UK

The Protect Duty (Martyn’s Law) will ensure stronger protections against terrorism in public places

The UK’s resilience to terrorism is to be stepped up, as the Government announces details for the Protect Duty, now to be known as ‘Martyn’s Law’ in tribute of Martyn Hett, who was killed alongside 21 others in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017.

Working closely with security partners, business and victims’ groups, including Figen Murray and the Martyn’s Law Campaign Team, and Survivors Against Terror, the new duty will require venues to take steps to improve public safety, with measures dependent on the size of the venue and the activity taking place.

The threat picture is complex and ever evolving. Recent attacks demonstrate that terrorists may choose to target a broad range of locations. Martyn’s Law will ensure that security preparedness is delivered consistently across the UK, ensuring better protection of the public.

The Government will establish an inspection and enforcement regime, promoting compliance and positive cultural change and issuing credible and fair sanctions for serious breaches.

Dedicated statutory guidance and bespoke support will be provided by the Government to ensure those in scope can effectively discharge their responsibilities, with even small venues also able to benefit from this and take voluntary action. Expert advice, training and guidance is also already available on the online protective security hub, ProtectUK.

Martyn’s Law will extend to and apply across the whole of the United Kingdom and the Government will publish draft legislation in the early Spring to ensure the law stands the test of time.

Find out more on Martyn’s Law Factsheet

Guidance

Domestic Abuse Legal Guidance December 5 2022 England and Wales

Children affected by domestic abuse will be automatically treated as victims regardless of whether they were present during violent incidents, the CPS announced today.

The changes, which reflect new domestic abuse legislation, mean young people will get automatic access to support like mental health and safeguarding services, with prosecutors asked to consider the powers available to them regarding Special Measures.

Updated legal guidance released by the Crown Prosecution Service today specifically asks prosecutors to consider the impact domestic abuse has on young people when making a charging decision. This includes speaking to schools or Child Services to support evidence of long-standing abuse.

Given the complexities of these offences, the guidance highlights the importance of challenging myths and stereotypes and recognising the vulnerability of a victim who may not realise they are in a relationship with a suspect of abuse or who may disengage with the criminal justice process.

Prosecutors are asked to work with Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and other support groups to best support victims, and to consider further evidence such as CCTV, witness statements or medical records – in an evidence-led prosecution – to help build a robust case.

The new Domestic Abuse guidance was first published in April and a consultation was launched to seek feedback on proposed changes. As a result, the following sections have been changed:

1. A new section on assumptions and misconceptions: The guidance sought to knock down damaging misconceptions about the characteristics of a ‘typical’ domestic abuse victim. Fresh insights following responses from experts and support groups have been reflected in this section of the legal guidance.
2. Taking a suspect-centric approach: Prosecutors and police are advised when building the strongest possible case to consider the context of the incidents by looking at the behaviour of the suspect before, during and after. This scrutiny will help to establish the emergence of potential patterns of abuse and ensure all lines of enquiry are explored.

The CPS has also amended its policy statement which sets out the work being done on domestic abuse and is revising training for prosecutors on the effects of trauma and needs of victims from different groups.

Section 3 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force on 31 January 2022 and specifically provides that a child (under 18 years old) who sees, hears, or experiences the effects of domestic abuse and is related to the victim or the suspect is also to be regarded as a victim.

Inquiry Reports
1. Expert panel calls for stronger child protection measures

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has published its third annual report. The independent panel of experts reviews serious child safeguarding incidents - when a child dies or suffers serious harm, and abuse or neglect is known or suspected. The new report shows the panel received 379 serious incident notifications in 2021, which includes over 150 children who tragically died.

Although the new figures demonstrate that there has been a 21% reduction in notifications compared to 2020, today’s publication is the third annual report from the panel, in addition to 5 national reviews, all highlighting the need to protect vulnerable children.

