Sunday, November 30, 2014
SNP activist 'killed over child sex files', VIP paedophile ring 'abused teenage boy INSIDE Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle', 13 men guilty of enforced prostitution and rape of vulnerable girls in Bristol
SNP activist 'killed over child sex files'
A FIREBRAND SNP activist who died in mysterious circumstances was to expose a paedophile ring that would have brought down the Government, it was claimed last night.
Sun, November 30, 2014
Willie McRae was said to have discovered child abuse by cabinet ministers and other leading members of the establishment on both sides of the Border. Shortly before his death he was seen photocopying a dossier of names in case something should happen to him.
The copies are understood to have been posted to a number of close associates. Despite a lengthy inquiry, the Sunday Express has been unable to establish whether any copies of the alleged dossier are still in existence.
McRae never went public with his allegations as he was found shot dead in his car off a remote road in Wester Ross on April 6, 1985.
Some maintain he was murdered by the security services over his opposition to plans to dump nuclear waste in Scotland, while others have said he was silenced by drug smugglers.
Significantly, however, his death also fits the timeline of recent claims about Westminster perverts and a massive police cover-up of child abuse and murder in the early 1980s.
His death also came just months after the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens handed his own infamous paedophile dossier to then Home Secretary Leon Brittan – only for it to be lost or destroyed by Home Office officials....
Just a few months after McRae’s death, Geoffrey Dickens spoke in the House of Commons about the dangers he had faced due to his attempt to expose powerful paedophiles.
He said: “Honourable Members will understand that where big money is involved and as important names came into my possession so the threats began. First, I received threatening phone calls followed by two burglaries at my London home.
“Then, more seriously, my name appeared on a multi-killer’s hit list.”
Dickens died in 1995 and his investigation was forgotten until the Jimmy Savile scandal led to a renewed interest in historic abuse....
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/541793/SNP-activist-killed-over-child-sex-files
VIP paedophile ring 'abused teenage boy INSIDE Buckingham Palace and Balmoral Castle'
Nov 29, 2014 By Keir Mudie, Mark Watts
The boy, then just 16, told how he was the victim of “exploitation of the highest order” - the claims could now be the subject of a police investigation....
A teenage boy working at Buckingham Palace revealed he was groomed and sexually abused by a VIP paedophile ring there.
The lad was also assaulted at the Royal Family’s Scottish retreat Balmoral, according to shocking Home Office files, reports the Sunday People.
In a heartbreaking note, the boy – then just 16 – told how he was the victim of “exploitation of the highest order”.
The chilling claims could now be the subject of a police investigation into historic allegations of child sex abuse in the 1970s and 80s – linked to MPs and powerful figures.
The disturbing account was passed directly to the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan but he ruled it was “not practical” to investigate.....
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/vip-paedophile-ring-abused-teenage-4721479
13 men guilty of enforced prostitution and rape of vulnerable girls in Bristol
With second group of convictions, story can be told of the sexual abuse of teens – some in local authority care – often for money
Steven Morris Thursday 27 November 2014
Thirteen men, all of Somali origin, have been convicted of the systematic sexual abuse of vulnerable girls as young as 13 in Bristol and officers are investigating claims against 49 other suspects.
The victims, some of whom were in local authority care, were groomed and passed around by their abusers – often for money – and assaulted in homes, parks and a hotel....
Six of the men, most of whom are in their early 20s, have begun jail terms for offences including rape, paying a child for sex and arranging or facilitating payments for the sexual offences of a child. Another seven – one of whom appeared in both trials – were convicted this week of offences including rape, causing or inciting child prostitution, sexual acts with children and trafficking.
Some of the offenders were members of a drugs gang that sold heroin and cocaine in Bristol. Others were well-educated men with good prospects....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/27/guilty-prostitution-bristol-rape-girls-sex-abuse-somali
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Members of press issue mea culpas on botched Bill Cosby coverage, Spain arrests Granada priests over child sex abuse
Members of press issue mea culpas on botched Bill Cosby coverage November 25, 2014
Some members of the press who covered Bill Cosby over the past 40 years are now issuing mea culpas, saying they failed to follow up on the many accusations leveled at the comedy legend over the years.
Bill Cosby’s official biographer Mark Whitaker says he was wrong in not addressing the numerous allegations of sexual assault leveled against the comedian. Whitaker’s admission comes on the heels of New York Times columnist David Carr taking to task a number of writers – himself included - for turning a blind eye to the claims....
Cosby, 77, has been publicly accused by at least 18 women of sexually assaulting them or attempting to sexually assault them over the past four decades. His lawyers have denied the claims and called many of the women liars and opportunists. Cosby refused to address the stories in recorded interviews with the Associated Press and National Public Radio. He told the publication Florida Today: "I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos."
But despite the denials, venues on Cosby’s tour are dropping like flies....
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/11/25/members-press-issue-mea-culpas-on-botched-bill-cosby-coverage/
Spain arrests Granada priests over child sex abuse
24 November 2014
Police in Spain have arrested three priests and one layman on suspicion of child sex abuse, according to the country's interior minister....
The Archdiocese of Granada suspended several priests last week after a man wrote to Pope Francis saying he was abused when he was an altar boy....
However, Spanish newspaper El Pais said all were believed to be members of the ultraconservative group known as Los Romanones....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30178934
Some members of the press who covered Bill Cosby over the past 40 years are now issuing mea culpas, saying they failed to follow up on the many accusations leveled at the comedy legend over the years.
Bill Cosby’s official biographer Mark Whitaker says he was wrong in not addressing the numerous allegations of sexual assault leveled against the comedian. Whitaker’s admission comes on the heels of New York Times columnist David Carr taking to task a number of writers – himself included - for turning a blind eye to the claims....
Cosby, 77, has been publicly accused by at least 18 women of sexually assaulting them or attempting to sexually assault them over the past four decades. His lawyers have denied the claims and called many of the women liars and opportunists. Cosby refused to address the stories in recorded interviews with the Associated Press and National Public Radio. He told the publication Florida Today: "I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos."
But despite the denials, venues on Cosby’s tour are dropping like flies....
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/11/25/members-press-issue-mea-culpas-on-botched-bill-cosby-coverage/
Spain arrests Granada priests over child sex abuse
24 November 2014
Police in Spain have arrested three priests and one layman on suspicion of child sex abuse, according to the country's interior minister....
The Archdiocese of Granada suspended several priests last week after a man wrote to Pope Francis saying he was abused when he was an altar boy....
However, Spanish newspaper El Pais said all were believed to be members of the ultraconservative group known as Los Romanones....
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30178934
Monday, November 24, 2014
Ex-NBC employee Frank Scotti claims Bill Cosby paid off women, more allegations of potential sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby, Fran’s Day Care Case
- Bill Cosby called a 'serial rapist' as yet ANOTHER accuser comes forward
- Bill Cosby's 1980s Co-Star Claims He Sexually Assaulted Her, Paid College Tuition
EXCLUSIVE: Ex-NBC employee Frank Scotti claims Bill Cosby paid off women, invited young models to dressing room as he stood guard
Veteran NBC employee Frank Scotti says he helped Bill Cosby deliver thousands of dollars to eight different women in 1989-90 - including Shawn Thompson, whose daughter Autumn Jackson claimed the actor was her dad. The ex-aide also tells the Daily News he stood guard whenever Cosby invited young models to his dressing room, which eventually led him to quitting after years on the job.
BY Chelsia Rose Marcius , Brian Niemietz , Larry Mcshane
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Back when Bill Cosby was the king of network television, veteran NBC employee Frank Scotti served as the royal fixer.
When Cosby invited young models into his Brooklyn dressing room, the megastar’s pal stood watch outside the door. When the married Cosby sought a Queens apartment for another pretty face, Scotti arranged the deal.
And when the man behind Fat Albert needed cash disbursed to his flock of single female friends — hey, hey, hey — Scotti became the conduit for payments of up to $2,000 a month....
“He had everybody fooled,” said Scotti in an exclusive interview with the Daily News. “Nobody suspected.”
Scotti came forward last week with his insider’s look at Cosby’s womanizing ways during the magical 1984-92 run of “The Cosby Show.”....
The 90-year-old Scotti said he decided to speak as the drumbeat of sexual abuse allegations against Cosby, 77, grew steadily louder. “I felt sorry for the women,” he told The News.
The Emmy-winning Cosby, NBC’s most bankable star at the time, used Scotti to deliver monthly payouts to eight different women in 1989-90 — including Shawn Thompson, whose daughter Autumn Jackson claimed the actor was her dad.
Frank Scotti says he did "a lot of crazy things" for Bill Cosby, including being a coverup for the actor. Courtesy Frank Scotti Frank Scotti says he did "a lot of crazy things" for Bill Cosby, including being a coverup for the actor.
Cosby, while denying paternity, paid out more than $100,000 to Thompson over the years after their 1974 affair began. Scotti told The News that he believes Cosby was sleeping with all the women who received money.
“I was suspicious that something was going on,” said Scotti. “I suspected that he was having sex with them because the other person he was sending money to (Thompson) he was definitely having sex with....
He recalled Cosby presenting him with “a satchel of money, all $100 bills,” and pressing Scotti to distribute the payments using money orders in his own name.
“I did a lot of crazy things for him,” recalled Scotti. “He was covering himself by having my name on it. It was a coverup. I realized it later.”
Scotti worked as facilities manager at the Brooklyn studio where “The Cosby Show” was originally taped before a live audience....
Cosby lawyer Martin Singer scoffed at Scotti’s claims. “What evidence does he have of Mr. Cosby’s involvement?” Singer said Saturday....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/bill-cosby-paid-women-ex-nbc-employee-article-1.2020464
Bill Cosby called a 'serial rapist' as yet ANOTHER accuser comes forward
Nov 24th 2014
By RYAN GORMAN
Embattled comedian Bill Cosby is now being called a "serial rapist" as details of his bizarre green room demands are emerging, according to a pair of new reports.
Model Jewel Allison told the New York Daily News that Cosby drugged and forced her to touch his genitals during a dinner. Female staffers with CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" said he forced them to watch him eat curry before every appearance.
"We may be looking at America's greatest serial rapist that ever got away with this for the longest amount of time," Allison told the paper. At least 17 women have now accused Cosby of rape and/or sexual assault.
Many of those accusers were reportedly paid off by an NBC staffer.
Allison said the assault occurred in the late 1980s at Cosby's brownstone on Manhattan's East Side. The comedian had invited her over on her birthday.
"He said he wanted to help models and actors who were well-educated, who could do something else," she recalled. "I thought, 'Wow, this is Bill Cosby.'"
The accused rapist groomed her in a series of phone calls, often complimenting her....
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/11/24/bill-cosby-called-a-serial-rapist-as-yet-another-accuser-comes-forward-late-show-david-letterman/20998183/
Bill Cosby's 1980s Co-Star Claims He Sexually Assaulted Her, Paid College Tuition
The Wrap By Jason Hughes 11/24/14
Another woman has come forward with allegations of potential sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby, and this one was a co-star of his for four years. Renita Chaney Hill co-starred alongside Cosby during the 1980s in his “Picture Pages” educational videos....
Bill Cosby was at the height of his power with NBC's “The Cosby Show” when he encountered Hill. His “Picture Pages” segments filmed in Pittsburgh — the shorts started on a local Pittsburgh children's show — and he was looking for local talent. Hill, a 15-year-old model and aspiring actress, was recommended by her modeling agency.
The Pittsburgh native spoke to local CBS news station KDKA about the alleged attacks late last week. She told KDKA reporter Ralph Iannotti that Cosby flew her to various cities, from New York to Atlanta....
He defended his ongoing refusal to comment, telling Florida Today before his performance, “I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos. People should fact check....
https://tv.yahoo.com/news/bill-cosbys-1980s-co-star-claims-sexually-assaulted-074400620.html
Local Woman Latest To Come Forward Accusing Bill Cosby Of Being Sexual Predator
Renita Chaney Hill: "The Bottom Line For Me Is That No One Has The Right To Violate Someone Else, No Matter Who They Are" November 20, 2014
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/11/20/local-woman-latest-to-come-forward-accusing-bill-cosby-of-being-sexual-predator/
Fran’s Day Care case
history and updates
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/frans-day-care/
- Bill Cosby's 1980s Co-Star Claims He Sexually Assaulted Her, Paid College Tuition
EXCLUSIVE: Ex-NBC employee Frank Scotti claims Bill Cosby paid off women, invited young models to dressing room as he stood guard
Veteran NBC employee Frank Scotti says he helped Bill Cosby deliver thousands of dollars to eight different women in 1989-90 - including Shawn Thompson, whose daughter Autumn Jackson claimed the actor was her dad. The ex-aide also tells the Daily News he stood guard whenever Cosby invited young models to his dressing room, which eventually led him to quitting after years on the job.
BY Chelsia Rose Marcius , Brian Niemietz , Larry Mcshane
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Back when Bill Cosby was the king of network television, veteran NBC employee Frank Scotti served as the royal fixer.
When Cosby invited young models into his Brooklyn dressing room, the megastar’s pal stood watch outside the door. When the married Cosby sought a Queens apartment for another pretty face, Scotti arranged the deal.
And when the man behind Fat Albert needed cash disbursed to his flock of single female friends — hey, hey, hey — Scotti became the conduit for payments of up to $2,000 a month....
“He had everybody fooled,” said Scotti in an exclusive interview with the Daily News. “Nobody suspected.”
Scotti came forward last week with his insider’s look at Cosby’s womanizing ways during the magical 1984-92 run of “The Cosby Show.”....
The 90-year-old Scotti said he decided to speak as the drumbeat of sexual abuse allegations against Cosby, 77, grew steadily louder. “I felt sorry for the women,” he told The News.
The Emmy-winning Cosby, NBC’s most bankable star at the time, used Scotti to deliver monthly payouts to eight different women in 1989-90 — including Shawn Thompson, whose daughter Autumn Jackson claimed the actor was her dad.
Frank Scotti says he did "a lot of crazy things" for Bill Cosby, including being a coverup for the actor. Courtesy Frank Scotti Frank Scotti says he did "a lot of crazy things" for Bill Cosby, including being a coverup for the actor.
Cosby, while denying paternity, paid out more than $100,000 to Thompson over the years after their 1974 affair began. Scotti told The News that he believes Cosby was sleeping with all the women who received money.
“I was suspicious that something was going on,” said Scotti. “I suspected that he was having sex with them because the other person he was sending money to (Thompson) he was definitely having sex with....
He recalled Cosby presenting him with “a satchel of money, all $100 bills,” and pressing Scotti to distribute the payments using money orders in his own name.
“I did a lot of crazy things for him,” recalled Scotti. “He was covering himself by having my name on it. It was a coverup. I realized it later.”
Scotti worked as facilities manager at the Brooklyn studio where “The Cosby Show” was originally taped before a live audience....
Cosby lawyer Martin Singer scoffed at Scotti’s claims. “What evidence does he have of Mr. Cosby’s involvement?” Singer said Saturday....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/bill-cosby-paid-women-ex-nbc-employee-article-1.2020464
Bill Cosby called a 'serial rapist' as yet ANOTHER accuser comes forward
Nov 24th 2014
By RYAN GORMAN
Embattled comedian Bill Cosby is now being called a "serial rapist" as details of his bizarre green room demands are emerging, according to a pair of new reports.
Model Jewel Allison told the New York Daily News that Cosby drugged and forced her to touch his genitals during a dinner. Female staffers with CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" said he forced them to watch him eat curry before every appearance.
"We may be looking at America's greatest serial rapist that ever got away with this for the longest amount of time," Allison told the paper. At least 17 women have now accused Cosby of rape and/or sexual assault.
Many of those accusers were reportedly paid off by an NBC staffer.
Allison said the assault occurred in the late 1980s at Cosby's brownstone on Manhattan's East Side. The comedian had invited her over on her birthday.
"He said he wanted to help models and actors who were well-educated, who could do something else," she recalled. "I thought, 'Wow, this is Bill Cosby.'"
The accused rapist groomed her in a series of phone calls, often complimenting her....
http://www.aol.com/article/2014/11/24/bill-cosby-called-a-serial-rapist-as-yet-another-accuser-comes-forward-late-show-david-letterman/20998183/
Bill Cosby's 1980s Co-Star Claims He Sexually Assaulted Her, Paid College Tuition
The Wrap By Jason Hughes 11/24/14
Another woman has come forward with allegations of potential sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby, and this one was a co-star of his for four years. Renita Chaney Hill co-starred alongside Cosby during the 1980s in his “Picture Pages” educational videos....
Bill Cosby was at the height of his power with NBC's “The Cosby Show” when he encountered Hill. His “Picture Pages” segments filmed in Pittsburgh — the shorts started on a local Pittsburgh children's show — and he was looking for local talent. Hill, a 15-year-old model and aspiring actress, was recommended by her modeling agency.
The Pittsburgh native spoke to local CBS news station KDKA about the alleged attacks late last week. She told KDKA reporter Ralph Iannotti that Cosby flew her to various cities, from New York to Atlanta....
He defended his ongoing refusal to comment, telling Florida Today before his performance, “I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos. People should fact check....
https://tv.yahoo.com/news/bill-cosbys-1980s-co-star-claims-sexually-assaulted-074400620.html
Local Woman Latest To Come Forward Accusing Bill Cosby Of Being Sexual Predator
Renita Chaney Hill: "The Bottom Line For Me Is That No One Has The Right To Violate Someone Else, No Matter Who They Are" November 20, 2014
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/11/20/local-woman-latest-to-come-forward-accusing-bill-cosby-of-being-sexual-predator/
Fran’s Day Care case
history and updates
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/frans-day-care/
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Met trawls files on 200 missing boys in murder probe into VIPs ‘Operation Midland’ searches for clues to three alleged killings by paedophile network
Met trawls files on 200 missing boys in murder probe into VIPs
‘Operation Midland’ searches for clues to three alleged killings by paedophile network
By Mark Conrad 22 November 2014
Detectives are trawling through files on at least 200 missing children as they try to identify three boys allegedly killed by the ‘Westminster paedophile network’.
