In one case, an elderly blind man said two council carers were talking to each other over his head, leaving him feeling like “a lump of meat”. In another, a 76-year-old woman with advanced cancer was told her care worker could not prepare her a microwave meal because of “health and safety” rules.   Baroness Greengross, the commissioner responsible for the report, told The Daily Telegraph that 250,000 vulnerable pensioners in England were receiving “poor or very poor” standards of care at home…but the true figure may be far higher because many are “too frightened to complain”, she said.

The findings represent the latest scandal to hit care for elderly people in England. A series of damning inquiries by inspectors highlighted the failure of NHS hospitals to treat older patients with dignity, leaving them dehydrated and malnourished. The 115-page report estimated that half of the 500,000 people receiving home help with tasks such as washing, dressing and cooking were satisfied with the quality of their support. But “significant shortcomings” in the way councils commissioned services from private care firms and nursing agencies led to breaches of basic human rights for “hundreds of thousands” of frail pensioners, it said. The report, which gathered evidence from 1,254 individuals, local authorities, care providers and other groups in England, found:

• • Older people were not being given adequate support to eat and drink, while a shortage of time for visits meant some were suffering “neglect”.
• • Money was “systematically stolen over a period of time” in some cases.
• • Carers showed “chronic disregard for older people’s privacy and dignity”.
• • Staff were “talking over” older people, sometimes on mobile phones, or patronising them.
• • Examples of “physical abuse” included “rough handling” and “unnecessary force”.

Lady Greengross condemned “disgusting” examples of age discrimination in the way councils organised care for vulnerable elderly people. While young disabled adults were often taken out of their homes on trips, the elderly were almost always left for hours alone at home, she said.  “We are talking about a quarter of a million people who are getting either very poor or poor care. Some of them are too frightened to complain. Some of them wouldn’t know how to.” Lady Greengross warned that too often care workers were restricted by a “task-oriented” system, in which they are allocated no more than 15 minutes for a visit. This meant many pensioners were being deprived of “basic social interaction”. The commission called for a loophole in the Human Rights Act to be closed to require councils to agree human rights clauses in contracts with groups providing care workers.

Paul Burstow, the care services minister, said he would not “tolerate” poor services of home care. “I am determined to root out ageism and bad practice to drive up quality and dignity in care,” he said. The Local Government Association blamed the failures on a lack of funding for elderly care, exacerbated by Coalition cuts, and said the system needed “urgent reform”.  The charity Age UK condemned the “shameful” findings, while Liz Kendall, the shadow minister for care, said the report portrayed “a service stretched to the limit”. She urged ministers to join cross-party talks to devise a solution.

Related articles

Daily Telegraph 23/11/2011

Nursing Times 15^th Nov 2011

Safeguarding was a separate judgement in the last framework and ‘the effectiveness of safeguarding procedures’ came under leadership and management. It was also given the status of being a ‘limiting judgement’, so if a school was inadequate against this, then overall effectiveness was likely to be inadequate too.

however in the new framework, limiting judgements no longer exist and safeguarding no longer has its own section.    Instead under the leadership and management judgement in the new Ofsted framework, school leaders are required to demonstrate that they ensure that all pupils are safe. Inspectors will be looking for evidence that school leaders and managers at all levels manage safeguarding arrangements to ensure that there is safe recruitment, and that there are effective procedures in place to identify children in need or at risk of significant harm.  To qualify as ‘outstanding’ in this aspect of leadership and management, the school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils must ‘meet statutory requirements and give no cause for concern’. The same phrase is used for ‘good’ and ‘satisfactory’ schools. Schools will register as ‘inadequate’ if safeguarding arrangements do not meet statutory requirements and give serious cause for concern.

It is therefore clear that the emphasis on safeguarding has been reduced in the new evaluation schedule.

Also , under the government’s School health and safety guidance (issued in August 2011)   risk assessments do not now have to be completed for every activity. In fact, Health & Safety: Department for Education Advice on Legal Duties and Powers for Local Authorities, Head Teachers, Staff and Governing Bodies emphasises that risk assessments need not be routinely carried out or repeated for similar activities. However, an assessment should be completed for any new activity that includes an element of risk.

However it has been confirmed that the DSB will operate from both the existing sites, rather than from just one – as the Home Office had suggested  in February.   The Home Office also expects all 700 CRB staff to keep their jobs – bar some cost-cutting changes at “executive management level”.

