UK accuses Meta of empowering child sexual abusers with encryption rollout

Source: theguardian.com 12/7/23 Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has been accused by the UK government of empowering child sexual abusers after the tech firm began rolling out the automatic encryption of all messages on its Facebook and Messenger platforms. The home secretary, James Cleverly, described the move as a “significant step back” for child safety after Meta said it would introduce end-to-end encryption on the apps. The move means that only the sender and receiver of messages on the platforms will be able to access their content.   Cleverly said: “Law enforcement,…

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UK: Behind the Crime: The Silent Suffering of a Sex Offender’s Family

Source: bnn.network 12/4/23 On a day that was meant to usher in a joyous celebration, a mother named Sarah found her world crumbling. Her husband, the father of her children, was arrested in a police raid on charges of involvement in child sexual abuse material. The chilling discovery of hundreds of illegal images, including Category A content, the most egregious forms of child pornography, was made on her husband’s computer. This event, occurring a day before her son’s birthday, left an indelible imprint on Sarah’s life and her family’s future.…

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UK: Government to toughen sentences for sexual crimes in King’s Speech

Source: bbc.com 11/6/23 Offenders who commit murders with sexual or sadistic motives will spend the rest of their lives in prison, under government proposals. The plan will be in the King’s Speech, where King Charles reads out the government’s plan for the year ahead at the State Opening of Parliament. It will also include measures to force criminals to appear in the dock, and a law to prevent prisoners from marrying. This will be King Charles’s first time delivering the speech as monarch. It will also be Rishi Sunak’s first…

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UK: Teacher sacked and arrested after girls made up sex claims ‘for fun’ gets payout

Source: msn.com 10/17/23 A male teacher at an all-girls grammar school has been awarded £45,000 after he was sacked over sex assault claims pupils later said had been made up ‘for fun’.  Jonathan Hawker, who taught maths and computing, lost his job at Devonport High School for Girls after pupils said he assaulted them by touching their thighs and massaging their shoulders.  He endured the ‘brutal experience’ of being arrested at his home before being dismissed from the Plymouth school for gross misconduct.  His appeal against the sacking was then…

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UK: Wanted sex offender caught on facial recognition camera at King Charles coronation

Source: independent.co.uk 7/31/23 A wanted sex offender was sent back to jail after being caught by a facial recognition camera at the coronation of King Charles. The 33-old-man, who has not been named, was picked up by one of the cameras operating in a van near Buckingham Palace on 6 May. An image of his face was captured by the hi-tech cameras and fed into a database that matched a mugshot of a wanted suspect. This sparked an alert to the Metropolitan Police and the man was immediately arrested and…

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UK: Gimp in the crowd is much ado about nothing, says Globe theatre

Source: news.yahoo.com 7/22/23  The man wore head-to-toe latex with a face mask and leather harness Shakespeare’s Globe allowed a man in a gimp outfit to roam the theatre while children were present and dismissed complaints because his sexual fetish latex bodysuit “did not contain offensive slogans”. Theatregoers raised concerns that the man was wearing head-to-toe latex with a face mask and leather harness which was “a very scary sight” and put “parents in a very uncomfortable position”. However, an internal staff report circulated by a manager later that day said…

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UK: Sex offender monitoring must be reformed before system is overwhelmed – report

Source: independent.co.uk 4/27/23 The Government must reform how freed sex offenders are monitored before the system is overwhelmed, a review has warned. Led by former chief constable of Derbyshire Police Mick Creedon, the report said there is a “pressing” need to reform the system due to a “growing volume” of sex offenders in the past 20 years. In particular, the review into the police-led management of sex offenders in the community examined the current system of Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). These are the set of arrangements by which…

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UK: Charity film urges child sex abuse viewers to stop and contact helpline

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com 4/25/23 A new short film which aims to act as a “wake-up call” to people viewing child sex abuse images online has been released by a charity urging offenders to call its helpline and put a stop to their behaviour. The Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF), which runs a helpline for those concerned about accessing images of children being abused, warned that people who offend online “come from all backgrounds and walks of life and don’t conform to stereotypes”, so everyone must be aware of the risks. Last month…

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UK: Domestic abusers to be added to violent and sex offender register in new crackdown

Source: news.sky.com 2/20/23 The most dangerous domestic abusers will be recorded on the violent and sex offender register under new proposals aimed at better protecting the public. Around 2.4 million people in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse in the last year, with around one in five homicides related to it, according to the Home Office. Starting immediately, anyone jailed for 12 months or more for coercive control, including suspended sentences, will be placed on the violent and sex offender register. This means they will have to tell police their…