Officers who are carrying out the triple-murder investigation under ‘Operation Midland’, made a request to police forces across the UK for files on boys who disappeared and never turned up between 1977 and 1983....
Nick told detectives that he saw a then-serving Conservative MP murder a boy during a sexual assault at a town house in central London around 1980. He said that he witnessed the murder of another boy in front of a former Conservative cabinet minister in 1981 or 1982. And he told of a third killing by unidentified members of the paedophile network in south-west London in 1979....
Nick told how two former Conservative MPs – including an ex-cabinet minister – and other VIPs sexually abused, even raped, him and other boys.
The detective in charge of ‘Operation Fairbank’, Scotland Yard’s wide-ranging investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by MPs and VIPs, asked Exaro to speak to our two witnesses....
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5415/met-trawls-files-on-200-missing-boys-in-murder-probe-into-vips
‘Operation Midland’ searches for clues to three alleged killings by paedophile network
By Mark Conrad 22 November 2014
Detectives are trawling through files on at least 200 missing children as they try to identify three boys allegedly killed by the ‘Westminster paedophile network’.
Officers who are carrying out the triple-murder investigation under ‘Operation Midland’, made a request to police forces across the UK for files on boys who disappeared and never turned up between 1977 and 1983....
Nick told detectives that he saw a then-serving Conservative MP murder a boy during a sexual assault at a town house in central London around 1980. He said that he witnessed the murder of another boy in front of a former Conservative cabinet minister in 1981 or 1982. And he told of a third killing by unidentified members of the paedophile network in south-west London in 1979....
Nick told how two former Conservative MPs – including an ex-cabinet minister – and other VIPs sexually abused, even raped, him and other boys.
The detective in charge of ‘Operation Fairbank’, Scotland Yard’s wide-ranging investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by MPs and VIPs, asked Exaro to speak to our two witnesses....
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5415/met-trawls-files-on-200-missing-boys-in-murder-probe-into-vips
MP 'told police about VIP paedophile ring's parties 26 years go, Brazilian trio jailed for total of 63 years for killing and eating two women, man confesses to raping 5-year-old, blames victim: 'She was experimenting'
MP 'told police about VIP paedophile ring's parties 26 years go': Labour’s John Mann claims he handed evidence of abuse over to Scotland Yard but investigation was shelved
MP John Mann said he handed evidence of 'abuse parties' to police in 1998
Claims case was closed within three months on orders of 'those at the top'
Police probing reports of murders linked to paedophile ring in 1970 and 80s
By Rebecca Camber for the Daily Mail
17 November 2014
Police were told a Cabinet minister and prominent MPs were abusing children 26 years ago at a block of luxury flats used by politicians but nothing was done, a senior MP revealed yesterday.
Fears of a cover-up of an Establishment paedophile ring deepened last night as an MP said he handed over evidence in 1988 of ‘abuse parties’ at Dolphin Square and other London locations, but an investigation was shelved by Scotland Yard.
Labour’s John Mann said the case was closed within three months on the orders of ‘those at the top’.
His revelation came as it emerged that police are probing disturbing reports of three murders linked to the alleged VIP paedophile ring in the 1970s and 1980s.
A victim has claimed he saw a Conservative MP strangle a 12-year-old boy to death at an ‘abuse party’ in a Central London townhouse around 1980.
The witness, known only as Nick, says a Tory Cabinet minister watched two men kill a second boy in a depraved sexual assault a year later....
As a young councillor investigating corruption in his local borough of Lambeth, Mr Mann uncovered evidence that a Tory Cabinet minister and other serving politicians were sexually abusing children taken from care homes to Dolphin Square, a luxury riverside estate in Pimlico which has been home to dozens of MPs.
He reported his concerns to Lambeth police, but told the Mail: ‘I was told in 1989 by local police that they were very unhappy but they had been instructed to stop the investigation by someone at the top of the police.’.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2837175/MP-told-police-VIP-paedophile-ring-s-parties-26-years-Labour-s-John-Mann-claims-handed-evidence-abuse-Scotland-Yard-investigation-shelved.html
describes graphic crimes
Brazilian trio jailed for total of 63 years for killing and eating two women before using their flesh to fill pastries
Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira, Isabel Cristina Pires and Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva are all jailed for murder and desecration
They were found guilty of luring young women to their deaths Garanhuns, Brazil, then using their flesh to make empada pastries to eat and sell
The pasties were sold to neighbours, schools and even hospitals by the trio who said they contained tuna or chicken
By Damien Gayle for MailOnline and Associated Press
16 November 2014
A Brazilian man, his wife and his mistress have all been handed long sentences for killing two women and using their flesh to make meat pastries which they atea and sold.
Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira was jailed for 23 years while his wife, Isabel Cristina Pires, and his mistress, Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva, each received 20-year terms.
The defendants' lawyers told reporters they would appeal the sentences.
....At the time, they reportedly told police they belonged to a sect that preached 'the purification of the world and the reduction of its population'.
They were convicted of murder, desecration and concealment of a body. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2836756/Brazilian-trio-jailed-total-63-years-killing-eating-two-women-using-flesh-pastries.htm
Ohio man confesses to raping 5-year-old, blames victim: 'She was experimenting'
A Lake County judge sentenced 51-year-old Clifford Taylor to 22 years in prison after he confessed to raping his girlfriend’s daughter and coaxing her into oral sex with the promise of a Pudding Pop. During his sentencing, he tried to backpedal, and claimed his tiny victim forced herself on him.
BY Meg Wagner
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, November 22, 2014 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ohio-man-confesses-raping-5-year-old-blames-victim-article-1.2020211
MP John Mann said he handed evidence of 'abuse parties' to police in 1998
Claims case was closed within three months on orders of 'those at the top'
Police probing reports of murders linked to paedophile ring in 1970 and 80s
By Rebecca Camber for the Daily Mail
17 November 2014
Police were told a Cabinet minister and prominent MPs were abusing children 26 years ago at a block of luxury flats used by politicians but nothing was done, a senior MP revealed yesterday.
Fears of a cover-up of an Establishment paedophile ring deepened last night as an MP said he handed over evidence in 1988 of ‘abuse parties’ at Dolphin Square and other London locations, but an investigation was shelved by Scotland Yard.
Labour’s John Mann said the case was closed within three months on the orders of ‘those at the top’.
His revelation came as it emerged that police are probing disturbing reports of three murders linked to the alleged VIP paedophile ring in the 1970s and 1980s.
A victim has claimed he saw a Conservative MP strangle a 12-year-old boy to death at an ‘abuse party’ in a Central London townhouse around 1980.
The witness, known only as Nick, says a Tory Cabinet minister watched two men kill a second boy in a depraved sexual assault a year later....
As a young councillor investigating corruption in his local borough of Lambeth, Mr Mann uncovered evidence that a Tory Cabinet minister and other serving politicians were sexually abusing children taken from care homes to Dolphin Square, a luxury riverside estate in Pimlico which has been home to dozens of MPs.
He reported his concerns to Lambeth police, but told the Mail: ‘I was told in 1989 by local police that they were very unhappy but they had been instructed to stop the investigation by someone at the top of the police.’.... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2837175/MP-told-police-VIP-paedophile-ring-s-parties-26-years-Labour-s-John-Mann-claims-handed-evidence-abuse-Scotland-Yard-investigation-shelved.html
describes graphic crimes
Brazilian trio jailed for total of 63 years for killing and eating two women before using their flesh to fill pastries
Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira, Isabel Cristina Pires and Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva are all jailed for murder and desecration
They were found guilty of luring young women to their deaths Garanhuns, Brazil, then using their flesh to make empada pastries to eat and sell
The pasties were sold to neighbours, schools and even hospitals by the trio who said they contained tuna or chicken
By Damien Gayle for MailOnline and Associated Press
16 November 2014
A Brazilian man, his wife and his mistress have all been handed long sentences for killing two women and using their flesh to make meat pastries which they atea and sold.
Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira was jailed for 23 years while his wife, Isabel Cristina Pires, and his mistress, Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva, each received 20-year terms.
The defendants' lawyers told reporters they would appeal the sentences.
....At the time, they reportedly told police they belonged to a sect that preached 'the purification of the world and the reduction of its population'.
They were convicted of murder, desecration and concealment of a body. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2836756/Brazilian-trio-jailed-total-63-years-killing-eating-two-women-using-flesh-pastries.htm
Ohio man confesses to raping 5-year-old, blames victim: 'She was experimenting'
A Lake County judge sentenced 51-year-old Clifford Taylor to 22 years in prison after he confessed to raping his girlfriend’s daughter and coaxing her into oral sex with the promise of a Pudding Pop. During his sentencing, he tried to backpedal, and claimed his tiny victim forced herself on him.
BY Meg Wagner
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, November 22, 2014 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ohio-man-confesses-raping-5-year-old-blames-victim-article-1.2020211
Attorney: L.A. schools pay 'largest' public settlement for child abuse at $139 million
Attorney: L.A. schools pay 'largest' public settlement for child abuse at $139 million
By Michael Martinez, CNN
Fri November 21, 2014
Los Angeles (CNN) -- The Los Angeles public school district will pay more than $139.2 million to the families of 81 children allegedly abused by an elementary teacher now serving a prison sentence for lewd conduct, officials said Friday.
John Manly, one of the plaintiffs' attorney, called the amount "the largest settlement in the history of the United States against a public entity involving child abuse."
The settlement comes after the district earlier paid $30 million to settle 63 other students' claims alleging they were victims of sexually lewd acts by Mark Berndt of Miramonte Elementary.
A teacher for 30 years, Berndt is now serving a 25-year prison sentence for putting pupils in bondage, and then photographing them with semen-filled spoons held at their mouths and 3-inch cockroaches crawling across their faces....
Manly contended there were "two perpetrators:" Berndt and "those in successive (school) administrations from 1983 to the present who ignored and in some instances actively concealed what he was doing."....
Berndt had pleaded no contest to felony lewd acts on 23 children. The scandal led to more than 100 students suing the district, claiming that they, too, were victims....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/21/us/los-angeles-student-lewd-abuse-settlement/
By Michael Martinez, CNN
Fri November 21, 2014
Los Angeles (CNN) -- The Los Angeles public school district will pay more than $139.2 million to the families of 81 children allegedly abused by an elementary teacher now serving a prison sentence for lewd conduct, officials said Friday.
John Manly, one of the plaintiffs' attorney, called the amount "the largest settlement in the history of the United States against a public entity involving child abuse."
The settlement comes after the district earlier paid $30 million to settle 63 other students' claims alleging they were victims of sexually lewd acts by Mark Berndt of Miramonte Elementary.
A teacher for 30 years, Berndt is now serving a 25-year prison sentence for putting pupils in bondage, and then photographing them with semen-filled spoons held at their mouths and 3-inch cockroaches crawling across their faces....
Manly contended there were "two perpetrators:" Berndt and "those in successive (school) administrations from 1983 to the present who ignored and in some instances actively concealed what he was doing."....
Berndt had pleaded no contest to felony lewd acts on 23 children. The scandal led to more than 100 students suing the district, claiming that they, too, were victims....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/21/us/los-angeles-student-lewd-abuse-settlement/
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Westminster child abuse claims: "Watson said “clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to parliament and No 10”., Sasha Wass QC to lead island sex abuse inquiry, head investigation into alleged cover-up on St Helena and Ascension
Westminster child abuse claims: what do we know?
Police are investigating possible murders linked to Elm Guest House in south-west London after claims of a cover-up
Matthew Weaver Wednesday 19 November 2014
What do we know about politicians and child abuse at Westminster?
A number of allegations have been made. So far the only politician to have been implicated is the Liberal MP Cyril Smith, who died in 2010, but other unnamed politicians were also alleged to have been involved in a Westminster paedophile ring. Smith is alleged to have abused boys at Knowl View residential school in Rochdale and at Elm Guest House, in Barnes in south-west London, in the 1970s and 80s. Greater Manchester police are investigating allegations of abuse by Smith at Knowl View, where Smith was a governor. Other MPs were said to have attended the Elm Guest House. After claims made by the Labour MP Tom Watson in 2012, the Metropolitan police launched Operation Fairbank into child abuse at the guesthouse. Watson said there was “clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to parliament and No 10”.
A dossier of evidence of an alleged paedophile ring, involving several MPs, including Smith, and other public figures, was handed to the Home Office in 1983, by the Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, who died in 1995. The 40-page dossier has since been destroyed or lost, according to a Home Office review. The Crown Prosecution Service has conceded that Smith should have been prosecuted after rejecting claims against him in 1970, 1998 and 1999.
What happened at Elm Guest House?
At least three MPs were reported to have been questioned in 1982 after a police raid on the guesthouse. It was reported at the time that it was being used as a brothel where children as young as 10 were abused. Two children living in the house were taken into care. The guesthouse was reported to have been used as a brothel for two years before it was raided. Officers found whips, chains and ropes. “They catered for every kind of perversion,” an officer told the News of World at the time. The owners of Elm Guest House, Haroon and Carol Kasir, were subsequently convicted of running a brothel....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/19/westminster-child-abuse-claims-elm-guest-house
Sasha Wass QC, prosecutor in Rolf Harris trial, to lead island sex abuse inquiry
Sasha Wass QC, has been brought into to head an investigation into an alleged cover-up on St Helena and Ascension Paul Peachey crime correspondent Thursday 20 November 2014
....Sasha Wass QC, has been brought in after a review of child safety on St Helena and Ascension – two tiny and remote islands in the South Atlantic with a combined population of some 5,500 – revealed that a number of paedophiles had escaped prosecution amid claims of police incompetence and corruption.
The Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, said yesterday that Ms Wass would travel to the island to investigate a series of claims by whistleblowers against senior police, some brought over from Britain to run the tiny force.
Social workers said they raised concerns about a paedophile officer but were snubbed and told not to rock the boat and “enjoy the view” on St Helena, famous as the island prison of Napoleon.
The announcement by Mr Hammond came a week before the start of what could be a protracted employment tribunal starting in London brought by two of the whistleblowers who say they were hounded off the island. One of them had her home searched by police and was threatened with prosecution for perjury.
They have said that entrenched abuse on the island was worse than the scandal on Pitcairn, another isolated and tiny British territory, where six men jailed for child sex abuse in 2004.
....Experts from the child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, said in a report there had been a “malaise” in the upper ranks of the police force. It criticised its handling of child sex abuse allegations and highlighted how victims were often castigated when coming forward to make claims. It said there were “a number of ‘serial’ offenders, a number of ‘serial’ victims, and a number of women whose children were very much at risk of repeat victimisation.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/sasha-wass-qc-prosecutor-in-rolf-harris-trial-to-lead-island-sex-abuse-inquiry-9873772.html
Police are investigating possible murders linked to Elm Guest House in south-west London after claims of a cover-up
Matthew Weaver Wednesday 19 November 2014
What do we know about politicians and child abuse at Westminster?
A number of allegations have been made. So far the only politician to have been implicated is the Liberal MP Cyril Smith, who died in 2010, but other unnamed politicians were also alleged to have been involved in a Westminster paedophile ring. Smith is alleged to have abused boys at Knowl View residential school in Rochdale and at Elm Guest House, in Barnes in south-west London, in the 1970s and 80s. Greater Manchester police are investigating allegations of abuse by Smith at Knowl View, where Smith was a governor. Other MPs were said to have attended the Elm Guest House. After claims made by the Labour MP Tom Watson in 2012, the Metropolitan police launched Operation Fairbank into child abuse at the guesthouse. Watson said there was “clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to parliament and No 10”.
A dossier of evidence of an alleged paedophile ring, involving several MPs, including Smith, and other public figures, was handed to the Home Office in 1983, by the Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens, who died in 1995. The 40-page dossier has since been destroyed or lost, according to a Home Office review. The Crown Prosecution Service has conceded that Smith should have been prosecuted after rejecting claims against him in 1970, 1998 and 1999.
What happened at Elm Guest House?
At least three MPs were reported to have been questioned in 1982 after a police raid on the guesthouse. It was reported at the time that it was being used as a brothel where children as young as 10 were abused. Two children living in the house were taken into care. The guesthouse was reported to have been used as a brothel for two years before it was raided. Officers found whips, chains and ropes. “They catered for every kind of perversion,” an officer told the News of World at the time. The owners of Elm Guest House, Haroon and Carol Kasir, were subsequently convicted of running a brothel....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/19/westminster-child-abuse-claims-elm-guest-house
Sasha Wass QC, prosecutor in Rolf Harris trial, to lead island sex abuse inquiry
Sasha Wass QC, has been brought into to head an investigation into an alleged cover-up on St Helena and Ascension Paul Peachey crime correspondent Thursday 20 November 2014
....Sasha Wass QC, has been brought in after a review of child safety on St Helena and Ascension – two tiny and remote islands in the South Atlantic with a combined population of some 5,500 – revealed that a number of paedophiles had escaped prosecution amid claims of police incompetence and corruption.
The Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, said yesterday that Ms Wass would travel to the island to investigate a series of claims by whistleblowers against senior police, some brought over from Britain to run the tiny force.
Social workers said they raised concerns about a paedophile officer but were snubbed and told not to rock the boat and “enjoy the view” on St Helena, famous as the island prison of Napoleon.
The announcement by Mr Hammond came a week before the start of what could be a protracted employment tribunal starting in London brought by two of the whistleblowers who say they were hounded off the island. One of them had her home searched by police and was threatened with prosecution for perjury.
They have said that entrenched abuse on the island was worse than the scandal on Pitcairn, another isolated and tiny British territory, where six men jailed for child sex abuse in 2004.
....Experts from the child protection charity, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, said in a report there had been a “malaise” in the upper ranks of the police force. It criticised its handling of child sex abuse allegations and highlighted how victims were often castigated when coming forward to make claims. It said there were “a number of ‘serial’ offenders, a number of ‘serial’ victims, and a number of women whose children were very much at risk of repeat victimisation.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/sasha-wass-qc-prosecutor-in-rolf-harris-trial-to-lead-island-sex-abuse-inquiry-9873772.html
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Comeback by Cosby Unravels as Rape Claims Re-emerge, What will Bill Cosby's legacy be?, The sexual exploitation of children: it couldn't happen here, could it?, Child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, Ritual Abuse, Female Gential Mutilation
- Comeback by Cosby Unravels as Rape Claims Re-emerge
- What will Bill Cosby's legacy be?
