Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to generate deepfake child sexual abuse images based on real victims, a report has found.
The tools used to create the images remain legal in the UK, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWL) said, even though AI child sexual abuse images are illegal.
It gave the example of one victim of child rape and torture, whose abuser uploaded images of her when she was between three and eight years old.
The non-profit organisation reported that Olivia, not her real name, was rescued by police in 2023 – but years later dark web users are using AI tools to computer-generate images of her in new abusive situations.
Offenders are compiling collections of images of named victims, such as Olivia, and using them to fine-tune AI models to create new material, the IWL said.
One model for generating new images of Olivia, who is now in her 20s, was available to download for free, it found.
A dark web user reportedly shared an anonymous webpage containing links to AI models for 128 different victims of child sexual abuse.
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Other fine-tuned models can generate AI child sexual material of celebrity children, the IWL said.
IWL analysts found 90% of AI images were realistic enough to be assessed under the same law as real child sexual abuse material.
They also found AI images are becoming increasingly extreme.
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‘Incredibly concerning but also preventable’
The IWL warned “hundreds of images can be spewed out at the click of a button” and some have a “near flawless, photo-realistic quality”.
Its chief executive Susie Hargreaves said: “We will be watching closely to see how industry, regulators and government respond to the threat, to ensure that the suffering of Olivia, and children like her, is not exacerbated, reimagined and recreated using AI tools.”
Richard Collard of the NSPCC said: “The speed with which AI-generated child abuse is developing is incredibly concerning but is also preventable. Too many AI products are being developed and rolled out without even the most basic considerations for child safety, retraumatising child victims of abuse.
“It is crucial that child protection is a key pillar of any government legislation around AI safety. We must also demand tough action from tech companies now to stop AI abuse snowballing and ensure that children whose likeness are being used are identified and supported.”
Windrush campaigners are calling on the next government to grant citizenship to all victims of the immigration scandal in the first 100 days after the election.
Campaigners including Action for Race Equality (ARE) have warned that the current compensation and documentation scheme is “unwieldy” and in need of desperate reform.
This comes as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that justice for the Windrush community “has taken far too long” as he promised a “fundamental reset” for the Windrush generation.
Sir Keir said the Windrush generation, who arrived 76 years ago on HMT Empire Windrush, in Tilbury, Essex, represented the “best of Britain” as his party vowed sweeping reform, including appointing a Windrush commissioner, to help them.
The Windrush scandal refers to migrants from the Caribbean who started to arrive in 1948 to help rebuild Britain after the war.
They were given the right to live and work in Britain permanently but many were later wrongly deemed illegal immigrants.
Image: Many people who arrived from the Caribbean on HMT Empire Windrush lost their UK jobs and homes. Pic: AP
As a result of the scandal, a Windrush Scheme for Documentation was established in 2018 so those impacted were able to retrieve their documents and demonstrate their right to citizenship.
The Home Office estimates that more than 16,800 people have been provided with their documents through the scheme.
However, ARE says a third of those who have received documents are from EU countries and claims more than 57,000 people impacted by the Windrush scandal may still be eligible.
The charity has also criticised the Windrush Compensation Scheme which the Home Office says has paid out £85.86m across 2,382 claims, as of March.
Image: Jeremy Crook OBE, chief executive, Action for Race Equality
But Jeremy Crook OBE, ARE chief executive, believes almost 4,000 claims were rejected and says it is likely because the 44-page long application is “very bureaucratic” and “onerous”.
“Our manifesto calls for legal aid to be put in place by the next government,” says Mr Crook.
‘A fundamental reset’
Labour have said that, if elected, they’re going to streamline the initial applications for compensation, speed up payouts and implement the recommendations which Wendy Williams made in her independent Windrush Lessons Learned Review.
Sir Keir said: “The Windrush generation embodies the best of Britain: determination, spirit, public service and graft.
“But instead of being thanked, they’ve been badly mistreated.
