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Latest News. 19 Sept 2002 20 Sept. 2002 30 Sept 2002 4th October 2002 5th October 2002 8th October 2002 8th October 2002 17 October 2002 24 October 2002 A former care worker has been jailed for eight years, after he admitted ten sex attacks on young boys. Birmingham Crown Court heard that Peter Brook, of Redfield Court, Newbury, Berkshire, committed the offences against seven boys at three care homes in the 1970s and 1980s. "During this case and others it is clear that there was a number of individuals that were abusing young children in a sexual way."(Source: BBC News) 24 October 2002 Wiltshire Police have made four arrests in connection with the national crackdown on internet child pornography. No details have been released about the professions of those arrested in the county.Hundreds of child welfare professionals, including police officers, care workers and teachers, have been arrested in the UK as part of the inquiry. Police have been running Operation Ore into alleged
UK users of a US child pornography website. 01 November 2002 A man who broke the leg of a two-year-old girl while trying to rape her has been jailed for seven years. 10 November 2002 Almost 7,000 suspected paedophiles are
still at large in the United Kingdom, despite a warning from US authorities six
months ago. 17 November 2002 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Paul Reubens, best known as children's television favorite "Pee-wee Herman," and veteran character actor Jeffrey Jones were charged Friday in related child pornography cases, prosecutors said. Jones, an acquaintance of Reubens who played a
malevolent Puritan in "The Crucible" and a school principal in
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off," was charged with a felony count of using
a minor for sex acts and misdemeanor possession of child pornography. The felony
count relates to allegations he hired a 14-year-old boy to pose for sexually
explicit photographs between September 2000 and May of last year, a spokeswoman
for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons
said the charges do not involve any sex act being performed or any video or
film being taken. HANDFUL OF IMAGES At issue in Reubens' case were a "handful of images" from "an extensive collection of vintage physique art photography" seized at his home by police, a spokeswoman for Reubens told Reuters. Berk said Reubens was unaware that the collection contained anything improper.Jones' attorney, Jeff Brodey, could not immediately be reached for comment, but he was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying the charges against his client involve only pictures, not physical contact. "This is all about photos. There's not allegations of any touching or any improper acts with a minor," Brodey told the Times, adding that Jones "is a very decent guy, and his life shouldn't be ruined." Jones, 55, surrendered to authorities on Thursday and was released on $20,000 bail. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison and would have to register for life as a sex offender. The district attorney declined to file any charges against Reubens but his spokeswoman said the City Attorney's Office waited until the last day possible under the statute of limitations to bring its misdemeanor case. Officials said Reubens allegedly took photographs of the same boy as Jones, but prosecutors declined to bring charges against him because his photos were not found to be sexually explicit. Reubens, best known for his nerdy, man-child
Pee-wee Herman persona, had his career nearly destroyed in 1991 when he was
arrested for allegedly masturbating in an adult movie theater. But he gradually
has made a comeback with various offbeat character roles for television and
film. 17 November 2002 A SCHOOL teacher and a top surgeon have been arrested as part of Britain's biggest child porn investigation. Nigel Kitchen, 41, a science master, resigned after police informed Summer Fields School, Oxford, of allegations that he had a large quantity of indecent images of youngsters. Bachelor Mr Kitchen has now moved out of his home close to the school. Detectives seized a computer from the home of vascular surgeon Christopher Lattimer, 39, who was bailed by police. He has taken sick leave from his job as a consultant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Margate, Kent, and cancelled operations at the Chaucer Hospital in nearby Canterbury where he treats private patients. The two men were arrested as part of Operation Ore, a worldwide crackdown on paedophiles which has thrown up more than 7,000 suspects in Britain alone More than 100 suspects have been arrested here, including 21 police officers, six teachers, civil servants, magistrates and social workers. Detectives say that about 95 per cent of the suspects are so-called respectable middle-class men with no previous criminal convictions. They include two policemen connected with the inquiry into the Soham murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. Mark Taylor, head of classics at £16,000-a-year Rugby School in Warwickshire, was suspended after being arrested and bailed. Alex Frazer, 43, responsible for all Customs IT services, was arrested at his Surrey home. Fifteen children have also been taken into care. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Carole Howlett, who is leading the investigation, said: "There's been a feeling this is just like looking at pornography - it's not. A child has been raped or buggered or defiled to create these images. "We've seized pictures of a baby being abused literally just out of the womb. That poor baby was still attached to its umbilical cord. "In some cases abusers force children into acts in front of a webcam in effectively a live pay-per-view service." "As a priority we are dealing with those who have direct access to children and those with younger families." But there are only three paedophile units in the country, run by the Metropolitan police and West Midlands and Greater Manchester forces, and they have fewer than 30 staff altogether. In Scotland there are 700 suspects, 279 in Cambridgeshire, 200 in Kent and 1,000 in the London area. Police in Surrey have 200 suspects while Bedfordshire has 60 "solid" cases. Cheshire and Northamptonshire both have 70 suspects and Durham 20. Investigators now believe as many as 90 police officers may be involved in child porn. DAC Howlett said: " The growth of the internet and the ease with which everybody has access has provided unforeseen opportunities for people who want to engage in this sort of crime." The Association of Chief Police Officers asked the Government for more money to tackle the problem last week. But Home Office Minister Hilary Benn, who chairs the Taskforce on Child Protection on the Internet, said police had already been given an extra £25m for "hi-tech" crime. But DAC Howlett said: "That covers everything from computer hacking to online fraud. Fighting child abuse receives only a proportion. Until child porn is a national priority, it is not going to get the resources it needs. "There will be other major operations like Ore. We need help both with resources to look at the computers we seize, and also in manpower." "Ore has shown that there is no typical person who abuses children. "It
crosses over all boundaries - profession, age, location, even ability on a
computer." 18 November 2002
A convicted paedophile has admitted trying to arrange
the contract killing of a nine-year-old girl from his prison cell.
Paedophile priest Michael Hill is back behind bars
after admitting a series of attacks on boys.
Stuart Spring, 33, from Camden, north London, was caught by a police undercover operation after he tried to recruit a fellow convict at Pentonville jail to murder the girl who gave evidence against him. In January this year Spring was jailed for four years at Snaresbrook Crown Court for indecently assaulting the girl while babysitting her at her home. He held the girl responsible and was overheard in prison saying he wanted to see her "terminated". Police thought the threat was so real they decided to send an undercover officer into the jail to befriend him and agree to go along with the murder plot. Secret recordings Three meetings at Pentonville were secretly recorded. Spring offered to pay the officer up to £10,000 and said he wanted to read about the body being discovered in woodland. He gave the officer a clipping from a local newspaper showing a photograph of schoolchildren on a summer scheme, including the girl, whose head he had circled. When the police felt they had enough evidence to secure a conviction they pounced on Spring. At the Old Bailey on Monday he pleaded guilty to
soliciting murder and was remanded until 16 December for psychiatric and
pre-sentence reports. 18 November 2002 Roman Catholic Hill, 68, the former chaplain of Gatwick Airport, pleaded guilty to six charges of indecent assault on three boys aged 10 to 14. Appearing at the Old Bailey on Monday, he was remanded in custody and warned he faces a prison sentence for his crimes. A further eight similar charges are to be left on file and not proceeded with. Custodial sentence Hill, of Lingfield, Surrey, was jailed for five years in 1997 for a string of sex offences against boys. He was freed on parole in 2000. His case caused controversy when it was revealed
the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac
Murphy-O'Connor, had given him a job despite being warned he posed a serious
risk to children 27 November 2002 A senior Church in Wales vicar has been re-arrested on charges of committing serious sexual offences against children.Canon Lawrence Davies, 62, has
been re-arrested by South Wales Police and charged with rape, gross indecency
and indecent assault on a child under 16. He is charged with the rape of a man, indecent assault of a boy under 16 and gross indecency with a boy under 16. At a previous hearing, magistrates were told the alleged offences all related to one person and dated from between 1987 and 1992. Canon Davies cannot now enter Cardiff unless he has
an appointment with his solicitor. 27.November 2002 An imam has admitted sexually abusing girls who had come to his Mosque in Hertfordshire to learn the Koran.On Wednesday, Hajif Ullah, 43, pleaded guilty to six charges of indecent assault on four girls between September last year and May this year. Two charges were committed against a 10-year-old, two against an 11-year-old, one against another 11-year-old and one against a 16-year-old. Ullah came to Britain from Bangladesh in 1998 to
work as an imam at the Mosque in Florence Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
(c) Copyright 2002 Margaret
Cooper |