- Councils leaving children at sex-abuse risk, says Ofsted
- The sexual exploitation of children: it couldn't happen here, could it?
- Communities and Local Government Committee - Third Report
- Child sexual exploitation in Rotherham: some issues for local government
- Children first: the child protection system in England - Education RITUAL ABUSE, WITCHCRAFT AND FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
- Child abuse, adversity associated with poor health and employment outcomes later in life
Comeback by Cosby Unravels as Rape Claims Re-emerge
By BILL CARTER, GRAHAM BOWLEY and LORNE MANLY NOV. 19, 2014
....But in recent weeks, his triumphant return to the national stage has fallen apart in the face of a wave of accusations by women who say Mr. Cosby drugged and raped them decades ago. On Wednesday, NBC said it was canceling the pilot project, and the cable network TV Land quietly decided to stop showing repeats of “The Cosby Show.” Less than 24 hours earlier, Netflix said it was postponing the debut of the comedy special. Other scheduled appearances by Mr. Cosby — on David Letterman’s late-night show and Queen Latifah’s daytime talk show — have also been canceled.
....Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have vigorously denied the accusations in recent days, and he has never faced criminal charges. But the troubles have put the star’s comeback in limbo and created awkward situations as he seeks to burnish his legacy. Mr. Cosby’s handlers, for instance, realizing that Mr. Letterman would have to ask Mr. Cosby about the rape claims, decided to scrap the appearance.
The accusations against Mr. Cosby have been all the more striking because his hit TV show, his commercials for Jell-O and his best-selling books about fatherhood helped him present an image of the ideal family man.
....A subsequent civil lawsuit brought by Ms. Constand promised to present testimony from 13 “Jane Does” with similar accounts of sexual assault. Mr. Cosby’s lawyer called the claims false and even preposterous; the suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2006.
One of the unnamed women in the suit, Barbara Bowman, a former actress, came forward publicly in The Washington Post last week to describe her experiences in detail.... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/business/media/bill-cosby-fallout-rape-accusations.html
What will Bill Cosby's legacy be?
Andrea Mandell and Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY November 19, 2014
....On Sunday, the second woman in a 10-day span, publicist Joan Tarshis, came forward to tell a story of being sexually assaulted by Cosby. She posted a detailed account on Hollywood Elsewhere of being drugged and abused by Cosby, 77, who has been married to wife Camille since 1964.
It's a scenario that has now been told by more than a dozen women, all recounting incidents that happened years ago.
....On Sunday, Cosby's lawyer, John P. Schmitt, issued a statement saying the comedy legend would not "dignify" the "decade-old" claims. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/11/18/bill-cosby-legacy-forever-damaged-rape-allegations/19176659/
Councils leaving children at sex-abuse risk, says Ofsted 19 November 2014
Vulnerable children in England are at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse because of council failures, the children's services watchdog has said.
Child sexual exploitation has not been treated as the priority that events in Rotherham and elsewhere suggested it should have been, Ofsted said.
Councils had been too slow to face up to their responsibilities and plans were "under-developed", Ofsted said.
The Local Government Association said the report was "uncomfortable reading".
The report - called The sexual exploitation of children: it couldn't happen here, could it? - was commissioned by Ofsted's chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw.
It comes against a backdrop of allegations, convictions and resignations over organised child abuse and exploitation over sustained periods in locations including Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and Telford.
A separate report published by MPs on Tuesday into the Rotherham cases concluded the local authority had "failed" victims targeted in the town.
The MPs also said Rotherham was not an isolated case, child sexual exploitation was "widespread" and "serious", and questioned the performance of Ofsted itself.... http://www.bbc.com/news/education-30096187
The sexual exploitation of children: it couldn't happen here, could it?
19 Nov 2014 Ref: 140175
This thematic inspection was commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of local authorities’ current response to child sexual exploitation. The report draws on evidence from inspection and case examination in eight local authorities and from the views of children and young people, parents, carers, practitioners and managers. http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/sexual-exploitation-of-children-it-couldnt-happen-here-could-it
Communities and Local Government Committee - Third Report
Child sexual exploitation in Rotherham: some issues for local government ....Conclusions
37. The Jay Report sets out in chilling detail how the authorities responsible for protecting children in Rotherham against sexual exploitation failed at least 1,400 children. On the basis of this inquiry it is clear that, although there was convincing evidence of organised child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, none of the parts of the system designed to scrutinise or challenge had any perceptible effect in identifying or challenging the prevailing insensitivity to child sexual exploitation within the Council. It was the press which stimulated action. One of the lessons for local government from the Jay Report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham will be the need to improve scrutiny and challenge within council governance. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmcomloc/648/64802.htm
Children first: the child protection system in England - Education Committee Contents
3 Older children
Vulnerability of older children
RITUAL ABUSE, WITCHCRAFT AND FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
125. Ritual abuse related to accusations of witchcraft and spirit possession occurs in England amongst some communities of African origin. Some child deaths have included elements of ritual abuse, including that of Victoria Climbié and of a headless torso discovered in the Thames.[190] The latest high profile case involving Kristy Bamu and the conviction of his relatives has reignited publicity around the issue. This type of abuse is often linked to a faith setting (church or mosque). Accusations of witchcraft may be made by the church (for example, the pastor) who also professes the solution, usually in the form of a deliverance or exorcism. Once a child has been identified as a witch, often by family members or by a faith leader, different forms of abuse may occur....
126. ECPAT reported in October 2011 that over the last four years, at least 400 African children have been abducted and trafficked into the UK, some for the purpose of 'juju' blood rituals. Testimonies from some of the children have described how witch-doctors extracted their blood by force for use in ritual healings.[191] Other estimates about the extent of ritual abuse in the UK are sketchy. Research for the then Department for Children, Schools and Families in 2006 reviewed 74 cases of child abuse which were suspected of connection to spirit possession and witchcraft between 2000 and 2005, and found clear-cut evidence of ritual abuse in 38 of those cases (concerning 47 children). Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) gave evidence that when a victim of ritual abuse is identified, it is likely that other children exposed to the same informal faith setting may also be at risk.[192]
127. Another form of abuse to which some girls of African origin may be vulnerable is female genital mutilation (FGM, also called female circumcision and genital cutting). It is estimated that approximately 100-140 million African women have undergone FGM worldwide and each year, a further three million girls are estimated to be at risk of the practice in Africa alone.[193] National FGM campaigning organisation FORWARD UK estimate that 24,000 girls under 15 are at risk each year in England and Wales. The most common age at which it occurs is between four and ten, although it appears to be falling.... http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmeduc/137/13706.htm
Child abuse, adversity associated with poor health and employment outcomes later in life People who currently fall into low-income and educational brackets are up to five times as likely to have faced abuse and adversity during childhood as people who fall into higher socioeconomic groups, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis of Allegheny County residents.
The findings, which will be presented Tuesday at the American Public Health Association's (APHA) annual meeting in New Orleans, support the merit of "whole family" programs that seek to break the cycle of adversity and negative health, economic and social outcomes that persist over generations.
Eliminating childhood abuse and adversity significantly improves health – reducing heart disease by more than 26 percent and serious mental illness by more than 41 percent, the research team determined in a separate study presented Monday.
....People with a low socioeconomic status had 1.7 to 4.2 times higher prevalence for each of the six adverse childhood events compared with people of higher socioeconomic status.
People who reported they were unable to work also reported a prevalence of sexual abuse five times higher than those reporting employment.
The results are consistent with those of similar surveys conducted in other communities nationwide.... http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-child-abuse-adversity-poor-health.html
- What will Bill Cosby's legacy be?
- Councils leaving children at sex-abuse risk, says Ofsted
- The sexual exploitation of children: it couldn't happen here, could it?
- Communities and Local Government Committee - Third Report
- Child sexual exploitation in Rotherham: some issues for local government
- Children first: the child protection system in England - Education RITUAL ABUSE, WITCHCRAFT AND FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
- Child abuse, adversity associated with poor health and employment outcomes later in life
Comeback by Cosby Unravels as Rape Claims Re-emerge
By BILL CARTER, GRAHAM BOWLEY and LORNE MANLY NOV. 19, 2014
....But in recent weeks, his triumphant return to the national stage has fallen apart in the face of a wave of accusations by women who say Mr. Cosby drugged and raped them decades ago. On Wednesday, NBC said it was canceling the pilot project, and the cable network TV Land quietly decided to stop showing repeats of “The Cosby Show.” Less than 24 hours earlier, Netflix said it was postponing the debut of the comedy special. Other scheduled appearances by Mr. Cosby — on David Letterman’s late-night show and Queen Latifah’s daytime talk show — have also been canceled.
....Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have vigorously denied the accusations in recent days, and he has never faced criminal charges. But the troubles have put the star’s comeback in limbo and created awkward situations as he seeks to burnish his legacy. Mr. Cosby’s handlers, for instance, realizing that Mr. Letterman would have to ask Mr. Cosby about the rape claims, decided to scrap the appearance.
The accusations against Mr. Cosby have been all the more striking because his hit TV show, his commercials for Jell-O and his best-selling books about fatherhood helped him present an image of the ideal family man.
....A subsequent civil lawsuit brought by Ms. Constand promised to present testimony from 13 “Jane Does” with similar accounts of sexual assault. Mr. Cosby’s lawyer called the claims false and even preposterous; the suit was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2006.
One of the unnamed women in the suit, Barbara Bowman, a former actress, came forward publicly in The Washington Post last week to describe her experiences in detail.... http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/business/media/bill-cosby-fallout-rape-accusations.html
What will Bill Cosby's legacy be?
Andrea Mandell and Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY November 19, 2014
....On Sunday, the second woman in a 10-day span, publicist Joan Tarshis, came forward to tell a story of being sexually assaulted by Cosby. She posted a detailed account on Hollywood Elsewhere of being drugged and abused by Cosby, 77, who has been married to wife Camille since 1964.
It's a scenario that has now been told by more than a dozen women, all recounting incidents that happened years ago.
....On Sunday, Cosby's lawyer, John P. Schmitt, issued a statement saying the comedy legend would not "dignify" the "decade-old" claims. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/11/18/bill-cosby-legacy-forever-damaged-rape-allegations/19176659/
Councils leaving children at sex-abuse risk, says Ofsted 19 November 2014
Vulnerable children in England are at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse because of council failures, the children's services watchdog has said.
Child sexual exploitation has not been treated as the priority that events in Rotherham and elsewhere suggested it should have been, Ofsted said.
Councils had been too slow to face up to their responsibilities and plans were "under-developed", Ofsted said.
The Local Government Association said the report was "uncomfortable reading".
The report - called The sexual exploitation of children: it couldn't happen here, could it? - was commissioned by Ofsted's chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw.
It comes against a backdrop of allegations, convictions and resignations over organised child abuse and exploitation over sustained periods in locations including Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and Telford.
A separate report published by MPs on Tuesday into the Rotherham cases concluded the local authority had "failed" victims targeted in the town.
The MPs also said Rotherham was not an isolated case, child sexual exploitation was "widespread" and "serious", and questioned the performance of Ofsted itself.... http://www.bbc.com/news/education-30096187
The sexual exploitation of children: it couldn't happen here, could it?
19 Nov 2014 Ref: 140175
This thematic inspection was commissioned to evaluate the effectiveness of local authorities’ current response to child sexual exploitation. The report draws on evidence from inspection and case examination in eight local authorities and from the views of children and young people, parents, carers, practitioners and managers. http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/sexual-exploitation-of-children-it-couldnt-happen-here-could-it
Communities and Local Government Committee - Third Report
Child sexual exploitation in Rotherham: some issues for local government ....Conclusions
37. The Jay Report sets out in chilling detail how the authorities responsible for protecting children in Rotherham against sexual exploitation failed at least 1,400 children. On the basis of this inquiry it is clear that, although there was convincing evidence of organised child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, none of the parts of the system designed to scrutinise or challenge had any perceptible effect in identifying or challenging the prevailing insensitivity to child sexual exploitation within the Council. It was the press which stimulated action. One of the lessons for local government from the Jay Report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham will be the need to improve scrutiny and challenge within council governance. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmcomloc/648/64802.htm
Children first: the child protection system in England - Education Committee Contents
3 Older children
Vulnerability of older children
RITUAL ABUSE, WITCHCRAFT AND FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
125. Ritual abuse related to accusations of witchcraft and spirit possession occurs in England amongst some communities of African origin. Some child deaths have included elements of ritual abuse, including that of Victoria Climbié and of a headless torso discovered in the Thames.[190] The latest high profile case involving Kristy Bamu and the conviction of his relatives has reignited publicity around the issue. This type of abuse is often linked to a faith setting (church or mosque). Accusations of witchcraft may be made by the church (for example, the pastor) who also professes the solution, usually in the form of a deliverance or exorcism. Once a child has been identified as a witch, often by family members or by a faith leader, different forms of abuse may occur....
126. ECPAT reported in October 2011 that over the last four years, at least 400 African children have been abducted and trafficked into the UK, some for the purpose of 'juju' blood rituals. Testimonies from some of the children have described how witch-doctors extracted their blood by force for use in ritual healings.[191] Other estimates about the extent of ritual abuse in the UK are sketchy. Research for the then Department for Children, Schools and Families in 2006 reviewed 74 cases of child abuse which were suspected of connection to spirit possession and witchcraft between 2000 and 2005, and found clear-cut evidence of ritual abuse in 38 of those cases (concerning 47 children). Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) gave evidence that when a victim of ritual abuse is identified, it is likely that other children exposed to the same informal faith setting may also be at risk.[192]
127. Another form of abuse to which some girls of African origin may be vulnerable is female genital mutilation (FGM, also called female circumcision and genital cutting). It is estimated that approximately 100-140 million African women have undergone FGM worldwide and each year, a further three million girls are estimated to be at risk of the practice in Africa alone.[193] National FGM campaigning organisation FORWARD UK estimate that 24,000 girls under 15 are at risk each year in England and Wales. The most common age at which it occurs is between four and ten, although it appears to be falling.... http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmeduc/137/13706.htm
Child abuse, adversity associated with poor health and employment outcomes later in life People who currently fall into low-income and educational brackets are up to five times as likely to have faced abuse and adversity during childhood as people who fall into higher socioeconomic groups, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis of Allegheny County residents.
The findings, which will be presented Tuesday at the American Public Health Association's (APHA) annual meeting in New Orleans, support the merit of "whole family" programs that seek to break the cycle of adversity and negative health, economic and social outcomes that persist over generations.
Eliminating childhood abuse and adversity significantly improves health – reducing heart disease by more than 26 percent and serious mental illness by more than 41 percent, the research team determined in a separate study presented Monday.
....People with a low socioeconomic status had 1.7 to 4.2 times higher prevalence for each of the six adverse childhood events compared with people of higher socioeconomic status.
People who reported they were unable to work also reported a prevalence of sexual abuse five times higher than those reporting employment.
The results are consistent with those of similar surveys conducted in other communities nationwide.... http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-11-child-abuse-adversity-poor-health.html
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Janice Dickinson Bill Cosby Rape Allegation, Bill Cosby's Joke About Drugging Women, Pedophile group member on Savile show, PIE Group campaigned for the age of consent to be reduced to four, Charles Napier guilty of historical child abuse, Rotherham child abuse scandal, Supermodel Ruslana Korshunova
- Janice Dickinson accuses Bill Cosby of sexual assault during 1982 hotel meetup
- EXCLUSIVE: Janice Dickinson Details Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Accusations: He Raped Me
- Bill Cosby's Joke About Drugging Women in 1969 Resurfaces as New Alleged Victim Speaks Out
- Rape victim aged 5 writes to police who failed her and asks: 'Why did you let me down?'
- Convicted sex offender with links to notorious paedophile group appeared on Jimmy Savile show
- Paedophile group linked to Savile show guest
- Charles Napier guilty of historical child abuse
- Rotherham child abuse scandal: Police watchdog to investigate 10 officers over handling of exploitation complaints
- Supermodel Ruslana Korshunova had joined ‘dehumanising’ cult before jumping to death, author claims
Janice Dickinson accuses Bill Cosby of sexual assault during 1982 hotel meetup
In an interview with 'Entertainment Tonight,' the former supermodel said Cosby raped her in a Lake Tahoe hotel room in 1982. Dickinson is the third woman to accuse Cosby of sexual assault in the last month.
BY Philip Caulfield , Kirthana Ramisetti NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Former supermodel Janice Dickinson has accused Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting her.
The 59-year-old "America's Next Top Model" judge told Entertainment Tonight the 77-year-old TV legend raped her more than two decades ago.
Dickinson claimed that in 1982, Cosby invited her to Lake Tahoe, where he was performing, to discuss a job he had offered her, as well as advice on her singing career.
She said that after she arrived in Tahoe, the two had dinner, and then when the two returned to her room, Cosby gave her “wine and a pill.”....
Cosby has never been criminally charged for any of the alleged sexual assaults.
However, he did settle a civil case in 2006 brought by Temple University employee Andrea Constand who originally claimed he drugged and groped her in his mansion.
Cosby's lawyer John Schmitt issued a statement that dismissed Tarshis and Bowman's claims as "decade-old, discredited" allegations....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/janice-dickinson-bill-cosby-sexual-assault-article-1.2015463
EXCLUSIVE: Janice Dickinson Details Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Accusations: He Raped Me
by Antoinette Bueno November 18, 2014
With rape allegations against Bill Cosby mounting, supermodel Janice Dickinson tells ET in a new interview that the comedian sexually assaulted her in 1982.
Dickinson, now 59, recalls first meeting Cosby, now 77, when her agent set up a meeting with him to hire her for a role on The Cosby Show. After they had dinner, she says their next conversation was when he called her out of the blue while she was in rehab for drugs and alcohol. Following her stay in rehab, Dickinson says Cosby reached out to her during a trip to Bali and had her travel to Lake Tahoe, because he was performing there and wanted to offer her the job they had discussed as well as help her with a singing career.
Dickinson says they had dinner in Lake Tahoe, and claims that he gave her a glass of red wine and a pill, which she asked for because she was menstruating and had stomach pains....
Dickinson also says she tried to write about the assault in her 2002 autobiography No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel, but claims that when she submitted a draft with her full story to HarperCollins, Cosby and his lawyers pressured her and the publisher to remove the details.
"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do, and it happened to me, and this is the true story," she says about coming out with her story now. "I believe all the other women."....
http://www.etonline.com/news/154076_janice_dickinson_details_alleged_bill_cosby_sexual_assault/
Bill Cosby's Joke About Drugging Women in 1969 Resurfaces as New Alleged Victim Speaks Out
by Jackie Willis November 18, 2014
With Bill Cosby's rape allegations once again in the headlines, some of his old jokes are now being unearthed and scrutinized.
After two women have recently come forward claiming to have been drugged and raped by the comedian, a joke from Cosby's 1969 album It's True! It's True! has been making the rounds. In the stand-up recording, he recounts a story of being a 13-year-old boy and learning that (allegedly) when you slip "Spanish fly" into a woman's drink, it will make her more susceptible to a man's advances.
"From then on, anytime you see a girl, 'Wish I had some Spanish fly,'" Cosby is heard saying in his 1969 act. "Go to a party, see five girls standing alone. Boy, if I had a whole jug of Spanish fly I'd light that corner up over there. Haaa ha ha."....
Cosby's lawyer, John P. Schmitt, issued a statement on Sunday in response to the sexual assault allegations after Cosby's initial response of just silence during an NPR interview.
"Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact they are being repeated does not make them true," the statement reads. "Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment....
http://www.etonline.com/news/154056_bill_cosby_talks_about_drugging_women_in_1969_comedy_act/
Rape victim aged 5 writes to police who failed her and asks: 'Why did you let me down?'
Nov 18, 2014 By Jessica Best
The little girl, who is still waiting for justice, told officers: 'Something very bad happened and it was your job to make sure he was punished. But you didn't do your job'....
A five-year-old rape victim has written a devastating letter to police saying officers had "let her down" over the way they investigated the crime.
The youngster was raped by the 12-year-old son of a family friend in 2011, but more than three years later she and her family are still waiting for justice.
The case was brought to light after it emerged the little girl, now aged eight, had written a heartbreaking letter to officers about what had happened to her.
Today, the police and crime commissioner for Essex has said he is "deeply sorry" for how his force failed the child....
The boy admitted the offence in a recorded interview and was given a youth caution, but officers wrongly claimed that they had reported the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, failed to have the rapist's name added to the Sex Offenders Register and neglected to take fingerprints, DNA samples or photographs, the newspaper said.
The little girl's letter went on: "Did you do this on purpose because he was 12? I trusted you to push me up but instead you pushed me down.
"I thought police are ment [sic] to be good and catch the bad people but you didn't. So you are in the wrong and should know better."
Crime Commisioner Nick Alston....said he became aware of the case in 2013 and immediately discussed the matter with the deputy chief and chief constable.
In April last year, the force referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and disciplinary action was taken against a number of officers.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/rape-victim-aged-5-writes-4647815
Convicted sex offender with links to notorious paedophile group appeared on Jimmy Savile show
Keith Harding, who was convicted of sex offences in 1950s, appeared on Jim’ll Fix It Christmas episode in 1980 Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith Monday 17 November 2014
A convicted sex offender with links to a notorious paedophile campaign group appeared as a guest on the Jimmy Savile’s Jim’ll Fix It on a Christmas episode alongside children.
Keith Harding, a British antiques expert who restored items for royalty and who was involved in the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) group, appeared on the show in 1980, BBC News has revealed.
Harding, who died in June this year, was convicted for sex offences nearly thirty years earlier in the 1950s. He was labelled a “schedule 1 offender” after he was found guilty of indecent assault against four children aged eight and nine....
Despite his convictions, Harding was later given the Freedom of the City of London and became a member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, which saw him introduced to business and political figures. He later ran a music box museum in Gloucestershire which was regularly visited by children.
BBC News has seen confidential social services reports from 1995 confirming Harding’s involvement with PIE, which campaigned for the age of consent to be reduced to four....
Richard Scorer, who is from the legal firm Slater & Gordon which is representing the near 200 alleged victims of Savile’s sexual abuse, said the information about Harding is “extremely troubling” and that it is “precisely” the kind of allegation that the Government child abuse inquiry should be investigating in detail.
The BBC responded to the news with the statement: "Today's BBC has appropriate safeguards in place to protect children and young people....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/convicted-sex-offender-with-links-to-notorious-paedophile-group-appeared-on-jimmy-savile-show-9865523.html
Paedophile group linked to Savile show guest
By Tom Bateman Reporter, Today programme 17 November 2014
A British antiques expert who restored items for royalty was a child abuser involved in a notorious paedophile campaign group, the BBC can reveal.
Keith Harding was active in the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), according to documents seen by the BBC.
A former chairman of the British Horological Institute, he appeared alongside Jimmy Savile in a Christmas edition of the BBC's Jim'll Fix It.
Harding, who died in June, had been convicted of sex offences in the 1950s....
He was convicted of indecent assault against four children aged eight and nine in the late 1950s and was a "schedule 1" offender - meaning his convictions remained on his police file for life.
But he was later given the Freedom of the City of London and became a member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, meeting business and political figures at the height of his career.
The clockmaker and music box expert ran a museum regularly visited by children, despite social services being aware 20 years ago of his convictions for child abuse....
Harding's involvement with PIE, which campaigned for the age of consent to be reduced to four, has never previously come to light.
BBC News has seen confidential social services reports from 1995 which confirm Harding's "PIE involvement"....
The Corporation of London said Harding's vetting for the Freedom of the City was carried out by his livery company.
About 1,800 people receive the honour each year.
The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers said Keith Harding did not disclose his offences and was "never involved in the running of the company".
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30051756
Charles Napier guilty of historical child abuse 18 November 2014
Charles Napier, a 67-year-old former teacher, has admitted sexually abusing 21 boys between 1967 and 1972.
Napier, of Newland in Sherborne, Dorset, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court in London.
He admitted 28 indecent assault charges and one indecency offence on a child. All his victims were under 16....
The court heard that one boy was indecently assaulted on eight separate occasions between 1969 and 1972....
He faces two further indecent assault charges against two other boys, for which he has yet to enter to a plea.
Napier was cleared of one other charge in October due to lack of evidence.
Police arrested him in 2013 as part of Operation Cayacos, one of the strands of Scotland Yard's wider investigation into historical child abuse.
That investigation - Operation Fairbank - was launched in 2012 after Labour MP Tom Watson wrote to Scotland Yard about allegations of a paedophile ring linked to Westminster....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30097947
Rotherham child abuse scandal: Police watchdog to investigate 10 officers over handling of exploitation complaints
Adam Withnall Tuesday 18 November 2014
The police watchdog is to investigate 10 officers in South Yorkshire over their handling of the Rotherham sex abuse scandal.
The officers were among 13 identified as part of Professor Alexis Jay's report in late August, which revealed that more than 1,400 children had been subjected to child sexual exploitation in the town from 1997 to 2013.
South Yorkshire Police referred the officers to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) after the Jay report criticised the way agencies in the south Yorkshire town dealt with complaints from teenage girls who said they had been raped and trafficked....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rotherham-child-abuse-scandal-police-watchdog-to-investigate-10-officers-over-handling-of-exploitation-complaints-9868598.html
Supermodel Ruslana Korshunova had joined ‘dehumanising’ cult before jumping to death, author claims
November 18, 2014
....Ruslana Korshunova, 20, who graced the cover of British Vogue and had been signed to top agency IMG, had allegedly joined the Moscow-based Rose of the World cult before her death.
Journalist Peter Pomerantsev claims in his new book that Korshunova had been undergoing “dehumanising” treatment during training sessions with the bizarre sect.
....During the sessions, life coaches humiliated trainees and blamed them for the negative aspects of their life, the New York Daily News reports.
In one case, a rape victim who was blamed for her own assault and accused of self-pity,
In his book Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible, Pomerantsev describes Korshunova as a victim of the new Russia.
....Thrust into a world of fame, money, power and oligarchs at the age of just 16, the stunning teen was wooed by a Moscow-based tycoon who eventually dumped her.
After a second failed relationship with another Russian businessman, the beautiful model’s world began to crumble, the author says.
Suffering from insomnia and losing weight, Korshunova’s modelling career — which had taken her to London, Paris and Milan — began to suffer and bookings dried up.
It was then that she fell into the clutches of the Moscow-based Rose of the World cult, Pomerantsev says....
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/supermodel-ruslana-korshunova-had-joined-dehumanising-cult-before-jumping-to-death-author-claims/story-fn907478-1227126830712
- EXCLUSIVE: Janice Dickinson Details Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Accusations: He Raped Me
- Bill Cosby's Joke About Drugging Women in 1969 Resurfaces as New Alleged Victim Speaks Out
- Rape victim aged 5 writes to police who failed her and asks: 'Why did you let me down?'
- Convicted sex offender with links to notorious paedophile group appeared on Jimmy Savile show
- Paedophile group linked to Savile show guest
- Charles Napier guilty of historical child abuse
- Rotherham child abuse scandal: Police watchdog to investigate 10 officers over handling of exploitation complaints
- Supermodel Ruslana Korshunova had joined ‘dehumanising’ cult before jumping to death, author claims
Janice Dickinson accuses Bill Cosby of sexual assault during 1982 hotel meetup
In an interview with 'Entertainment Tonight,' the former supermodel said Cosby raped her in a Lake Tahoe hotel room in 1982. Dickinson is the third woman to accuse Cosby of sexual assault in the last month.
BY Philip Caulfield , Kirthana Ramisetti NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Former supermodel Janice Dickinson has accused Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting her.
The 59-year-old "America's Next Top Model" judge told Entertainment Tonight the 77-year-old TV legend raped her more than two decades ago.
Dickinson claimed that in 1982, Cosby invited her to Lake Tahoe, where he was performing, to discuss a job he had offered her, as well as advice on her singing career.
She said that after she arrived in Tahoe, the two had dinner, and then when the two returned to her room, Cosby gave her “wine and a pill.”....
Cosby has never been criminally charged for any of the alleged sexual assaults.
However, he did settle a civil case in 2006 brought by Temple University employee Andrea Constand who originally claimed he drugged and groped her in his mansion.
Cosby's lawyer John Schmitt issued a statement that dismissed Tarshis and Bowman's claims as "decade-old, discredited" allegations....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/janice-dickinson-bill-cosby-sexual-assault-article-1.2015463
EXCLUSIVE: Janice Dickinson Details Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Accusations: He Raped Me
by Antoinette Bueno November 18, 2014
With rape allegations against Bill Cosby mounting, supermodel Janice Dickinson tells ET in a new interview that the comedian sexually assaulted her in 1982.
Dickinson, now 59, recalls first meeting Cosby, now 77, when her agent set up a meeting with him to hire her for a role on The Cosby Show. After they had dinner, she says their next conversation was when he called her out of the blue while she was in rehab for drugs and alcohol. Following her stay in rehab, Dickinson says Cosby reached out to her during a trip to Bali and had her travel to Lake Tahoe, because he was performing there and wanted to offer her the job they had discussed as well as help her with a singing career.
Dickinson says they had dinner in Lake Tahoe, and claims that he gave her a glass of red wine and a pill, which she asked for because she was menstruating and had stomach pains....
Dickinson also says she tried to write about the assault in her 2002 autobiography No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel, but claims that when she submitted a draft with her full story to HarperCollins, Cosby and his lawyers pressured her and the publisher to remove the details.
"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do, and it happened to me, and this is the true story," she says about coming out with her story now. "I believe all the other women."....
http://www.etonline.com/news/154076_janice_dickinson_details_alleged_bill_cosby_sexual_assault/
Bill Cosby's Joke About Drugging Women in 1969 Resurfaces as New Alleged Victim Speaks Out
by Jackie Willis November 18, 2014
With Bill Cosby's rape allegations once again in the headlines, some of his old jokes are now being unearthed and scrutinized.
After two women have recently come forward claiming to have been drugged and raped by the comedian, a joke from Cosby's 1969 album It's True! It's True! has been making the rounds. In the stand-up recording, he recounts a story of being a 13-year-old boy and learning that (allegedly) when you slip "Spanish fly" into a woman's drink, it will make her more susceptible to a man's advances.
"From then on, anytime you see a girl, 'Wish I had some Spanish fly,'" Cosby is heard saying in his 1969 act. "Go to a party, see five girls standing alone. Boy, if I had a whole jug of Spanish fly I'd light that corner up over there. Haaa ha ha."....
Cosby's lawyer, John P. Schmitt, issued a statement on Sunday in response to the sexual assault allegations after Cosby's initial response of just silence during an NPR interview.
"Over the last several weeks, decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact they are being repeated does not make them true," the statement reads. "Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment....
http://www.etonline.com/news/154056_bill_cosby_talks_about_drugging_women_in_1969_comedy_act/
Rape victim aged 5 writes to police who failed her and asks: 'Why did you let me down?'
Nov 18, 2014 By Jessica Best
The little girl, who is still waiting for justice, told officers: 'Something very bad happened and it was your job to make sure he was punished. But you didn't do your job'....
A five-year-old rape victim has written a devastating letter to police saying officers had "let her down" over the way they investigated the crime.
The youngster was raped by the 12-year-old son of a family friend in 2011, but more than three years later she and her family are still waiting for justice.
The case was brought to light after it emerged the little girl, now aged eight, had written a heartbreaking letter to officers about what had happened to her.
Today, the police and crime commissioner for Essex has said he is "deeply sorry" for how his force failed the child....
The boy admitted the offence in a recorded interview and was given a youth caution, but officers wrongly claimed that they had reported the case to the Crown Prosecution Service, failed to have the rapist's name added to the Sex Offenders Register and neglected to take fingerprints, DNA samples or photographs, the newspaper said.
The little girl's letter went on: "Did you do this on purpose because he was 12? I trusted you to push me up but instead you pushed me down.
"I thought police are ment [sic] to be good and catch the bad people but you didn't. So you are in the wrong and should know better."
Crime Commisioner Nick Alston....said he became aware of the case in 2013 and immediately discussed the matter with the deputy chief and chief constable.
In April last year, the force referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and disciplinary action was taken against a number of officers.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/rape-victim-aged-5-writes-4647815
Convicted sex offender with links to notorious paedophile group appeared on Jimmy Savile show
Keith Harding, who was convicted of sex offences in 1950s, appeared on Jim’ll Fix It Christmas episode in 1980 Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith Monday 17 November 2014
A convicted sex offender with links to a notorious paedophile campaign group appeared as a guest on the Jimmy Savile’s Jim’ll Fix It on a Christmas episode alongside children.
Keith Harding, a British antiques expert who restored items for royalty and who was involved in the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) group, appeared on the show in 1980, BBC News has revealed.
Harding, who died in June this year, was convicted for sex offences nearly thirty years earlier in the 1950s. He was labelled a “schedule 1 offender” after he was found guilty of indecent assault against four children aged eight and nine....
Despite his convictions, Harding was later given the Freedom of the City of London and became a member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, which saw him introduced to business and political figures. He later ran a music box museum in Gloucestershire which was regularly visited by children.
BBC News has seen confidential social services reports from 1995 confirming Harding’s involvement with PIE, which campaigned for the age of consent to be reduced to four....
Richard Scorer, who is from the legal firm Slater & Gordon which is representing the near 200 alleged victims of Savile’s sexual abuse, said the information about Harding is “extremely troubling” and that it is “precisely” the kind of allegation that the Government child abuse inquiry should be investigating in detail.
The BBC responded to the news with the statement: "Today's BBC has appropriate safeguards in place to protect children and young people....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/convicted-sex-offender-with-links-to-notorious-paedophile-group-appeared-on-jimmy-savile-show-9865523.html
Paedophile group linked to Savile show guest
By Tom Bateman Reporter, Today programme 17 November 2014
A British antiques expert who restored items for royalty was a child abuser involved in a notorious paedophile campaign group, the BBC can reveal.
Keith Harding was active in the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), according to documents seen by the BBC.
A former chairman of the British Horological Institute, he appeared alongside Jimmy Savile in a Christmas edition of the BBC's Jim'll Fix It.
Harding, who died in June, had been convicted of sex offences in the 1950s....
He was convicted of indecent assault against four children aged eight and nine in the late 1950s and was a "schedule 1" offender - meaning his convictions remained on his police file for life.
But he was later given the Freedom of the City of London and became a member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, meeting business and political figures at the height of his career.
The clockmaker and music box expert ran a museum regularly visited by children, despite social services being aware 20 years ago of his convictions for child abuse....
Harding's involvement with PIE, which campaigned for the age of consent to be reduced to four, has never previously come to light.
BBC News has seen confidential social services reports from 1995 which confirm Harding's "PIE involvement"....
The Corporation of London said Harding's vetting for the Freedom of the City was carried out by his livery company.
About 1,800 people receive the honour each year.
The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers said Keith Harding did not disclose his offences and was "never involved in the running of the company".
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30051756
Charles Napier guilty of historical child abuse 18 November 2014
Charles Napier, a 67-year-old former teacher, has admitted sexually abusing 21 boys between 1967 and 1972.
Napier, of Newland in Sherborne, Dorset, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court in London.
He admitted 28 indecent assault charges and one indecency offence on a child. All his victims were under 16....
The court heard that one boy was indecently assaulted on eight separate occasions between 1969 and 1972....
He faces two further indecent assault charges against two other boys, for which he has yet to enter to a plea.
Napier was cleared of one other charge in October due to lack of evidence.
Police arrested him in 2013 as part of Operation Cayacos, one of the strands of Scotland Yard's wider investigation into historical child abuse.
That investigation - Operation Fairbank - was launched in 2012 after Labour MP Tom Watson wrote to Scotland Yard about allegations of a paedophile ring linked to Westminster....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30097947
Rotherham child abuse scandal: Police watchdog to investigate 10 officers over handling of exploitation complaints
Adam Withnall Tuesday 18 November 2014
The police watchdog is to investigate 10 officers in South Yorkshire over their handling of the Rotherham sex abuse scandal.
The officers were among 13 identified as part of Professor Alexis Jay's report in late August, which revealed that more than 1,400 children had been subjected to child sexual exploitation in the town from 1997 to 2013.
South Yorkshire Police referred the officers to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) after the Jay report criticised the way agencies in the south Yorkshire town dealt with complaints from teenage girls who said they had been raped and trafficked....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rotherham-child-abuse-scandal-police-watchdog-to-investigate-10-officers-over-handling-of-exploitation-complaints-9868598.html
Supermodel Ruslana Korshunova had joined ‘dehumanising’ cult before jumping to death, author claims
November 18, 2014
....Ruslana Korshunova, 20, who graced the cover of British Vogue and had been signed to top agency IMG, had allegedly joined the Moscow-based Rose of the World cult before her death.
Journalist Peter Pomerantsev claims in his new book that Korshunova had been undergoing “dehumanising” treatment during training sessions with the bizarre sect.
....During the sessions, life coaches humiliated trainees and blamed them for the negative aspects of their life, the New York Daily News reports.
In one case, a rape victim who was blamed for her own assault and accused of self-pity,
In his book Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible, Pomerantsev describes Korshunova as a victim of the new Russia.
....Thrust into a world of fame, money, power and oligarchs at the age of just 16, the stunning teen was wooed by a Moscow-based tycoon who eventually dumped her.
After a second failed relationship with another Russian businessman, the beautiful model’s world began to crumble, the author says.
Suffering from insomnia and losing weight, Korshunova’s modelling career — which had taken her to London, Paris and Milan — began to suffer and bookings dried up.
It was then that she fell into the clutches of the Moscow-based Rose of the World cult, Pomerantsev says....
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/supermodel-ruslana-korshunova-had-joined-dehumanising-cult-before-jumping-to-death-author-claims/story-fn907478-1227126830712
Monday, November 17, 2014
Bill Cosby Rape Allegations, Organised Child Sex Abuse 'widespread in England,' British Murder Allegations of Paedophile Network of MPs and other VIPs
"Detectives are investigating an allegation that a young boy was murdered by a Conservative MP during a sickening sex attack.
The Metropolitan Police Service’s paedophile unit, under ‘Operation Midland’, is also investigating a claim that a second boy was murdered during a depraved sexual assault in the presence of a former Conservative cabinet minister....the police are also investigating the murder of a third boy around 30 years ago by members of a paedophile network of MPs and other VIPs."
- Bill Cosby's Silence On Rape Allegations Makes Huge Media Noise
- Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?
- Dr. Huxtable & Mr. Hyde
- Bill Cosby Under Fire The Comedian Settles a Case Accusing Him of Sexual Abuse—but Other Women Make Similar Claims
- Barbara Bowman Speaks About Bill Cosby Sexual Abuse Allegations
- One Very Important Thing Is Missing From the New Cosby - Biography: A Timeline of the Abuse Charges [Updated]
- In interview with tabloid, Bill Cosby discusses molestation allegations
- Organised child sex abuse 'widespread in England', MPs say
- Alexis Jay: Years of missing records mean Rotherham child abuse numbers ‘much higher’ than 1,400
- ‘Operation Midland’ investigates Tory MP over boy’s murder
Met also probes slaying of second boy in sex attack in front of former cabinet minister
- Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine 'possible homicide'
Bill Cosby's Silence On Rape Allegations Makes Huge Media Noise
November 17, 2014 Eric Deggans
But in the recent explosion of attention to allegations that the comedy superstar drugged and sexually assaulted several women years ago, in incidents reaching back to the late 1960s, Cosby has remained uncharacteristically silent — epitomized by his interview with NPR's Scott Simon, who found the comic would only shake his head and utter no sound when asked about the allegations.
His attorney did provide a statement posted on Cosby's website that said, in part, "decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby doesn't not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment."
Later, a joint statement from Cosby's attorney and a lawyer for Andrea Constand, a woman who settled a lawsuit with Cosby over such allegations in 2006, was posted on the site that read, in part: "The statement released by Mr. Cosby's attorney over the weekend was not intended to refer in any way to Andrea Constand. As previously reported, differences between Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand were resolved to the mutual satisfaction of Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand years ago."
News of Cosby's silence rocketed across media; the moment was covered everywhere from NBC's Today show to CNN, USA Today and The Washington Post, which called it "perhaps the most significant dead air in the history of National Public Radio."
When NPR most recently spoke to Cosby, four women had come forward publicly with rape allegations: Constand, Beth Ferrier, Tamara Green and Barbara Bowman. (See this story for a more detailed account of their allegations.) Over the weekend, another woman, 66-year-old publicist Joan Tarshis, also told media outlets she was drugged and raped by Cosby when she was 19 years old. Constand filed a lawsuit in 2005 that included 13 women willing to tell similar stories, Greene and Bowman among them; the suit was settled, no terms were disclosed and Cosby was never charged with a crime....
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/17/364736453/bill-cosbys-silence-on-rape-allegations-makes-huge-media-noise
Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?
Only when a male comedian called Cosby a rapist did the accusation take hold.
By Barbara Bowman November 13
In 2004, when Andrea Constand filed a lawsuit against Bill Cosby for sexual assault, her lawyers asked me to testify. Cosby had drugged and raped me, too, I told them. The lawyers said I could testify anonymously as a Jane Doe, but I ardently rejected that idea. My name is not Jane Doe. My name is Barbara Bowman, and I wanted to tell my story in court. In the end, I didn’t have the opportunity to do that, because Cosby settled the suit for an undisclosed amount of money.
Over the years, I’ve struggled to get people to take my story seriously. So last month, when reporter Lycia Naff contacted me for an interview for the Daily Mail, I gave her a detailed account. I told her how Cosby won my trust as a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times. In one case, I blacked out after having dinner and one glass of wine at his New York City brownstone, where he had offered to mentor me and discuss the entertainment industry. When I came to, I was in my panties and a man’s t-shirt, and Cosby was looming over me. I’m certain now that he drugged and raped me. But as a teenager, I tried to convince myself I had imagined it. I even tried to rationalize it: Bill Cosby was going to make me a star and this was part of the deal. The final incident was in Atlantic City, where we had traveled for an industry event....
They, like other sexual assault victims, deserve our support. It’s the perpetrators who should be facing public humiliation – not the victims....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/13/bill-cosby-raped-me-why-did-it-take-30-years-for-people-to-believe-my-story/
Dr. Huxtable & Mr. Hyde
Who is Bill Cosby? What’s happened to the man who taught us to laugh at ourselves — and what do we do with him now? By Robert Huber June 9, 2006
.... A young Canadian woman he met in Philadelphia through Temple University is accusing him of drugging her and then, when she was in a near-comatose state, molesting her. It went nowhere legally — the woman, Andrea Constand, waited a year before going to police, it boiled down to a he said/she said (Cosby claimed the sex was consensual, according to ABC News), and the police dropped the case for lack of evidence. But Constand filed a civil complaint in federal court in Philly last year, suing for an unspecified amount of money over $150,000. It is still Cosby’s no against her yes, except for one difference: Thirteen women are waiting to be deposed in the suit; in a court filing, Constand’s lawyer says that all of them — with nothing to gain, with no payout waiting, with their own statutes of limitations run out — have stories about Bill Cosby as well, and some of them will claim a similar drug-and-fondling M.O.
....The Story That Andrea Constand Tells
She met Bill Cosby in late 2002 when she was director of operations for Temple’s women’s basketball. He became a friend and mentor. In January 2004, Cosby invited Constand to his home in Elkins Park. She went there at about 9 p.m. Constand wanted to change careers and told Cosby she felt stressed. Cosby offered her three blue pills — herbal medication, he said, that would help her relax. She took the pills....
....The Story That Tamara Green Tells
Back in the ’70s, before Green became a lawyer, Cosby hired her to help him open a club in L.A. A week into the job, she felt sick, and called Cosby at Figero, a restaurant he owned, to say she was leaving for home. He invited her to the restaurant for lunch — it might make her feel better. She went. Cosby asked if she wanted some Contac, then handed her two gray-and-red capsules. She took them....
....The Story That Beth Ferrier Tells
Ferrier, 47, met Bill Cosby in 1984 when she was modeling in New York. They started an affair that lasted about six months. Cosby ended it without explanation. Then he called her one night in Denver, where she lived; they met backstage at a nightclub there, where he was performing. He said, “Here’s your favorite coffee, something I made, to relax you.” She drank it....
....The Story That Barbara Bowman Tells
Bowman’s incident with Bill Cosby occurred 20 years ago, when she was an aspiring actress. She told a lawyer. The lawyer laughed at her. She never mentioned it to an authority figure again. Bowman won’t disclose details of what happened before she’s deposed. But when she read about Andrea Constand, she decided that enough was enough — she couldn’t sit in silence any longer.
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/dr-huxtable-mr-hyde/
Bill Cosby Under Fire By Alex Tresniowski The Comedian Settles a Case Accusing Him of Sexual Abuse—but Other Women Make Similar Claims December 18, 2006 Vol. 66 No. 25
....What Cosby never mentioned was the civil lawsuit he settled just two days earlier with Andrea Constand, 32, a former Temple University employee who claimed Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Philadelphia-area mansion in 2004. Constand's lawyers Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz ended up with 13 witnesses, most referred to in court documents as "Jane Does," who came forward voluntarily with strikingly similar claims of drugging and or abuse by Cosby. Terms of the settlement, reached before any of the women could testify, were not disclosed. But PEOPLE reporters have interviewed five of the women and share three of their stories now.
As in so many cases alleging sexual assault, these women make imperfect witnesses. They are talking about events two or three decades old. Many of their recollections are fragmentary, and in some cases, they are not even sure what happened between them and Cosby, though that is not unusual in cases where a possible date-rape drug is involved. None of the women ever contacted police with their stories, either at the time of the alleged assaults or in the years leading up to Constand's revelations, and two of the five women reached by PEOPLE allowed Cosby to pay part or all of their travel and/or living expenses for some time. Three accepted cash from him years after the incidents, and two even went on to have consensual relationships with him.
But none of them stand to profit from suing Cosby for monetary damages; the statute of limitations on all their charges has expired. And their stories, which take place in several cities and span two decades, illustrate the same pattern of behavior....
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20059561,00.html
Barbara Bowman Speaks About Bill Cosby Sexual Abuse Allegations
By Katie J.M. Baker 2/12/14
Last week, Newsweek interviewed Tamara Green, one of 13 women who accused Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them in a civil lawsuit brought by Andrea Constand in 2004, and settled under undisclosed terms in 2006. Now, a second woman is speaking out: Barbara Bowman, a 46-year-old artist who says Cosby took her under his wing in the late ‘80s, when she was a teenager -- and repeatedly emotionally and physically abused her.
Both Bowman and Green joined the 2004 lawsuit as witnesses after hearing about it on television; neither had anything to gain financially, as the statute of limitations had expired for both of them....
Why do you think people find it so hard to believe celebrities can be sexual assaulters?
The media creates this idealized image of celebrities: that they are untouchable, that they’re not one of us... I don’t think people want to believe it; to believe would shatter the illusion....
http://www.newsweek.com/barbara-bowman-speaks-about-bill-cosby-sexual-abuse-allegations-228837
One Very Important Thing Is Missing From the New Cosby Biography: A Timeline of the Abuse Charges [Updated]
By Matt Giles
http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/timeline-of-the-abuse-charges-against-cosby.html
In interview with tabloid, Bill Cosby discusses molestation allegations
By Bill Bergstrom ASSOCIATED PRESS March 4, 2005
PHILADELPHIA – Comedian Bill Cosby, responding to a woman's allegations of sexual molestation, said "words and actions can be misinterpreted," but he insisted he wouldn't give in to any attempt to "exploit" him because he's a celebrity....
The 67-year-old entertainer, best-known as a warm, wisecracking TV dad, was cleared of criminal charges in connection with the allegations. Attorneys for the Canadian woman said they plan to file a civil lawsuit against Cosby next week.
In the interview, Cosby said he didn't speculate on whether money was the woman's motive. "Let's not go there," he said. But he asserted: "I am not going to give in to people who try to exploit me because of my celebrity status."....
The woman, who lives in Ontario, told Canadian authorities that, after a night out with friends in January 2004, Cosby gave her medication that made her dizzy, then fondled her.
Cosby denied the allegations. The accuser's family had described Cosby as a friend and mentor to the woman, which he didn't deny. He told the tabloid a role as mentor can lead to trouble.
"Sometimes you try to help people and it backfires on you and then they try to take advantage of you," Cosby said.
http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050304/news_1n4cosby.html
Organised child sex abuse 'widespread in England', MPs say
17 November 2014
Organised child sex abuse is widespread in England, a report by MPs on the Rotherham exploitation scandal says.
A review of child protection systems across the country has been called for by the Commons' Communities and Local Government Committee.
Its report also said Rotherham Council and Ofsted had "failed" the victims targeted in the town.
It suggested the council's protection policies were "divorced from reality", enabling the abuse to continue.
MPs said, however, the town was "not an outlier" for abuse and all councils needed to review child protection policies.
'More rigorous inspection'
Their inquiry was prompted by a report by Professor Alexis Jay, which revealed up to 1,400 children were estimated to have been victims of abuse in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-30083835
Alexis Jay: Years of missing records mean Rotherham child abuse numbers ‘much higher’ than 1,400 11/17/04
....Inquiry author Professor Jay said five years of data from Rotherham Council about victims is missing, while South Yorkshire Police was unable to record the scale of the problem before 2013 as it did not categorise child sexual exploitation as a form of crime until last year.
Four years’ worth of meeting minutes discussing child abuse cases between 1999 and 2003 have also disappeared.
A letter Prof Jay sent to the Communities and Local Government Committee has been made public ahead of a report by MPs being published tomorrow. She said a category for recording child sexual exploitation cases was introduced by police only in 2013, meaning the force was ‘unable to quantify the scale of the problem’ prior to last year.
While social services did officially recognise the issue from 2001, she said some victims were wrongly classified as being ‘out of control’.
Prof Jay said Rotherham Council provided information for only 11 of the 16 years covered by the inquiry.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/alexis-jay-years-of-missing-records-mean-rotherham-child-abuse-numbers-much-higher-than-1-400-1-6956491
‘Operation Midland’ investigates Tory MP over boy’s murder
Met also probes slaying of second boy in sex attack in front of former cabinet minister
By Mark Conrad 15 November 2014
Detectives are investigating an allegation that a young boy was murdered by a Conservative MP during a sickening sex attack.
The Metropolitan Police Service’s paedophile unit, under ‘Operation Midland’, is also investigating a claim that a second boy was murdered during a depraved sexual assault in the presence of a former Conservative cabinet minister.
Exaro, which has been investigating the murder cases over many months, helped to arrange for a key witness to pass his crucial testimony to the Met. We can reveal that, as a result, the police are also investigating the murder of a third boy around 30 years ago by members of a paedophile network of MPs and other VIPs.
....The Met announced on Friday that Operation Midland was investigating historical allegations of child sex abuse and “possible homicide”.
The Met said in a statement: “Detectives from the child abuse investigation command are working closely with colleagues from the homicide and major crime command concerning this information, which is being looked at under the name of Operation Midland.”
....He has provided detectives with a graphic, written account of the attack, which he compiled before he contacted them.
Nick said that he was picked up at an agreed meeting point and driven into central London. The chauffeur-driven car stopped at a property on the way, he said, to collect the boy who would later be murdered.
....At a meeting with detectives from the Met’s paedophile unit, at which the witness insisted that our reporter was present, Nick passed to them the name of the MP who allegedly murdered the boy, along with a list of other prominent people who, he says, sexually and physically abused him.
Nick said that his abusive father supplied him to the paedophile network of VIPs.
According to his harrowing account to police, two men whose names he did not know killed a second boy during a savage physical attack in front of a separate MP, a former Conservative cabinet minister. He dates this killing at between a year and 18 months after the strangling of the boy in the town house.
....The ex-minister, said Nick, repeatedly raped him and other boys aged between 10 and 14 at “abuse parties” at Dolphin Square and elsewhere. Both former MPs are alive....
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5409/operation-midland-investigates-tory-mp-over-boy-s-murder
Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine 'possible homicide'
By Tom Symonds Home Affairs correspondent 14 November 2014
The man says he was first abused by his own father before being "handed over" as a young boy to the group
Child abuse investigations
Police are investigating "possible homicide" linked to what has been described as a paedophile ring involving powerful people in the 1970s and 1980s.
The group is alleged to have included senior figures in public life, the military, politics and law enforcement....
A key witness who has spoken to police has told the BBC that he was abused for nine years as a boy....
Speaking anonymously to the BBC but using the name "Nick", the alleged victim said he had given three days of video-taped evidence to detectives.
His accounts are being assessed as part of Operation Midland, a new Scotland Yard investigation which is under the umbrella of its inquiry into historical abuse, Operation Fairbank.
Nick, now in his 40s, says that he was first abused by his own father before being "handed over" as a young boy to the group.
"They were very powerful people and they controlled my life for the next nine years," Nick added.
"They created fear that penetrated every part of me, day in day out. You didn't question what they wanted, you did as they asked without question and the punishments were very severe."
Nick said the group was "very organised" and would arrange for chauffeur-driven cars to pick up boys, sometimes from school, and drive them to "parties" or "sessions" at locations including hotels and private apartments in London and other cities.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30052726
The Metropolitan Police Service’s paedophile unit, under ‘Operation Midland’, is also investigating a claim that a second boy was murdered during a depraved sexual assault in the presence of a former Conservative cabinet minister....the police are also investigating the murder of a third boy around 30 years ago by members of a paedophile network of MPs and other VIPs."
- Bill Cosby's Silence On Rape Allegations Makes Huge Media Noise
- Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?
