New research suggests the more violent and prepared a would-be child abductor is, the more likely they are to succeed

Child sex offenders typically spend weeks or even months grooming their victims, seeking out vulnerable, isolated youngsters and offering them support and friendship before compelling them to engage in other acts.  However, in instances where the motive is child abduction, such techniques are less likely to prove successful, according to new research from the University of Portsmouth. Instead, the more violent and prepared a would-be child abductor is, the more likely it is they will successfully snatch their intended victim.  

Most attempted abductions involve minimal physical contact. Instead, abductors rely on lures or incentives and try to trick their way into getting children to comply rather than using force. However, these manipulative abductors were found to be less likely to complete their attempted abduction.  Aggressive abductors, who displayed violence and threatening behaviour, were most likely to complete an abduction. In cases where children attempted to resist, this would often lead to an escalation in violence as the potential abductors had already committed to using a level of physical violence.  The research also found that offenders were capable of shifting from a manipulative to aggressive approach, and in 70.5 of time in these circumstances, the child was abducted.

Most young children are taught not to talk to strangers, but educating children against aggressive, potentially weapon-wielding abductors presents a far greater challenge. 

Source: Police Professional

Justice Secretary unveils GPS tag rollout to better protect victims

Justice Secretary David Gauke today announced the national roll out of new GPS tags which will provide 24/7 location monitoring of offenders. This will help strengthen supervision, enforce exclusion zones and give victims greater peace of mind.

If a tagged domestic abuser or stalker enters a banned area or a gang member is found somewhere they should not be, this new capability will issue an automatic alert and their whereabouts will be known. Victims can now feel safer in the knowledge that any breach of an exclusion zone will result in an immediate alert. The tags also provide a tougher option for community sentences which can be used alongside requirements like alcohol or drug treatment programmes.

Source: Gov.uk

A process study of the Horizon Programme

The Horizon programme is an intervention delivered to men who have a sexual conviction as part of an antisocial criminal orientation and are considered to be at a medium, high or very high risk of reconviction. The programme can be delivered in both custodial and community sites and is suitable for men accepting responsibility for their offence and those maintaining their innocence. There has been a staged implementation of the Horizon programme, which has enabled a process study to take place in 2016 at six early implementation sites. This study aimed to gauge the perceptions of both the staff delivering Horizon and the participants completing the programme, in order to evaluate the programme’s design and identify how it could be best optimised for successful delivery across all sites. Focus groups were conducted with the facilitators and treatment managers delivering Horizon, and individual interviews were carried out with the group members of the first completed programme. While the study is a reflection of staff and group members’ opinions of the initial implementation and processes of Horizon, it does not measure the impact of the programme on outcomes such as reconviction.

Source: Gov.uk

Convicted Paedophile Sued by Alleged Filipino Victims

In what is thought to be the first case of its kind, convicted British paedophile Douglas Slade is being sued for “personal injuries arising out of sexual abuse” by five young people who claim they were sexually exploited by him when he lived in the Philippines after moving there in 1985.  Alan Collins, their solicitor, said that those who travel abroad to abuse young children need to get the message that “you are not beyond our reach”.  The High Court will hear testimony from both the young people involved in this case and Slade via live video link.

Slade is currently serving a prison sentence of 24 years after being convicted of abusing five boys in the UK between 1965 and 1980 and was once dubbed “one of the vilest men in Britain” in the 1970s and 1980s as a founding member of the Paedophile Information Exchange and for actively campaigning for the legalisation of sex between children and paedophiles.

Source:  BBC

Entitlements and Experiences of Victims of Mentally Disordered Offenders

An average of 122 homicides are committed by mentally disordered offenders (MDOs) in the UK each year.  National statistics are not collated regarding the number of victims of MDOs who have been convicted of other violent or sexual crime.

The trauma and distress experienced by victims of serious sexual and violent crime, including homicide, are the same irrespective of the status of their offender.  As such, it would seem only right that victims of all such crimes should receive the same level of support and the same entitlements.

Source: Victims’ Commissioner

Government action called on to address increasing child sex abuse image offences

An article in The Independent (online) revealed that 22,700 child sex abuse image offences were recorded in 2017/18, an increase of 23% since 2016/17 which equates to paedophiles committing crimes every 23 minutes in England and Wales.  A single offence recorded by police can involve hundreds of indecent images of children.  This increase intensifies the strain on the National Crime Agency and already stretched police forces; the NCA’s director for vulnerabilities, Will Kerr said, “It is not sustainable for companies to simply identify indecent images on their servers and report it to law enforcement…”

Addressing the growing problem includes:

• An exploration of alternative ways of dealing with offenders who are assessed not to pose a threat of physical abuse including rehabilitation, treatment and registration as a sex offender requiring monitoring. Enabling a focus of resources on “targeting those who are a danger to children with the strongest criminal justice response” (Simon Bailey, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection).

 

• Tighter controls on social media sites, enshrined in new laws which are being called for by the NSPCC via their Wild West Web petition and campaign, including:
  • The creation of an independent regulator, mandatory child safety rules and fines unsafe networks
  • Safe accounts for children
  • Proactive searches for, and stopping, child grooming
  • Making it easier for users to report concerns about child safety and providing a dedicated fast-track process for reporting
  • Detailed published reporting about how safe the networks are, how they’re keeping children safe and how they deal with reports and complaints.

 

• Similar pressure from the government which is evident in Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, saying on Tuesday 11^th September 2018 that internet companies had only a “matter of weeks” to draw up concrete plans to stop images being uploaded and spread online and that “If web giants do not take more measures to remove this type of content from their platforms, then I won’t be afraid to take action”. Wider internet laws are expected to be presented in a white paper later this year.

Sources:  Independent.co.uk

NSPCC.org.uk

Home Secretary Sajid Javid pledges resources to help tackling child sexual abuse

In a speech at the NSPCC, the Home Secretary spoke about funding, strategies and partnerships for law enforcement to tackle child sexual exploitation.
Up to 80,000 people in the UK present a sexual threat to children online, and the number of child abuse images referred to the National Crime Agency has seen a 700% increase.

To tackle this, Home Secretary announced an extra £21.5 million investment in law enforcement over the next 18 months, with a large part of this aimed at tackling both the volume of offences and pursuing serious, tech-savvy offenders. Also highlighted in the speech were trends such as the age of children getting increasingly younger in material, and the live-streaming of child sexual abuse. Javid demanded more action to be taken by web giants, such as Twitter, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple, to remove offensive content and work with law enforcement to help them tackle these type of offences on their platforms.  The Home Secretary further pledged £2.6 million to be invested into prevention of offending, working with charities that offer offenders help in stopping their behaviour.

Source: Gov.uk

IOPC recommendations for Hampshire Constabulary for the management of RSOs

The IOPC have made recommendations to Hampshire Constabulary for organisational learning, in regards to the management of registered sex offenders.

These include:

• Any intelligence or notification in relation to an offender received by the Offender Management Team should be forwarded to the allocated Offender Manager for that offender, who should update the relevant records to reflect the impact this intelligence has on the management of the offender.
• Following any arrest of an OMT managed offender, a review of the risk level and risk management plan should be conducted within 10 working days.
• Where a decision is taken not to change the assessed risk level or management plan of an offender following the receipt of intelligence, this decision should be recorded on the appropriate system, including the justification for the decision.
• Following any arrest of an OMT managed offender, a review of existing civil orders which the offender is subject to should be conducted within 10 working days to consider whether an application should be made to amend these.
• Information which should be added to ViSOR in accordance with the National ViSOR Standards should be the stated responsibility of the relevant Offender Manager.

Operation Sanctuary Serious Case Review

The Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) and the Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board (NSCB) have published a Joint Serious Case review to consider and learn from sexual exploitation involving children and young adults in Newcastle. The Joint Serious Case Review fulfills the NSAB’s duty under Section 44 of the Care Act (2014) to undertake Safeguarding Adults Reviews.

The NSAB and NSCB decided to undertake the review in 2015 when there was increased awareness of the prevalence of sexual exploitation that had been occurring in the Newcastle area.

The review has been undertaken by an Independent Review Team with experience in safeguarding adults and children from police, health, education and social work perspectives.

The report contains a number of local and national recommendations. Some of the key learning points which have already been carefully considered include: the complex nature of sexual exploitation; the extreme and long lasting impact it has on victims; that sexual exploitation happens to adults as well as children; and difficulties in identifying and preventing exploitation.

Working with victims has reinforced the importance of intense and long-term support required to gain their trust and also to help them understand their experience and in doing so enable them to talk about this. The primary aim being to support and protect victims from further exploitation and to help them so far as possible to rebuild positive lives.

Source: Newcastle City Council

Metpol – Unexplained 20% increase in Rape

The number of alleged rapes reported to police in London has risen by almost 20 per cent in a disturbing increase police are struggling to explain.

There were 7,613 reported rapes in the year to January, compared to 6,392 over the previous 12 months, according to figures collated by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).

Sir Craig Mackey, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said the rise could not be accounted for simply by more victims feeling able to report abuse or better recording practices.

“It is not as simple as saying this is increased confidence,” he told the London Assembly’s police and come committee.

“Of course that plays a part, and faith in the process, but there is something going on with sexual offending in London that we don’t fully understand.

“We see the end of it but we don’t understand the causes.”

Joanne McCartney, the deputy mayor of London, told the meeting on Wednesday that Sir Craig’s statement was “the first time a senior officer has come to this committee and accepted that the increase in sexual violence may not just be about an increase in reporting and confidence”.

Source: Independent