Warning: This article contains graphic material and references to suicide

‘My daughter is covered in scars’

For more than a year, Jo* didn’t know her daughter, Mary*, was a victim of the Com (short for Community) – a sadistic network of online gangs that target young girls.

Mary was manipulated into sending self-harm and child sexual abuse content. According to Jo, it took a terrible toll on her daughter who stopped sleeping, became isolated from her friends and lost weight. Her body was also covered in scars.

Jo wants other parents to understand the risks of the Com, which the National Crime Agency describes as, an “unprecedented” threat. Her advice is to “delay access to the internet and use as many parental controls as possible.”

“‘[The Com] prey on vulnerable kids who are easier to manipulate… then start threatening them and demanding more extreme content”, she adds.

Mary would tell her mother she was watching YouTube in the middle of the night when she was communicating with members of the Com. If Jo took her devices away, she would become distressed and “threaten suicide”.

“I was so frightened of her dying that most of the time I chose to believe her,” says Jo.

“She had to be in contact around the clock or suffer the consequences.”

The abuse, which included threats being made to Mary’s family, has now stopped and police are investigating, but Jo is still scared.

“I’m still frightened when her door is closed or when she goes to the bathroom, wondering if she’s going to come back out.”

No single leader

Counter-terrorism, cybercrime and child sexual exploitation units are all involved in tackling the threat posed by the Com.

James Babbage, director general of threats at the NCA, describes the Com as a “series of different overlapping networks” without a single leader or ideological figure at the helm.

Com members are “predominantly teenage boys that share sadistic, nihilistic or misogynistic material,” says Babbage. They also engage in cybercrimes such as malware and ransomware attacks and fraud.

The NCA say they are increasingly convicting offenders from these online gangs and have a dedicated response to the threat. It has seen a six-fold increase in reports of Com-related crimes in the last two years.

“The significant thing is how much it’s grown,” says James Babbage. “We’ve seen thousands of users exchanging millions of messages around physical and sexual abuse online.”

Now, the NCA is calling on parents, teachers and medical professionals to help reduce the risk.

“It’s a fast-changing world,” says James Babbage. “But we can have conversations with the children in our lives about how they are experiencing the online world.”

He also has a message for those behind the Com.

“These offenders imagine that they can hide under the radar… [But] the longer they go on operating in this way, the more likely it is we will catch them.

“The internet has a long memory and so do we.”

“Over time, the messages got worse”

Sally’s* daughter was another suspected victim of the Com network.

“There wasn’t any self-harm in the beginning”, she says, describing the messages she discovered on her 12-year-old’s phone.

For more than a year, her daughter secretly exchanged messages with a boy. “It was like they were living a fantasy life through the conversation.”

But gradually, the texts got darker. First, they discussed mental health, and then Sally’s daughter was encouraged to share pictures of self-harm.

“The final thing was asking for nude pictures”.

When Sally finally discovered the messages, she was horrified. Her daughter still struggles to talk about what happened, and Sally believes she is still “suffering some level of trauma and a lot of shame.”

Infiltrating support groups online

The Com is international but has members based in the UK.

In January, teenager Cameron Finnigan from West Sussex was jailed for six years for offences relating to the Com. He was found guilty of possessing a terror manual, indecent images of a child, and encouraging suicide

Sky News has been given exclusive access to the NCA’s investigations into the network, including visual evidence from online conversations monitored by the agency.

Keeley*, is a cybercrime investigator, who was involved in the case of a 14-year-old convicted of offences related to the Com.

The horrific images she saw during that investigation still haunt her dreams.

“For me, it was worse reading chats because you can imagine what’s going on rather than seeing.”

Other tactics the Com use to intimidate their victims include doxxing, where personal info is gathered about a victim, and swatting – used to target mainly US victims – where fake threats are called in to police, provoking armed response units to be sent to their homes.

Keeley* shows us a screen recording of “swatting” taking place against a young girl in the US who refused to take her clothes off on camera.

Roy* is another investigator targeting offenders in the network. He describes members of the Com as mainly teenage males who “lack an offline social life and may even be socially isolated.”

“You see some sharing extreme materials around the incel ideology, animal abuse and torture, child sexual abuse material, but also racist and occultist material,” he says.

Inside The Com

To better understand how The Com operates, Sky News examined a single Telegram account, run by the administrator of a group in which graphic material was shared.

In their bio, they advertise “swatting services” for hire, letting customers pay to have police tricked into raiding homes, schools and religious buildings.

