Sexual and Physical Abuse Claims
What is the answer to the question? Although a blog, with a question in its title, will usually proceed to have an examination of the evidence before providing an answer, I will start with the answer and explain my reasons. I do not think we can rely on...
I may be accused of being biased and unrealistic, but I believe every victim survivor of sexual assault, whether abused as a child or assaulted when they were an adult, should receive full and fair compensation for what they were forced to endure and from...
Whatever steps are taken by government, institutions, organisations and individuals, to prevent paedophiles getting access to children and young people, paedophiles will continue to look for ways in which they can circumvent the hurdles and barriers that we...
I frequently point to the Soham tragedy of 2002 as a turning point on the issue of child protection, although changes were already in hand to improve the safeguarding of children, by undertaking a more comprehensive criminal records check of those having...
At the beginning of the lockdown, in March 2020, the pandemic brought every aspect of our lives to a stop. That included the criminal justice system, which ground to a halt. Although it was one of the first issues to be addressed by the Government, to ensure...
For well over 20 years there has been greater recognition of the crimes of paedophiles and the harm, sometimes lifelong, they can cause to children by their evil conduct. Gone are the days when society would turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the complaints of...
The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the proliferation of online child sexual abuse and the risk posed to children and young people as they engage with others across social media platforms. I have previously written about the work of the Internet Watch...
Go back a generation or so and you will find relatively little written about childhood sexual abuse. There was a time when these horrific crimes could be committed with impunity; the abusers facing little risk of being caught. Even if allegations of...
As a consequence of the murder of Sarah Everard there has been an outpouring of grief and anger. Part of that anger is directed towards politicians who have previously ignored the plight of women, failing to take steps to protect them from predatory men. The...
Over many years I have been pursuing men and women, to obtain child abuse compensation and justice for their victims. From my direct experience of helping those assaulted, and from a convicted sex offenders list , which I have compiled from media...
I have previously reported upon the increase in the number of reports of child abuse images online, during the pandemic, although we now have further shocking figures that will cause alarm to all parents. There is very helpful advice on how to keep your...
One of the terrible consequences of Covid lockdown is the reported increase in the level of domestic abuse. If there is a positive outcome to the shocking statistics that have emerged over the last year, it is the spotlight that has now been focused upon...
Much has been written about the advances in digital technology and its benefits but, perhaps, less consideration to the negatives, and to what action can be taken to stop deep fake pornography and whether compensation, financial redress, is available to...
The prevalence of domestic abuse and domestic violence has been highlighted during the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown because of the increase in the number of reported cases, the vast majority of which are from women, being abused by their male partners. It is a...
The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has been criticised for its response to claims of childhood sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has recently published a report criticising the...
First published 13 July 2020 (updated 15 October 2020) The recent disclosure by prominent gymnasts may prompt a trickle of similar complaints, although if it follows the experience in other environments, it is far more likely that the trickle will become a...
As a lawyer who specialises in helping victims of sexual assault it seems to me, over many years, that victim survivors are not dealt with fairly, are treated as inferior to the sexual offenders, and not given sufficient support. One such example is the...
Over the last six months I have talked about keeping children safe online , with the focus on protecting children. However, the NSPCC are now arguing for the technology companies to be accountable for allowing people to abuse children online, proposing...
It is a sad truth that paedophiles are drawn to environments where there are children. Although a lot of work has been carried out over the last 20 years or so to protect children and young people, unfortunately those with wicked intent, still manage to...
It takes courage and bravery to reveal you have been sexually assaulted, whether as an adult or when you were a child. It is even more of a challenge to provide a detailed account as to exactly what happened. It is therefore unsurprising that many...
Barry Bennell, a former football coach who worked at top-level English clubs, including Manchester City and Leeds United, was found guilty in February 2018 of multiple sex offences against boys he coached in the 1980s. The 64-year-old, who now goes by the...
Victims of sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse can suffer long-term mental health problems, including depression and, in the worst cases suicide. Therefore, is important that once they have felt able to talk about what has happened to them, they...
For the first few weeks following the government’s announcement of a coronavirus pandemic lockdown on 23 March 2020, not having to go to school, but staying at home, was a novelty and exciting children. Perhaps their parents too. Not...
The independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has produced an accountability and reparations report, in which it addresses the various avenues for redress and support which is currently available for the victims and survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The...
When the government announced the early closure of schools following the coronavirus outbreak, the immediate concern was that standard safeguarding procedures could be forgotten about, leaving children vulnerable to exploitation to those who would mean to do...
In a positive move for those subject to sexual assault , the Ministry of Justice announced on the 7 th of February 2020 that an increase in Government funding for victims of rape would come into effect. What is the increase in funding for treatment? ...
This is Manish Shah. He’s done no direct harm to me and I’ve never met him. However, he makes me angry. He makes me angry for what he’s done to others, to countless women (the number of which we may never know), conducting unnecessary...