The rethink appears to flow from a realisation that there is little duplication in the work done by the CRB and the ISA.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said he would encourage whistle-blowers to highlight any concerns they had about the standard of hospital care for the elderly.  He said: “We expect that staff across the NHS, if they see examples of poor care they blow the whistle on that, which is precisely why we have introduced changes to the staff contract.”

The inspections were ordered by Mr Lansley after several highly critical reports by campaigners, including the Patients Association.

In two cases – Sandwell General in West Bromwich and Alexandra Hospital in Worcestershire – the problems were judged to represent a major problem to patients. In the case of Sandwell, this led to the closure of the ward where there were the most problems, while a follow-up visit to the Alexandra showed measures had been put in place to rectify the issues.  At another – James Paget in Great Yarmouth – moderate problems were identified, but when a return visit was made and the issues had not been resolved the hospital was issued with a warning notice, meaning if swift improvements are not made it could face sanctions including prosecution or closure of services.  Continue reading the BBC story

Examples of poor care

• “The patient constantly called out for help and rattled the bedrail as staff passed by… 25 minutes passed before this patient received attention.”
• “We saw a staff member taking a female patient to the toilet. The patient’s clothing was above their knees and exposed their underwear.”
• “Nobody was routinely offered hand-washing before or after their meals and hand gel was not within easy reach.”
• “Two members of staff who were assisting people with their meals at the time were having a conversation between themselves.”
• “The person did not have any assistance and the food was left on their table for over half an hour before they were assisted to eat.”
• During the inspections, the regulator identified a series of common problems: These included call bells being placed out of the reach of patients, staff speaking in a condescending or dismissive way and curtains not being closed properly.
• In terms of nutrition, some people who were judged to need help eating were not getting it, while interruptions meant that not all meals were being finished by patients.
• The regulator also said that in too many cases patients were not able to clean their hands before meals.

Response to Report

CQC chair Dame Jo Williams said: “The fact that over half of hospitals were falling short to some degree in the basic care they provided to elderly people is truly alarming and deeply disappointing. This report must result in action.”

Michelle Mitchell, charity director of Age UK, agreed. “This shows shocking complacency on the part of those hospitals towards an essential part of good healthcare and there are no excuses.”

Janet Davies, of the Royal College of Nursing, accepted there could be “no excuse”, but added the squeeze in finances was making it harder to keep standards high on wards. “Evidence shows that patient safety and quality of care is improved when you have the right numbers and the right skills in place on wards,” she added.

Child-sex offenders released from jail or given community service will be able to phone up if they fear a relapse or need other guidance. But they must first have agreed to sign up to the scheme, which will see them given a unique PIN number to identify them.  The phone counsellors will also reserve the right to call police.

Although it was bracing for a backlash over the service, the NSPCC’s John Cameron insisted, “It could save lives.” “There are people out there who need help, and children who need safeguarding,” he added. “It is not a soft option.”  The Ministry of Justice – which is backing the scheme – and the Department of Education stressed that the hotline was not costing taxpayers anything.

Fears that barred people will still be able to work with vulnerable groups have resurfaced following a Freedom of Information request to the ISA

In July, a report by the Child Protection All Party Parliamentary Group concluded that the government must act to prevent changes to vetting and barring procedures in the Protection of Freedoms Bill that could allow unsuitable people to work with children.  However under the proposed legislation currently going through parliament, people will only be eligible for disclosures if they have ‘unsupervised’ contact with children.  And another proposed change means that, in future, the person must have committed the serious offence and the ISA or Secretary of State must have reason to believe they have worked in, are working in or may work in a regulated activity.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority  information showed that 36 people were suspected of applying to work with children between 1 May 2010 and 10 August 2011 while barred.  However the ISA’s annual report for 2010/11 also shows it had provided evidence to the police in relation to 215 people who tried to gain employment with children or vulnerable adults while barred.   Campaigners fear the numbers of cases detected and pursued by police represent the tip of the iceberg because as of 31 March 2011, there were 35,654 people on the children’s barred list. This represents a 66 per cent rise on the figure for 31 March 2010 of 21,419.  The true figure for offences committed could be far higher as individual police forces do not routinely inform the ISA of all cases where a person has engaged, or attempted to engage, in regulated activity. 

 Following a Freedom of Information request to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) made by Children & Young People Now,  it has emerged that, since April 2006,  just 19 people appeared before the courts charged with a total of 21 offences related to working with children while on the barred list.    Of those 19, only 9 were recorded as being convicted of the offence, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence. For the latest year available, April 2010 to March 2011, 6 charges proceeded to court against 4 people.

