Four changes that need to be made to the policing of abuse
A public register of those banned from working with children
Of 23 of the country’s biggest sports contacted by The Daily Telegraph, only three – athletics, cycling and rowing – confirmed they published safeguarding sanctions. Those who said they did not – including football, rugby and cricket – said they shared details within sport and with other relevant authorities of anyone they barred from working with children. But, as the Independent Review into Child Sexual Abuse in Football highlighted, a banned individual with a Football Association coaching qualification could set up a private coaching business and “parents and carers may assume that these individuals are coaching under the auspices of the Football Association, and may feel confident that appropriate safeguarding arrangements are in place due to the association with the FA, when that is not in fact the case”.
Publishing basic details about a safeguarding ban imposed on a coach would allow parents to check that individual’s status and to alert the FA if it was being breached. Some of the other sports who do not publicise such bans said they did not do so for legal reasons. However, more than a dozen sports said they would be open to a sport-wide national public register of those banned for safeguarding reasons.
A safeguarding equivalent of Ukad
Some of the same sports said they would be open to going further by endorsing the creation of a safeguarding equivalent of UK Antidoping. That was after The Telegraph revealed in August that eight of Britain’s most successful sports would be open to the introduction of an ombudsman or equivalent body in the wake of the gymnastics abuse scandal.
Such a body would have the advantage of centralising funding and expertise as well as imposing sanctions that would be sport-wide rather than sport-specific. It would also avoid any perception of a conflict of interest when it comes to investigating successful coaches. Steps have been taken in this direction through the introduction by Sport England of a Safeguarding Case Management Service to assist national governing bodies (NGBS) in dealing with complaints and investigations independently. This is being expanded from nine organisations to up to 50 more NGBS.
Make it a criminal offence when sports officials fail to report abuse
The introduction of so-called mandatory reporting has long been one of the main aims of many survivors of child sexual abuse and is being considered by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. There is now a mandatory reporting requirement within sports themselves, and those who fail to report abuse face punishment. Opponents of criminalising such transgressors argue professional sanctions are a sufficient deterrent. But Paul Stewart is among those who disagree.
“I’ve looked into the reasons for and against and I think the reasons for it outweigh it,” the former England midfielder, who is a survivor of abuse, told The Telegraph. “Let’s sit round a table and find a way in which we can make it law and look at the criminality of it, look at what the sentences should be.”
The Government this month caved into pressure to criminalise sports coaches who have sex with 16 and 17-years-olds in their care and Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, said it would also keep mandatory reporting “under review”.
Exempt all forms of child abuse from double jeopardy principle
One of the most tragic outcomes from football’s child sexual abuse scandal was that six of those accusing one of the game’s most prolific paedophiles, Bob Higgins, of molesting them were denied justice due to the law on double jeopardy.
Higgins had been due to stand trial in those cases in the early Nineties, but after the first of them collapsed, the remaining prosecutions were dropped. Despite never being heard in court, the remaining five complainants were told four years ago that Higgins had been effectively acquitted of abusing them and that the principle of not trying someone twice for the same crime applied. Higgins also went on to commit abuse after being cleared.
This has led to a major campaign for a change to the law on double jeopardy, for which there are already exemptions for “serious” crimes such as murder and rape.