Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom

Child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom includes the proliferation of indecent images, online exploitation, transnational abuse, and contact abuse. Efforts to prevent child sexual abuse include providing information to children and parents, and disrupting abusive situations. Perpetrators may act alone or as part of a group or street gang, and may either exploit vulnerabilities in children and young people or have long-standing sexual attraction to children. Underreporting of child sexual abuse and low conviction rates remain barriers to justice, among other factors. In the UK, high profile media coverage of child sexual abuse has often focused on cases of institutional and celebrity abuse, as well as offences committed by groups, also known informally as grooming gangs.

Child sexual abuse has been reported in the country throughout its history.^[1] In about 90% of cases the abuser is a person known to the child.^[2] From the second half of the twentieth century, cases involving religious institutions,^[3] schools,^[4] popular entertainers,^[5][6] politicians,^[7] military personnel, and other officials have been widely publicised. Since the start of the 21st century, media coverage and political discourse has also increasingly covered child abuse rings or grooming gangs operating in towns and cities across the UK.^[8] Efforts to protect children from sexual abuse were recorded as early as the 11th century.^[9] Investigation and prevention of child sex abuse were impaired in the 21st century due to the impact of the government austerity programme.^[10]

In 2012, celebrity Jimmy Savile was posthumously identified as a prolific child sexual abuser over the previous six decades. Subsequent investigations, including those of Operation Yewtree, led to the conviction of several prominent "household names" in the media, allegations against prominent politicians, and calls for a public inquiry to establish what had been known by those responsible for the institutions where abuse had taken place. In July 2014, an Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was announced by Theresa May, then British Home Secretary, to examine how the country's institutions have handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.^[11]

Statistics

In the UK, a 2010 study estimated prevalence at about 5% for boys and 18% for girls^[12] (not dissimilar to a 1985 study that estimated about 8% for boys and 12% for girls).^[13] Figures from 2009–10 suggest girls are six times more likely to be assaulted than boys with 86% of attacks taking place against them.^[14][15] In 2014, the charity Barnardo's published a report that estimated that during 2008-2013, two thirds of victims were girls and one third were boys. Barnardo's were concerned that male victims may be overlooked.^[16][17]

Recorded offences

Reports of child sex abuse have increased in the UK. This may, in part, be due to greater willingness to report – between October 2013 and December 2017, reports to child protection experts had increased by 700%. The NSPCC reported a 31% increase between 2016 and 2017 alone.^[18] Between 2009 and 2010, more than 23,000 offences were recorded by the UK police.^[15][14] This number had almost doubled by 2016–17.^[19] The true number of offences remains doubtful, and is generally assumed to be larger, due to expected underreporting.^[20] Some 90% of the sexually abused children were abused by people who they knew, and about one out of every three abused children did not tell anyone else about it.^[2]

• England: In 2016–17 there were 43,522 recorded sexual offences against children under 16 years old, and a further 11,324 offences against young people aged over 16 and under 18. Police recorded 6,009 rapes of children aged under 13 years, and 6,299 rapes of children under 16 years.^[19]
• Wales: In 2016–17 there were 2,845 recorded sexual offences against children under 16 years old. Police recorded 446 rapes of children aged under 13 years, and 340 rapes of children under 16 years.^[19]
• Scotland: In 2016–17 there were 4,097 recorded sexual offences against children under 16 years old. Police recorded 196 rapes and attempted rapes of children aged 13–15 years, and 161 rapes and attempted rapes of children under 13 years.^[19]
• Northern Ireland: In 2016–17 there were 1,875 recorded sexual offences against children and young people under 18 years old. Police recorded 360 rapes and attempted rapes of children and young people aged under 18 years.^[19]

Offender demographics

The vast majority of child sex offenders in England and Wales are male, with men representing 98% of all defendants in 2015/16. A 2020 report by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse stated that "In the records of defendants prosecuted for child sexual abuse offences" among those in which ethnic background was recorded "the vast majority were white (89%); 6% were Asian, 3% were Black, 1% were from mixed ethnic backgrounds and 1% were from "other" ethnic backgrounds.^[21] The Ministry of Justices prison population statistics (2020) show the total number of convicted sexual offence prisoners with an associated child sexual abuse offence to be 8,345. Of this number 43 did not have their ethnicity recorded or stated. Of those with recorded ethnicity, white prisoners were the majority with a total of 7,353. 464 were Asian, 310 were black and 175 were mixed and "other".^[22] A 2020 report on child sexual exploitation published by the Home Office warns of a "potential for bias and inaccuracies in the way that ethnicity data is collected" with the possibility of "greater attention being paid to certain types of offenders".^[23]

