Air TV Interview (29th May 2023

I was contacted by Rodney Hearth of Air TV International, which is a wordwide TV Channel that covers many subject, amongst them Child Abuse, which mainland TV Stations may not be able to cover in such depth. The subjects I cover in the interview include Rodney is a consumate professional who has covered many subjects,
Read more
No Comments

Home Office Respond to Final Report of Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse

Final Report The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (“IICSA”) published its final report with 20 Recommendations on 22nd October 2022. I commented on the report and the recommendations in a previous post here. The Inquiry opened in 2015. The report was the culmination of 725 witnesses during 325 days of public hearings, hearing from
Read more
No Comments

How have Police Priorities changed on child abuse since 2015?

This is a rehash of a post that I wrote in 2015 about a complaint by three politicians, Boris Johnson, Nigel Lawson, and Edwina Currie, that the police were spending too much money on historic child abuse and not enough to keep the public safe from terrorism. Note carefully which political party they come from.
Read more
No Comments

Why is Scotland ahead of England in child abuse and care?

On the Jeremy Vine Radio 2 show this week was a discussion about the recent apology given by First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon to all the mothers and children who were separated, forcibly in some cases, shortly after birth, and given up for adoption, because the child had been born out of wedlock. It
Read more
No Comments

Is anonymity something solely reserved to Victims?

Curious as I am, I thought I would look up the latest arguments on anonymity, and re-consider my views on the subject. It is an argument advanced by those accused of sex offences against children. The alleged falsely accused think it is unfair that the victim of abuse should have anonymity whereas the alleged perpetrator
Read more
No Comments

Child Sexual Abuse – what makes it happen?

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) demonstrates the scope of child sex abuse in the past, but how does it begin? The IICSA has examined not only what happened but also how it happened. Peter Garsden, a Manchester-based abuse solicitor, discusses what grooming is and what to do if you feel a child
Read more
No Comments

Jimmy Savile Netflix Documentary – what do I think?

Because I am a child abuse lawyer, watching films about abuse is like a Busman’s Holiday, and I generally don’t do it. The release of Gary Glitter from custody started me thinking about Savile, so I watched the Netflix 2 part documentary the other night, and what a revelation it was. If you have not
Read more
No Comments

Should Gary Glitter be released half way through his sentence?

8 years ago, Paul Gadd, whose stage name is Gary Glitter was given a 16 year prison sentence for abusing 3 girls. Under legislation at the time of the sentence in 2015 (The Criminal Justice Act 2003) certain prisoners have to be released once they have served half of their sentence. At one time Gadd
Read more
No Comments

How Durham v Dunn affects disclosure of records both inside and outside litigation.

When I won the case of Durham County Council v Dunn, it was a great result, but I did not realise at the time, that the Court of Appeal decision would have national implications for all local authorities defending child abuse compensation claims. It is a landmark decision that has implications not only in all
Read more
No Comments

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse publishes final report

On 20th October 2022 IICSA (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse) published its final report which ran to over 400 pages, and included within its copious volumes 20 recommendations which have been posted online as a handy pdf file entitled “rapid reads” For those who wish to see more detail of the actual text there
Read more
3 Comments