Webcam sex abuse 'established reality', Mental health care 'insufficient for abused children'

Mental health care 'insufficient for abused children'
27 January 2016   UK
Nearly all health professionals believe there are not enough mental health services for children who have suffered sexual abuse, a survey has suggested.

The NSPCC surveyed 1,256 people in the UK, including psychologists, teachers, GPs and social workers, and 96% said there was insufficient help.

Just over half blamed waiting lists, and 78% said accessing help had become more difficult in the last five years.

The government says an extra £1.4bn is being spent to improve the situation.

NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said the situation "shames the nation" and called for better access to therapy.

The charity says abused children often have to develop chronic mental health problems, be suicidal or self-harming before services become available to them.

It found that in many cases children have to wait more than five months to get specialist support.... http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35413456


Webcam sex abuse 'established reality' in the UK
By Angus Crawford BBC News  26 January 2016  UK
Paedophile Trevor Monk paid for the live streaming of child abuse from the Philippines and then travelled there to carry out the abuse himself. His case represents a growing problem of British men ordering abuse over the internet.

A webcam and an internet connection was all Monk needed to carry out a catalogue of abuse on children as young as eight years old.

Having arranged "facilitators" to co-ordinate from Manila, the 47-year-old transferred money in exchange for young girls performing sex acts in front of a computer.

Watching the live stream from his home in Erith, south-east London, Monk later went a step further and travelled to the Philippines where he abused at least nine young girls in person. He is also known to have travelled to Thailand.

Police and charities are concerned this type of abuse is a growing trend, made easier by the amount of untraceable messaging services now available.

Typically offenders like Monk use social media or live pornography sites to make contact - either with a family or a pimp.

They then pay as little as £15 via international transfer and are allowed to direct the abuse over the internet.

But this case also reveals just how much money can be involved. Over a four year period between 2010 and 2014 Monk paid out more than £14,000 to pay for what he called "shows", transferring the money in small amounts via Western Union....

Two years ago, I travelled to the Philippines to observe the effects of this global crime on the local population.
The BBC found in 2014 that the abuse took place in slum areas in the Philippines

I met children as young as five who had been sexually assaulted by their own parents - paid to do so by sex offenders in Europe.

During visits to slums in Cebu City in the south of the country, I saw that whole areas had been taken over by the trade.

Police took me to a house where children would be brought by their relatives to take part in the live streaming.

I was told that it had become "a cottage industry".... http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35384504

Two of Bill Cosby's accusers join push to have entire deposition unsealed, Vatican delays trial of pope's ex-diplomat accused of child porn, pedophilia, Only Half of Abused Children Evaluated for Occult Fracture

Two of Bill Cosby's accusers join push to have entire deposition unsealed

Beth Ferrier and Rebecca Lynn Neal, ‘Jane Does’ in the 2005 case, join motion as Neal also spoke out against National Enquirer for pulling an interview with her

Nicky Woolf

Monday 13 July 2015

Two more of Bill Cosby’s accusers have joined a motion to have the whole of a deposition unsealed from a 2005 case in which the former comedian testified to having given a woman the sedative quaaludes before having sex with her.

Bill Cosby's defenders split after revelation comedian drugged women

One of them has also attacked the National Enquirer for allegedly suppressing a 2005 interview with her in exchange for an exclusive from Cosby about his daughter’s drug use.

Beth Ferrier and Rebecca Lynn Neal were unidentified witnesses – known as “Jane Does” – in a 2005 case in which Cosby was sued by Andrea Constand, the first of more than two dozen women to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the comedian.

Last week a judge granted a motion by the Associated Press to unseal part of Cosby’s deposition. Constand has now been joined by Ferrier and Neal in a motion to have the rest of the deposition, which has so far been barred from public view, unsealed.

In a statement Gloria Allred, the lawyer representing both Ferrier and Neal, said she was concerned the partial testimony, “if believed”, would cause reputational damage to her clients.

....“The National Enquirer, more than any other publication, was unflinching in our aggressive coverage of allegations against Mr Cosby beginning in 2000 when everyone else avoided the story,” a spokesman told the Wrap. “We continue to remain aggressive in our reporting today and stand by the integrity of our coverage of this story which we have taken the lead on for more than a decade.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/13/bill-cosby-deposition-quaaludes-motion-unseal


Only Half of Abused Children Evaluated for Occult Fracture
Jenni Laidman   July 13, 2015

Despite some 20 years of recommendations to perform a skeletal survey on infants and toddlers with injuries associated with abuse, hospital personnel failed to conduct such surveys in roughly half of suspected abuse cases, according to results from a study published online July 13 in Pediatrics.

Joanne N. Wood, MD, MSHP, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues examined data from 4486 children younger than 2 years with a diagnosis of abuse or injuries often associated with abuse at 366 hospitals from 2009 to 2013.

The study indicated that 48% of children with an abuse diagnosis and 51% of infants with traumatic
brain injury were evaluated with a skeletal survey for occult fracture. Only 53% of infants with femur fractures were examined for further fractures, the researchers found.

Previous studies suggest that skeletal surveys would have revealed occult fractures in approximately 25% to 30% of the children in the study, which means about 1 in every 7 or 8 children might have had an undiagnosed occult fracture, the authors report....

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/847835
 

Vatican delays trial of pope's ex-diplomat accused of child porn, pedophilia
By Faith Karimi, Delia Gallagher and Hada Messia, CNN
Sat July 11, 2015
CNN)A former papal ambassador accused of sexually abusing minors has been hospitalized in an intensive care unit -- pushing back his trial once set to start Saturday in Vatican City.

Jozef Wesolowski, 66, was under house arrest in Vatican City when he fell ill Friday night and was rushed to a public hospital.

A judge held a short hearing and adjourned Wesolowski's trial to a yet undetermined date, the Vatican Press Office said. It did not provide any details on his condition.

Wesolowski, 66, is the highest-ranking Catholic official arrested for alleged sexual abuse of minors.

In addition to sexual abuse allegations, he is accused of possession of child pornography during his time as papal nuncio -- or ambassador -- to the Dominican Republic. The maximum punishment for these crimes could be 9 years in prison, although sentencing is entirely at the discretion of the judges.

The Vatican, which operates as a city-state, has its own judicial system. This is the first trial on charges of sex abuse to be heard by the Vatican tribunal, which is composed of 3 lay Italian judges....

Before arriving in the Dominican Republic seven years ago, Wesolowski was nuncio to Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

He began his career as a priest in Poland in 1972, and became a bishop in 2000....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/11/europe/vatican-sex-abuse-trial/