“A Labour government will offer a fundamental reset moment for the Windrush generation, with respect and dignity at its very core.”
He promised “urgent reform” of the compensation system and to restore the Windrush Unit to the Home Office along with appointing a Windrush commissioner to be “the voice of families affected”.
He added: “Justice has taken far too long for the Windrush community.
“A government that I lead won’t let this happen again. Where the Tories have dragged their feet, I am determined to get money out the door to compensate those who were failed by the state.”
‘I still think they’re gonna come for me’
Image: Shane Smith spent almost his entire life in the UK before he was told he had no right to be in the country
Shane Smith, 44, was born in Trinidad and Tobago, but was brought to the UK by his British mum when he was just four months old.
He was at work, in his early thirties, when he was told he had no right to remain in the only place he knew as home.
“I was dragged into the office and they were like, you’ve got an immigration issue,” says Mr Smith.
“I said, ‘Can’t you hear my voice? I’m a scouser!’ That’s when everything fell apart.”
He lost his job as a result of the scandal and it took him years to obtain the documents he needed to be granted the citizenship he was already entitled to.
Mr Smith became homeless as a result of work insecurities, and years later is still battling with mental health issues.
“I just felt alone, I couldn’t provide for my family anymore… I’m embarrassed, because I am a proud man, and before this I thought I was very, very strong,” says Mr Smith.
“I still think they’re gonna come for me.”
Although he may be entitled to compensation, Mr Smith hasn’t yet applied for the scheme, as he believes the process does not consider the complex lives created by the scandal.
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“I’ve got to go through a dossier and provide all this stuff, when half the time I was homeless,” he says.
He says when he received the compensation booklet, he couldn’t face going through the paperwork.
“I just threw it in the bin.”
Mr Smith also says even if he found the mental strength to fill it out, he’s not sure he could accept the money based on principles.
“If I accept it, it’s just like saying what you did to me is fine, and you are okay doing that to anyone else,” he says.
It’s this “lack of faith” in the government’s ability to right the wrongs of the scandal that has inspired ARE, which is also calling upon the incoming government to establish a Windrush covenant for mental health.
The infected blood compensation scheme is to be extended to bereaved children who have lost one or two parents, Sky News understands.
This group has not been involved in the interim compensation scheme previously paid to victims of the scandal.
Tony Farrugia, who lost his haemophiliac father (and two uncles) to HIV/AIDs after being treated with infected blood products, described his meeting with the Paymaster General John Glen on Wednesday as “emotional”.
Mr Farrugia said this significant moment “wasn’t just about the money but that his loss has finally been recognised”.
He will now be able to apply to the compensation scheme after Sir Brian Langstaff’s report is published on 20 May.
“On a personal level, I just want it to end now. I want to move forward with my life,” Mr Farrugia said.
“To finally get that recognition that children will be recognized is massive and it will be really good to see the end of this.”
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“I’m pleased that I’ve been able to report back to my group that that we’re moving forward on this. It’s been a long time coming and several meetings over the past years have amounted to nothing. And today was very different.”
Image: The Blood Inquiry which was announced in 2017 has seen evidence that shows these infected blood products were secretly tested on patients
Thousands of people died in the 1970s and 80s after infected blood products were imported from the United States to treat patients with blood clotting disorders. But these were used without being screened even though they had been farmed from prisoners, drug addicts and sex workers.
The Blood Inquiry which was announced in 2017 has seen evidence that shows these infected blood products were secretly tested on patients including young children even though the risks were widely known at the time.
A further 710 people have died since then and campaigners fear any more delays in awarding compensation will see more people dying before they get any money.
Image: Campaigners in December delivered a letter to Downing Street calling for faster payouts for the victims of the infected blood scandal
John Glen, the cabinet minister responsible for the Government’s response to the Infected Blood Inquiry, on Wednesday began a series of meetings with campaigners representing infected and affected members of the community.