Sexual abuse prevention

In the 11th century, surviving ordinances of Canterbury Cathedral revealed that a process was in place to minimise opportunities for clergy guilty of past abuses to engage in further illicit sexual activities with minors.^[9] Several organisations in the United Kingdom work towards the goal of preventing sexual abuse, such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. Prevention initiatives have traditionally involved providing information to children and parents about sexual abuse and how to prevent it. Other forms of prevention involve disruption activities where the children can be removed from the family home or area in which they are living, or work can be done to make it more difficult for people to sexually abuse children.^{[citation needed]}

Barriers to prevention

Austerity led to cuts in policing so that the police no longer have the resources to investigate possible offences satisfactorily, or to safeguard potential victims. Nazir Afzal (formerly the Crown Prosecution Service lead on child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls) said, "Austerity has come at the wrong time. When finally voices are being heard, finally authorities are beginning to do their job properly and finally the NGO sector are being listened to, there isn't any money to go around. They are doing this with one hand behind their back. As a consequence, clearly people will not get justice".^[10] Nazir Afzal has also expressed concern that there are few prosecutions of grooming gangs in the south of England, fearing people in the south are not looking hard enough. Afzal said,

The perceptions is that northern towns and the Midlands have got a better handle on it, but London, the south-east, the south-west really are not focusing on it and claiming they don't have any problems. ... There have been hardly any cases south of Birmingham. What the hell is going on? Is it because there is no problem? I don't accept that at all. Is it because it's not a priority? I hope that's not true. I do think it's that thing about not turning over a stone.^[10]

In 2019, a BBC investigation reported that some privately-run sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) were failing to examine young people who had experienced sexual assault in a timely fashion, jeopardising their ability to record forensic evidence. Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove said the failures were "shocking".^[24]

In 2023 Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York, said that there was a crisis of safeguarding within the Church of England, due to church-related abuse. He said: "I imagine Jesus weeps over this situation ... And I know many of us are not far from those tears as well."^[3]

In November 2024, the U.K. government published the National review into child sexual abuse within the family environment, which sought to look at the "identification, assessment, and response to child sexual abuse within the family environment". It examined local child safeguarding practice reviews (LCSPRs), as well as 136 serious child safeguarding incidents and 41 serious case reviews (SCRs) related to these incidents to set out guidelines for local and national governments, as well as safeguarding partners across the country. The review said that there were "significant and long-standing issues" in reporting child sexual abuse within families, with children affected "frequently not being identified by practitioners" and not "receiving the response needed for their ongoing safety and recovery".^[25]

Law and policy

The United Kingdom rewrote its criminal code in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This Act includes definitions and penalties for child sexual abuse offences, and (so far as relating to offences) applies to England and Wales and Northern Ireland. The Scottish Law Commission published its review of rape and sexual offences in December 2007, which includes a similar consolidation and codification of child sexual abuse offences in Scotland.^{[citation needed]}

In 2021, the government published its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, which focussed on new technologies and legislation to prevent and police abuse.^[26][27]

Categories of child sexual abuse

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command identify four broad categories of child sexual abuse in the United Kingdom, which they describe as the four "key threats" to children.

• The proliferation of indecent images of children – particularly the production of still, moving and live-streaming of child abuse images. Live streaming of abuse of third world children for consumption by UK paedophiles is increasing. Perpetrators are being increasingly found and brought to justice. Tracking down and safeguarding third world child victims is more difficult. There are calls for better funding for the National Crime Agency so these crimes can more easily be prevented.^[28]
• Online child sexual exploitation – with a focus on the systematic sexual exploitation of multiple child victims on the internet.
• Transnational child sexual abuse – including both transient and resident UK nationals and British citizens committing sexual offences abroad.
• Contact child sexual abuse – particularly the threat posed by organised crime-associated child sexual exploitation and the risks around missing children. Within this category there are a number of recognised types.

Firstly, contact child sexual abuse by lone offenders. Secondly, contact child sexual abuse by group offenders and offending associated with street gangs, of which there are two types.^[29]

• Type 1: Group offending targeting victim vulnerability. This includes street grooming gangs.
• Type 2: Group offending as a result of a specific sexual interest in children. This group have a long-standing sexual interest in children with some having a synergy with what has been described as a paedophile "ring".^[30]

Group-based child sexual exploitation

CCTV footage of known groomers attempting to lure two teenage girls into their vehicle in Derby in 2009. The two girls did not enter the vehicle.