- Dr. Huxtable & Mr. Hyde
- Bill Cosby Under Fire The Comedian Settles a Case Accusing Him of Sexual Abuse—but Other Women Make Similar Claims
- Barbara Bowman Speaks About Bill Cosby Sexual Abuse Allegations
- One Very Important Thing Is Missing From the New Cosby - Biography: A Timeline of the Abuse Charges [Updated]
- In interview with tabloid, Bill Cosby discusses molestation allegations
- Organised child sex abuse 'widespread in England', MPs say
- Alexis Jay: Years of missing records mean Rotherham child abuse numbers ‘much higher’ than 1,400
- ‘Operation Midland’ investigates Tory MP over boy’s murder
Met also probes slaying of second boy in sex attack in front of former cabinet minister
- Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine 'possible homicide'
Bill Cosby's Silence On Rape Allegations Makes Huge Media Noise
November 17, 2014 Eric Deggans
But in the recent explosion of attention to allegations that the comedy superstar drugged and sexually assaulted several women years ago, in incidents reaching back to the late 1960s, Cosby has remained uncharacteristically silent — epitomized by his interview with NPR's Scott Simon, who found the comic would only shake his head and utter no sound when asked about the allegations.
His attorney did provide a statement posted on Cosby's website that said, in part, "decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby doesn't not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment."
Later, a joint statement from Cosby's attorney and a lawyer for Andrea Constand, a woman who settled a lawsuit with Cosby over such allegations in 2006, was posted on the site that read, in part: "The statement released by Mr. Cosby's attorney over the weekend was not intended to refer in any way to Andrea Constand. As previously reported, differences between Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand were resolved to the mutual satisfaction of Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand years ago."
News of Cosby's silence rocketed across media; the moment was covered everywhere from NBC's Today show to CNN, USA Today and The Washington Post, which called it "perhaps the most significant dead air in the history of National Public Radio."
When NPR most recently spoke to Cosby, four women had come forward publicly with rape allegations: Constand, Beth Ferrier, Tamara Green and Barbara Bowman. (See this story for a more detailed account of their allegations.) Over the weekend, another woman, 66-year-old publicist Joan Tarshis, also told media outlets she was drugged and raped by Cosby when she was 19 years old. Constand filed a lawsuit in 2005 that included 13 women willing to tell similar stories, Greene and Bowman among them; the suit was settled, no terms were disclosed and Cosby was never charged with a crime....
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/17/364736453/bill-cosbys-silence-on-rape-allegations-makes-huge-media-noise
Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?
Only when a male comedian called Cosby a rapist did the accusation take hold.
By Barbara Bowman November 13
In 2004, when Andrea Constand filed a lawsuit against Bill Cosby for sexual assault, her lawyers asked me to testify. Cosby had drugged and raped me, too, I told them. The lawyers said I could testify anonymously as a Jane Doe, but I ardently rejected that idea. My name is not Jane Doe. My name is Barbara Bowman, and I wanted to tell my story in court. In the end, I didn’t have the opportunity to do that, because Cosby settled the suit for an undisclosed amount of money.
Over the years, I’ve struggled to get people to take my story seriously. So last month, when reporter Lycia Naff contacted me for an interview for the Daily Mail, I gave her a detailed account. I told her how Cosby won my trust as a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times. In one case, I blacked out after having dinner and one glass of wine at his New York City brownstone, where he had offered to mentor me and discuss the entertainment industry. When I came to, I was in my panties and a man’s t-shirt, and Cosby was looming over me. I’m certain now that he drugged and raped me. But as a teenager, I tried to convince myself I had imagined it. I even tried to rationalize it: Bill Cosby was going to make me a star and this was part of the deal. The final incident was in Atlantic City, where we had traveled for an industry event....
They, like other sexual assault victims, deserve our support. It’s the perpetrators who should be facing public humiliation – not the victims....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/13/bill-cosby-raped-me-why-did-it-take-30-years-for-people-to-believe-my-story/
Dr. Huxtable & Mr. Hyde
Who is Bill Cosby? What’s happened to the man who taught us to laugh at ourselves — and what do we do with him now? By Robert Huber June 9, 2006
.... A young Canadian woman he met in Philadelphia through Temple University is accusing him of drugging her and then, when she was in a near-comatose state, molesting her. It went nowhere legally — the woman, Andrea Constand, waited a year before going to police, it boiled down to a he said/she said (Cosby claimed the sex was consensual, according to ABC News), and the police dropped the case for lack of evidence. But Constand filed a civil complaint in federal court in Philly last year, suing for an unspecified amount of money over $150,000. It is still Cosby’s no against her yes, except for one difference: Thirteen women are waiting to be deposed in the suit; in a court filing, Constand’s lawyer says that all of them — with nothing to gain, with no payout waiting, with their own statutes of limitations run out — have stories about Bill Cosby as well, and some of them will claim a similar drug-and-fondling M.O.
....The Story That Andrea Constand Tells
She met Bill Cosby in late 2002 when she was director of operations for Temple’s women’s basketball. He became a friend and mentor. In January 2004, Cosby invited Constand to his home in Elkins Park. She went there at about 9 p.m. Constand wanted to change careers and told Cosby she felt stressed. Cosby offered her three blue pills — herbal medication, he said, that would help her relax. She took the pills....
....The Story That Tamara Green Tells
Back in the ’70s, before Green became a lawyer, Cosby hired her to help him open a club in L.A. A week into the job, she felt sick, and called Cosby at Figero, a restaurant he owned, to say she was leaving for home. He invited her to the restaurant for lunch — it might make her feel better. She went. Cosby asked if she wanted some Contac, then handed her two gray-and-red capsules. She took them....
....The Story That Beth Ferrier Tells
Ferrier, 47, met Bill Cosby in 1984 when she was modeling in New York. They started an affair that lasted about six months. Cosby ended it without explanation. Then he called her one night in Denver, where she lived; they met backstage at a nightclub there, where he was performing. He said, “Here’s your favorite coffee, something I made, to relax you.” She drank it....
....The Story That Barbara Bowman Tells
Bowman’s incident with Bill Cosby occurred 20 years ago, when she was an aspiring actress. She told a lawyer. The lawyer laughed at her. She never mentioned it to an authority figure again. Bowman won’t disclose details of what happened before she’s deposed. But when she read about Andrea Constand, she decided that enough was enough — she couldn’t sit in silence any longer.
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/dr-huxtable-mr-hyde/
Bill Cosby Under Fire By Alex Tresniowski The Comedian Settles a Case Accusing Him of Sexual Abuse—but Other Women Make Similar Claims December 18, 2006 Vol. 66 No. 25
....What Cosby never mentioned was the civil lawsuit he settled just two days earlier with Andrea Constand, 32, a former Temple University employee who claimed Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Philadelphia-area mansion in 2004. Constand's lawyers Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz ended up with 13 witnesses, most referred to in court documents as "Jane Does," who came forward voluntarily with strikingly similar claims of drugging and or abuse by Cosby. Terms of the settlement, reached before any of the women could testify, were not disclosed. But PEOPLE reporters have interviewed five of the women and share three of their stories now.
As in so many cases alleging sexual assault, these women make imperfect witnesses. They are talking about events two or three decades old. Many of their recollections are fragmentary, and in some cases, they are not even sure what happened between them and Cosby, though that is not unusual in cases where a possible date-rape drug is involved. None of the women ever contacted police with their stories, either at the time of the alleged assaults or in the years leading up to Constand's revelations, and two of the five women reached by PEOPLE allowed Cosby to pay part or all of their travel and/or living expenses for some time. Three accepted cash from him years after the incidents, and two even went on to have consensual relationships with him.
But none of them stand to profit from suing Cosby for monetary damages; the statute of limitations on all their charges has expired. And their stories, which take place in several cities and span two decades, illustrate the same pattern of behavior....
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20059561,00.html
Barbara Bowman Speaks About Bill Cosby Sexual Abuse Allegations
By Katie J.M. Baker 2/12/14
Last week, Newsweek interviewed Tamara Green, one of 13 women who accused Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them in a civil lawsuit brought by Andrea Constand in 2004, and settled under undisclosed terms in 2006. Now, a second woman is speaking out: Barbara Bowman, a 46-year-old artist who says Cosby took her under his wing in the late ‘80s, when she was a teenager -- and repeatedly emotionally and physically abused her.
Both Bowman and Green joined the 2004 lawsuit as witnesses after hearing about it on television; neither had anything to gain financially, as the statute of limitations had expired for both of them....
Why do you think people find it so hard to believe celebrities can be sexual assaulters?
The media creates this idealized image of celebrities: that they are untouchable, that they’re not one of us... I don’t think people want to believe it; to believe would shatter the illusion....
http://www.newsweek.com/barbara-bowman-speaks-about-bill-cosby-sexual-abuse-allegations-228837
One Very Important Thing Is Missing From the New Cosby Biography: A Timeline of the Abuse Charges [Updated]
By Matt Giles
http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/timeline-of-the-abuse-charges-against-cosby.html
In interview with tabloid, Bill Cosby discusses molestation allegations
By Bill Bergstrom ASSOCIATED PRESS March 4, 2005
PHILADELPHIA – Comedian Bill Cosby, responding to a woman's allegations of sexual molestation, said "words and actions can be misinterpreted," but he insisted he wouldn't give in to any attempt to "exploit" him because he's a celebrity....
The 67-year-old entertainer, best-known as a warm, wisecracking TV dad, was cleared of criminal charges in connection with the allegations. Attorneys for the Canadian woman said they plan to file a civil lawsuit against Cosby next week.
In the interview, Cosby said he didn't speculate on whether money was the woman's motive. "Let's not go there," he said. But he asserted: "I am not going to give in to people who try to exploit me because of my celebrity status."....
The woman, who lives in Ontario, told Canadian authorities that, after a night out with friends in January 2004, Cosby gave her medication that made her dizzy, then fondled her.
Cosby denied the allegations. The accuser's family had described Cosby as a friend and mentor to the woman, which he didn't deny. He told the tabloid a role as mentor can lead to trouble.
"Sometimes you try to help people and it backfires on you and then they try to take advantage of you," Cosby said.
http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050304/news_1n4cosby.html
Organised child sex abuse 'widespread in England', MPs say
17 November 2014
Organised child sex abuse is widespread in England, a report by MPs on the Rotherham exploitation scandal says.
A review of child protection systems across the country has been called for by the Commons' Communities and Local Government Committee.
Its report also said Rotherham Council and Ofsted had "failed" the victims targeted in the town.
It suggested the council's protection policies were "divorced from reality", enabling the abuse to continue.
MPs said, however, the town was "not an outlier" for abuse and all councils needed to review child protection policies.
'More rigorous inspection'
Their inquiry was prompted by a report by Professor Alexis Jay, which revealed up to 1,400 children were estimated to have been victims of abuse in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-30083835
Alexis Jay: Years of missing records mean Rotherham child abuse numbers ‘much higher’ than 1,400 11/17/04
....Inquiry author Professor Jay said five years of data from Rotherham Council about victims is missing, while South Yorkshire Police was unable to record the scale of the problem before 2013 as it did not categorise child sexual exploitation as a form of crime until last year.
Four years’ worth of meeting minutes discussing child abuse cases between 1999 and 2003 have also disappeared.
A letter Prof Jay sent to the Communities and Local Government Committee has been made public ahead of a report by MPs being published tomorrow. She said a category for recording child sexual exploitation cases was introduced by police only in 2013, meaning the force was ‘unable to quantify the scale of the problem’ prior to last year.
While social services did officially recognise the issue from 2001, she said some victims were wrongly classified as being ‘out of control’.
Prof Jay said Rotherham Council provided information for only 11 of the 16 years covered by the inquiry.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/alexis-jay-years-of-missing-records-mean-rotherham-child-abuse-numbers-much-higher-than-1-400-1-6956491
‘Operation Midland’ investigates Tory MP over boy’s murder
Met also probes slaying of second boy in sex attack in front of former cabinet minister
By Mark Conrad 15 November 2014
Detectives are investigating an allegation that a young boy was murdered by a Conservative MP during a sickening sex attack.
The Metropolitan Police Service’s paedophile unit, under ‘Operation Midland’, is also investigating a claim that a second boy was murdered during a depraved sexual assault in the presence of a former Conservative cabinet minister.
Exaro, which has been investigating the murder cases over many months, helped to arrange for a key witness to pass his crucial testimony to the Met. We can reveal that, as a result, the police are also investigating the murder of a third boy around 30 years ago by members of a paedophile network of MPs and other VIPs.
....The Met announced on Friday that Operation Midland was investigating historical allegations of child sex abuse and “possible homicide”.
The Met said in a statement: “Detectives from the child abuse investigation command are working closely with colleagues from the homicide and major crime command concerning this information, which is being looked at under the name of Operation Midland.”
....He has provided detectives with a graphic, written account of the attack, which he compiled before he contacted them.
Nick said that he was picked up at an agreed meeting point and driven into central London. The chauffeur-driven car stopped at a property on the way, he said, to collect the boy who would later be murdered.
....At a meeting with detectives from the Met’s paedophile unit, at which the witness insisted that our reporter was present, Nick passed to them the name of the MP who allegedly murdered the boy, along with a list of other prominent people who, he says, sexually and physically abused him.
Nick said that his abusive father supplied him to the paedophile network of VIPs.
According to his harrowing account to police, two men whose names he did not know killed a second boy during a savage physical attack in front of a separate MP, a former Conservative cabinet minister. He dates this killing at between a year and 18 months after the strangling of the boy in the town house.
....The ex-minister, said Nick, repeatedly raped him and other boys aged between 10 and 14 at “abuse parties” at Dolphin Square and elsewhere. Both former MPs are alive....
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5409/operation-midland-investigates-tory-mp-over-boy-s-murder
Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine 'possible homicide'
By Tom Symonds Home Affairs correspondent 14 November 2014
The man says he was first abused by his own father before being "handed over" as a young boy to the group
Child abuse investigations
Police are investigating "possible homicide" linked to what has been described as a paedophile ring involving powerful people in the 1970s and 1980s.
The group is alleged to have included senior figures in public life, the military, politics and law enforcement....
A key witness who has spoken to police has told the BBC that he was abused for nine years as a boy....
Speaking anonymously to the BBC but using the name "Nick", the alleged victim said he had given three days of video-taped evidence to detectives.
His accounts are being assessed as part of Operation Midland, a new Scotland Yard investigation which is under the umbrella of its inquiry into historical abuse, Operation Fairbank.
Nick, now in his 40s, says that he was first abused by his own father before being "handed over" as a young boy to the group.
"They were very powerful people and they controlled my life for the next nine years," Nick added.
"They created fear that penetrated every part of me, day in day out. You didn't question what they wanted, you did as they asked without question and the punishments were very severe."
Nick said the group was "very organised" and would arrange for chauffeur-driven cars to pick up boys, sometimes from school, and drive them to "parties" or "sessions" at locations including hotels and private apartments in London and other cities.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30052726
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Dundee charity reveals terrible toll of ritual sexual abuse, Notorious cult leader and sex attacker Little Pebble to be released on bail
Dundee charity reveals terrible toll of ritual sexual abuse
By Dave Lord, 16 November 2014
A Scottish charity has warned that local children as young as five are suffering systematic and brutal sexual abuse.
Izzy’s Promise fear that many cases, some of which are carried out as part of gruesome rituals, are going unreported due to a pervasive culture of fear.
The charity, which is based in Dundee, said it receives numerous calls relating to grotesque sexual crimes.
Project co-ordinator, Joseph Lumbasi, told The Courier many young victims are too terrified to speak out at the time of their horrific ordeals, instead reporting abuse only when they reach adulthood.
Mr Lumbasi also claimed that some of the calls received by the charity relate to violent ceremonies and ritual abuse.
He said that traditional religious festival periods, including Easter and Christmas, see the highest frequency of such cases....
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/dundee-charity-reveals-terrible-toll-of-ritual-sexual-abuse-1.686103
Notorious cult leader and sex attacker Little Pebble to be released on bail November 12, 2014
NSW cult leader and convicted sex attacker William "Little Pebble" Kamm is set to walk free from Long Bay jail in Sydney’s south-east after being granted parole.
The German-born 64-year-old, who was convicted in 2005 of carrying out a number of assaults on two 15-year-old girls, was given early release with 11 months still to run on his maximum 10-year sentence....
The attacks were carried out while he ran a pseudo-Catholic cult known as the Order of St Charbel, based in a compound in Nowra, NSW.
Kamm claimed the Virgin Mary had appeared in a vision and told him one of the girls was meant to be one of his brides.
He claimed he had been divinely ordained as a "new Abraham" and would become the patriarch of a new blessed race....
The Order of St Charbel is not regarded by the Catholic Church as part of its hierarchy, and Kamm himself was excommunicated in 2003 after he was illicitly ordained a bishop.
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/11/12/05/06/cult-leader-little-pebble-to-be-released-on-parole
By Dave Lord, 16 November 2014
A Scottish charity has warned that local children as young as five are suffering systematic and brutal sexual abuse.
Izzy’s Promise fear that many cases, some of which are carried out as part of gruesome rituals, are going unreported due to a pervasive culture of fear.
The charity, which is based in Dundee, said it receives numerous calls relating to grotesque sexual crimes.
Project co-ordinator, Joseph Lumbasi, told The Courier many young victims are too terrified to speak out at the time of their horrific ordeals, instead reporting abuse only when they reach adulthood.
Mr Lumbasi also claimed that some of the calls received by the charity relate to violent ceremonies and ritual abuse.
He said that traditional religious festival periods, including Easter and Christmas, see the highest frequency of such cases....
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/dundee-charity-reveals-terrible-toll-of-ritual-sexual-abuse-1.686103
Notorious cult leader and sex attacker Little Pebble to be released on bail November 12, 2014
NSW cult leader and convicted sex attacker William "Little Pebble" Kamm is set to walk free from Long Bay jail in Sydney’s south-east after being granted parole.
The German-born 64-year-old, who was convicted in 2005 of carrying out a number of assaults on two 15-year-old girls, was given early release with 11 months still to run on his maximum 10-year sentence....
The attacks were carried out while he ran a pseudo-Catholic cult known as the Order of St Charbel, based in a compound in Nowra, NSW.
Kamm claimed the Virgin Mary had appeared in a vision and told him one of the girls was meant to be one of his brides.
He claimed he had been divinely ordained as a "new Abraham" and would become the patriarch of a new blessed race....
The Order of St Charbel is not regarded by the Catholic Church as part of its hierarchy, and Kamm himself was excommunicated in 2003 after he was illicitly ordained a bishop.
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/11/12/05/06/cult-leader-little-pebble-to-be-released-on-parole
Friday, November 14, 2014
Westminster child abuse gang 'linked to boy’s murder', UK Police Open Murder Inquiry in Establishment Child Sex Abuse Investigation, Police: 5 children abused by 5 adults
Westminster child abuse gang 'linked to boy’s murder'
Detectives looking at historical sex assault claims are now working with homicide officers Paul Gallagher Nigel Morris
Friday 14 November 2014
Detectives investigating allegations of an organised paedophile ring involving former government ministers and senior police officers are examining links to a possible murder, Scotland Yard confirmed today.
The Met said detectives from its Operation Fairbank historic child abuse investigation command were now working with homicide officers in a new investigation called Operation Midland.
The Independent understands the victim is a boy and the person alleged to be responsible for his death in the 1980s is not a politician.
....A victim of the alleged paedophile ring said that “former senior military and political figures” as well as “law enforcement” were involved. He claims he was abused for almost a decade after his father handed him over to the group.
He told the BBC: “They controlled my life for the next nine years. They created fear that penetrated every part of me. That was part of my life day in and day out. You didn’t question what they wanted; you didn’t hesitate to do what they asked you to do.
“You did what you were told without question or the punishments were very severe. They had no hesitation in doing what they wanted to do. Some of them were quite open about who they were. They had no fear at all of being caught, it didn’t even cross their mind. They could do anything they wanted without question and we were told that.”
....Tom Watson, the Labour MP who used parliamentary privilege in 2012 to raise claims of a paedophile ring linked to Downing Street, said: “This is obviously a very significant allegation. We must give the police the time, space and resources to investigate it fully.”....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/westminster-child-abuse-gang-linked-to-boys-murder-9862454.html
UK Police Open Murder Inquiry in Establishment Child Sex Abuse Investigation
By Reuters 11/14/14
Police looking into accusations that powerful figures at the heart of the British establishment were involved in child sex abuse in the 1970s and 1980s said on Friday they were now investigating murder allegations.
London detectives launched an inquiry two years ago into allegations about paedophile rings involving politicians, officials and other senior public figures.
"Our inquiries into this, over subsequent weeks, have revealed further information regarding possible homicide," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
....a review into the disappearance of a dossier handed to the government 30 years ago which is believed to have implicated public figures in child abuse found there was no evidence it had been deliberately destroyed or kept from police.
http://www.newsweek.com/uk-police-open-murder-inquiry-child-sex-abuse-investigation-284438
Police: 5 children abused by 5 adults in Darby, Pa.
DARBY, Pa. (WPVI) --
Authorities say five children were subjected to horrible abuse - both physical and sexual - at the hands of five adults inside a home in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
....are facing a number of charges, including endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, simple assault, and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
....The victim's ages range from 1 year old to 10 years old. Jackson is the mother of four of the children, while the 1-year-old is Hammond's child.
....According to the affidavit, the children were shot with BB guns, punched and slapped, thrown over a banister, and had sex acts performed in front of them....
http://6abc.com/news/police-5-children-abused-by-5-adults-in-darby-pa/395657/
Detectives looking at historical sex assault claims are now working with homicide officers Paul Gallagher Nigel Morris
Friday 14 November 2014
Detectives investigating allegations of an organised paedophile ring involving former government ministers and senior police officers are examining links to a possible murder, Scotland Yard confirmed today.
The Met said detectives from its Operation Fairbank historic child abuse investigation command were now working with homicide officers in a new investigation called Operation Midland.
The Independent understands the victim is a boy and the person alleged to be responsible for his death in the 1980s is not a politician.
....A victim of the alleged paedophile ring said that “former senior military and political figures” as well as “law enforcement” were involved. He claims he was abused for almost a decade after his father handed him over to the group.
He told the BBC: “They controlled my life for the next nine years. They created fear that penetrated every part of me. That was part of my life day in and day out. You didn’t question what they wanted; you didn’t hesitate to do what they asked you to do.
“You did what you were told without question or the punishments were very severe. They had no hesitation in doing what they wanted to do. Some of them were quite open about who they were. They had no fear at all of being caught, it didn’t even cross their mind. They could do anything they wanted without question and we were told that.”
....Tom Watson, the Labour MP who used parliamentary privilege in 2012 to raise claims of a paedophile ring linked to Downing Street, said: “This is obviously a very significant allegation. We must give the police the time, space and resources to investigate it fully.”....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/westminster-child-abuse-gang-linked-to-boys-murder-9862454.html
UK Police Open Murder Inquiry in Establishment Child Sex Abuse Investigation
By Reuters 11/14/14
Police looking into accusations that powerful figures at the heart of the British establishment were involved in child sex abuse in the 1970s and 1980s said on Friday they were now investigating murder allegations.
London detectives launched an inquiry two years ago into allegations about paedophile rings involving politicians, officials and other senior public figures.
"Our inquiries into this, over subsequent weeks, have revealed further information regarding possible homicide," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
....a review into the disappearance of a dossier handed to the government 30 years ago which is believed to have implicated public figures in child abuse found there was no evidence it had been deliberately destroyed or kept from police.
http://www.newsweek.com/uk-police-open-murder-inquiry-child-sex-abuse-investigation-284438
Police: 5 children abused by 5 adults in Darby, Pa.
DARBY, Pa. (WPVI) --
Authorities say five children were subjected to horrible abuse - both physical and sexual - at the hands of five adults inside a home in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
....are facing a number of charges, including endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, simple assault, and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
....The victim's ages range from 1 year old to 10 years old. Jackson is the mother of four of the children, while the 1-year-old is Hammond's child.
....According to the affidavit, the children were shot with BB guns, punched and slapped, thrown over a banister, and had sex acts performed in front of them....
http://6abc.com/news/police-5-children-abused-by-5-adults-in-darby-pa/395657/
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Human trafficking epidemic 21st century slavery hits close to home, ‘A Culture of Silence’ speaks for Sierra Leone, Sexual Offences Bill to be published next week
Former journalist says human trafficking an epidemic
21st century slavery hits close to home By Maddy Lauria Nov 13, 2014
Rehoboth Beach — The Sussex County Republican Women's Club received a harsh reality check when veteran journalist Christine Dolan described a human trafficking case that struck close to home.
“Listen up … you don't have a clue,” Dolan said as she began to discuss her more than decade-long experiences with human trafficking. “Just like the Industrial Revolution, just like the Victorian era, just like the African slave trade, you are living in the digital age of slavery in the 21st century. It is not just on the street. It is over the internet.”
Dolan, who worked for ABC and CNN in the 1980s, was commissioned by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children to study child exploitation in 2000....
Dolan said Easton, Md., shows human trafficking occurs close to home. While many attendees raised their hands to say they were familiar with the town, most audience members voiced surprise that a brothel, operated a few doors down from a Mexican restaurant on Dover Street, was busted just a few years ago, leading to sex trafficking convictions in fall 2013....
Now Dolan is on a mission to spread the word that human trafficking crimes are proliferating throughout the world, which she outlined in her “Tots to Trafficking to Terrorism” presentation during the club's dinner meeting Oct. 22. She said globalization and increased internet access provide ways for everything from child pornography to trafficking for torture to make a mark on international markets.
“Terrorism is a transnational, transcriminal network. Trafficking is transcriminal, transnational network,” she said. Dolan said groups like al-Qaida and the group known as the Islamic State are trafficking organizations with a hand in sex and labor trafficking as well as torture rituals.
Dolan outlined the main branches of human trafficking to include sex and labor, sex tourism, child pornography, child soldiers, organ trafficking, skin trafficking and ritual abuse torture. Dolan cited an evidence comparison by Interpol that 89 percent of online incidents affect victims between the age of 6 and 12, while 10 percent include victims age 3 and younger. She said there have been great efforts made since 2000, but the demand for younger victims has increased, with a jump from 3 percent in 2005 to the recently reported 10 percent of young trafficking victims....
http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/p/former-journalist-says-human-trafficking-an-epidemic/1261490
‘A Culture of Silence’ speaks for Sierra Leone
By Peter Keough Globe Correspondent November 13, 2014
For most people, the sufferings of African countries such as Sierra Leone, which has endured a hellish civil war only to be confronted with the Ebola epidemic, are regarded as passing news items.
For the documentary filmmaker Raouf J. Jacob, however, Sierra Leone is his beloved homeland. Forced to emigrate to America with his family in 1999 in the midst of the internecine conflict, he returns in “A Culture of Silence” to the place of his birth to see how it has rebounded from its bloody past. He and his partner and fellow filmmaker Lara M. Moreno tour the country with their camera to see how it has confronted its intransigent problems. These include poverty, the exploitation of resources by foreign corporations, cultural misogyny epitomized by the practice of female genital mutilation, and the legacy of war embodied by its most tragic victims — child soldiers kidnapped by warlords and forced to kill....
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2014/11/13/movie-review-culture-silence-speaks-for-sierra-leone/ypwHqK9NW73pMBJsysudUK/story.html
Sexual Offences Bill to be published next week, says Minister for Justice
Legislation will strengthen laws on grooming, pornography and harassment
New legislation on sexual offences will strengthen laws on grooming, pornography and harassment, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has said.
Fiona Gartland
Thu, Nov 13, 2014,
....“It will include strengthened provisions on age of consent, grooming and harassment,” Ms Fitzgerald said. “And it will strengthen offences of acquiring pornography online.”
The department received approval from the Cabinet to draft the legislation last December. It had been described as “long overdue” by organisations working in the field and by politicians including Senator Jillian van Turnhout.
The Minister also said yesterday that she would bring forward legislation on victims’ rights and on domestic violence in the new year....
Victims’ rights The new victims’ rights legislation will be introduced in 2015 so that Ireland can comply with its obligations under the EU victims’ directive, which was adopted at European level in 2012.
The directive includes obligations to protect victims from harm and intimidation and provide access to information, services and compensation.
Ms Fitzgerald said the new legislation would be “a very important mark of a change of approach to victims” and would reposition victims so their needs are central to the criminal justice system....
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/sexual-offences-bill-to-be-published-next-week-says-minister-for-justice-1.1998434
21st century slavery hits close to home By Maddy Lauria Nov 13, 2014
Rehoboth Beach — The Sussex County Republican Women's Club received a harsh reality check when veteran journalist Christine Dolan described a human trafficking case that struck close to home.
“Listen up … you don't have a clue,” Dolan said as she began to discuss her more than decade-long experiences with human trafficking. “Just like the Industrial Revolution, just like the Victorian era, just like the African slave trade, you are living in the digital age of slavery in the 21st century. It is not just on the street. It is over the internet.”
Dolan, who worked for ABC and CNN in the 1980s, was commissioned by the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children to study child exploitation in 2000....
Dolan said Easton, Md., shows human trafficking occurs close to home. While many attendees raised their hands to say they were familiar with the town, most audience members voiced surprise that a brothel, operated a few doors down from a Mexican restaurant on Dover Street, was busted just a few years ago, leading to sex trafficking convictions in fall 2013....
Now Dolan is on a mission to spread the word that human trafficking crimes are proliferating throughout the world, which she outlined in her “Tots to Trafficking to Terrorism” presentation during the club's dinner meeting Oct. 22. She said globalization and increased internet access provide ways for everything from child pornography to trafficking for torture to make a mark on international markets.
“Terrorism is a transnational, transcriminal network. Trafficking is transcriminal, transnational network,” she said. Dolan said groups like al-Qaida and the group known as the Islamic State are trafficking organizations with a hand in sex and labor trafficking as well as torture rituals.
Dolan outlined the main branches of human trafficking to include sex and labor, sex tourism, child pornography, child soldiers, organ trafficking, skin trafficking and ritual abuse torture. Dolan cited an evidence comparison by Interpol that 89 percent of online incidents affect victims between the age of 6 and 12, while 10 percent include victims age 3 and younger. She said there have been great efforts made since 2000, but the demand for younger victims has increased, with a jump from 3 percent in 2005 to the recently reported 10 percent of young trafficking victims....
http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/p/former-journalist-says-human-trafficking-an-epidemic/1261490
‘A Culture of Silence’ speaks for Sierra Leone
By Peter Keough Globe Correspondent November 13, 2014
For most people, the sufferings of African countries such as Sierra Leone, which has endured a hellish civil war only to be confronted with the Ebola epidemic, are regarded as passing news items.
For the documentary filmmaker Raouf J. Jacob, however, Sierra Leone is his beloved homeland. Forced to emigrate to America with his family in 1999 in the midst of the internecine conflict, he returns in “A Culture of Silence” to the place of his birth to see how it has rebounded from its bloody past. He and his partner and fellow filmmaker Lara M. Moreno tour the country with their camera to see how it has confronted its intransigent problems. These include poverty, the exploitation of resources by foreign corporations, cultural misogyny epitomized by the practice of female genital mutilation, and the legacy of war embodied by its most tragic victims — child soldiers kidnapped by warlords and forced to kill....
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2014/11/13/movie-review-culture-silence-speaks-for-sierra-leone/ypwHqK9NW73pMBJsysudUK/story.html
Sexual Offences Bill to be published next week, says Minister for Justice
Legislation will strengthen laws on grooming, pornography and harassment
New legislation on sexual offences will strengthen laws on grooming, pornography and harassment, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has said.
Fiona Gartland
Thu, Nov 13, 2014,
....“It will include strengthened provisions on age of consent, grooming and harassment,” Ms Fitzgerald said. “And it will strengthen offences of acquiring pornography online.”
The department received approval from the Cabinet to draft the legislation last December. It had been described as “long overdue” by organisations working in the field and by politicians including Senator Jillian van Turnhout.
The Minister also said yesterday that she would bring forward legislation on victims’ rights and on domestic violence in the new year....
Victims’ rights The new victims’ rights legislation will be introduced in 2015 so that Ireland can comply with its obligations under the EU victims’ directive, which was adopted at European level in 2012.
The directive includes obligations to protect victims from harm and intimidation and provide access to information, services and compensation.
Ms Fitzgerald said the new legislation would be “a very important mark of a change of approach to victims” and would reposition victims so their needs are central to the criminal justice system....
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/sexual-offences-bill-to-be-published-next-week-says-minister-for-justice-1.1998434
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Government gave money to notorious Paedophile Information Exchange claims whistleblower, an organisation that was campaigning for the reduction of the age of consent to four
'It was an organisation that was campaigning for the reduction of the age of consent to four. I thought that was inappropriate and outrageous and for a government department to be funding it, I thought was wrong."
Government gave money to notorious Paedophile Information Exchange on the orders of Special Branch, claims Home Office whistleblower
Former government employee says he saw evidence PIE was given grant
He claims the money was paid to group under orders of Special Branch
Insider says he thought funding was 'inappropriate and outrageous' but his pleas were shrugged off by his boss at the time
Follows report which found that abuse ring 'might have been covered up'
By Richard Spillett
12 November 2014
A Home Office whistleblower today repeated his claims the government department funded the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) on the orders of the police.
Former civil servant Tim Hulbert said money was transferred to the organisation on the orders of the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch.
Mr Hulbert worked in the Voluntary Services Unit of the Home Office which approved grants to various outside organisations in the late 1970s and early 80s.
He said he went to his manager after seeing that funding was being given to PIE - the lobby group formed in the 1970s to campaign for a reduction in the age of consent - but his concerns were shrugged off....
'It was an organisation that was campaigning for the reduction of the age of consent to four. I thought that was inappropriate and outrageous and for a government department to be funding it, I thought was wrong.
'I went to see my boss and he told me, firstly, that PIE was a legitimate campaigning organisation and it did have significant links to the National Council for Civil Liberties and other organisations that were recognised.
'Secondly, I was told that it was being funded a the request of Special Branch.'
....Mr Hulbert's comments followed claims by an investigative journalist that Home Office papers he saw - which suggested an investigation into the alleged child abuse ring was later carried out - were seized by Special Branch.
Don Hale yesterday revealed he was given a bundle of documents which included the identities of senior politicians who were actively promoting the Paedophile Information Exchange by the late Labour minister Baroness Castle.
He said police later arrived at his newspaper office, pushed him against a wall and demanded to take possession of the dossier.
His claims are now being investigated by the Metropolitan Police....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2831219/Government-gave-money-Paedophile-Information-Exchange-group-says-Home-Office-whistleblower.html
One Woman Tells Us What It’s Like To Be Raped And Have Your Town Turn Against You, 21 Facts That Will Change The Way You Think About Sexual Assault, Five NOPD detectives mishandled rape, child abuse investigations
One Woman Tells Us What It’s Like To Be Raped — And Have Your Town Turn Against You
'There were flyers at school, kids wore T-shirts in his honor and even brought huge signs to his court appearances supporting him.'
by MTV News Staff 11/11/2014
Sixty percent of rapes go unreported to the police. But what’s it like to be part of that other 40% — and then have your community and friends turn against you? Emma Hanrahan knows only too well — and today she’s coming forward to share her story of pain and survival with MTV News, in the hopes that it will encourage that 60% to break the silence....
By Emma Hanrahan
....Almost immediately after entering the room I was pushed on the bed, and all of a sudden it went from being fun to being completely terrifying. I was dizzy and confused. Paris was on top of me. I said, “Slow down, I don’t want to do this. I want to go home.”
The moment they ignored me and kept going was the moment I knew exactly what was about to happen. One of the other guys was standing right by my head and I remember looking up and seeing the third guy standing at the door, almost like he was keeping watch.
Was this planned? How did everything fall into place so quickly? All of a sudden my pants were ripped right off me and Paris immediately started having sex with me. I was crying “No” over and over again.
....It was hard for me. I found peace many nights at the bottom of a cheap bottle of wine. My confusion and loss of self consumed me, while flashbacks and nightmares became a ritual in my already messed-up schedule. I had uncontrollable panic attacks that caused me to rarely leave the house. I spent many long days in my room not talking to many people at all.
