The Offside Trust, the organisation set up in the wake of the football abuse scandal, which aims to work alongside football clubs to enhance safeguarding, has this week claimed that at least 80 sports coaches have been convicted of child sexual abuse in the past two years.
Six year old girl awarded damages from local authority after sexual abuse by boys at school
Following agreement at a roundtable meeting, the High Court yesterday approved a five figure settlement in a case involving a local authority defendant where a six year old girl disclosed she had been repeatedly sexually abused by two boys at school in 2015. The local authority agreed the settlement without admission of liability.
Northern Ireland Civil Service announce draft legislation for consultation on HIAI recommendations
Almost two years after the HIAI handed its recommendations to the First and Deputy First Ministers, the Civil Service staff responsible for the implementation of those recommendations have released three pieces of draft legislation for consultation. An extended period of 12 weeks has been set aside for the consultation period to allow parties from around the world and individuals who had been in residential care to respond. Continue reading
Sir John Gillen recommends public are banned from rape trials
The Preliminary report following a consultation exercise by Sir John Gillen has made over 200 recommendations. The headline is that members of the public (except for close family of the complainant and the accused) would be banned from attending serious sexual offences trials. This is the only way to minimise the identification of a complainant. Continue reading
IICSA developments – where next?
New hearing dates published
The Inquiry has published a timetable of preliminary and public hearings up to February 2020. The hearings include hearings on the role of the internet in facilitating child sexual abuse and the first phase of public hearings about sexual abuse in residential schools. Continue reading
Sexual harassment of women and girls in public
It seems that no matter where we turn these days we are faced with reports of abuse, rape, domestic violence, hate crime, exploitation, workplace harassment, human trafficking, and school children in uniform being vilified (street harassment). These reports appear to have attracted more media attention and prominence since the establishment of the #MeToo movement. Continue reading
Scottish Developments
Scottish Government: apology and financial redress scheme
The Scottish Government has accepted the recommendations of the review group whose report was noted in our blog of 7 September. Continue reading