Group-based child sexual exploitation and localised grooming are terms used to describe the sexual exploitation or grooming of children and adolescents by groups. This abuse tends to target girls who are particularly vulnerable, such as those who are in local care.^[31][32] The youngest recorded victim was 12 and the oldest was 18.^[33] A 2013 report by the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee describes a group first making contact with the child in a public place. After the group's initial contact with the child, offers of treats (takeaway food, cigarettes, drugs) persuade the child to maintain the relationship. Sometimes a boy similar in age presents himself as a "boyfriend"; this person arranges for the child to be raped by other members of the group. Children may end up being raped by dozens of these group members, and may be trafficked to connected groups in other towns.^[34][32]

In August 2003, a television documentary reported details of an 18-month police and social services investigation into allegations that young British Asian men were targeting under-age girls for sex, drugs and prostitution in the West Yorkshire town of Keighley.^[35] The Leeds-based Coalition for the Removal of Pimping (Crop) sought to bring this behaviour to national attention from at least 2010.^[36] In November 2010, the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal saw several convictions of child sexual abusers. In 2012, members of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring were convicted on various counts, and in 2016, following the largest child sexual exploitation investigation in the UK,^[37] 18 men in the Halifax child sex abuse ring case were sentenced to a combined total of over 175 years in prison.^[38]

Following further child sex abuse rings in Aylesbury, Banbury, Bristol, Derby, Huddersfield, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford, Peterborough, Rochdale, Telford, and others, several investigations considered how prevalent British Asian backgrounds were in localised grooming. In 2013, the National Crime Agency's Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) branch collected data on group-based child sexual abuse from most police forces in England and Wales. It reported that 75% of offenders in grooming-gang cases were South Asian.^[39] In December 2017, Quilliam, a think tank, released a report which said 84% of offenders were of South Asian heritage.^[40] This report was criticised by child sexual exploitation experts Ella Cockbain and Waqas Tufail, who said it was unscientific and had poor methodology, in a paper published in January 2020.^[41][42]

A further investigation was carried out by the British government in December 2020, which concluded most offenders were white and that there was insufficient data in this area to suggest South Asians, or any other ethnic group, were disproportionately represented among perpetrators.^[39][43] The British government originally refused to release the report but eventually did so after public pressure.^[44] In response to the report, then Home Secretary Priti Patel said: "This paper demonstrates how difficult it has been to draw conclusions about the characteristics of offenders."^[43] Reviews of the Rotherham, Rochdale, and Telford cases identified several common factors, with offenders often working in night-time industries like takeaways and taxis, providing access to vulnerable children.^[45]

Political response

In 2011, Jack Straw, the former Labour Home Secretary told Newsnight that while most sex offenders were white there was a "specific problem" of men of Pakistani origin targeting white girls who they viewed as "easy meat" and urged the Pakistani community to be "more open" about the problem. His comments were criticised by the criminologist Helen Brayley who said that racial stereotyping could lead to only looking for cases where Asians were responsible, and by the MP Keith Vaz who said he did not think there was evidence of a cultural problem and that it was not possible to stereotype entire communities.^[46][47]

Several Conservative and Reform UK politicians have alleged that race was a factor in "grooming gangs" (a term which has been described by academics and child protection professionals as racially charged)^[41][48] and that concerns were not dealt with because of political correctness.^[49][50][51] After a 2017 case in Newcastle, former Conservative policing and justice minister Mike Penning urged Attorney General Jeremy Wright to consider the offences as racially motivated.^[52] The judge presiding over the case in question had ruled that the girls were not targeted for their race.^[53][54]

In 2023, then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that victims had been failed due to political correctness.^[55][49][56] In 2023, then Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in an opinion piece that "grooming gang" members in the United Kingdom were "groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values". In response, the Independent Press Standards Organisation issued a correction stating that Braverman's article was "misleading", since it did not make it explicit that she was talking about the Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford child sexual abuse scandals in particular.^[50] Many experts and organisations called on her to withdraw her comments, saying she was amplifying far-right ideologies and making it harder to address the issue.^[57][55][58] The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said that by focusing primarily on South Asian men, Braverman was fuelling "misinformation, racism and division".^[58][48] The charity said that "a singular focus on groups of male abusers of British-Pakistani origin draws attention away from so many other sources of harm".^[48][57]

In 2025, former Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said group-based child sexual exploitation was "perhaps the greatest racially motivated crime in modern Britain",^[59] and said it was covered up by the British state to protect community relations.^[51] Journalist Nick Robinson said Jenrick did not raise the issue when he was a minister.^[60] Labour MP Nadia Whittome said the Conservatives and Reform were "weaponising the trauma of victims" for their own game. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the Conservatives were "playing politics with the safety of vulnerable children" by using the issue to fundraise for the party.^[61]

Professor Alexis Jay, a retired social worker who led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (or Jay Report),^[62] had previously said in 2015 that such cases were not overlooked because of a conspiracy or political correctness, instead attributing the authorities' inaction to "their desire to accommodate a community that would be expected to vote Labour, to not rock the boat, to keep a lid on it, to hope it would go away".^[63] In 2024, Jay said she was "frustrated" that the government had still not taken action two years after her report was published.^[64] Sabah Kaiser, ethnic minority ambassador for the Jay Report, said it was "very, very dangerous for the government to turn child sexual abuse into a matter of colour".^[65]

Media response

British media has been criticised by academics,^[66][67][68] journalists,^[69] politicians,^[70][71] the police,^[71][72] and community groups^[58][48][58] for its coverage of group-based child sexual abuse, including that it is sensationalist, misleading, and perpetuates Islamophobia.^[41][73][74] According to Miqdaad Versi, director for media monitoring at the Muslim Council of Britain, the media does this by "conflating the faith of Islam with criminality, such as the headlines 'Muslim sex grooming'".^[69]

A number of academics – including Shamim Miah,^[67] Muzammil Quraishi,^[75] Ella Cockbain,^[76] Aisha K. Gill, Karen Harrison,^[77] Vasil Karastanchev,^[78] Aviah Sarah Day, and others – have described the controversy as a moral panic.^[68] In one academic paper, Gill and Harrison describe media outlets including The Times, The Daily Mail's Mail Online, The Guardian and The Telegraph of boosting the moral panic by portraying young South Asian men as "folk devils".^[77] Cockbain, a scholar of crime science at University College London,^[55] suggests that "sweeping, ill-founded generalisations" in the discourse around group-based child sexual exploitation serves to "further a political agendum and legitimise thinly veiled racism, ultimately doing victims a disservice".^[76] The Muslim Council of Britain has called on investigations to "adhere to the facts of the matter, rather than deploying deeply divisive, racially charged rhetoric that amplifies far-right narratives and demonises an entire community".^[58]

In 2013, BBC Inside Out London investigated allegations made by members of the Sikh community that British Sikh girls living inside Britain were being targeted by men who pretended to be Sikhs.^[79] An investigation by the Sikh scholar Katy Sian of the University of York found no truth to the allegations and instead found it was an allegation being pushed by extremist Sikh groups.^[80][81] Further reports compiled by the British government and child sex exploitation scholars also confirmed there was no evidence to this.^[41][82]

Inquiries

See also: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham

Butler-Sloss Inquiry

See also: Cleveland child abuse scandal

In 1987, a wave of suspected child sexual abuse cases were reported in Cleveland, England, many of which were later discredited.^[83] From February to July 1987, many children living in Cleveland were removed from their homes by social service agencies and diagnosed as sexually abused. The 121 diagnoses were made by two paediatricians at a Middlesbrough hospital, Marietta Higgs and Geoffrey Wyatt, using reflex anal dilation for diagnosis (later discredited).^[84] When there were not enough foster homes in which to place the children, social services began to house the children in a ward at the local hospital. Later, the test used to establish child abuse was contested by the area police surgeon, and cooperation between the social workers, police and hospital doctors involved in diagnosis began to disintegrate. There was public concern regarding the practices being used by the local social service agency, such as the removal of children from their homes in the middle of the night. In May 1987, parents marched from the hospital where their children were being held to the local newspaper. The resulting media coverage caused the social service agency's practices to receive public scrutiny and criticism. Controversy increased when Mr Justice Hollis ruled that 19 of 20 children who had been made wards of the court should be returned to their parents due to the weakness of the medical evidence.^[83]

In response, the Butler-Sloss report was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Social Services in July 1987 and published in 1988. The report, led by Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, concluded that most of the diagnoses were incorrect.^[84] Ninety-four of the 121 children were returned to their homes.^[84][85] An editorial in The Lancet concluded: "By their bull-headed approach, Dr Higgs and Dr Wyatt ... have set back the cause they sought to promote". In July 1988, six MPs tabled a House of Commons motion for charges of indecent assault and conspiracy to be brought against Higgs and Wyatt.^[86]