Therefore, the panel is calling for the government to urgently release its plans to reform children’s social care and to strengthen the child protection system. Professionals working to protect children have to deal with the most complex challenges and some perpetrators of abuse will evade even the most robust safeguards. However, the analysis of the statistics demonstrated that in too many instances, practitioners are relying on parents reporting a situation rather than engaging directly with children.

To support practitioners, the panel has highlighted 6 cross-cutting practice themes to make a difference in reducing serious harm and preventing child deaths caused by abuse or neglect:

• supporting critical thinking and professional challenge through effective leadership and culture
• the importance of a whole family approach to risk assessment and support
• giving central consideration to racial, ethnic and cultural identity, and impact on the lived experience of children and families
• recognising and responding to the vulnerability of babies
• domestic abuse and harm to children - working across services
• keeping a focus on risks outside the family

2. Learning for the future: Serious case reviews: analysis, lessons and challenges is an overview and analysis of 235 cases which led to serious case reviews (SCRs) between April 2017 and September 2019.

The report gives an overview of the key characteristics of the cases, and addresses:

• the problem of neglect
• the challenges of practice
• the task of listening to the child’s voice

‘Serious case reviews 1998 to 2019’ considers government-commissioned periodic overviews of SCRs, from 1998 until the dissolution of SCRs in 2019.

This report aims to give a final overview of practice during that period and the major continuities, changes and challenges for SCRs.

Also published is analysis of SCRs between 2014 and 2017.

Research Reports

1. Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Bill 2022- 23 Research Report Published

On 15 June 2022, Greg Clark presented the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Bill 2022-23 to Parliament.

The Bill’s second reading debate is scheduled to take place on 9 December 2022. It would make it an offence to cause intentional harassment, alarm or distress to a person in public where the behaviour is done because of that person’s sex.

Public sex-based harassment is generally understood to involve unwelcome and unwanted behaviour directed at a person in a public space, such as on the street, on public transport, in a gym, or at a hospitality venue, because of that person’s sex.
Examples of such behaviour include intrusive or persistent staring or questioning, following someone, sexual or obscene comments, propositions or gestures, flashing or exposing intimate body parts, non-consensual physical contact, and technology-enabled sexual behaviour.

2. Draft Victims Bill England and Wales Report

The Bill has undergone pre-legislative scrutiny with the Justice Committee which published its final report on the draft Bill.

The Bill seeks to improve the support victims receive by:

• “enshrining” the Victims’ Code – a code of practice that sets out the minimum level of service victims can expect from criminal justice agencies – in law;
• giving Police and Crime Commissioners and justice inspectorates greater responsibilities for assessing how criminal justice agencies deliver services to victims;
• strengthening the Victims’ Commissioner role by requiring departments and agencies to respond to the Commissioner’s recommendations and enabling the Commissioner’s annual report to be laid before Parliament;
• placing a duty on relevant local bodies to coordinate victim support services; and
• placing Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors on statutory footing so agencies work better with them to meet the needs of victims.

Consultations

Unregulated settings to face inspections a third as often as children’s homes

This consultation invites views on proposals for the new regulations for supported accommodation for looked after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17, and as a result, the changes for providers and local authorities placing children and young people in these settings.

The consultation findings will be used to finalise the regulations, Quality Standards and accompanying guidance. They would like to hear your views on the proposals.

This consultation will be open to the public for six weeks. There is also separately published a version of this consultation aimed directly at care experienced children and young people.

The Department for Education is inviting views through three main sections of this consultation on:

• The quality standards providers will adhere to
• The management and administrative requirements on providers
• Ofsted registration, inspection and enforcement and provider accountability

As a supporting document to this consultation, there is included a draft of the ‘Guide to Supported Accommodation Regulations including Quality Standards'. This document should be read alongside the consultation.

