Rotherham Child Sexual Exploitation, Operation Midland Inquiry Ends, Australia Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence Against Women with Disabilities

-Police chief to step down after force’s handling of child abuse cases criticised
“at least 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013”

– Operation Midland: Child abuse inquiry ends with no charges brought

– Australia’s most shocking statistic: Sexual abuse and domestic violence against women with disabilities
“90 per cent of intellectually disabled women in Australia have been sexually abused”
– Committee Inquiry into Violence, Abuse and Neglect against People with Disability in Institutional and Residential Settings

Police chief to step down after force’s handling of child abuse cases criticised  24/03/2016

The chief constable of South Yorkshire has announced plans to step down just hours after another report criticised his force’s past failures to tackle child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham.

David Crompton, 52, will leave his post in November, according to a one-line statement on the force website and on Twitter.

Mr Crompton’s four year tenure as chief constable has been plagued by a series of high profile problems, many of which began well before he joined the force in 2012.

As well as the Rotherham scandal, he has also had to deal with renewed controversy over the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, following the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel report in 2012, which led to new inquests.

And he has also faced a fresh campaign for an inquiry into police actions at the “Battle of Orgreave” during the 1984 Miner’s Strike.

But, as well as these historical matters, Mr Crompton also found himself in the headlines when Sir Cliff Richard’s home was searched in connection with an inquiry into alleged child abuse….

The inquiry led by Professor John Drew repeated many of the criticisms levelled at South Yorkshire Police in the 2014 report by Professor Alexis Jay, which sparked a national scandal when it said at least 1,400 children had been raped, trafficked and abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

The Jay Report outlined how police and social workers knew what was happening but failed to act.

Prof Drew found that, by today’s standards, the scale of response to child sexual exploitation 15 years ago was inadequate across the whole of South Yorkshire, with mistakes and missed opportunities until 2011 due to the low priority given to the crime.

But t he professor said the force had made “determined progress” since 2013 and that the police response to safeguarding children and young people from CSE was now adequate and, in some cases, of high quality.

Last month, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced it was now looking at more than 194 allegations about the conduct of police relating to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham….
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/police-chief-to-step-down-after-forces-handling-of-child-abuse-cases-criticised-34568628.html

Operation Midland: Child abuse inquiry ends with no charges brought
21 March 2016  UK
A Met Police inquiry into claims a VIP Westminster paedophile ring abused children in the 1970s and 1980s has closed without charges being brought, Scotland Yard has announced.

The controversial Operation Midland ended as ex-MP Harvey Proctor was told he faces no further action over claims against him of child abuse and murder.

He called on four Met chiefs to resign, but the force said it had been right to look into the single source claims….

The investigation, which began in November 2014, was triggered by allegations made by a man in his 40s known as “Nick”, who claimed he was abused for nine years from 1975, when he was seven, to 1984.

More people came forward to provide information but there was not enough evidence to charge anyone – although there was nothing to prove police had been knowingly misled by a complainant, the Met said in a detailed statement….
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35863580

Australia’s most shocking statistic: Sexual abuse and domestic violence against women with disabilities
March 20, 2016
Jane Rosengrave, 53, is a proud indigenous women who grew up in institutional care and suffered years of sexual abuse and domestic violence.  Ginger Gorman

Jane has an intellectual disability, and over her lifetime she’s suffered unrelenting sexual and physical abuse by six different male perpetrators.

She is far from alone. On the contrary, 90 per cent of intellectually disabled women in Australia have been sexually abused….

It’s a shocking statistic made worse by the fact that most of the abuse happens when the victims are children.