On 14 October 1991, the Children Act 1989 was implemented in full as a result of the Cleveland child abuse scandal and other child related events that preceded it.^[87][83]

Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry

Main article: Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry

The 2014–2016 Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, often referred to as the HIA Inquiry,^[88] is the largest inquiry into historical institutional sexual and physical abuse of children in Northern Ireland legal history. Its remit covered institutions in Northern Ireland that provided residential care for children from 1922 to 1995,^[89] but excluded most church-run schools.^[90]

The inquiry concluded its hearings on 8 July 2016 and released its report on 20 January 2017.^[91][92] In October 2019 the House of Lords passed the Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Bill^[93] "to establish the Historical Institutional Abuse Redress Board and confer an entitlement to compensation...", and it was passed by the House of Commons as one of its last acts before the 2019 United Kingdom general election.^[94][95]

On 11 March 2022 ministers from the five main political parties in Northern Ireland and six abusing institutions made statements of apology in the Northern Ireland Assembly. A typical apology was "Today we, as representatives of the state, say that we are sorry ... that the state's systems failed to protect you from abuse".^[96] BBC News reported that Jon McCourt from Survivors North West said "If what happened today was the best that the church could offer by way of an apology they failed miserably. There was no emotion, there was no ownership. ... I don't believe that the church and institutions atoned today." He called on the intuitions to "do the right thing" and contribute to the redress fund for survivors, saying that institutions have done similar for people in Scotland.^[97] A board was set to represent all six institutions with a view to paying compensation to abuse victims. January 2025^[update], four of the six institutions had taken no action towards making payments.^[98]

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Main article: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)^[99] in England and Wales was an inquiry examining how the country's institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. It was announced by the British Home Secretary, Theresa May, on 7 July 2014.^[11] It was set up after investigations in 2012 and 2013 into the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal revealed widespread abuse, including historic claims (spanning several decades) against prominent media and political figures, and inadequate safeguarding by institutions and organisations. Originally the inquiry was intended to be a Panel Inquiry supported by experts, similar to the Hillsborough Independent Panel.^{[100][101][102]} After numerous objections related to the panel's scope and its independence from those being investigated, and the resignation of its first two intended chairs, the inquiry was reconstituted in February 2015 as a statutory inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, giving it greatly increased powers to compel sworn testimony and to examine classified information.^[103]

The first two chairs appointed to the original panel inquiry were Baroness Butler-Sloss (appointed 8 July 2014, stepped down 14 July 2014)^{[104][105][106]} and Fiona Woolf (appointed 5 September 2014, stepped down 31 October 2014).^{[107][108][109]} The reasons for their withdrawal in each case were objections related to their perceived closeness to individuals and establishments which would be investigated. On 4 February 2015, May announced that the inquiry would be chaired by Dame Lowell Goddard, a New Zealand High Court judge who had no ties to the UK bodies and persons likely to be investigated, and the existing panel was disbanded.^[110][111] Lowell Goddard resigned as chair in August 2016 and was replaced by Professor Alexis Jay, who had previously led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham (or Jay Report).^[112]

The IICSA published 19 reports in all, with the last one coming on 20 October 2022, with many urgent recommendations.^[113][114] Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the Government of the United Kingdom "accepted the need to act on all but one of the Inquiry’s recommendations".^[115] As of December 2024^[update], none of these recommendations had been implemented; the Ministry of Justice had closed a further consultation but published no response to the report.^[64][116]

Key recommendations

The 20 key recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) include:^[62][117]

