Tor's most visited hidden sites host child abuse images, Police investigating 718 cases of child abuse in Northern Ireland

Tor's most visited hidden sites host child abuse images
By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News 30 December 2014

Most traffic to sites hidden on the Tor network go to those dealing in images of child sexual abuse a study suggests. The six-month study sought to catalogue hidden services on the so-called "dark net" and work out which were the most popular.

It found lots of sites peddling illegal drugs but the most popular were those involved with abuse.
However, the researcher behind the study said it was hard to conclude that people were behind all the visits.

Tor, or The Onion Router, is an anonymising system that lets people use the web without revealing who they are or which country they are in. The anonymity offered by the network has encouraged many people to set up hidden .onion sites that offer content, services and goods that it is illegal to sell openly....

Although the number of sites dealing in images of abuse on Tor is small, traffic to them dwarfs that going to other sites, said Dr Owen. About 75% of the traffic observed in the study ended up at abuse sites, said Dr Owen....
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30637010 


Police investigating 718 cases of child abuse in Northern Ireland
And calls to local NSPCC helpline show sharp rise

524 individuals have contacted the inquiry into historical abuse.
By Adrian Rutherford – 30 December 2014

Officers are probing 718 "live" cases where the victim was aged under 18.
The figure is thought to include a number of historic allegations relating to children's care homes.

It comes as a leading charity revealed it has seen the number of calls to a specialist helpline jump by almost a quarter in the last year.

The issue of child abuse has been in the headlines throughout 2014. A State inquiry into historical abuse in Northern Ireland, chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart, opened in January. The inquiry, which has so far been contacted by 524 individuals, has already heard harrowing testimonies from victims.

And in November a report estimated that up to 145 children were at significant risk of exploitation in Northern Ireland....

The paper by Professor Kathleen Marshall revealed paramilitaries were using fear and intimidation to sexually exploit children.  It also uncovered cases involving the military, revealing that soldiers had been disciplined for smuggling girls into two different barracks in the last three years....

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) is examining allegations of child abuse in children's homes and other residential institutions between 1922 and 1995. It is the biggest child abuse public inquiry ever held in the UK, having been contacted by 524 people who said they were abused in childhood. Most complainants are from the UK, 65 are from Australia and 26 from the Irish Republic.

The HIA inquiry was set up by the First and Deputy First Minister in May 2012. Its aim is to establish if there were "systemic failings by institutions or the state in their duties towards those children in their care".
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/child-abuse-media-coverage-of-highprofile-cases-has-given-more-children-courage-to-seek-help-30869078.html 

Pedophile who ran children's homes, Victim trafficked to more than 200 men, Could be between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK

John Allen jailed for child abuse at Wrexham care homes  
1 December 2014
A paedophile who ran children's homes in Wrexham has been jailed for life for sexually assaulting youngsters in a campaign of abuse spanning decades.

John Allen, 73, of Needham Market, Suffolk, had denied 40 counts of sex abuse against 19 boys and one girl in the late 1960s up to the early 1990s.

He was sentenced at Mold Crown Court on Monday after being convicted of 33 charges last week.

The judge ordered Allen must serve a minimum of 11 years in jail....

He set up the Bryn Alyn Community, which was to become one of the UK's largest providers of residential care, providing accommodation for children sent from about a dozen local authorities.

During the trial, which began in early October, the jury was told of Allen's previous conviction in 1995 for six counts of indecent assault involving repeated abuse of six boys dating from the 1970s....

In an interview with BBC Wales, he explained how Allen had groomed him and gave him gifts before he abused him.

During sentencing, Mr Justice Openshaw said that the system of supervising and monitoring of Bryn Alyn was at the time wholly inadequate, boys did not complain because they knew it was quite pointless to do so, and that "gave the defendant the belief that he was untouchable".

He went on to say that there was a common theme of Allen targeting boys who were more susceptible to grooming with payments and presents given as "inducements" or to "keep them quiet"....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-30268731 


Sexual exploitation victim 'trafficked to more than 200 men'  
29 November 2014
A woman says she was trafficked to more than 200 men for sex from the age of 14.

The victim from Shropshire, who wanted to remain anonymous, told BBC WM most attacks happened in Stratford Road and Ladypool Road in Birmingham....

Earlier this week a Birmingham City Council report said at least 132 children in the city were suffering from or were vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

The anonymous victim said she was taken to locations across Shropshire and the West Midlands.

She said she met the traffickers through a group of younger men who would take her to cafes to meet customers and discuss payments.

She said the men who abused here were generally older - the oldest was in his 80s - and that if she did not comply with the traffickers' demands, she was beaten with a metal bar or belt....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-30241996


Slavery levels in UK 'higher than thought'   29 November 2014
There could be between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK, higher than previous figures, analysis for the Home Office suggests.

Modern slavery victims are said to include women forced into prostitution, "imprisoned" domestic staff and workers in fields, factories and fishing boats.

The figure for 2013 is the first time the government has made an official estimate of the scale of the problem....

Data from the National Crime Agency's (NCA) Human Trafficking Centre last year put the number of slavery victims in the UK at 2,744....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30255084 

Wales child abuse: Report finds evidence of 140 allegations - Operation Pallial, A Child Without Dreams, Teen dies after being 'beaten' at camp that 'makes men out of boys', Why Christie Blatchford Is Wrong About My Daughter Rehtaeh

Wales child abuse: Report finds evidence of 140 allegations   29 April 2013
An independent investigation examining claims of historical child abuse at children's homes in north Wales has found "significant evidence of systemic and serious sexual and physical abuse".

Investigators in Operation Pallial have found evidence of 140 allegations of historical abuse between 1963 and 1992. Seventy six new complainants have also come forward and 84 suspected offenders been identified.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22339417


Wales child abuse: Operation Pallial inquiry finds evidence of 140 claims  29 April 2013

An independent investigation examining claims of historical child abuse at children's homes in north Wales has found "significant evidence of systemic and serious sexual and physical abuse".

Investigators in Operation Pallial have found evidence of 140 allegations of historical abuse between 1963 and 1992. Seventy six new complainants have also come forward.
The claims centre on 18 homes involving offences against boys and girls aged between seven and 19.  A total of 84 suspected offenders have been named - 75 male and nine female. Of these, 16 have been named by more than one complainant....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-22306588


A Child Without Dreams
Marian Wright Edelman  President, Children's Defense Fund 04/26/2013

Every day four children in America are killed by abuse or neglect.  More than 750,000 children are abused or neglected each year.  Even when children survive or after physical scars heal, the emotional damage left by child abuse and neglect can last a lifetime just as the post traumatic stress left by gun violence leaves deep scars in countless children.

Joseph Miles has essentially been on his own since he was 13 years old -- the year his mother tried to kill him.  Until then, he would say, he cried for love.  After that he gave up on hoping ever to find it.  Today Joseph is in his forties and has been incarcerated since he was 28.  When he came to prison he couldn’t read or write. It was only recently that Joseph realized he missed out on something crucial besides love in early childhood:  he didn’t even know he should have had dreams until it was much too late.... 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/a-child-without-dreams_b_3165763.html 


Teen dies after being 'beaten' at camp that 'makes men out of boys'
A 15-year-old South African boy died after he was kept chained to his bed, beaten with planks and hoses at a training camp that boasted of "making men" out of its young recruits, a court has heard.   By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg  24 Apr 2013

Raymond Buys, who had learning difficulties, was admitted to hospital and put on life support two months into a three-month training course run by Alex de Koker's Echo Wild Game Rangers in the bush an hour south of Johannesburg.

He was severely emaciated and dehydrated, had brain damage, a broken arm and bruises, and cigarette burns all over his body. His mother was told that the chances of him surviving were "virtually zero". He died two weeks later.

"I sent my son on this course to make him a better man, to give him a better future," Wilma Buys told The Daily Telegraph. "I trusted Alex de Koker with his life."

Mr de Koker, 49, and employee Michael Erasmus, 20, are currently on trial for charges of murder, child abuse and neglect, along with two cases of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm in relation to Mr Buys' death.

His death is alleged to have been the third among the mainly Afrikaans children who attended the R22,000 (£1,500) courses run by Mr de Koker, who was reportedly a member of murdered white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche's Iron Guards movement.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/10015978/Teen-dies-after-being-beaten-at-camp-that-makes-men-out-of-boys.html


Why Christie Blatchford Is Wrong About My Daughter Rehtaeh - Father of Rehtaeh Parsons
Glen Canning 04/26/2013

This morning I woke up and read an article in the National Post about Rehtaeh's case. I'm not upset or mad. A little disappointed maybe. The writer, Christie Blatchford, makes a few statements I would like to address....

"What they had was a complainant whose evidence was all over the map..." Rehtaeh was intoxicated at the time and she has always stated she couldn't remember much of what happened. What she did say was all over the map and that is exactly what one should expect it to be from a 15-year-old girl who remembers very little but is being swamped at school and online with slut stories about what took place.

"...independent evidence that supported the notion that any sex was consensual, and no evidence that Rehtaeh was so drunk that she couldn't consent:" The two boys involved in taking and posing for the photograph stated Rehtaeh was throwing up when they had sex with her. That is not called consensual sex. That is called rape. They also stated they had to get her dressed when they were finished. She was passed out. That is the story they told to anyone at Rehtaeh's school who would listen. That is their account of what happened. There are numerous people who heard that and shared that. No evidence she was so drunk that she couldn't consent? How drunk does someone have to be? Drunk enough to get sick or drunk enough to not remember?....
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/glen-canning/rehtaeh-parsons-christie-blatchford_b_3164434.html