The consultation is for:

• Providers of supported accommodation
• Local authorities
• Children’s social care workforce
• Relevant national public, private and charitable sector organisations
• Care experienced young people

Also published is a separate version of this consultation, which is aimed at care experienced young people and anyone else who wishes to respond. This consultation can be found at: Introducing new rules for supported accommodation providers: children and young people with experience of care - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

1. New 24/7 support service for victims of rape launched

Specialist operators – available via telephone or webchat on 0808 500 2222 will be on hand at any time to provide victims with vital information and emotional support. This includes signposting to local, longer-term services such as Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs).

The government-funded service will be operated by Rape Crisis England & Wales who have over 3 decades’ experience running a helpline for rape and sexual abuse survivors. It will be available to anyone aged 16 years and over who has experienced any form of sexual violence and abuse, at any point in their life.

• Under 16s who access the support line will be listened to and guided towards appropriate alternative services
• Victims and survivors in Wales can also use the Welsh Government’s Live Fear Free helpline

Meanwhile, specialist sexual violence support is being piloted at 3 Crown Courts - Leeds Newcastle, and Snaresbrook in London. It seeks to provide victims with enhanced at-court support and help increase throughput of cases. This work includes the introduction of trauma-informed training for court staff, maximising the use of technology, and access to ISVAs at court.

2. New investigative unit launched to handle serious criminal offences across Defence

The Defence Serious Crime Command (DSCC) and Defence Serious Crime Unit (DSCU) has the jurisdiction to investigate the most serious crimes alleged to have been committed by persons subject to service law in both the UK and overseas.

The unit, based in Southwick Park, replaces the existing Special Investigation Branches (SIB) and in its place forms an independent crime capability for Defence as part of its commitment to reforming the Service Justice System (SJS). This includes implementing the recommended changes to improve the experience for victims, who will be at the heart of the investigative process.

The Defence Serious Crime Unit will be completely independent of the Chain of Command. This will give our Service men and women reassurance that their concerns will be taken seriously, investigated independently, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The new unit will deliver a more effective policing service staffed by officers trained to the same standard as their civilian counterparts.

All DSCU investigators will be sexual offences investigator trained as standard; special investigators will be sent on the Sexual Offences Liaison Officers courses delivered by the College of Policing, as well as to the Family Liaison Officers Course, the Senior Investigating Officers Course and the Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) interview course.
The unit operates as part of the DSCC which was established in April this year and will also see a new Victim and Witness Care Unit (VWCU) being set up. This will ensure victim care is central to every stage of the investigative and judicial process. This has been done in consultation with specialist external organisations, such as the Survivors Trust and the office of the Victims Commissioner and is expected to be fully operational in early 2023.

The DSCU is further proof that the SJS is fit for purpose, as recognised in the judge led ‘Henriques Review’ in 2020. The SJS will continue to support and provide justice for our personnel wherever they are in the world, which isn’t possible in the civilian justice system. All of this has been implemented alongside work to raise awareness of sexual offending, reporting mechanisms and implications to ensure that service personnel know that they will be believed and that we will act upon any allegation of an offence.

3. Disclosure and Barring Service 10 years of making recruitment safer

DBS is marking 10 years of protecting the most vulnerable by helping employers make safer recruitment decisions. DBS is responsible for processing and issuing criminal record checks, along with maintaining the Adults’ and Children’s Barred Lists – records of people not permitted to work in regulated activity with vulnerable groups, including children.

Since December 2012, more than 52 million DBS Basic, Standard and Enhanced checks have been processed, and during that period more than 41,000 individuals have been placed on one or both Barred Lists.

DBS was established on 1 December 2012 through the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, when the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) merged.

Prior to the merger, the ISA had been introduced following recommendations from the Bichard Inquiry – commissioned following the murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham in 2002.

Within the DBS’ first 4 months of operating, 1.2 million DBS certificates were issued.

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

CQC revised plan and approach for transformation

CQC earlier this year laid out their approach to how and when they would take the next steps in delivering their strategy. They had said at the outset that they would adapt their approach along the way.
They had said that they would introduce their new assessment approach in January 2023. Following a full review of their timeline CQC have decided this will not happen until later in 2023.