• Creating a statutory requirement for people working or volunteering in positions of trust to report allegations of child sexual abuse.
• Establishing a national compensation scheme for people who have experienced child sexual abuse connected to an institution (state or non-state).
• Establishing two child protection authorities (one in England and one in Wales) to improve child protection practices and policies, and to advise government.
• Establishing a dedicated cabinet minister for child protection.
• Introducing a ban on pain-compliance techniques in prisons, detention centres and other custodial settings.
• Improving statutory duty compliance so the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is informed about individuals potentially posing a risk to children.
• Ensuring better age-verification processes online.
• Issuing regular public awareness campaigns to inform the public on how to spot potential abuse and how to report it.
• Amending the Children Act 1989 to allow children to apply for a court order to prevent a local authority exercising its parental responsibilities over them.
• Establishing an independent body to register staff in care homes, set and enforce professional standards, and provide training.
• Registration of staff at young offender institutes and secure training centres.
• Allow anyone working with children to see if they have been barred by the DBS.
• Extend disclosure requirements to those working with children overseas.
• Require all regulated search service providers and user-to-user services to pre-screen online content for known child sexual abuse material.
• Establish joint inspection of the victims' code to ensure it provides the minimum level of service for survivors of child sexual abuse.
• Ending the three-year limitation on personal injury claims for survivors of child sexual abuse.
• Providing guaranteed, fully-funded therapeutic support by specialists to all survivors of child sexual abuse.
• Establishing a code of practice which provides access to records related to child sexual abuse and ensures they are retained for 75 years.
• Updating the criminal injuries compensation scheme to cover a broader range of child sexual abuse and to extend the time limit for survivors to apply.
• Improving data collection by creating a single set of core data for all child sexual abuse cases.

November 2020 report on Catholic Church

In November 2020, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its 144-page report, Safeguarding in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.^[118] The report said the Catholic Church of England and Wales "swept under the carpet" allegations of sex abuse by many individuals, including priests, monks and volunteers, in England and Wales. The report said that Vincent Nichols, a cardinal since 2014 and the leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales, made "no acknowledgement of any personal responsibility",^[119] protected the reputation of the Church rather than protecting victims, and lacked compassion towards victims.^[120]

On 2 September 2021, the inquiry published Child protection in religious organisations and settings - Investigation Report, after examining evidence from 38 groups, including sects from Christianity, Orthodox Judaism, and Islam.^[121] The report said there were "shocking failings" and "blatant hypocrisy" in the way major UK religious groups handled child sex abuse allegationsd. It also said that some religious organisations were "morally failing" children, discouraging the reporting of abuse to protect reputations, blaming victims for their abuse, and responding to allegations using religious dogma.^[122]

Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

Main article: Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was established in October 2015 to inquire into cases of child abuse in care in Scotland.^[123][124] Retired judge Lady Anne Smith was appointed as chairwoman of the inquiry in July 2016. She is supported by a secretariat team, a legal team and legal council.^[125] Prior to the appointment of Smith, the inquiry had a chair, Susan O'Brien, and two panel members, Michael Lamb and Glen Houston. Lamb resigned because of the Scottish government continued interference.^[126] The inquiry investigated over 100 locations of over 50 residential care establishments for children where there were child abuse claims.^[127][128] Between 2018 and 2021 the inquiry issued several reports including four case reports on care homes in Scotland.^{[129][130][131]}

Abuse survivors have called on the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry remit to be widened out to include victims who were targeted outwith residential care, including sports and leisure clubs or faith based organisations attended on a day-to-day basis.^[132][133] Lady Smith rejected this request.^[132] Those affected by childhood sexual abuse have called for new laws of mandatory reporting to be implemented in Scotland. This would be a legal requirement for those who work with children or in law enforcement to report child sexual abuse, and is already law in many other countries in the world. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has given no indication if they will support this law reform.^[134]

The inquiry was to report and make recommendations by 2019.^[135][136] This deadline was later changed to "as soon as reasonably practicable".^[124] A transcript contract extension indicates the inquiry hearings could run until February 2025, with a possible extension to February 2026. Then the report would need to be written.^[137] Concerns have been raised about mounting costs and delays in the inquiry.^[138][139] In September 2021, Lady Smith released a report which was critical of the previous Scottish government for the 'woeful and avoidable' delay in setting up the inquiry.^[140] As of January 2025^[update], after nearly 8 years of the inquiry, the inquiry still has not published its recommendations.^[134]

