At least four children in
Northern Ireland have been sexually abused by men
they met in internet chatrooms, a BBC investigation
has revealed.
An 11-year-old girl in County Londonderry who gave
her e-mail address to a stranger was lured to a
public park and assaulted.
A 12-year-old Belfast boy was left partially clothed
in a bedroom, after being convinced he was gay.
The shocking revelations are contained in BBC Northern
Ireland's Spotlight programme following an investigation
into the dangers to children on the internet.
Some
of the online conversations have been so explicit
they amount to serious sexual abuse
Mandy McAuley
BBC NI reporter
Chief Inspector Willie McAuley, who deals with online
abuse cases, said the case of the 12-year-old boy,
was one of the worst he had encountered.
"The
parents of the young boy discovered what was
going on after they found indecent images
amongst his possessions," he said.
We did see very clearly
that the grooming process was working.
"The
young boy had every intention - through gathering
up money from his savings and making preparations
to go to London - to meet this individual."
"When
we eventually tracked down the individual
through his e-mail address we discovered it
was a 52-year-old man."
Rachael O'Connell who advises
the Home Office Internet Task Force said:
"There
are adults with a sexual interest in children,
who use chatrooms to gain access to children
to groom them, lure them, engage them in virtual
child sexual abuse and potentially then to
try to meet them offline."
For six months,
Spotlight reporter Mandy McAuley posed as
a teenager, using various names and ages from
12 to 15, in an attempt to turn the tables
on adults who prey on children.
Sickeneds
She said she was shocked and
sickened by what she had found, often physically
shaken by the sexually explicit nature of the conversations.
She said she never imagined so many men would make
sexual advances to a child and be so "brutal"
in their approach.
"Some of them had
absolutely no conscience at all," she said.
"Some of these conversations went on for hours.
"Day after day I've been approached by
scores of men. Some of the online conversations
have been so explicit they amount to serious sexual
abuse."
"An alarming number of
men were determined to arrange a face to face meeting
with a child."
One 32-year-old man who thought she was 13, sent
her e-mails, wanting her to get a pass out of school
to meet him.
Another man, claiming to be 21, said he would meet
her at a train station, take her to his house for
sex and give her money for clothes and CDs.
She said she was initially targeted in public chatrooms
but then lured into a private conversation, being
asked if she was alone and if she had a boyfriend.
Then the conversations would turn to sex.
But she said the most shocking thing was that the
parents thought the children were safe in their
bedrooms.
"They had absolutely no
idea their children were being groomed by paedophiles,"
she added.
Some predators try to groom the child, others resort
to intimidation.
New legislation being introduced, which will make
online grooming a criminal offence, is likely to
be in place in Northern Ireland by the end of the
year.
Nigel Williams, chief executive of ChildNet UK,
was shown transcripts of a conversation between
Mandy and a 33-year-old man who tried to blackmail
her.
He said he had never seen as explict a case of blackmail.
"He's really putting unfair pressure on
the young child who he thinks he is talking to.
That would be very frightening."
In March this year, the 62-year-old former acting
chief executive of the Ulster-Scots Agency was jailed
after admitting a child sex offence.
Stan Mallon from County Antrim admitted using an
internet chatroom to contact a girl called "Marny"
who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent.
He had arranged a meeting in a Chicago hotel room.
During her investigations, Mandy McAuley confronted
a man to whom she had been in contact with via the
internet and telephone.
Child porn sites double, say police
The number of websites
showing illegal images of child abuse has more than
doubled, according to police figures . In its annual assessment of the threat
posed in the UK by serious and organised crime,
the National Criminal Intelligence Service also
says online child sex offenders are becoming much
more cunning in their attempts to avoid detection.
The Internet Watch Foundation, which alerts the
police to websites containing images of child abuse,
saw a 64% rise in the number of reports of illegal
sites it received in 2002 compared with 2003.
Most are based in the United States - but the number
in Russia also more than doubled.
And the sites that are reported are just the tip
of the iceberg, according to police.
Illegal
images
Child porn offences on the net carry tough custodial
sentences.
To avoid detection, members of online child sex
networks attack with viruses the computers of those
who have put others at risk by the unauthorised
passing on of illegal images.
Paedophiles are naturally suspicious of newcomers
into their social circle and, like many criminal
groups operating in cyberspace, are skilled at counter-surveillance.
They also debrief people who have been arrested
and try to monitor the methods employed by law enforcers.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/3170937.stm
A £1m advertising
campaign warning of the dangers of internet
paedophiles is being launched by the
government.
The television, radio and website messages,
being broadcast throughout January,
aim to make parents and youngsters aware
of how to surf the web safely.
There is also a new set of guidelines
for internet service providers, who
offer chat and instant messaging services.
These
include measures such as the provision of
clear warning information, and ways for children
to report problems online.
The
aim is to stop paedophiles "grooming"
youngsters online.
An estimated five million youngsters
under 16 have private access to the
internet, and nearly half of 16-year-olds
use chatrooms, according to research
published last year.
Home Office Minister Hilary Benn said
he hoped the campaign would give parents
and children "basic safety messages",
without demonising the internet.
Tips
for parents
Keep
the computer near youTalk to your
child about what they do onlineKeep
a 'favourites' folder of agreed
sitesAsk your ISP about safety
features
"They're
exactly the same messages, in essence,
that we give our children about people
they might meet in the street - don't
go with strangers," he told BBC
Breakfast.
"It's not intended
to add to worry, it's about giving our
children the information they need to
protect themselves."
"The
internet is a great tool, it opens up
all sorts of possibilities and we don't
want to scare people about using it,
we just want to make sure that when
you use the internet you do so safely."
Children's charity Childline said the
advice was very welcome, as it received
"hundreds" of calls a year
from children who had been "very
distressed by experiences they've come
across on the net".
Tips
for young surfer
Never
give your address or phone numbers
to strangersDo not meet a stranger
aloneTell your parents if you
are exposed to anything you dislike
Chief
executive Dr Carol Easton told BBC Radio
4's Today programme: "They're putting
themselves at risk and they've been
abused as a result, so the dangers are
real."
She compared the advice to teaching
a small child how to cross the road
- saying the guidelines would alert
and empower young surfers.
Nigel Williams, chief executive of internet
safety charity Childnet, told Breakfast
the guidelines for the ISPs were an
"excellent first step".
But he said they must be "followed
through" with close monitoring
of all chatrooms, to make sure they
were adhered to.
And he pointed out that many chatrooms
were run from outside the UK, by companies
who may take no notice of the guidelines.
The guidelines were welcomed by the
major teachers' union ATL, which on
the same day published advice for teachers
on "safe learning with the internet".
"The last thing teachers
want to do is to be killjoys in the
face of the exciting learning opportunities
that the internet offers, but teachers
do worry about the real risks that young
people face," said Gwen Evans,
Deputy General Secretary.
But there was criticism from the Professor
of Sociology at Kent University, Frank
Furedi, who said the campaign was a
waste of money.
The
internet is a great tool... we
just want to make sure that when
you use the internet you do so
safely
Hilary
BennHome Office Minister
Scare storie
Sensible
parents would tell their children how to behave
in different circumstances. We don't need expensive
gestures by the government... parents can inform
them," he told Today.
He blamed the media for creating an unnecessary
culture of fear about the internet with "too
many scare stories".
"Every new
technology has been portrayed as a new danger to
children, from the time of the introduction of the
bicycle to the introduction of movies and cinemas.
"With the internet this has been amplified
because quite often parents and adults are less
able to surf the net than their children."
TALKING
POINT
How
safe is the net for kids?
The internet is not, nor ever will be, a safe
place for children to roam unguided.
Matt
Smith, West Yorks
Child web users are sex targets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1400689.stm
Thursday, 21 June, 2001, 14:16 GMT 15:16 UK
By
Science Correspondent Andrew Craig
Researchers say nearly a fifth of American
children who use the Internet have reported
unwanted sexual advances from strangers.
And they say some of them, especially the
younger ones, were seriously upset by the
approaches.
The survey involved 1,500 children aged from
10 to 17 who regularly used the Internet.
19% of them had received sexual advances that
were either unwanted, or made by an adult,
or both.
Parents can use a variety of measures to filter
unwanted material
This included talk about sex and invitations
to sexual activity. One child even reported
being sent a ticket to travel to meet an online
correspondent.
The older teenagers, especially girls, were
the ones who reported most approaches.
Online stress
But, perhaps not surprisingly, it was the
younger children who were most distressed
by them.
The parents of the Internet users applied
a variety of measures to supervise them, including
having rules about what they could do online,
inspecting files and discs, and using software
that blocks certain types of websites.
But these appeared to make no difference to
the rate of sexual approaches.
It is not clear whether the findings might
be replicated among Internet users outside
the United States, but of course most websites
are accessible to any user, regardless of
which country he or she is in.
The researchers, writing in the Journal of
the American Medical Association, say parents,
teachers and health professionals should be
ready to deal with the distress caused by
online sexual approaches.
But they stop short of advising parents to
ban their children from using the net.