In another exchange, a user discusses self-harm. Sky News found this user was a member of 14 public Com groups on Telegram.

Ten of these groups have been deleted or deactivated by Telegram’s moderators. Four were still accessible. The topics discussed in these groups included self-harm, animal abuse and violence.

Sky News also examined more affiliated chats and channels on Telegram.

These Telegram groups contained discussion of grooming and sexual exploitation, and the sharing of graphic images of people who appeared to be victims.

Members also appeared interested in animal cruelty, with one posting an image of a crucified rat positioned next to the name of a Com subgroup written in blood.

It’s clear from the number of deleted Com groups that Sky News came across that members are adapting to counter the efforts of social media moderators.

A Com chat group on Discord, which at one time had more than a thousand members, has a header image showing people playing the online children’s game Roblox.

Sky News was able to view messages sent by members in another Com group on Discord that had 2,114 members.

It had specific channels for male and female members to post photographs of themselves.

In the main chatroom, users encouraged others to send intimate images. Rape and self-harm were frequently joked about.

Users also frequently discussed Roblox, claiming they were grooming, extorting and engaging in sexual activity with users of the site.

What the social media companies say

When approached for comment, Telegram, Discord and Roblox all told Sky News they took proactive steps to moderate harmful content on their platforms.

Telegram addressed the threat posed by The Com specifically, telling Sky News that it “removed all groups and channels linked to Com when they were discovered in February 2024.”

The company added that it “has continually monitored over the past year to ensure that Com-linked communities cannot reemerge, resulting in the removal of hundreds of groups.”

The only way to tackle this growing threat is to understand it.

“What we are seeing now is that level of hero worship applied to people who are encouraging others to do depraved things and abusing people in really reprehensible ways,” says Dr Joe Ondrak, an expert in online radicalisation.

“When that behaviour is what is garnering hero worship and emulation, that’s where the real risk is.”

“You can quite easily lose your child,” says Sally. What is needed, she says, is a “collaborative effort” involving gaming companies, schools and parents “to make sure our children are safe.”

“Try to have meaningful conversations with your children,” says James Babbage.

“The risk is we think of time spent online as safe time; it’s within the house – how can there be dangers out there? But it isn’t safe at all.”

*Names have been changed

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.

There is a “really concerning” rise in sexual violence among 14- and 15-year-olds that policymakers need to take “very seriously”, Home Office minister Jess Phillips has told Sky News.

Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, Ms Phillips, who holds the safeguarding and violence against women and girls (VAWG) portfolio, suggested that “generational progression” on feminism and the advancement of women does not appear to be continuing with her sons’ generation.

She said that “what our children are exposed to online absolutely is something that troubles me and troubles the government”, but argued that banning smartphones in schools is not necessarily the answer.

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Asked by Sky’s Sophy Ridge if she is worried about men being radicalised online in relation to how they view women, Ms Phillips replied: “If I look at the data of the growing number of sexual violence cases amongst the age group 14 and 15, as a policymaker, you have to take very seriously the growing number of cases.”

That age group are both the victims in these cases and the perpetrators.

The minister was clear that she is “very alive to not wanting to just make all boys feel like they are the problem”.

Nonetheless, she said it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that all possible measures are in place “to look at what is happening with our teenagers and make sure that we are providing the education, and also the protection and prevention”.

‘Generational progression’ has halted

More broadly, Ms Phillips said: “If you look at the data and attitudes around things like feminism and the advancement of women, there are really concerning trends.

“And I think we always thought it would just progressively get better. And it’s no comment on either my father, my husband or my sons who are all absolutely cracking men, which is what most people would say about all of the men in their lives.

“But that generational progression was the thing we expected. But we have to look at the data and the concerns and the fears amongst… whether it’s extreme violence perpetrated by teenagers, and like I’ve already said, the sexual violence figures, and really take that on board.”

Read more on Sky News:
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Ministers ‘troubled’ by what young people see online

A ban on smartphones in schools is the subject of vast debate at the moment, with shadow education secretary Laura Trott campaigning on it. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is reviewing the data around schools that have implemented a ban using their existing powers.

But Ms Phillips suggested that it is not the answer to the issue of sexual violence among teenagers.

She told Sophy Ridge: “I’m concerned about what our teenagers are exposed to and what they’re falling victim to. And if I thought that there was real evidence of them being in school, then absolutely. I would be campaigning for that.

“What our children are exposed to online absolutely is something that troubles me and troubles the government, and you cannot just say ‘ban it’.”

She added that “we have to be providing an alternative narrative for our young people”.