The 2 nd August 2017 saw a case of alleged sexual abuse reported in the media. East London doctor, Manish Shah, a GP practicing in Romford, at the Mawney Medical Centre, was charged with sexual offences. Dr Shah was charged with counts of assault by...
Those familiar with the many of accounts of physical, sexual, emotional abuse , and neglect within Islington’s children's homes, foster homes, and adoptive homes between the 1970s and 1990s will know how seeking justice for the victims has been...
Transcript of the video: I am interested to hear from your experience of what people say to you, what devices people use to keep it within themselves so that they don't have to confront - either by talking to others or just even within...
Levi Bellfield is the notorious killer, known for the murders of Amelie Delgrange, Marshall McDonnell, the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy and the murder of Milly Dowler. Those crimes did not take place in the London Borough of Hillingdon, but Levi Bellfield...
It was once the case that following conviction of an offender, the courts would, when it came to sentencing, only take account of the nature of the offence and the individual before them. However, for many years now the courts have also taking account of the...
Transcript: Malcolm: I am Malcolm Underhill a solicitor who specialises in acting for survivors of childhood, sexual abuse. With me today is Rosemary Lamaison, who is a counsellor and is interested in a range of areas but particularly, in relation...
Transcript: I'm Malcolm Underhill a solicitor who specialises in acting for survivors of childhood sexual abuse . Much has been done in the last two years to support survivors… victims of childhood sexual abuse, but in my view, we're...
On 4 th July 2018, a former football coach for Newcastle United, George Ormond, was found guilty by Newcastle Crown Court of carrying out 36 individual acts of sexual abuse against 18 boys between 1973 and 1997 and sentenced to 20-years in jail. ...
Malcolm: I'm Malcolm Underhill, a solicitor who specialises in acting for survivors of childhood sexual abuse . With me this morning is Rosemary Lamaison , a counsellor who works with a range of clients, but is particularly interested in...
This May, the Commons health and social care and education select committees made their thoughts known on the Government's proposals to make in-roads into the growing mental health crisis affected young people. The plans, in the form of a green...
A former football coach for a number of professional clubs is on trial, accused of being “a serial abuser of young teenage boys’. Bob Higgins, 65, is being prosecuted for 50 counts of indecent assault at Salisbury Crown Court –...
Women protected from Upskirting Upskirting, now defined as ‘…the practice of taking a photograph up a person’s skirt or clothes without their consent.’ Following a public outcry the Justice Secretary, David Gauke, stated he was...
As a society, we put a great deal of trust, faith, and responsibility in the hands of charitable institutions to advocate, protect, care, and support those who are vulnerable or disabled. But that trust has been significantly eroded over the past...
Authorities in Rochdale failed in their response to evidence of child abuse, at the council-run Knowl View Residential School , a new report has found. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) report into historic abuse at the...
(Transcript of a discussion between abuse lawyer, Malcolm Underhill , and Uxbridge based psychotherapist Keeley Taverner . Keeley : I'm Keeley Taverner , I'm a psychotherapist based in the heart of Uxbridge. I help...
(Transcript of a discussion between abuse lawyer, Malcolm Underhill , and Uxbridge based psychotherapist Keeley Taverner . Keeley: So, building trust is a massive factor when I'm working with victims of sexual abuse and often...
Chichester is a beautiful and historic cathedral city located in the South-West, between the lively seaside town of Brighton, and the naval city of Portsmouth to the west. For many that have visited Chichester, and Sussex more widely, they will be...
It has been reported that more than 100 people have spoken to the Guardian newspaper about allegations of child abuse in the Jehovah Witness church. Many fear that given the size of the organisation, there may be hundreds or even thousands more victims...
The Metropolitan Police Service has abandoned its policy of automatically believing victims of sexual abuse, according to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick. Speaking to The Times , Ms Dick said that she had “rethought” the...
Idyllic Shropshire is hardly a county one would imagine a sex abuse scandal would occur in. But unfortunately, in the past ten days, there have been a disturbing amount of reports coming from Telford about a child sexual abuse ring which could...
The true scale of sexual abuse in UK boarding schools has been exposed in a new ITV documentary that has revealed hundreds of people are accused of abusing children in some of the UK’s leading private schools. The documentary, part of...
The Oxfam sex abuse scandal has taken a new turn following reports that teenage volunteers in the charity’s UK shops have been abused. The charity's former head of safeguarding, Helen Evans, revealed that staff working in Oxfam’s charity...
Islington Council has appointed a top Queen’s Counsel to investigate former Mayor Sandy Marks’ links to historic child abuse that took place in local children’s homes and the council from the 1970s through to the 1990s. Sarah Morgan QC...
Sexual harassment and bullying are “ingrained into the theatre culture” according to a new study carried out by The Stage . A poll of theatre professionals and students shows 43% have experiencing bullying and 31% have been sexually harassed...
A recent article in The Times by its chief travel writer, Stephen Bleach, has brought to the fore the terrible abuse suffered by past students at St Benedict’s in Ealing, West London [1] . At the end of November, Andrew Soper (or Father...
One of the UK’s leading independent schools – St Paul’s Girls’ School – has received claims of historic sexual abuse after asking ex-pupils to share stories of sexual harassment related to the recent popular #metoo social...
54,898 sexual offences against children recorded by the police in the UK in 2015/16 1 . In the NSPCC report “How safe are our children? The most comprehensive overview of child protection in the UK 2017” a few key findings immerged: All UK...
This paper serves as a window to the observations I have made while providing support to adult victims of child abuse over a number of years in my capacity as a psychotherapist. From the view of the therapist’s chair, the legacy of child abuse...
The community of Horsham, West Sussex is in shock after it was announced yesterday that four former teachers at Christ’s Hospital School have been charged with historic sexual abuse of pupils. The incidents took place between 1980 and 1996. Gary...
The BBC has recently reported on child abuse claims made against a Shropshire GP who died 17 years ago. [1] Hospitals, GP surgeries and medical centres are places upon which we all rely, often at times of weakness or vulnerability, when seeking...
The BBC recently covered a deeply disturbing story regarding peer-on-peer sexual abuse by school age children. According to the NSPCC, cases like this involving not only secondary aged children, but also primary schoolers, happen, “thousands...
At the beginning of April, journalist Alex Renton wrote a detailed article in the Sunday Times about the abuse he suffered at Ashdown House, the Sussex boarding school where he was placed by his parents at the age of eight [1] . He talks of being full of...
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recently released guidance to be considered by all practitioners working with children and young people under the age of 18, including social workers, healthcare professionals and lead...
It’s not OK. The law is crystal clear on this issue. Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 , any sexual relationship between someone who is in a position of trust, such as a teacher and a person to whom that trust extends, is criminal [1] . ...
Former teacher, Scout leader and father of an adopted child, Mark Frost, formally known as Andrew Tracey has been jailed for life after pleading guilty to 45 counts sexual abuse against children [1] . In one of the worst cases of sexual abuse ever to...
Nine in ten children who are abused will develop a mental illness by the time they are 18[1]. And a staggering 70-80% of female victims report that as a result of their experiences, they have engaged in (or are still engaged in) substance...
For people who have suffered sexual abuse, especially as a child , it may take years before they have the courage to tell the police about their ordeal. And in the time that passes, their abuser may have died. The classic example of this is in the...
The football sexual abuse scandal is getting worse by the day. Referrals from calls to a dedicated football abuse hotline , supported and funded by the Football Association, more than tripled the number made in the first three days of the Jimmy...
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Children (NSPCC) has warned parents that the internet can be a playground for paedophiles. The warning comes after it was revealed that counselling sessions for young people worried about...
There is no greater betrayal to a child than an abusive parent. The one person who is supposed to love and protect you, not only fails to perform this fundamental parental task, but is the deliberate cause of harm. According to the National Society...
On 4 th August 2016, the Independent Inquiry Into Child Abuse ( IIICA ) , set up by then Home Secretary, Theresa May has lost its third head in two years. Former New Zealand High Court Judge, Dame Lowell Goddard QC resigned curtly and abruptly,...
If you are in immediate danger, please call 999. Child abuse linked to exorcism and witchcraft accusations is on the rise in Britain. According to figures obtained by the BBC, The Metropolitan Police said there were 60 crimes linked to faith in London...
Put yourself in the mind of a paedophile. To commit acts that provide your main source of sexual gratification, your need two things; access to a lot of children and an environment which provides you with the time and opportunity to select the weakest...
“Sometimes when I’m alone with my baby, I think about killing him. He reminds me of the man who raped me.” [1] It is one of the biggest scandals the United Nations (UN) has faced in decades. Women and children from conflict zones...
Jimmy Saville, Rochdale, Operation Pallial. These names and many more have become familiar to all of us who read the papers, but for the survivors of abuse which took place in children’s care homes, hearing these names can bring back horrific,...
Last year Edna Slann died a miserable, painful death shortly after entering Grantley Court nursing home in Cheam, south-west London, which has now been closed by orders of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) health watchdog. Mrs Slann had led a full and...
The aftermath of sexual abuse occurring at some of Britain’s leading boarding schools has drastically affected the lives of some former students. In 2014, award-winning journalist, Alex Renton, wrote an explosive article in the Guardian...
The Metropolitan Police has warned that an increasing number of child abuse cases involving accusations of witchcraft and exorcism are being reported to police. A specialist unit in London recorded 46 alleged crimes linked to faith last year- more...
Child abuse solicitor and compensation expert, Malcolm Underhill, was interviewed on BBC 3 Counties radio to discuss the Aylesbury child abuse case. We can support you at every step of your journey towards justice, healing and recovery. Our abuse...
On 24 July 2015 six men were found guilty of various sexual offences against two school girls from Aylesbury. The criminal trial may be over, but it is never over for the victims of child sexual abuse. Treatment and support for the victims of sexual abuse ...
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