For Jane, the sexual abuse started when she was just six years old. At the time, Jane was a ward of the state living at Pleasant Creek Training Centre in the Victorian town of Stawell. The facility operated from 1937 until 1999 and housed children and young adults with intellectual disabilities….
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/australias-most-shocking-statistic-sexual-abuse-and-domestic-violence-against-women-with-disabilities/news-story/21246ae889850b1d958088fd80b880ae

AUSTRALIAN CROSS DISABILITY ALLIANCE
Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Violence, Abuse and Neglect against People with Disability in Institutional and Residential Settings  August 2015
http://wwda.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ACDA_Sub_Sen_Inquiry_Violence_Institutions.pdf

Met trawls files on 200 missing boys in murder probe into VIPs ‘Operation Midland’ searches for clues to three alleged killings by paedophile network

Met trawls files on 200 missing boys in murder probe into VIPs
‘Operation Midland’ searches for clues to three alleged killings by paedophile network
By Mark Conrad  22 November 2014

Detectives are trawling through files on at least 200 missing children as they try to identify three boys allegedly killed by the ‘Westminster paedophile network’.

Officers who are carrying out the triple-murder investigation under ‘Operation Midland’, made a request to police forces across the UK for files on boys who disappeared and never turned up between 1977 and 1983….

Nick told detectives that he saw a then-serving Conservative MP murder a boy during a sexual assault at a town house in central London around 1980. He said that he witnessed the murder of another boy in front of a former Conservative cabinet minister in 1981 or 1982. And he told of a third killing by unidentified members of the paedophile network in south-west London in 1979….

Nick told how two former Conservative MPs – including an ex-cabinet minister – and other VIPs sexually abused, even raped, him and other boys.

The detective in charge of ‘Operation Fairbank’, Scotland Yard’s wide-ranging investigation into allegations of child sex abuse by MPs and VIPs, asked Exaro to speak to our two witnesses….
http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5415/met-trawls-files-on-200-missing-boys-in-murder-probe-into-vips

Bill Cosby Rape Allegations, Organised Child Sex Abuse ‘widespread in England,’ British Murder Allegations of Paedophile Network of MPs and other VIPs

“Detectives are investigating an allegation that a young boy was murdered by a Conservative MP during a sickening sex attack.
The Metropolitan Police Service’s paedophile unit, under ‘Operation Midland’, is also investigating a claim that a second boy was murdered during a depraved sexual assault in the presence of a former  Conservative cabinet minister….the police are also investigating the murder of a third boy around 30 years ago by members of a paedophile network of MPs and other VIPs.”

– Bill Cosby’s Silence On Rape Allegations Makes Huge Media Noise
– Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?
– Dr. Huxtable & Mr. Hyde
– Bill Cosby Under Fire The Comedian Settles a Case Accusing Him of Sexual Abuse—but Other Women Make Similar Claims
– Barbara Bowman Speaks About Bill Cosby Sexual Abuse Allegations
– One Very Important Thing Is Missing From the New Cosby –  Biography: A Timeline of the Abuse Charges [Updated]
– In interview with tabloid, Bill Cosby discusses molestation allegations

– Organised child sex abuse ‘widespread in England’, MPs say
– Alexis Jay: Years of missing records mean Rotherham child abuse numbers ‘much higher’ than 1,400
– ‘Operation Midland’ investigates Tory MP over boy’s murder
Met also probes slaying of second boy in sex attack in front of former cabinet minister
– Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine ‘possible homicide’

Bill Cosby’s Silence On Rape Allegations Makes Huge Media Noise
November 17, 2014  Eric Deggans

But in the recent explosion of attention to allegations that the comedy superstar drugged and sexually assaulted several women years ago, in incidents reaching back to the late 1960s, Cosby has remained uncharacteristically silent — epitomized by his interview with NPR’s Scott Simon, who found the comic would only shake his head and utter no sound when asked about the allegations.

His attorney did provide a statement posted on Cosby’s website that said, in part, “decade-old, discredited allegations against Mr. Cosby have resurfaced. The fact that they are being repeated does not make them true. Mr. Cosby doesn’t not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment.”