Notable incidents

• Amberdale children's home
• Aylesbury child sex abuse ring
• Banbury child sex abuse ring^[141]
• Beechwood children's home – A care home where 136 former residents reported being sexually abused, which police believe is "the small tip of a very large iceberg".
• Berkhamsted paedophile network – A gang led from Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire that was stopped in 2016.
• Birmingham bathing cult
• Bristol child sex abuse ring^[142]
• Derby child sex abuse ring^[143]
• Eliza Armstrong case – a late 19th-century child sexual abuse scandal that led to the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, which raised the age of consent from 13 to 16.
• Halifax child sex abuse ring^[144]
• Huddersfield grooming gang
• Islington Children's Homes^[145]
• Jersey child abuse investigation
• Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal. See also Operation Yewtree, the police investigation into abuse by Savile and others.
• Keighley child sex abuse ring
• Kesgrave Hall School
• Kidwelly sex cult
• Kincora Boys' Home – the scandal first came to public attention on 24 January 1980 after a news report in the Irish Independent titled it as "Sex Racket at Children's Home".
• Manchester child sex abuse ring
• Manchester Children's Homes^[146]
• Mark Trotter Affair^[147]
• Medomsley Detention Centre – A youth prison in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980 where over 1,800 former inmates were subjected to serious sexual and physical abuse by prison guards.
• Murder of Alesha MacPhail
• Newcastle child sex abuse ring^[148]
• North Wales child abuse scandal – Scandal leading to a three-year, £13 million investigation into the physical and sexual abuse of children in care homes in the counties of Clwyd and Gwynedd, in North Wales, including the Bryn Estyn children's home at Wrexham, between 1974 and 1990.
• North West Hebephile Hunters forms^[149]
• Norwich sexual abuse ring
• Nottingham Care Homes^[150]
• Operation Voicer – A successful police investigation into sexual abuse of babies and infants across England.
• Oxford child sex abuse ring^[151]
• Peterborough sex abuse case^[152]
• Plymouth child abuse case – paedophile ring involving at least five adults from different parts of England
• Rochdale child sex abuse ring. See also Operation Doublet, an ongoing investigation by Greater Manchester Police.
• Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal – widespread child exploitation in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, between 1997 and 2013, estimated to have involved at least 1400 children who were subjected to 'appalling' sexual exploitation by gangs of men. An investigation into the abuse was commissioned, called the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham or Jay Report.^{[153][154][155]}
• 2019 South Wales paternal sex abuse case
• Telford child sexual exploitation scandal^{[156][157][158]}
• United Kingdom football sexual abuse scandal – started in November 2016 when former professional footballers waived their rights to anonymity and talked publicly about abuse by former football coaches in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The initial allegations centred on Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City.
• Westminster paedophile dossier – A dossier on paedophiles allegedly associated with the British government

Notable offenders

See also: Category:British people convicted of child sexual abuse

This is an incomplete list of notable British personalities who have been convicted of child sexual abuse. It does not include notable people, such as Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith, who were publicly accused of abuse after their deaths, but never prosecuted.