The rape kit result came back and DNA was found, enough to at least make an arrest on Paris in the winter. Despite changing his statements drastically a few times, though, he gained the support from a majority of the school — and town for that matter. The school didn’t feel it was necessary to remove Paris or the other guys from their classes — even after the arrest. I couldn’t bear the thought of attending class every day sitting next to the guys that raped me, that broke me, that took everything from me, so I withdrew from school after only a couple of weeks.
....In the meantime, the town started taking sides — everyone did. These guys were star athletes — basketball players — and it seemed like everyone supported them. It didn’t take long for the blame to be put on me. The basketball coach even confronted me at a game once with his players in tow — including two of my attackers — and as a result I was thrown out of the game. And banned from campus.
People I thought were my friends dropped me in a second to jump on the “FREE PARIS” bandwagon — including some of my former roommates. There were flyers at school, kids wore T-shirts in his honor and even brought huge signs to his court appearances supporting him.
It drew attention from the local newspaper and radio stations, and people even wrote letters to the editor voicing their support for this man who took my entire life from me. Everywhere I turned “FREE PARIS” punched me right in the gut. I received threatening text messages from players and people I didn’t even know. I was harassed walking down the street; there are still blogs about me on the Internet created by students just to say awful and hateful things about me.
That’s the issue with how society as a whole thinks about sexual assault: They blame the victim. They blamed me. I was at a party. I was drinking. I was wearing a tank top. I was asking for it. Hearing those things over and over again –- you start to believe them. So many people told me that I was a slut. That I wanted it. It was really hard to not feel that way. I think that that just confirms that how people think of sexual assault and how they treat victims of a crime is backwards. We need to stop blaming the victims and start blaming their attackers.
....I got to the point where I was in such a dark place with my memories and my community’s nastiness that I had to try to put the whole thing behind me. I offered “Paris” a plea and he took it, and because he was arrested he lost his visa and was sent back home and not allowed to return. The other two guys were never arrested; “Paris” claimed they were never even with us.
....The harassment continued for years, despite letting Paris off easy. The next few years went by filled with unbearable pain and emptiness all at the same time. The only thing that helped me pull myself out of that place was talking to people in the same situation as me. I hooked up with the RAINN organization. I read other people’s stories — people who had gone through what I had and come out on the other side OK. People who told me that there was a life past everything I was enduring then.
....One of the reasons that I stopped feeling the way that I did was because I ran across another girl at college a few years later that was going through what I went through. I told her my story and about how I was better then than I had been before and that made her feel better. And it made me feel better that she felt better. Helping other people and guiding them –- that was the only way that I felt better.
What happened to me may have changed me, but who I am today is someone I am proud to be. I WAS a victim — now I’m a survivor, a mother, a fighter and an inspiration. I am strong.
http://www.mtv.com/news/1962056/rape-what-it-feels-like-no-one-believes/
21 Facts That Will Change The Way You Think About Sexual Assault
Join MTV and the White House in a new campaign to prevent sexual assault: 'It's On Us.'
by Brenna Ehrlich 9/19/2014
1. 1 out of every 6 American women has been either raped or almost raped in her lifetime.
2. 1 in 5 women in the U.S. is sexually assaulted in college — most during their freshman or sophomore year, according to It’s On Us.
3. In 2006, 300,000 college women were raped. That’s 5.2%.
4. 3% of U.S. men have either been raped or almost raped.
5. 80% of rape and sexual assault victims are under 30....
10. An American is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes....
17. Survivors can suffer from PTSD, substance abuse, sleep disorders, self-harm, eating disorders, depression and a host of other issues.
18. Survivors are 26 times more likely to take drugs....
20. 60% of sexual assaults go unreported and only 12 percent of college women report their attackers to the police.
21. Only 3% of rapists will ever go to prison.
http://www.mtv.com/news/1935098/its-on-us-sexual-assault-facts/
Police handling of child abuse intelligence to be investigated
12 November 2014
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) will examine how Essex, North Wales and North Yorkshire handled information from Canadian police passed to the UK in 2012.
Around 2,000 names were sent by Toronto Police to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).
The three forces referred themselves to the IPCC for investigation....
BBC News obtained figures in October suggesting many forces had at that time only arrested around a third of the names among the Canadian intelligence....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30027045
Five NOPD detectives mishandled rape, child abuse investigations, inspector general finds
By Naomi Martin, NOLA.com The Times-Picayune
November 12, 2014
Five NOPD detectives have been transferred to street patrol and are under internal investigation after the city's inspector general found they systematically failed to investigate and document allegations of sexual assault and child abuse.
The detectives wrote no investigative reports for 86 percent of the 1,290 sexual-assault or child-abuse calls they were collectively assigned to investigate from 2011 through 2013, according to the report released Wednesday. Two of their supervisors also were transferred and remain under investigation.
....In 65 percent of the cases reviewed, detectives submitted no initial incident reports -- a basic summary of allegations -- because the detectives classified those calls as "miscellaneous" incidents that did not merit any documentation at all.
"For 65 percent of their work for three years, no one can evaluate that," said the inspector general's lead investigator Howard Schwartz. "There is no record. Other than making it a 21 (miscellaneous)."
In 60 percent of the 450 cases reviewed, there was no supplemental report, a key record used by the department and prosecutors documenting investigative findings. Only 105 complaints became cases that were presented to the district attorney's office. Of those, 74 cases were prosecuted, but only after the district attorney's office conducted its own investigations, seeking medical records and interviewing witnesses and victims.
"The district attorney's office should be commended for this," Schwartz said.
The five detectives -- Akron Davis, Merrill Merricks, Derrick Williams, Damita Williams and Vernon Haynes -- represented the majority of the Special Victims Section, which had between eight and nine detectives throughout the three-year period.
....The inspector general's office notified the NOPD on Oct. 3 that 13 children could be in danger in their homes after finding reports of physical and sexual abuse that apparently failed to get proper investigation. The department said it has made sure all are now safe by removing them from their homes or contacting child protective services, or both.
As of Oct. 3, NOPD had 53 outstanding DNA matches -- notified in letters from the State Police crime lab since July 2010 -- that they had not followed up on to start the process of finding potential rapists, the report says.
....The report alleges a culture of indifference.
Damita Williams told at least three different people that she "did not believe simple rape should be a crime," the report says. Simple rape, under state law, is sex without the victim's consent when the victim is intoxicated or incapacitated, and the offender should have known.
She was assigned 11 simple rape cases over the course of three years; only one was presented to the district attorney's office.
In one case, she wrote that no DNA evidence was recovered. But State Police lab records showed that DNA evidence had in fact been found in that case.
In a separate case in which a victim reported her attacker was sending her threatening texts, Williams never documented any attempt to obtain phone records or the text messages. She never sent the victim's rape kit to the crime lab for testing and in a log book, wrote that she "would not submit the kit to the DNA lab because the sex was consensual."
Derrick Williams, who was the lead investigator on the case involving former New Orleans Saints football player Darren Sharper, submitted no supplemental reports on two rape cases in which nurses collected evidence and documented the accusers' injuries.
In one case, State Police's DNA lab found a possible match more than two years ago, but Williams had not submitted a sample to confirm it. In the other, State Police notified Williams that an incorrect kit had been sent in, and he had not responded.
Williams created two supplemental reports on the same day in 2013 after the inspector general's office requested them -- he dated one in 2011 and the other in 2010, the report says.
Vernon Haynes never documented any investigation into three cases in which the State Police crime lab found DNA evidence, the report says. He also had two cases that were lacking files in the office.
In one case, a victim reported she was raped and her iPhone was stolen; Haynes never documented any effort to track her phone or obtain phone records.
Merrill Merricks wrote in a report that he sent a rape kit to the State Police crime lab but they found no results. But the inspector general's office reviewed State Police lab records and found the kit was never submitted. The kit had never actually moved from NOPD's evidence room.
Merricks created four supplemental reports on the same day in 2013 after the inspector general's office requested them -- he dated three in 2011 and the other in 2010, the report says.
Akron Davis was assigned 13 cases of potential sexual/physical abuse involving children in which the juvenile victims potentially were still in the same home where the alleged abuse occurred. Of those 13, 11 lacked a supplemental report. Cases in which infants were hospitalized for skull fractures, a toddler tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease and a young child complained of sexual abuse at the hands of a registered sex offender were among those identified by the New Orleans Inspector General's office as failing to get proper investigations....
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/11/nopd_sex_crimes_problems.html
'There were flyers at school, kids wore T-shirts in his honor and even brought huge signs to his court appearances supporting him.'
by MTV News Staff 11/11/2014
Sixty percent of rapes go unreported to the police. But what’s it like to be part of that other 40% — and then have your community and friends turn against you? Emma Hanrahan knows only too well — and today she’s coming forward to share her story of pain and survival with MTV News, in the hopes that it will encourage that 60% to break the silence....
By Emma Hanrahan
....Almost immediately after entering the room I was pushed on the bed, and all of a sudden it went from being fun to being completely terrifying. I was dizzy and confused. Paris was on top of me. I said, “Slow down, I don’t want to do this. I want to go home.”
The moment they ignored me and kept going was the moment I knew exactly what was about to happen. One of the other guys was standing right by my head and I remember looking up and seeing the third guy standing at the door, almost like he was keeping watch.
Was this planned? How did everything fall into place so quickly? All of a sudden my pants were ripped right off me and Paris immediately started having sex with me. I was crying “No” over and over again.
....It was hard for me. I found peace many nights at the bottom of a cheap bottle of wine. My confusion and loss of self consumed me, while flashbacks and nightmares became a ritual in my already messed-up schedule. I had uncontrollable panic attacks that caused me to rarely leave the house. I spent many long days in my room not talking to many people at all.
The rape kit result came back and DNA was found, enough to at least make an arrest on Paris in the winter. Despite changing his statements drastically a few times, though, he gained the support from a majority of the school — and town for that matter. The school didn’t feel it was necessary to remove Paris or the other guys from their classes — even after the arrest. I couldn’t bear the thought of attending class every day sitting next to the guys that raped me, that broke me, that took everything from me, so I withdrew from school after only a couple of weeks.
....In the meantime, the town started taking sides — everyone did. These guys were star athletes — basketball players — and it seemed like everyone supported them. It didn’t take long for the blame to be put on me. The basketball coach even confronted me at a game once with his players in tow — including two of my attackers — and as a result I was thrown out of the game. And banned from campus.
People I thought were my friends dropped me in a second to jump on the “FREE PARIS” bandwagon — including some of my former roommates. There were flyers at school, kids wore T-shirts in his honor and even brought huge signs to his court appearances supporting him.
It drew attention from the local newspaper and radio stations, and people even wrote letters to the editor voicing their support for this man who took my entire life from me. Everywhere I turned “FREE PARIS” punched me right in the gut. I received threatening text messages from players and people I didn’t even know. I was harassed walking down the street; there are still blogs about me on the Internet created by students just to say awful and hateful things about me.
That’s the issue with how society as a whole thinks about sexual assault: They blame the victim. They blamed me. I was at a party. I was drinking. I was wearing a tank top. I was asking for it. Hearing those things over and over again –- you start to believe them. So many people told me that I was a slut. That I wanted it. It was really hard to not feel that way. I think that that just confirms that how people think of sexual assault and how they treat victims of a crime is backwards. We need to stop blaming the victims and start blaming their attackers.
....I got to the point where I was in such a dark place with my memories and my community’s nastiness that I had to try to put the whole thing behind me. I offered “Paris” a plea and he took it, and because he was arrested he lost his visa and was sent back home and not allowed to return. The other two guys were never arrested; “Paris” claimed they were never even with us.
....The harassment continued for years, despite letting Paris off easy. The next few years went by filled with unbearable pain and emptiness all at the same time. The only thing that helped me pull myself out of that place was talking to people in the same situation as me. I hooked up with the RAINN organization. I read other people’s stories — people who had gone through what I had and come out on the other side OK. People who told me that there was a life past everything I was enduring then.
....One of the reasons that I stopped feeling the way that I did was because I ran across another girl at college a few years later that was going through what I went through. I told her my story and about how I was better then than I had been before and that made her feel better. And it made me feel better that she felt better. Helping other people and guiding them –- that was the only way that I felt better.
What happened to me may have changed me, but who I am today is someone I am proud to be. I WAS a victim — now I’m a survivor, a mother, a fighter and an inspiration. I am strong.
http://www.mtv.com/news/1962056/rape-what-it-feels-like-no-one-believes/
21 Facts That Will Change The Way You Think About Sexual Assault
Join MTV and the White House in a new campaign to prevent sexual assault: 'It's On Us.'
by Brenna Ehrlich 9/19/2014
1. 1 out of every 6 American women has been either raped or almost raped in her lifetime.
2. 1 in 5 women in the U.S. is sexually assaulted in college — most during their freshman or sophomore year, according to It’s On Us.
3. In 2006, 300,000 college women were raped. That’s 5.2%.
4. 3% of U.S. men have either been raped or almost raped.
5. 80% of rape and sexual assault victims are under 30....
10. An American is sexually assaulted every 2 minutes....
17. Survivors can suffer from PTSD, substance abuse, sleep disorders, self-harm, eating disorders, depression and a host of other issues.
18. Survivors are 26 times more likely to take drugs....
20. 60% of sexual assaults go unreported and only 12 percent of college women report their attackers to the police.
21. Only 3% of rapists will ever go to prison.
http://www.mtv.com/news/1935098/its-on-us-sexual-assault-facts/
Police handling of child abuse intelligence to be investigated
12 November 2014
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) will examine how Essex, North Wales and North Yorkshire handled information from Canadian police passed to the UK in 2012.
Around 2,000 names were sent by Toronto Police to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).
The three forces referred themselves to the IPCC for investigation....
BBC News obtained figures in October suggesting many forces had at that time only arrested around a third of the names among the Canadian intelligence....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30027045
Five NOPD detectives mishandled rape, child abuse investigations, inspector general finds
By Naomi Martin, NOLA.com The Times-Picayune
November 12, 2014
Five NOPD detectives have been transferred to street patrol and are under internal investigation after the city's inspector general found they systematically failed to investigate and document allegations of sexual assault and child abuse.
The detectives wrote no investigative reports for 86 percent of the 1,290 sexual-assault or child-abuse calls they were collectively assigned to investigate from 2011 through 2013, according to the report released Wednesday. Two of their supervisors also were transferred and remain under investigation.
....In 65 percent of the cases reviewed, detectives submitted no initial incident reports -- a basic summary of allegations -- because the detectives classified those calls as "miscellaneous" incidents that did not merit any documentation at all.
"For 65 percent of their work for three years, no one can evaluate that," said the inspector general's lead investigator Howard Schwartz. "There is no record. Other than making it a 21 (miscellaneous)."
In 60 percent of the 450 cases reviewed, there was no supplemental report, a key record used by the department and prosecutors documenting investigative findings. Only 105 complaints became cases that were presented to the district attorney's office. Of those, 74 cases were prosecuted, but only after the district attorney's office conducted its own investigations, seeking medical records and interviewing witnesses and victims.
"The district attorney's office should be commended for this," Schwartz said.
The five detectives -- Akron Davis, Merrill Merricks, Derrick Williams, Damita Williams and Vernon Haynes -- represented the majority of the Special Victims Section, which had between eight and nine detectives throughout the three-year period.
....The inspector general's office notified the NOPD on Oct. 3 that 13 children could be in danger in their homes after finding reports of physical and sexual abuse that apparently failed to get proper investigation. The department said it has made sure all are now safe by removing them from their homes or contacting child protective services, or both.
As of Oct. 3, NOPD had 53 outstanding DNA matches -- notified in letters from the State Police crime lab since July 2010 -- that they had not followed up on to start the process of finding potential rapists, the report says.
....The report alleges a culture of indifference.
Damita Williams told at least three different people that she "did not believe simple rape should be a crime," the report says. Simple rape, under state law, is sex without the victim's consent when the victim is intoxicated or incapacitated, and the offender should have known.
She was assigned 11 simple rape cases over the course of three years; only one was presented to the district attorney's office.
In one case, she wrote that no DNA evidence was recovered. But State Police lab records showed that DNA evidence had in fact been found in that case.
In a separate case in which a victim reported her attacker was sending her threatening texts, Williams never documented any attempt to obtain phone records or the text messages. She never sent the victim's rape kit to the crime lab for testing and in a log book, wrote that she "would not submit the kit to the DNA lab because the sex was consensual."
Derrick Williams, who was the lead investigator on the case involving former New Orleans Saints football player Darren Sharper, submitted no supplemental reports on two rape cases in which nurses collected evidence and documented the accusers' injuries.
In one case, State Police's DNA lab found a possible match more than two years ago, but Williams had not submitted a sample to confirm it. In the other, State Police notified Williams that an incorrect kit had been sent in, and he had not responded.
Williams created two supplemental reports on the same day in 2013 after the inspector general's office requested them -- he dated one in 2011 and the other in 2010, the report says.
Vernon Haynes never documented any investigation into three cases in which the State Police crime lab found DNA evidence, the report says. He also had two cases that were lacking files in the office.
In one case, a victim reported she was raped and her iPhone was stolen; Haynes never documented any effort to track her phone or obtain phone records.
Merrill Merricks wrote in a report that he sent a rape kit to the State Police crime lab but they found no results. But the inspector general's office reviewed State Police lab records and found the kit was never submitted. The kit had never actually moved from NOPD's evidence room.
Merricks created four supplemental reports on the same day in 2013 after the inspector general's office requested them -- he dated three in 2011 and the other in 2010, the report says.
Akron Davis was assigned 13 cases of potential sexual/physical abuse involving children in which the juvenile victims potentially were still in the same home where the alleged abuse occurred. Of those 13, 11 lacked a supplemental report. Cases in which infants were hospitalized for skull fractures, a toddler tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease and a young child complained of sexual abuse at the hands of a registered sex offender were among those identified by the New Orleans Inspector General's office as failing to get proper investigations....
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/11/nopd_sex_crimes_problems.html
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