Later, a joint statement from Cosby’s attorney and a lawyer for Andrea Constand, a woman who settled a lawsuit with Cosby over such allegations in 2006, was posted on the site that read, in part: “The statement released by Mr. Cosby’s attorney over the weekend was not intended to refer in any way to Andrea Constand. As previously reported, differences between Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand were resolved to the mutual satisfaction of Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand years ago.”

News of Cosby’s silence rocketed across media; the moment was covered everywhere from NBC’s Today show to CNN, USA Today and The Washington Post, which called it “perhaps the most significant dead air in the history of National Public Radio.”

When NPR most recently spoke to Cosby, four women had come forward publicly with rape allegations: Constand, Beth Ferrier, Tamara Green and Barbara Bowman. (See this story for a more detailed account of their allegations.) Over the weekend, another woman, 66-year-old publicist Joan Tarshis, also told media outlets she was drugged and raped by Cosby when she was 19 years old. Constand filed a lawsuit in 2005 that included 13 women willing to tell similar stories, Greene and Bowman among them; the suit was settled, no terms were disclosed and Cosby was never charged with a crime….
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/17/364736453/bill-cosbys-silence-on-rape-allegations-makes-huge-media-noise
Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?
Only when a male comedian called Cosby a rapist did the accusation take hold.
By Barbara Bowman November 13

In 2004, when Andrea Constand filed a lawsuit against Bill Cosby for sexual assault, her lawyers asked me to testify. Cosby had drugged and raped me, too, I told them. The lawyers said I could testify anonymously as a Jane Doe, but I ardently rejected that idea. My name is not Jane Doe. My name is Barbara Bowman, and I wanted to tell my story in court. In the end, I didn’t have the opportunity to do that, because Cosby settled the suit for an undisclosed amount of money.

Over the years, I’ve struggled to get people to take my story seriously. So last month, when reporter Lycia Naff contacted me for an interview for the Daily Mail, I gave her a detailed account. I told her how Cosby won my trust as a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times. In one case, I blacked out after having dinner and one glass of wine at his New York City brownstone, where he had offered to mentor me and discuss the entertainment industry. When I came to, I was in my panties and a man’s t-shirt, and Cosby was looming over me. I’m certain now that he drugged and raped me. But as a teenager, I tried to convince myself I had imagined it. I even tried to rationalize it: Bill Cosby was going to make me a star and this was part of the deal. The final incident was in Atlantic City, where we had traveled for an industry event….

They, like other sexual assault victims, deserve our support. It’s the perpetrators who should be facing public humiliation – not the victims….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/13/bill-cosby-raped-me-why-did-it-take-30-years-for-people-to-believe-my-story/

Dr. Huxtable & Mr. Hyde
Who is Bill Cosby? What’s happened to the man who taught us to laugh at ourselves — and what do we do with him now? By Robert Huber   June 9, 2006

…. A young Canadian woman he met in Philadelphia through Temple University is accusing him of drugging her and then, when she was in a near-comatose state, molesting her. It went nowhere legally — the woman, Andrea Constand, waited a year before going to police, it boiled down to a he said/she said (Cosby claimed the sex was consensual, according to ABC News), and the police dropped the case for lack of evidence. But Constand filed a civil complaint in federal court in Philly last year, suing for an unspecified amount of money over $150,000. It is still Cosby’s no against her yes, except for one difference: Thirteen women are waiting to be deposed in the suit; in a court filing, Constand’s lawyer says that all of them — with nothing to gain, with no payout waiting, with their own statutes of limitations run out — have stories about Bill Cosby as well, and some of them will claim a similar drug-and-fondling M.O.

….The Story That Andrea Constand Tells
She met Bill Cosby in late 2002 when she was director of operations for Temple’s women’s basketball. He became a friend and mentor. In January 2004, Cosby invited Constand to his home in Elkins Park. She went there at about 9 p.m. Constand wanted to change careers and told Cosby she felt stressed. Cosby offered her three blue pills — herbal medication, he said, that would help her relax. She took the pills….