The minister pointed to the Online Safety Act as a key measure the government is taking to protect young people online, and went on to say that we need to be “making sure that our children are educated about things like misogyny, healthy relationships”.

Watch the full interview on Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge at 7pm.

The vast majority of suspects in domestic abuse cases where the victim has taken their own life are known to the police, according to a new report.

Over the past four years, data shows that 92% of suspects in cases of domestic abuse suicides were known to authorities – as one police chief admits “there is an awful lot” for forces and other agencies to “learn and improve” to prevent future deaths.

“I’m really concerned,” said Louisa Rolfe, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner and national police lead for domestic abuse.

She told Sky News the number of deaths in a domestic setting are a “staggering and intractable problem”.

The report for England and Wales also shows the number of people taking their own lives following domestic abuse is higher than the number of victims killed by an ex or current partner – for the second year running.

In the 12 months to March 2024, 98 people were suspected to have taken their own life following domestic abuse, while 80 people were killed by a partner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council report says.

In 79% of the suspected suicide cases, either the victim or perpetrator were known to other agencies, such as mental health services and domestic abuse specialists.

Since 2020, the most common form of death recorded in a domestic setting has become suicide following domestic abuse.

Ms Rolfe said the trend was “incredibly sad”.

“We’ve been working with other agencies and we’re really, really keen that we work together to understand how we can prevent these sad deaths… and what we might do to ensure that every victim receives the best possible response from us”, she added.

Victims ‘not being protected’

Deborah Jones runs a small domestic abuse charity in Barnsley, working with victims from across the country.

She says 90% of the women she supports have had suicidal thoughts, while a “large number” have made attempts on their life because “they just can’t see a way out”.

“Once they’ve reported something that is happening to them, they’re not being protected,” she said. “If they get referred to a service, nobody seems to want to catch them.

“They’re just being referred on to another service… being passed from pillar to post.”

Sky News joined a support session as victims talked about their experiences, where they described the “relentless torment” of their abuse.

Others said they had been “dismissed as mentally ill” and said reporting domestic abuse can be “re-traumatising”.

One woman said she was asked to recount her story “five times” in one day.

Kiena Dawes, Jessica Laverack and Kellie Sutton are three young women who took their own lives following a history of domestic abuse.

Ryan Wellings was the first defendant in England to face trial for the unlawful killing of his partner after her suicide following domestic violence.

Kiena blamed her partner for her death in a suicide note. He was cleared of her manslaughter, but sentenced to six and a half years in prison for controlling and coercive behaviour, and assault.

After the inquests into the deaths of Jessica and Kellie, coroners issued prevention of future death reports.

In Kellie’s case, the coroner said “matters of concern” included “a lack of understanding of controlling and coercive behaviour […] and the impact on victims”.

After the inquest into Jessica’s death, the coroner called for more “recognition of the link between domestic abuse and suicide”, saying “processes and policies do not seem to include this serious area to the extent that is required”.

Earlier this month, Sky News spoke to Sharon Holland, whose daughter Chloe took her own life in 2023. Sharon is urging the government to consider tougher sentences for those convicted of coercive control.

‘Difficult’ to identify coercive behaviour, detective says

At Cheshire Police headquarters, the serious case review team examines deaths that have happened in domestic settings.

The team identifies some of the factors that can lead to suicide, in order to help agencies improve their response to domestic abuse and prevent future deaths.

“Coercive and controlling behaviour is by far the highest risk indicator for domestic suicide,” said Detective Nikki Brown.

She said it can be “difficult” for authorities to identify what that behaviour looks like and said officers need to ask “direct” questions.

Another common factor is “separation”, with victims vulnerable after a relationship ends, while perpetrators can become persistent as they’ve “lost that control”.

“They just can’t let it go,” said PC Colin Charlesworth, while out on patrol doing welfare checks on victims with protection orders in place. “They’re obsessed… and want to make their lives a misery. We lock them up, send them down, they’re still doing it from prison.”

Other factors identified in the report include mental ill health, and alcohol and drug misuse.

‘Devastating’

Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls (VAWG), said “every death related to domestic abuse is a life cut short and a devastating tragedy”.

“The better we understand the links between domestic abuse and homicides, suicides, and unexpected deaths, the better equipped we are to prevent them from happening in the first place,” she added.

Ms Phillips said the policing report “rightly demands coordinated action across government, police and partner agencies to tackle these issues head on”.

“Our upcoming VAWG strategy will set out our ambition and concrete actions to strengthen our response to perpetrators and deliver on our mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade,” she said.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.