, and 58% reported feeling afraid that viewing CSAM might lead to them committing abuse in person.
Continue reading...Harris, a Chicago native, was first arrested in September 2020 on a charge of production of child sexual abuse images
Jerry Harris, the former star of the Netflix documentary series Cheer, pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges of receiving child sexual abuse images and soliciting sex from minors that could keep him in prison for decades.
During a change of plea hearing in federal court in Chicago, Harris pleaded guilty to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of receiving child abuse images, a US attorney’s office spokesman said.
In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International.
Continue reading...Amateur boxer punched 16-month-old to death in Keighley, West Yorkshire, while mother found guilty of allowing the death
A “cunning and clever” woman has been found guilty of murdering her girlfriend’s toddler after being caught on CCTV “terrorising” the child when she was left to babysit.
Savannah Brockhill, 28, an amateur boxer and security guard who called herself the “number one psycho”, punched 16-month Star Hobson to death in Keighley, West Yorkshire, on 22 September 2020.
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