White Bullet collaborates with Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to reduce child sexual exploitation online
IWF and Cyber safety technology company, White Bullet, announce their collaboration to stop the monetisation of child sexual abuse images and videos through digital advertising.

The IWF is the UK not-for-profit working internationally to identify and remove images and videos of child sexual abuse from the internet. Through an agreement with the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service and National Police Chiefs’ Council, IWF analysts are able to proactively search for this criminal imagery and uniquely placed to explore new ways to combat online offending content. The work of White Bullet with the IWF is part of a Home Office programme to understand the role of advertising funding online child sexual abuse content, and forms part of a wider IWF strategy to block, remove and demonetise such content.

White Bullet is using its award-winning ad monitoring technology to capture and analyse the digital advertising on webpages containing or promoting content that relates to child sexual exploitation, and identify the brands and ad intermediaries engaging and funding these webpages. This expands the areas of online harm that White Bullet is tackling though its demonetisation programmes.

Data acquired through this programme will be made available to the IWF to assess, with a view to implementing solutions to minimise ad misplacement against this harmful content.
In this way, White Bullet’s partnership will enable the IWF to help eradicate the scourge of harmful online content and to enforce against those caught; to ensure a safer digital environment for all.

1. Child rapist from Herefordshire jailed

An electrician who distributed videos of himself raping a young girl on the internet has been jailed for almost 16 years.

Thomas Gwilliam-Carter, 39, from Leominster, was identified by National Crime Agency investigators after child abuse images he’d posted were found on devices belonging to a U.S. suspect arrested by the FBI.

Chat logs showed that Gwilliam-Carter, using the online pseudonym ‘keepedging247’, told other paedophiles on the Wickr platform that he planned to drug a child to make raping her easier. He then went on to share videos of the abuse and later admitted that he had drugged the child with Phenergan, a mild sedative.

Gwilliam-Carter was arrested by NCA officers at his home address on 1 October this year, and his mobile phone was seized. This was forensically examined and found to contain 3,651 indecent images of children (IIOC) in categories A-C (A being the most severe), some of which showed babies being raped. The child he’d raped has been safeguarded.

Gwilliam-Carter pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child under 13, three counts of making IIOC and five counts of distributing IIOC at Worcester Crown Court on 7 November. He was sentenced at the same court 8 December.

2. A former football coach and school worker has been sentenced to 19 years imprisonment after admitting a series of child sex offences.

Jonathan Clarke, 32, was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court Friday 9 December 2022 after pleading guilty to 54 offences spanning more than a decade. The offences include the making of indecent images, sexual communications with a child, inciting children to engage in sexual acts, voyeurism, and blackmail, which were all committed online. Clarke asked the court to take a further 127 similar offences into consideration. He was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment, with an extended licence period upon release of eight years. Clarke was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life. The court heard that Clarke was arrested on 6 January this year following a police investigation into social media messages where victims were encouraged to send nude images of themselves.

Initial investigations found around 200 indecent images and videos on Clarke’s mobile phone ranging from Category A to C. Following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service, Clarke was initially charged with seven offences and appeared at Norwich Magistrates Court on 8 January where he was further remanded into custody while the police investigation continued. The court heard the bulk of offending related to the sexual exploitation of children on social media platforms, including Snapchat, Instagram, Omegle, Kik, and Tik Tok. Using these accounts, Clarke created a false profile presenting himself as two teenage boys to chat with victims and engage them in sexual activity.

Clarke would incite victims to commit acts of sexual activity, and on occasions would threaten to harm the victim’s family if they didn’t do as he asked. Officers examined 14 electronic devices belonging to Clarke and found a total of 5,017 indecent images and videos of children. The investigation uncovered 159 victims aged under 16 who were targeted by Clarke between 2010 and 2022.