Jan Cosgrove, National Secretary of Fair Play for Children, said: “The government must consider urgently the implications of these figures. There needs to be a mandatory reporting system to the minister and the Association of Chief Police Officers, which tracks these issues, one based on centrally decided criteria that should determine when and how police forces must inform the ISA of such attempted breaches.”  He added: “The misguided proposal in the Protection of Freedoms Bill needs a complete rethink. The one thing that should inform legislators on this is the compulsive, opportunist nature of such offending. These worrying figures reinforce that lesson.”

 At present, anyone who has committed certain serious offences is automatically barred.  The barred list includes all individuals who have committed sexual offences against children, as well as other specified sexual and violent offences.  Discretionary bars can be made as a result of employers or other regulatory bodies referring relevant safeguarding information to the ISA, a key change introduced in the wake of the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by Ian Huntley in Soham in 2002. The ISA made 517 such discretionary bars in 2010/11.  

BBC News highlights that the new legislation of  The Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act, which has now come into effect means police forces, the MoD, UK Border Agency and private firms managing people held in custody can be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter. Corporations can already be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter or for the equivalent offence (corporate homicide) in Scotland.  The extension of these offences to public bodies involved in detention means they could be prosecuted if they failed to ensure the safety of someone in their care.  Examples could include deaths during an immigration removal or when someone has been restrained using an unauthorised or badly taught body hold.

The law does not cover incidents abroad, such as where someone dies in the custody of British forces. However, British nationals can be convicted of causing a death through gross negligence, even if the fatality occurred overseas.  The provisions are not retrospective, meaning the law could not apply to cases such as Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan man who died during his deportation in October 2010.

Under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act of 2006, priosoners were included as ‘vulnerable adults’.  However the Protection of Freedoms Bill will remove this status when it becomes law.

 Case study: Mikey Powell:

In 2003, Mikey Powell suffocated while being transported in a West Midlands police van. Ten police officers were cleared at trial and the force said lessons had been learned. Mr Powell’s cousin, Tippa Naphtali, has welcomed the changes.  “Until now, families like ours could only prosecute or pursue the individual officers involved in a death in custody,” he says.  ”If that was the situation in Mikey’s case, we would have the opportunity to hold the institution accountable. Now that this has become law, senior police officers will be a lot more careful about how prisoners are treated.   ”I believe it will curtail the behaviour of certain officers and officials and we should see a massive reduction in deaths in custody. The institution itself can no longer hide behind crown immunity.”

 Jonathan Grimes, a health and safety lawyer with Kingsley Napley, said: “Existing law already allows a criminal prosecution of police officers, prison officers or others responsible for detaining members of the public, following a death in custody, where negligence on the part of these individuals can be proven to have contributed to the death. “The Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act is about holding an organisation to account where its negligence causes a death.  ”As such the change is to be welcomed, not least since it may focus custody-providing organisations on ways they can ensure the safety of those they are responsible for detaining.”  

Inquest, a campaign group, said that since 1990, juries had returned 12 verdicts of unlawful deaths in custody at coroner’s inquests – but there had been no successful prosecutions.  Helen Shaw, co-director of Inquest, said: “While not all deaths in custody are a result of grossly negligent management failings that would lead to consideration of a corporate manslaughter prosecution, many of Inquest’s cases have revealed a catalogue of failings in the treatment and care of vulnerable people in custody.  ”The new provisions provide a new avenue to address these problems and will hopefully have a deterrent effect, preventing future deaths and could also have a key role in maintaining confidence in public bodies by addressing the accountability gap that currently exists following a death in custody.”

The tender notice in the Official Journal of the European Union says the contract will last for eight years and is valued at between £250m and £350m.  As yet there is no firm date for the new service to come into effect. A Home Office briefing on the protection and freedoms bill says that timescales will be finalised when the bill receives royal assent, which is now expected to be in mid-2012.

Meanwhile The Criminal Records Bureau has requested that the Capita Group Plc continues providing its Disclosure Service under a PPP agreement for a further 12 months from the end of March 2012 until March 2013.

THe new Disclosure and Barring Service will undertake the following roles :

• receipt and processing of referrals for a barring decision,
• handling applications for disclosure,
• workflow management,
• customer and registration services,
• the issuing of certificates,
• payment services
• running a call centre.