Other victims of the infected blood scandal have told Sky News they are also set to receive interim compensation payments ahead of full compensation in the Autumn.
Stuart McClean described his talks with Paymaster John Glen at a meeting in Whitehall on Wednesday morning as “promising” and added “I think he’s listened and I think he gets what we were saying to him.
“He’s looking at trying to go for another interim payment. He’s got to get that signed off. We don’t know when. We don’t know what it’ll be. He said that he was looking at another interim payment.”
Mr McClean is uncertain if the payments would be for all victims affected by the scandal or the timeline: “He didn’t stipulate.
“But hopefully it is for both. And then hopefully compensation starts arriving October onwards. He said that he’s working as fast as he can. Obviously he’s got to take it to the Chancellor and to the Prime Minister, but he is working as fast as he can.”
Read more: Infected Blood Inquiry: Victims and victims’ families lobby Westminster for compensation Rishi Sunak says government ‘speeding up’ compensation for infected blood victims
In October 2022, the Government made interim compensation payments to infected individuals and bereaved partners who were registered with any of the four UK infected blood support schemes.
Mr McClean was infected with the potentially deadly Hepatitis C virus as an eight-year-old schoolboy after he was misdiagnosed as a haemophiliac. He was only told about his life threatening infection as an adult.
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He said he asked the Paymaster General not to make any Government announcements on 20 May, the day Sir Brian Langstaff’s long awaited report into the greatest NHS treatment scandal in history will be published.
“Please give us a day on the 20th not to make any announcement. A sad day for the truth to come out and let the public hear the truth. But I think we’re nearly there for justice, Mr McClean said.
A notorious killer has told British detectives where he buried his victim’s remains 55 years ago, after they flew to his Caribbean home to interview him.
Nizamodeen Hosein was convicted of kidnapping and killing Muriel McKay, who he mistook for the then wife of newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch, in one of the first British murder trials without a body.
But this week, he agreed to meet a team of Scotland Yard detectives in his native Trinidad where he was deported after serving 20 years in a UK jail.
Image: Nizamodeen Hosein
In a message to the McKay family, Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin said: “We are in Trinidad and were able to speak to Nizamodeen Hosein yesterday and start the interview process.
“He was happy to speak with us and we will hopefully continue to interview him over the next few days. We are making progress working with the local police.”
It is believed Hosein, 76, repeated what he told Muriel’s daughter Dianne McKay and her grandson Mark Dyer when they flew 4,500 miles to meet him in Trinidad in January: that Muriel died of a heart attack at his brother Arthur’s Hertfordshire farm, while they negotiated a ransom, and they buried her under a manure heap behind a barn.
Sky News filmed that meeting, in which Hosein pointed to old and new photographs of the farm and studied computer-generated images to pinpoint the burial site.
He said at the time: “Go through the kitchen door, come through the open land, turn left and it’s two feet from the hedge, that’s where the body is.”
A week later, after studying the Sky News footage, Det Supt Goodwin said she found Hosein’s evidence “compelling”, but wanted to meet him face to face.
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2:52
Daughter meets her mother’s killer
She hopes to gather enough evidence to justify a new search at the farm near the village of Stocking Pelham, or to urge the Home Office to lift Hosein’s deportation order and let him return briefly to the farm to show police exactly where to dig.
Businessman Mr Dyer said: “We didn’t know whether Nizam would be happy talking to the British police, but if he is that’s great news.
“They already have his new testimony, but we hope he will tell them everything he told us, the precise details of where he buried my grandmother, so we can recover her and give her a proper burial at last.”
Mrs McKay, 55, was kidnapped from her south London home in late December 1969 by the Hosein brothers, who thought she was Anna, the wife of Rupert Murdoch who had just bought the Sun newspaper. In fact, she was the wife of Murdoch’s deputy, fellow Australian Alick McKay.
