The Mail on Sunday

Priti: I’ll help the vulnerable stuck at home with abusers

- By Glen Owen and Jake Ryan

HOME Secretary Priti Patel has vowed to crack down on domestic abusers who are exploiting the lockdown to make their victims feel ‘especially isolated, vulnerable and exposed’.

Ms Patel told The Mail on Sunday she was aware that ‘ home is not the safe haven it should be’ – but abusers would be hunted down and punished.

Her remarks come as a police chief revealed that cases of online child abuse have increased during the coronaviru­s crisis, as home-schooled pupils spend more time unsupervis­ed on their computers. Katy Bourne, chairman of the Associatio­n of Police and Crime Commission­ers ( APCC), said chief constables were closely monitoring the alarming side effect of school closures.

Ms Patel said that while this ‘extraordin­ary and emotional time’ was hard for everyone, ‘ for some people it is even harder, because home is not the safe haven it should be’.

She said the Government was aware that the strict isolation rules had left people trapped in domestic situations which they had been fighting to escape.

‘I am acutely aware that the necessary guidelines about social distancing and self-isolation may leave the victims of hidden crime, such as domestic abuse and child sexual abuse, feeling especially isolated, vulnerable and exposed,’ she said.

‘And now schools are closed, millions of children are spending more time online than they otherwise would have and may be even more vulnerable to online predators.’

Ms Patel added: ‘My message to every potential victim is simple: we have not forgotten you and we will not let you down. And my message to every perpetrato­r is equally simple: you will not get away with your crimes.’

The APCC’s Ms Bourne said police forces had seen an increase in online crime generally as well as online child abuse.

‘Chief constables are monitoring this closely and issuing warrants where necessary. For us it’s also about making people aware and guarding against these types of crime,’ she said.

It is understood the Home Office is planning to release figures this week on the shift in online child abuse cases since the onset of the crisis. The National Crime Agency (NCA) had already warned of the risk of increased online child abuse as people spend more time indoors and on the internet.

Last week, Europol, the EU’s law enforcemen­t agency, said it had informatio­n that ‘strongly indicates increased online activity by those seeking child abuse material’.

It said that on internet forums and message boards, child abusers were ‘welcoming opportunit­ies to engage with children’. The NCA added that in 2019 about 140,000 UK internet users were registered on the most graphic child abuse sites on the dark web.

The NSPCC children’s charity said staff were also reporting an increase in calls to its child welfare helpline by concerned members of the public.

Donald Findlater, director of the child abuse helpline Stop it Now!, which works alongside law enforcemen­t, said he expected a sharp rise in the use of its services.

He said :‘ We have seen an increase in the use of pornograph­ic sites because of isolation measures and we know this can be a precursor for some men with addictions to move into illegal child abuse material. Parents can help in tackling this and think about what their children are doing when they are being quiet in their rooms, because that lack of supervisio­n can make them more vulnerable online.’

Meanwhile, police forces are reporting plummeting rates of crimes, such as violence, linked to the night-time economy, as well as burglaries and traffic offences.

The closure of pubs, clubs and shops, and people remaining indoors, has led to significan­t falls in reports of crime.

At the same time, domestic abuse cases are said to have increased, according to charities and police leaders. There are concerns that victims trapped in abusive relationsh­ips will be forced to spend more time at home with their partners.

Lucy Hadley, of domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, said: ‘On our online chat service, which is open for two hours, we see between 200 and 400 users a day and there has been an increased demand for the last couple of weeks.’

Avon and Somerset Police reported a 20 per cent increase in domestic abuse incidents in the past two weeks, from 718 to 868.

In some areas of China that are quarantine­d due to the coronaviru­s, domestic abuse cases trebled in February compared with the previous year.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom