Religious leaders must be banned from sex with older teenagers in their care, says NSPCC

RELIGIOUS leaders and sports coaches should be banned from having sex with 16 and 17-year-olds in their care, the NSPCC has said.

While teachers, youth justice staff and social workers are covered by legis- lation which prevents them from abusing a “position of trust” by having sexual contact with older teenagers in their care, no such law covers other adults.

Those in roles such as church youth workers, football coaches or army cadet leaders are not covered by the legislation, the charity said. This means that they can legally have sexual contact with 16 and 17-year-olds even if they are in a position of responsibility.

It raises concerns that the legal position could be allowing paedophiles to get away with grooming their victims when they are young, before starting to physically abuse them when they reach 16. The calls follow disclosures by The Daily Telegraph that the Government and Catholic Church have both attempted to use claims that underage victims “consented” to deflect compensation cases. Last month the Ministry of Justice said it would review a number of cases where the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme had denied children compensation because of claims they had consented.

Almudena Lara, the NSPCC’s head of policy, said: “Safeguarding in children’s clubs should not end suddenly at 16.

“The NSPCC has been told of a number of cases where in sports and other youth work settings, leaders have used their position to groom children, and then take advantage of them as soon as they turn 16.”

Figures released by the Government last month showed that there had been a 57 per cent rise in the offences since 2011, from 176 to 277.