All of the services will have to be accessible through the Home Office’s desktops and infrastructure platform.

Case Study – Wokingham Borough Council

For instance, 118 paid staff were accused of abusing vulnerable adults in Wokingham Borough Council last year, but only 14 were disciplined.  Furthermore referrals to Wokingham Borough Council have increased by 80 per cent to 380 people over the last 12 months. Of these 380 people, 192 were elderly and 152 had a learning disability.

 Under the Protection of Freedoms Bill, they  would only be entitled to a ’Standard’ CRB check which only includes convictions, cautions and reprimands, and would not show if they were barred from working with children or vulnerable adults.   Transport for London, the capital’s licensing authority, rejected 240 drivers between 2002 and 2008 after enhanced checks uncovered incidents of rape, terrorist activities, organised crime and drug dealing. They say these incidents would have been missed by less rigorous checks.

 In a letter to the Home Secretary, Teresa May, last month the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, called the move “incomprehensible”. Mr Johnson, who is at loggerheads with the Government on a number of key policies including police cuts, told Ms May that enhanced checks were necessary to protect people from “robbery, assault or worse”.   In one case – outside London – an applicant was found to have been arrested for “grooming” a 14-year-old girl with learning difficulties. He had sent her nude photographs of himself and police found child pornography on his laptop. The case never reached court and so would have been missed by a standard CRB check.

 Jo Walker, from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said the move would undermine campaigns encouraging people, especially women, to use only licensed cabs because they were safer. “This will compromise the safety of passengers as taxi drivers can pick up vulnerable children and adults at any time, and you don’t get much more vulnerable than Saturday night partygoers. I can’t think of any reason for this change apart from financial reasons.” 

 In an attempt to reduce the number of people undergoing criminal checks, the Home Office appears to have altered its interpretation of the law which states that enhanced checks should be carried out on people working with vulnerable adults and children. Taxi drivers are not on list of occupations in the Police Act 1997 but have long been subject to the most stringent measures.  It is believed that TFL and councils across the country have ignored Home Office instructions, circulated in May, to stop submitting enhanced checks because they fear it will compromise public safety.  A Home Office spokesperson said unnecessary checks were clogging up the system, and stressed that the law had not changed.

The Local Government Association is lobbying the Home Office for a re-think. It says the proposals are particularly surprising given several recent high-profile criminal cases, including cabbie John Worboys, who was convicted of 12 sexual assaults in 2009.  Henri Murison from Newcastle City Council said councils should be left to decide what was best for their communities. “No one is complaining about this,” he said. “I never found a single taxi driver who doesn’t support enhanced checks.”

Edwin Poots,The Northern Ireland Health Minister is looking into creating new policy to ensure the protection of vulnerable adults in care.  His announcement of a review of the system came after the number of people alleging abuse against vulnerable adults was revealed to be 1,184 referrals to health trusts in 2009-2010, the last year for which there is accurate data.  Of these 1,184 referrals almost two-thirds, 750, were considered serious enough for a protection plan to be put in place.

Responsibility for child protection falls to the department of health and the five health and social care trusts who are individually responsible for providing residential care services to children and young people within their areas.

There were also 1,271 child protection referrals for the quarter ending 31 March 2011, which was almost 20% higher compared with both the previous quarter and the same quarter in 2010.

When complaints are considered serious enough for a protection plan to be implemented, the matter is handed over to the police and the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) to investigate.  So far it has not been possible to ascertain how many of these alleged abuses ended up on court or with a criminal conviction. The PSNI turned down a Freedom of Information request on the subject saying it exceeded the “appropriate costs limit”. Another re-worded request has been tabled.

The extent of the number of concerns raised over vulnerable adults in care came to light following the story of a 15-year-old girl whose family allege she was mistreated while in respite care.  

Her father Dermod told the BBC that he hopes she dies before him so she will not have to go back into care.  Katie has a rare chromosome abnormality, meaning she has a mental age of around three and is in need of constant care. She is 15 now but in just three years will be classified as a vulnerable adult and become part of that care system.

The Welsh Government is sending in a team to monitor Pembrokeshire Council after the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) and school inspections body Estyn identified 25 cases of alleged child abuse in the education services.  The investigation was triggered by the case of primary school head teacher David Thorley, who was jailed in 2009 for sex assaults on children in his care.  (Details of that case from BBC: Sex assault head teacher jailed).  The report criticised the council for its “wholly unacceptable” handling of the child abuse allegations.