….The Story That Tamara Green Tells
Back in the ’70s, before Green became a lawyer, Cosby hired her to help him open a club in L.A. A week into the job, she felt sick, and called Cosby at Figero, a restaurant he owned, to say she was leaving for home. He invited her to the restaurant for lunch — it might make her feel better. She went. Cosby asked if she wanted some Contac, then handed her two gray-and-red capsules. She took them….

….The Story That Beth Ferrier Tells
Ferrier, 47, met Bill Cosby in 1984 when she was modeling in New York. They started an affair that lasted about six months. Cosby ended it without explanation. Then he called her one night in Denver, where she lived; they met backstage at a nightclub there, where he was performing. He said, “Here’s your favorite coffee, something I made, to relax you.” She drank it….

….The Story That Barbara Bowman Tells
Bowman’s incident with Bill Cosby occurred 20 years ago, when she was an aspiring actress. She told a lawyer. The lawyer laughed at her. She never mentioned it to an authority figure again. Bowman won’t disclose details of what happened before she’s deposed. But when she read about Andrea Constand, she decided that enough was enough — she couldn’t sit in silence any longer.
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/dr-huxtable-mr-hyde/

Bill Cosby Under Fire By Alex Tresniowski  The Comedian Settles a Case Accusing Him of Sexual Abuse—but Other Women Make Similar Claims    December 18, 2006    Vol. 66     No. 25

….What Cosby never mentioned was the civil lawsuit he settled just two days earlier with Andrea Constand, 32, a former Temple University employee who claimed Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Philadelphia-area mansion in 2004. Constand’s lawyers Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz ended up with 13 witnesses, most referred to in court documents as “Jane Does,” who came forward voluntarily with strikingly similar claims of drugging and or abuse by Cosby. Terms of the settlement, reached before any of the women could testify, were not disclosed. But PEOPLE reporters have interviewed five of the women and share three of their stories now.

As in so many cases alleging sexual assault, these women make imperfect witnesses. They are talking about events two or three decades old. Many of their recollections are fragmentary, and in some cases, they are not even sure what happened between them and Cosby, though that is not unusual in cases where a possible date-rape drug is involved. None of the women ever contacted police with their stories, either at the time of the alleged assaults or in the years leading up to Constand’s revelations, and two of the five women reached by PEOPLE allowed Cosby to pay part or all of their travel and/or living expenses for some time. Three accepted cash from him years after the incidents, and two even went on to have consensual relationships with him.

But none of them stand to profit from suing Cosby for monetary damages; the statute of limitations on all their charges has expired. And their stories, which take place in several cities and span two decades, illustrate the same pattern of behavior….
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20059561,00.html

Barbara Bowman Speaks About Bill Cosby Sexual Abuse Allegations
By Katie J.M. Baker 2/12/14
Last week, Newsweek interviewed Tamara Green, one of 13 women who accused Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them in a civil lawsuit brought by Andrea Constand in 2004, and settled under undisclosed terms in 2006. Now, a second woman is speaking out: Barbara Bowman, a 46-year-old artist who says Cosby took her under his wing in the late ‘80s, when she was a teenager — and repeatedly emotionally and physically abused her.

Both Bowman and Green joined the 2004 lawsuit as witnesses after hearing about it on television; neither had anything to gain financially, as the statute of limitations had expired for both of them….

Why do you think people find it so hard to believe celebrities can be sexual assaulters?
The media creates this idealized image of celebrities: that they are untouchable, that they’re not one of us… I don’t think people want to believe it; to believe would shatter the illusion….
http://www.newsweek.com/barbara-bowman-speaks-about-bill-cosby-sexual-abuse-allegations-228837

One Very Important Thing Is Missing From the New Cosby Biography: A Timeline of the Abuse Charges [Updated]
By Matt Giles
http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/timeline-of-the-abuse-charges-against-cosby.html

In interview with tabloid, Bill Cosby discusses molestation allegations
By Bill Bergstrom ASSOCIATED PRESS  March 4, 2005

PHILADELPHIA – Comedian Bill Cosby, responding to a woman’s allegations of sexual molestation, said “words and actions can be misinterpreted,” but he insisted he wouldn’t give in to any attempt to “exploit” him because he’s a celebrity….