• Frank Beck (1942–1994) – Convicted of rapes and sexual assaults against hundreds of victims at children's homes in Leicestershire between 1973 and 1986.^[159]
• Russell Bishop (1966–2022) – Convicted child molester, murderer and abductor. Arrested and convicted in 1990^[160] and convicted again in 2018. Served two life sentences.^[161]
• Ronald Castree (1953–) – Sexually assaulted, kidnapped, stabbed to death an 11-year-old girl. Castree was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years.^[162]
• Max Clifford (1943–2017) – Leading publicist, found guilty in April 2014 of eight indecent assaults on four girls and women aged 14 to 19,^[163] and sentenced to eight years in prison.^[164][165]
• Sidney Cooke (1927–) – Dubbed by The Guardian as "Britain's most notorious paedophile".^[166]
• Chris Denning (1941–2022) – British disc jockey. He was jailed several times, for indecency in 1974 at the Old Bailey, 18 months in 1985, three years in 1988, three months in 1996, four years in a Czech prison in 1998 and five years in 2008. Denning regarded them to be "unfair".^[167]
• Matthew Falder (1989–) – Falder was labelled as one of the most prolific and depraved offenders that the National Crime Agency (NCA) had ever encountered. Falder blackmailed and coerced his victims online into depraving and degrading themselves and then using the images to heighten his profile on paedophile sites on the dark web. Falder was convicted in February 2018 and ordered to serve 32 years in prison.^[168]
• Gary Glitter (1944–) – Regarded by some to be the father of glam rock, Glitter is also one of the British entertainment industry's most infamous serial sex offenders. His career ended in November 1999 when he was jailed for four months after admitting to a collection of 4,000 hardcore photographs of children being abused.^[169] In March 2006, he was jailed again, this time in Vietnam, for sexually abusing two girls. He served almost three years in jail.^[170] In October 2012, he was the first person to be arrested under Operation Yewtree – the investigation launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.^[171] This led to his conviction and jailing again in the UK for a total of 16 years for sexually abusing three young girls between 1975 and 1980.^[6]
• William Goad (1942–2012) – Goad was convicted of abusing 14 children in 2004 and given a life sentence. He boasted of having hundreds more victims, claiming at one time to have beaten his "record" of 142 victims in one year, and is thought to have been one of Britain's most prolific child rapists.^[172]
• Rolf Harris (1930–2023) – British based Australian entertainer. In 2013, Harris was arrested as part of Operation Yewtree and charged with 12 counts of indecent assault and 4 counts of making indecent images of a child. On 30 June 2014, Harris was found guilty on all 12 counts of indecent assault and on 4 July 2014 was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months in prison for a minimum of 2 years and 10 months.^[5][173]
• Stuart Hall (1929—) – Radio and television presenter in North West England and nationally, who presented It's a Knockout and Jeux Sans Frontières and later reported football matches on BBC radio. He pleaded guilty in April 2013 to having indecently assaulted 13 girls, aged between 9 and 17 years old, between 1967 and 1986,^[174] and was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment.^[175] In May 2014 he was found guilty on two further charges and was sentenced to an additional 30 months in prison.^[176]
• Antoni Imiela (1954–2018) – Since March 2012, he had been serving 12 years in prison.
• Jonathan King (1944–) – English singer-songwriter, businessman. He was convicted and jailed in 2001 for sexual abuse against boys in the 1980s.^[177] King was subsequently denied appeal twice on both conviction and sentence,^[178] was released on parole in 2005, and continues to maintain that he was wrongly convicted.^[179]
• Chris Langham (1949–) – English writer, actor and comedian. On 2 August 2007, Langham was found guilty of 15 charges of downloading and possessing level 5 child sexual abuse images and videos. Langham was jailed for 10 months, reduced to 6 months on appeal. He was made to sign the sex offenders' register and was banned from working with children for 10 years.
• William Mayne (1928–2010) – Author of more than 130 books. In 2004 he was imprisoned for two and a half years.^[180]
• Gene Morrison (1958—) – In September 2009, convicted of 13 child sexual offenses, he was jailed for 5 years.^[181]
• Graham Ovenden (1943–) – Known artist. In April 2013, found guilty of child sexual abuse, jailed for 2 years in October 2013.^[182]
• Geoffrey Prime (1938–) – Former British spy, convicted of child sexual abuse, during the 1980s.^[183]
• Peter Righton (1926–2007) – Founding member of the Paedophile Information Exchange. Found guilty in 1992 of possession of obscene child pornography. Mentioned in Tom Watson MP's 2012 Parliamentary Question to David Cameron.^[184]
• Fred Talbot (1949–) – Former television presenter, best known for his role as a weatherman on ITV's This Morning programme. In March 2015, he was sentenced to five years in prison, having been found guilty of indecent assault against two teenaged boys at the Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, where he had taught in the 1970s. Talbot also received a further four years in June 2017 for offences carried out in Scotland in the 1970s and early 1980s.^[185] and eight months in late November 2017 for sexually assaulting a male aged over 16 on 7 June 1980.^[186]
• Ray Teret (1941–2021) – Former Radio Caroline DJ and friend of Jimmy Savile, he was convicted in 2014 of seven counts of rape and 11 counts of indecent assault during the 1960s and 1970s against girls as young as 12. He was jailed for 25 years.^[187]
• Tony and Julie Wadsworth – BBC radio personalities, in 2017 they were convicted of indecent assault on young boys during the 1990s.^[188]
• Ian Watkins (1977–) – Founding member and lead singer of the rock band Lostprophets. In November 2013, Watkins pleaded guilty to 13 charges, including the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13.^[189] He was subsequently jailed for 29 years and was ordered to serve a further six years on extended licence following completion of his sentence.^[190]
• Peter Macbeth (1941–) – Founding member and bass guitarist of The Foundations band. He was arrested in 2008 and in 2016 for admitting to downloading child pornography and partaking in indecent assault.^[191][192]
• David Wilson – prolific sex offender living in King's Lynn, Norfolk preyed on his victims online. He admitted at least 96 sexual offences. He was jailed for 25 years, later 30. His offences were committed between May 2016 and December 2020.^[193][194]

See also

• Child abuse
• Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry
• Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry
• Sexual offences in the United Kingdom

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Further reading

• Nigel Parton; Anne Stafford; Sharon Vincent; Connie Smith (2011). Child Protection Systems in the United Kingdom: A Comparative Analysis. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 978-0857002549.
• Adrian Bingham; Louise Settle. Scandals and silences: the British press and child sexual abuse, in History & Policy. (4 August 2015)

External links

• Jay Report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham
• Sexual Offences Act 2003