The damning conclusions of both reports are likely to bring the overall standards of education in Wales under further scrutiny.  Concern about the state of education in Wales was prompted in November by the findings of Pisa (Programme on International Student Assessment) that 15-year-olds in Wales were lagging well behind the rest of the UK and a number of eastern European nations.

Date: Thursday 6th October 2011 (full day) (- date may change)

Location: Bisham Abbey, Marlow, SL7 1RR

Cost: £110 plus VAT before 15th Sept,   £150 plus vat after 15th Sept  – includes refreshments only

Reserve your place by contacting us now for invoicing / payment details and further information

Content:  

Managing complaints or concerns about safeguarding issues is one area that every organisation that works with children or vulnerable adults  will at some stage have to manage. Most cases are very straight forward, but without the necessary understanding or knowledge,  managing such information and ensuring correct procedures are followed can be quite difficult. For sports organisations, the process is further complicated by the number of volunteers involved.

This one day conference will to take you through the whole management of a child or vulnerable adult protection concern through to a Disciplinary Hearing at a very practical level.  It will include the following:

•  How to handle the vital first stages of a complaint or concern
•  How to investigate a complaint/concern – including interviews and recording
•  Case Management handling
•  Interim suspensions and legal issues
•  How to undertake Disciplinary action
•  The Disciplinary Hearing process
•  Sanctions and outcomes, including for volunteers.

 Who should attend:

•  Child Protection Officers in Sports organisations
•  Disciplinary Officers of NGBs
• Local Safeguarding Board members
•  HR Managers in larger sports facilities
• CRB Officers in Local Authorities responsible for Sport & Leisure Services
• Chief Executives & Board Members responsible for Child protection best practice 

Facilitator & speakers

The workshop will be led by Mark Williams Thomas, supported by other specialists in the field of child protection in Sport

Moore was a senior support worker at the facility between 2005 and 2008, where she helped four adults with learning difficulties, controlling their financial affairs, taking money out of their accounts and paying outgoings.

It was after Moore had left the position and moved to Somerset that the deception came to light in June 2010 and she was arrested and interviewed by police in Minehead.  Prosecutor Hywel Hughes said CPI Care found unexplained cash deposits made by Moore, with the overall loss greater than £5,670, but this is the amount that was provable.

In interview, Moore told officers she struggles with figures and made up sheets to make cash tally, while Mr Hughes said she made withdrawals to pay off her own debts.

Judge David Morris called it a “tragedy” that someone of Moore’s intelligence and background was in front of him for him for such offences. He said she had breached a position of trust repeatedly and gave her concurrent terms of 14 months for each offence.  DC Sarah Garland of Gwent Police’s protection of vulnerable adults team said: “She had a position of trust helping people live independent lives. She abused this position, so a custodial sentence is fair.

The Guidance was commissioned by the Department of Health, and highlights the legislation in place to protect people if they choose to speak out about possible neglect.  Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA’s Medical Ethics Committee, noted that the guidance is there to support doctors and understand which adults have the capacity to protect their own interests.  “The way doctors deal with these possible situations demonstrates how complex caring for vulnerable adults can be. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution,” he added.

GPs should be alert to identifying abusers, spotting systemic healthcare failures and recognising signs of neglect, ranging from physical and mental abuse to financial exploitation.  Whistle-blowing may involve providing information to the media or MPs. and the individual is protected as long as it is reasonable, not made for gain and meets the following conditions:

• Whistle-blowers reasonably believe they would be victimised if they raised the matter internally or with a prescribed regulator
• They believe a cover-up is likely and there is no prescribed regulator
• They have already raised the matter internally or with a prescribed regulator.’

A poll of 290 GPs, carried out by Pulse in July 2011, found that 41% believe one or more of their patients has been subjected to abuse.

At the same time, the committee has accused the General Medical Council (GMC) of putting people at risk by not stamping out sub-standard practices in the health service. In a report the committee said: “Some of the decisions made by fitness-to-practise panels of the GMC defy logic and go against the core task of the GMC in maintaining the confidence of its stakeholders. Furthermore, they put the public at risk of poor medical practice.”

Dorrell said: “Every practising doctor and nurse knows that in addition to their obligation to care for their patients, they have an obligation as professionals to report to their professional body any concerns they have about the quality of care being delivered by their colleagues as a result of what they know or should have known.