The 67-year-old entertainer, best-known as a warm, wisecracking TV dad, was cleared of criminal charges in connection with the allegations. Attorneys for the Canadian woman said they plan to file a civil lawsuit against Cosby next week.

In the interview, Cosby said he didn’t speculate on whether money was the woman’s motive. “Let’s not go there,” he said. But he asserted: “I am not going to give in to people who try to exploit me because of my celebrity status.”….

The woman, who lives in Ontario, told Canadian authorities that, after a night out with friends in January 2004, Cosby gave her medication that made her dizzy, then fondled her.

Cosby denied the allegations. The accuser’s family had described Cosby as a friend and mentor to the woman, which he didn’t deny. He told the tabloid a role as mentor can lead to trouble.

“Sometimes you try to help people and it backfires on you and then they try to take advantage of you,” Cosby said.
http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050304/news_1n4cosby.html

Organised child sex abuse ‘widespread in England’, MPs say
17 November 2014
Organised child sex abuse is widespread in England, a report by MPs on the Rotherham exploitation scandal says.

A review of child protection systems across the country has been called for by the Commons’ Communities and Local Government Committee.

Its report also said Rotherham Council and Ofsted had “failed” the victims targeted in the town.

It suggested the council’s protection policies were “divorced from reality”, enabling the abuse to continue.

MPs said, however, the town was “not an outlier” for abuse and all councils needed to review child protection policies.

‘More rigorous inspection’

Their inquiry was prompted by a report by Professor Alexis Jay, which revealed up to 1,400 children were estimated to have been victims of abuse in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013….
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-30083835

Alexis Jay: Years of missing records mean Rotherham child abuse numbers ‘much higher’ than 1,400  11/17/04

….Inquiry author Professor Jay said five years of data from Rotherham Council about victims is missing, while South Yorkshire Police was unable to record the scale of the problem before 2013 as it did not categorise child sexual exploitation as a form of crime until last year.

Four years’ worth of meeting minutes discussing child abuse cases between 1999 and 2003 have also disappeared.

A letter Prof Jay sent to the Communities and Local Government Committee has been made public ahead of a report by MPs being published tomorrow. She said a category for recording child sexual exploitation cases was introduced by police only in 2013, meaning the force was ‘unable to quantify the scale of the problem’ prior to last year.

While social services did officially recognise the issue from 2001, she said some victims were wrongly classified as being ‘out of control’.

Prof Jay said Rotherham Council provided information for only 11 of the 16 years covered by the inquiry.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/alexis-jay-years-of-missing-records-mean-rotherham-child-abuse-numbers-much-higher-than-1-400-1-6956491

‘Operation Midland’ investigates Tory MP over boy’s murder
Met also probes slaying of second boy in sex attack in front of former cabinet minister
By Mark Conrad  15 November 2014

….Detectives are investigating an allegation that a young boy was murdered by a Conservative MP during a sickening sex attack.
The Metropolitan Police Service’s paedophile unit, under ‘Operation Midland’, is also investigating a claim that a second boy was murdered during a depraved sexual assault in the presence of a former  Conservative cabinet minister…. http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5409/operation-midland-investigates-tory-mp-over-boy-s-murder

Historical abuse inquiry: Police examine ‘possible homicide’
By Tom Symonds Home Affairs correspondent   14 November 2014
The man says he was first abused by his own father before being “handed over” as a young boy to the group

Child abuse investigations

Police are investigating “possible homicide” linked to what has been described as a paedophile ring involving powerful people in the 1970s and 1980s.

The group is alleged to have included senior figures in public life, the military, politics and law enforcement….