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UK: Prison officer jailed after starting relationship with inmate and sending ‘explicit’ images

Source: dailyrecord.co.uk 12/18/22 A prison officer has been jailed after entering a relationship with a prisoner and sending him ‘explicit’ images. Jennifer Gavan, 27, wept as she was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to misconduct in public office after starting an inappropriate relationship with a male prisoner. Gavan was accused of entering into an inappropriate relationship with prisoner Alex Coxon, now 25, accepting £150 to bring a mobile phone into the jail, and communicating with him via a phone held illegally while working at HMP Berwyn, which houses…

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UK: Mum killed paedophile, 77, after he abused her three children and changed his name to hide

Source: express.co.uk: 11/24/22 A mother who killed her children’s 77-year-old abuser is now campaigning to stop paedophiles from being able to change their names. Sarah Sands stabbed Michael Pleasted eight times in 2014, after her children said he had sexually abused them. Pleasted is thought to have ingratiated himself with the family as a friendly and helpful neighbour on the east London estate they were living in.Usually found sitting outside a nearby newsagent, Ms Sands said earlier today: “I thought he was a lovely old man. I cooked for him,…

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UK: Semen-sniffing dog used by British cops to help bust sex offenders

Source: nypost.com 10/21/22 Man’s best friend may be a man’s best chance at busting sex offenders. A semen-sniffing dog is working in the sex crime unit of a police department in England to help catch creeps and perverts, cops announced this week. The 1-year-old yellow Labrador, April, was trained to detect even tiny amounts of seminal fluid at crime scenes — and is better than traditional kits at extracting DNA, according to the Cheshire Police Department in England. The perv-busting pooch can pinpoint as little as 0.016ml of semen deposited…

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UK: Lincolnshire Police: Dozens of sex offenders removed from register

Source: bbc.com 10/13/22 Lincolnshire Police have removed 72 people from the Sex Offenders Register in the last five years. Those sentenced to more than 30 months for a sex-related crime can be required to register with police for life. But in 2010 the Supreme Court ruled offenders should have the opportunity to prove they had reformed and could apply to get their name removed. Lincolnshire Police said its policies were in line with all forces around the country. A Freedom of Information request revealed the force received 82 applications between…

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UK: Do Sex Offender Registers Actually Reduce Reoffending Rates?

Source: digitaljournal.com/ 6/16/22 This article covers what it means to be on a sex offender list and assesses whether or not they help reduce reoffending… In the year ending December 2021, the UK reported a staggering 183,587 sexual offences, a 22% increase from the figures reported for 2020. Despite increased awareness campaigns and measures, such as the sex offenders register, figures continue to climb. In this article, we’ll examine what this means and shine a spotlight on the question, ‘do sex offender registers actually reduce reoffending rates?’. … Ineffective Against Reoffending…

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UK: Man who complained about living next door to paedophile jailed for being a paedophile

Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk 4/12/22 A man who once complained about living next door to a convicted paedophile has been jailed – for being a paedophile. Darren ____, 53, once complained to his local newspaper that he was furious his housing association didn’t tell him his neighbour was a sex offender. But he is now behind bars for subjecting a child to a series of sordid sexual abuse from the age of seven until she was around 11. The abuse ranged from kissing and touching the child to forcing her to perform…

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UK: Laughing council worker goes to pub moments after dodging jail for leaking sex offender’s address to paedo hunter mob

Source: thesun.co.uk 4/9/22 A COUNCIL worker headed straight to the pub just moments after dodging jail for leaking a sex offender’s address to a paedophile hunter mob. Customer services assistant Chloe Carr, 23, was seen laughing and joking with two friends after she was fined in Hull Crown Court for sharing the confidential information. Hull City Council Worker Carr told a paedophile hunter Facebook group that the man is “bloody awful” and “disgusting” – but asked them not to reveal that she had passed on the confidential information. The group…

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U.K. expands ‘Turing’s Law’ to pardon past same-sex convictions

Source: nbcnews.com 1/5/22 In a long-awaited triumph for the U.K.’s LGBTQ community, the government on Tuesday announced that anyone convicted of consensual same-sex activity under now-defunct laws will soon be eligible to be pardoned and have their records wiped clean.  This week’s announcement follows a less-expansive 2017 measure that was limited to nine former offenses that targeted gay and bisexual men. The new amendment will widen the criteria to anyone officially warned or convicted for an abolished civil or military offense that was imposed due to consensual gay sex.  British…

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