“This wider responsibility for the overall quality of care delivered to patients is a part of what it means to be a professional, and we look to the GMC and the NMC [Nursing and Midwifery Council] to ensure that failure to act on it is regarded as a serious breach of professional obligation.”

Dorrell told The Independent: “The committee will look into whistleblowers. It is every professional’s business to ensure that clinical care where they work is of a certain standard. Like Sir Ian Kennedy said after the Bristol babies inquiry: ‘It wasn’t that nobody knew, it was that everybody knew.’ Every doctor and nurse has an obligation to act if they know there is a problem and those who do nothing should be questioned by their regulator; it would soon stop this kind of thing.”

And Peter Walsh, the chief executive of patient-safety charity Action against Medical Accidents, said: “The government’s approach to whistleblowers is totally inadequate. We have fine words and guidance in abundance but NHS organisations have shown a consistent ability to work outside the spirit of these well-intended measures, and regulators seem to stand by when organisations blatantly flout them.”

The committee will also look at tightening up standards of care for the elderly and to look at the situation of nurses and doctors from the European Union being allowed to work in the UK without their medical skills or their grasp of English being checked.

• All organisations must create working cultures where abuse is unacceptable and clear polices and procedures are in place to report abuse and wrongdoing. 
• It is vital that individuals working in adult social care have the right attitude to work with vulnerable adults and that they are trained in safeguarding and managing challenging behaviour   
• Robust and rigorous recruitment procedures are essential.    
• Specific on-the-job training should be regularly assessed and refreshed. 
• Staff must have relevant and specific knowledge of the disabilities they are dealing with to help support individuals appropriately.

Commenting, Carol Povey, Director of NAS Centre for Autism, said: “It is completely unacceptable that any form of abuse by support staff takes place in any care service. It is deeply distressing that these vulnerable adults have been treated so diabolically and the strength of support for urgent action is palpable. In less than two weeks the NAS received over 10,000 signatures to the petition.

Under the SVGA, prisoners would have been considered as vulnerable adults and prison officer’s roles would have been ’regulated activity’.  With the new Protection of Freedoms legislation this group have been discounted, so despite the conviction, there is no legal reason that these officers could not work in similar positions of trust with children and other vulnerable groups.  It highlights how the new world of safeguarding will add to the need for new approaches to identifying unsuitable staff .

Russell Thorne, 41, of Sutton, London, had the relationship at Downview women’s prison, from 2006 to 2010.  During the trial, jurors heard Thorne, of Sinclair Drive, demanded the frightened inmate perform a sex act on him, telling her “it’s an order”. The court heard the woman fell in love with the prison officer but also felt she had to comply with his demands for fear of losing perks that came out of their relationship. She told the court contraception was not used but she was paranoid she might end up pregnant, and Thorne provided her with laxatives in an attempt to prevent this.

Co-defendant Simon Dykes, 45, of Woking, Surrey, was cleared of three out of six misconduct charges he faced. Verdicts are awaited on three counts.  These related to allegations of sex acts with six women at the jail. Four accused him of sleeping with them and two others claimed he touched one of them and masturbated outside the other’s cell.  The defendant, who was previously in the Army and had also been a fireman, said such behaviour would have been “professional suicide”.

 Det Insp Jo Sidaway, from Surrey Police, said: “I hope that this result brings confidence that those entrusted with the care of vulnerable women will be brought to justice if they abuse their position.

Mick Moran, head of child protection at the international police agency Interpol told Newsnight that simply prosecuting those who download images of child sex abuse is not enough.  He said that the images need to be sent to a central point where they can be analysed to look for clues to identify the children, but that is not happening in the UK. Mr Moran said some police officers are “forgetting the fact that each of these images, each of these movies, contains a victim”.

In the UK different police forces currently have various systems and different databases. Some have their own victim identification units.  However it could be another 18 months before a national system is introduced.  Although millions of images of child sex abuse have been collected only 47 cases were passed on to Ceop by the UK’s 52 police forces in 2010 – less than one per force.   In the cases which were passed to them Ceop helped rescue 22 victims.

Mick Moran and Mark Williams Thomas have been invited to National Conference on Safeguarding on the Internet , 16th November, Reading.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/9532058.stm

Now, as men in their fifties and sixties, and strengthened by the group, they want the truth to come out. Twenty two men have started legal proceedings against the Rosminian Order for compensation. They want justice, but their abusers are now elderly and the church has sought to mediate a solution.

An insight into the way in which children are manipulated by sex offenders – and also the power of the internet to draw out truth.