A key witness who has spoken to police has told the BBC that he was abused for nine years as a boy….

Speaking anonymously to the BBC but using the name “Nick”, the alleged victim said he had given three days of video-taped evidence to detectives.

His accounts are being assessed as part of Operation Midland, a new Scotland Yard investigation which is under the umbrella of its inquiry into historical abuse, Operation Fairbank.

Nick, now in his 40s, says that he was first abused by his own father before being “handed over” as a young boy to the group.

“They were very powerful people and they controlled my life for the next nine years,” Nick added.

“They created fear that penetrated every part of me, day in day out. You didn’t question what they wanted, you did as they asked without question and the punishments were very severe.”

Nick said the group was “very organised” and would arrange for chauffeur-driven cars to pick up boys, sometimes from school, and drive them to “parties” or “sessions” at locations including hotels and private apartments in London and other cities.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30052726

Westminster child abuse gang ‘linked to boy’s murder’, UK Police Open Murder Inquiry in Establishment Child Sex Abuse Investigation, Police: 5 children abused by 5 adults

Westminster child abuse gang ‘linked to boy’s murder’
Detectives looking at historical sex assault claims are now working with homicide officers
Paul Gallagher  Nigel Morris     Friday 14 November 2014

Detectives investigating allegations of an organised paedophile ring involving former government ministers and senior police officers are examining links to a possible murder, Scotland Yard confirmed today.

The Met said detectives from its Operation Fairbank historic child abuse investigation command were now working with homicide officers in a new investigation called Operation Midland.

The Independent understands the victim is a boy and the person alleged to be responsible for his death in the 1980s is not a politician.

….A victim of the alleged paedophile ring said that “former senior military and political figures” as well as “law enforcement” were involved. He claims he was abused for almost a decade after his father handed him over to the group.

He told the BBC: “They controlled my life for the next nine years. They created fear that penetrated every part of me. That was part of my life day in and day out. You didn’t question what they wanted; you didn’t hesitate to do what they asked you to do.

“You did what you were told without question or the punishments were very severe. They had no hesitation in doing what they wanted to do. Some of them were quite open about who they were. They had no fear at all of being caught, it didn’t even cross their mind. They could do anything they wanted without question and we were told that.”

….Tom Watson, the Labour MP who used parliamentary privilege in 2012 to raise claims of a paedophile ring linked to Downing Street, said: “This is obviously a very significant allegation. We must give the police the time, space and resources to investigate it fully.”….
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/westminster-child-abuse-gang-linked-to-boys-murder-9862454.html

UK Police Open Murder Inquiry in Establishment Child Sex Abuse Investigation
By Reuters 11/14/14

Police looking into accusations that powerful figures at the heart of the British establishment were involved in child sex abuse in the 1970s and 1980s said on Friday they were now investigating murder allegations.

London detectives launched an inquiry two years ago into allegations about paedophile rings involving politicians, officials and other senior public figures.

“Our inquiries into this, over subsequent weeks, have revealed further information regarding possible homicide,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

….a review into the disappearance of a dossier handed to the government 30 years ago which is believed to have implicated public figures in child abuse found there was no evidence it had been deliberately destroyed or kept from police.
http://www.newsweek.com/uk-police-open-murder-inquiry-child-sex-abuse-investigation-284438

Police: 5 children abused by 5 adults in Darby, Pa.
DARBY, Pa. (WPVI) —
Authorities say five children were subjected to horrible abuse – both physical and sexual – at the hands of five adults inside a home in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

….are facing a number of charges, including endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, simple assault, and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.

….The victim’s ages range from 1 year old to 10 years old. Jackson is the mother of four of the children, while the 1-year-old is Hammond’s child.

….According to the affidavit, the children were shot with BB guns, punched and slapped, thrown over a banister, and had sex acts performed in front of them….
http://6abc.com/news/police-5-children-abused-by-5-adults-in-darby-pa/395657/