200 HELD OVER CHILD SEX ABUSE SCREENED LIVE ON WEB
Teachers, police, military and NHS staff arrested for targeting British victims
ALMOST 200 paedophiles were arrested in just one week for grooming children on live-streaming apps. Suspects included teachers, care workers, medical staff, police officers, military personnel and civil servants. Detectives said the swoop had saved 245 children from abuse and exploitation. Some were primary school age. The officers fear that sex offenders are locked in a ‘feeding frenzy’, taking full advantage of new streaming technology.
Posing as children, they trick their young targets into exposing
themselves or performing sex acts that are broadcast online. Some record the footage and use it to bully and blackmail victims into more depraved acts.
The paedophiles often offer cash rewards in return for compliance.
Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the country’s most senior officer charged with tackling child abuse, said officers were trying everything to keep youngsters safe.
But he added: ‘We also need help. We need internet companies to help us stop access to sexual abuse images and videos and prevent abuse happening on their platforms. We need parents and carers to talk to their children about healthy relationships and staying safe online.’
Young people in their millions are broadcasting footage of themselves online through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or apps such as Live.me.
Earlier this year a Daily Mail investigation revealed paedophiles use the sites to target children as young as three.
They are able to send messages and ‘tip’ the child ‘broadcasters’ with virtual gifts that can be swapped for cash.
The paedophiles asked the children whether they had kissed boys or liked to wear swimsuits. Young girls were asked to show off their bedrooms and do handstands while barely dressed. Many agree to do so to win the virtual rewards and can be coaxed into appearing naked.
More than 170million people worldwide use the broadcasting platforms, including an estimated three million in Britain. The internet firms do very little to check their users meet the general rule of being over 13 and having parental permission.
Crime gangs are also exploiting the livestreaming apps, charging paedophiles to watch child victims being abused.
In October, a Devon couple were jailed for 17 years after live-streaming the abuse of an infant over the internet to a woman in America.
Sarah Gotham, 34, and Craig Forbes, 36, drugged and sexually abused the girl for a paedophile in California using Skype.
A month earlier a group of Britons were jailed for logging on to a chatroom as an American raped a six-year-old boy.
Will Kerr of the National Crime Agency said live- streaming was one of the fastest growing threats to young people. ‘ We are concerned about some new offences that have become a significant concern over recent years such as live- streaming, particularly in the Far East,’ he said. ‘We see the live-streaming of contact abuse of children, some as young as babies, all done to order by organised crime gangs.
‘This adds a new, complex and worrying level to the number of sex offences worldwide because it is not just done because of people’s sexual predilections. It is done for profit.’
His colleague Zoe Hilton, who has responsibility for protecting children, said offenders were adapting to new technology. She said: ‘These individuals are learning how young people communicate online and are using this knowledge to contact, befriend and abuse them. Offenders will also take advantage of the fact that young people’s inhibitions are lower online.
‘We’re also encouraging parents to talk to their children about what a healthy relationship looks like and how to spot when someone might not be who they say they are.’