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More than half of child sexual abuse offences recorded in 2022 were committed by other children, new figures reveal.

Police say the rise of child-on-child abuse is fuelled by access to violent pornography and smart phones.

Data from 42 police forces in England and Wales shows that a total of 106,984 child sexual abuse offences were reported in 2022, up 7.6% on the previous year and more than five times the just over 20,000 recorded in 2013.

The landmark report found 52% involved a child aged 10 to 17 as a suspect or perpetrator, up from a third in 2013.

Researchers said a four-year-old child, who uploaded an indecent image of a sibling to the internet using a smart phone, was the youngest reported to police.

Ian Critchley, the national policing lead for child abuse protection and investigation, said officers don’t want to “criminalise a generation of young people” for taking and sharing images within consensual relationships or “sexting”.

But the data shows a rise in both direct physical abuse and crimes involving indecent images.

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The most common offences committed by 10 to 17-year-olds were sexual assault on a female (15%), rape of a female under 16 (12%), and taking, making or sharing indecent images.

Mr Critchley said the predominantly “gender-based crime of boys committing offences against girls” has been “exacerbated” by the accessibility to “violent pornography” and smartphones.

“The availability and accessibility of that violent pornography has just become normalised,” he said.

“What we see is gender-based crime in relation to boys, how they are abusing and harassing and, in some cases, committing sexual assault and rape against their peers.

“The implications for victims are lifelong as they are for the child sex offender within the criminal justice system, potentially facing custodial sentences and also being on the sex offenders’ register.”

But Mr Critchley was keen to stress that the “greatest risk to children comes from adults”.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) estimates that around 830,000 adults in the UK pose a sexual threat to children.

The Independent Inquiry into child sexual abuse found that one in six girls and one in 20 boys will be abused in childhood, with many crimes thought to remain unreported.

Chloe urges victims to come forward
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Chloe urges victims to come forward

Chloe, 35, who was abused by the taxi driver who took her to and from her school in Surrey when she was aged between nine and 12, said she stayed quiet after he threatened her.

“I was incredibly vulnerable,” she told Sky News. “I didn’t tell anyone about it at the time. He gained my trust really and now I know what that was – that was grooming.”

‘Don’t be afraid’

But she is now urging victims to speak out after seeing her abuser go to prison following a call to the NSPCC helpline in 2017, when she was 29.

“Don’t be afraid. You will be believed. I know that you probably feel an enormous amount of guilt and I know that you will be scared but you don’t have to be,” she said.

The report found 73% of crimes were committed directly against children, with around a third of those involving abuse within families, while the remainder involved indecent images.

Researchers found some paedophiles are using artificial intelligence (AI) and “deep fake” technology to create indecent images of children, including using ‘nudification’ techniques on existing real pictures.

The report also highlighted the “worrying trend” of “sextortion”, where children are blackmailed with the threat of compromising images being sent to family or released on social media unless money is paid.

Mr Critchley said parents and carers need to have the “embarrassing” conversations with children before they are “violated” by sharing an image online.

‘Tidal wave’ of child sexual abuse imagery

He also called for tech companies who make “significant amounts of profits” to do more to keep children safe, criticising the use of end-to-end encryption, and stressed the importance of the Online Safety Act in holding firms to account.

“Quite frankly, I think that’s an appalling state of affairs where a company will not be able to see what’s taking place on their platforms, therefore will not be able to see what abuse is taking place, where grooming is taking place, where children are being exploited,” said Mr Critchley.

Wendy Hart, deputy director for child sexual abuse at the NCA, said: “We are now seeing hyper-realistic images and videos of abuse being created using artificial intelligence… while the rollout of end-to-end encryption by technology platforms makes it a lot more difficult for us to protect children.

“Alongside our policing partners and Ofcom, we are working closely with industry to ensure platforms have adequate safety measures designed in, and that our collective ability to tackle the threat keeps pace with technology.

“With over half of reported crimes involving child on child abuse, there has never been a greater need for education in this space.”

Susie Hargreaves, chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) charity, said there is a “tidal wave of child sexual abuse imagery involving younger and younger children every year”.

“Even after an abuser has gone to jail, the imagery remains. It is shared and requested and harvested in the darkest corners of the internet.”

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How did your MP vote on Labour’s welfare bill?

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How did your MP vote on Labour's welfare bill?

Labour’s welfare reforms bill has passed, with 335 MPs voting in favour and 260 against.

It came after the government watered down the bill earlier this evening, making a dramatic last-minute concession to the demands of would-be rebel MPs who were concerned about the damage the policy would do to disabled people.

The concessions could end up leaving the government with £5.5bn to make up from either tax rises or cuts elsewhere.

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The government has a working majority of 166, so it would have taken 84 rebels to defeat the bill.

In total, 49 Labour MPs still voted against the bill despite the concessions. No MPs from other parties voted alongside the government, although three MPs elected for Labour who have since had the whip removed did so.

Which Labour MPs rebelled?

Last week, 127 Labour MPs signed what they called a “reasoned amendment”, a letter stating their objection to the bill as it was.

The government responded with some concessions to try and win back the rebels, which was enough to convince some of them. But they were still ultimately forced to make more changes today.

In total, 68 MPs who signed the initial “reasoned amendment” eventually voted in favour of the bill.

Nine in 10 MPs elected for the first time at the 2024 general election voted with the government.

That compares with fewer than three quarters of MPs who were voted in before that.

A total of 42 Labour MPs also voted in favour of an amendment that would have stopped the bill from even going to a vote at all. That was voted down by 328 votes to 149.

How does the rebellion compare historically?

If the wording of the bill had remained unchanged and 127 MPs or more had voted against it on Tuesday, it would have been up there as one of the biggest rebellions in British parliamentary history.

As it happened, it was still higher than the largest recorded during Tony Blair’s first year as PM, when 47 of his Labour colleagues (including Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn, who also voted against the bill on Tuesday) voted no to his plan to cut benefits for single-parent families.

Follow more updates live on the Sky News Politics Hub.


The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Ryland Headley: Man, 92, who raped and murdered Louisa Dunne in Bristol nearly 60 years ago, jailed for life

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Ryland Headley: Man, 92, who raped and murdered Louisa Dunne in Bristol nearly 60 years ago, jailed for life

A 92-year-old man has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years in prison for the rape and murder of an elderly widow nearly 60 years ago.

Ryland Headley was found guilty on Monday of killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne at her Bristol home in June 1967, in what is thought to be the UK’s longest cold case to reach trial, and has been told by the judge he “will die in prison”.

The mother-of-two’s body was found by neighbours after Headley, then a 34-year-old railway worker, forced his way inside the terraced house in the Easton area before attacking her.

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The UK’s longest cold case to reach trial

Police found traces of semen and a palm print on one of the rear windows inside the house – but it was about 20 years before DNA testing.

The case remained unsolved for more than 50 years until Avon and Somerset detectives sent off items from the original investigation and found a DNA match to Headley.

He had moved to Suffolk after the murder and served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.

Prosecutors said the convictions showed he had a “tendency” to break into people’s homes at night and, in some cases, “target an elderly woman living alone, to have sex with her despite her attempts to fend him off, and to threaten violence”.

Louisa Parker (later Dunne) in 1933. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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Louisa Dunne in 1933. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Headley during his arrest. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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Headley during his arrest. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Headley, from Ipswich, who did not give evidence, denied raping and murdering Ms Dunne, but was found guilty of both charges after a trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Detectives said forces across the country are investigating whether Headley could be linked to other unsolved crimes.

Mrs Dunne’s granddaughter, Mary Dainton, who was 20 when her relative was killed, told the court that her murder “had a big impact on my mother, my aunt and her family.

“I don’t think my mother ever recovered from it. The anxiety caused by her mother’s brutal rape and murder clouded the rest of her life.

“The fact the offender wasn’t caught caused my mother to become and remain very ill.

“When people found out about the murder, they withdrew from us. In my experience, there is a stigma attached to rape and murder.”

The front of Louisa Dunne's home. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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The front of Louisa Dunne’s home. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Louisa Dunne's skirt. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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Louisa Dunne’s skirt. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Finding out her grandmother’s killer had been caught after almost six decades “turned my life upside down,” she said.

“I feel sad and very tired, which has affected the relationships I have with those close to me. I didn’t expect to deal with something of such emotional significance at this stage of my life.

“It saddens me deeply that all the people who knew and loved Louisa are not here to see that justice has been done.”

Palmprint images. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Image:
Palmprint images. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

After her statement, Mr Justice Sweeting told Mrs Dainton: “It is not easy to talk about matters like this in public.

“Thank you very much for doing it in such a clear and dignified way.”

The judge told Headley his crimes showed “a complete disregard for human life and dignity.

“Mrs Dunne was vulnerable, she was a small elderly woman living alone. You treated her as a means to an end.

“The violation of her home, her body and ultimately her life was a pitiless and cruel act by a depraved man.

“She must have experienced considerable pain and fear before her death,” he said.

Sentencing Headley to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years, the judge told him: “You will never be released, you will die in prison.”

Detective Inspector Dave Marchant of Avon and Somerset Police said Headley was “finally facing justice for the horrific crimes he committed against Louisa in 1967.

“The impact of this crime has cast a long shadow over the city and in particular Louisa’s family, who have had to deal with the sadness and trauma ever since.”

The officer praised Ms Dainton’s “resilience and courage” during what he called a “unique” case and thanked investigators from his own force, as well as South West Forensics, detectives from Suffolk Constabulary, the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

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Charlotte Ream, of the CPS, described Headley’s crimes as “appalling”.

She said Louisa Dunne “died in a horrifying attack carried out in the place where she should have felt safest – her own home.

“Mrs Dunne’s death continues to have a traumatic impact on her family members: the passage of time has not lessened their pain.

“For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the man we now know is responsible, avoided justice.”

Jeremy Benson KC, defending Headley, offered no personal mitigation on behalf of the defendant.

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Three members of Lucy Letby hospital’s senior leadership team arrested

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Three members of Lucy Letby hospital's senior leadership team arrested

Three managers at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

They were in senior roles at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016 and have been bailed pending further enquiries, Cheshire Constabulary said. Their names have not been made public.

Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the hospital’s neonatal unit.

Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes explained that gross negligent manslaughter focuses on the “action or inaction of individuals”.

There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.

That focuses on “senior leadership and their decision-making”, Mr Hughes said. The intention there is to determine whether any “criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities”.

The scope was widened to include gross negligence manslaughter in March of this year.

lucy letby
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Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more

Mr Hughes said it is “important to note” that this latest development “does not impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder”.

He added: “Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these.

“Our investigation into the deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neo-natal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital between the period of 2012 to 2016 is also ongoing.”

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A public inquiry has also been examining the hospital’s response to concerns raised about Letby before her arrest.

In May, it was announced the inquiry’s final report into how the former nurse was able to commit her crimes will now be published early next year.

Earlier this year, lawyers for Lucy Letby called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.

In February, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists told reporters that poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths.

Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.

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