The kidnappers realised their mistake straightaway, but carried on with their plot and demanded a £1m ransom for her safe return, playing a cat-and-mouse game with Scotland Yard before they were identified and arrested, by which time Muriel was already dead.
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Image: Hosein with Mrs McKay’s daughter Dianne McKay in January
They were jailed for life, denying any part in the abduction and refusing to say what had happened to their victim.
Nizam was persuaded to reveal what he now says is the truth after the McKay family hired a lawyer to interview him at his ramshackle home outside the Trinidad capital Port of Spain.
He lives there alone in poverty but refused the family’s offer of $50,000 to come clean and has spoken to them for free.
Police excavated a patch of the Hertfordshire farmland two years ago without success, but the family insisted they had searched the wrong area.
The farm owner Ian Marsh had refused permission for a new dig but has since said he would allow police back without a search warrant if they felt they had enough evidence.
Image: The Hertfordshire farm where Muriel McKay is said to have died
In an official statement Det Supt Goodwin, of the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime unit, said: “We understand how frustrating and difficult this is for Muriel’s family and are still working to recover her remains.
“We recently met Muriel’s family and others to speak to them and gather information obtained during their visit to Trinidad. We are grateful for their time and assistance.
“We have reviewed and assessed this information to determine the next steps in our investigation, which includes whether a further search is appropriate.
“We remain in contact with the family and will keep them updated.”
There is a “crisis” in the number of barristers available for rape and serious sexual offence (RASSO) cases, a new survey has shown.
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) said 64% of prosecutors and 66% of defence barristers will not reapply to work on RASSO court lists going forward due to the low legal aid fees they are paid and the impact on their wellbeing.
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The figures come as the average wait for a bailed rape trial to conclude from the day of an alleged offence hit around five and a half years – including an average wait of 18 months from someone being charged until the end of the trial.
The CBA said many cases were now waiting longer than 18 months, with members telling them of court dates being set for the end of 2026, despite the charges happening in 2022.
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Chair of the organisation, Tana Adkin KC, said barristers were “committed to do everything [they] can to address the backlog and continue providing the highest quality advocacy whilst ensuring the vulnerable, complainants and the accused alike are heard”.
But, she said, without “urgent intervention” from the government, the delays will only continue to grow, adding: “Our ability to deliver what government wants, what courts require and the public expects is currently unsustainable.”
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According to figures from the CBA, there has been a 30% fall in income for barristers over the past 20 years, with some specialist criminal barristers taking home an average of £12,000 a year after expenses in their first three years at the bar.
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Why did barristers go on strike over fees?
Following strike action in 2022, the government increased legal aid fees by 15% – but the CBA argued this was the bare minimum recommended in an independent review of charges, and higher pay was needed to keep people in the profession, with swathes of young barristers quitting the courts.
Now, according to the survey, barristers will be walking away from RASSO cases altogether, which represent nearly 9,800 cases in the current backlog of over 66,000 in crown court – up 226% from the historic low of 3,005 at the end of 2018.
A total of six out of 10 of the 780 barristers who responded to the survey cited poor legal aid fees as the reason for refusing to take on RASSO cases in the future, while half pointed to poor well-being as a result of the challenging work.
“Doing nothing to increase RASSO fees is not an option unless we want to accept that rape and serious sexual offence trials will continue to be delayed for years, repeatedly postponed on the day because there is no barrister to prosecute or defend,” added Ms Adkin.
“The human cost for victims of these crimes as well as innocent defendants is beyond financial measure.”
Sky News has contacted the Ministry of Justice for a response.
The government is being told to urgently set up a financial package to help patients damaged by epilepsy drug valproate and vaginal mesh.
Calculations for the cost of the package amount to half a billion pounds – just for the initial payments, according to a report by the Patient Safety Commissioner for England, Dr Henrietta Hughes.
Previously, the government rejected calls for such a scheme, but Dr Hughes’s report says that position “is unsustainable” and “is causing immense anxiety for harmed patients”.
Based on the needs identified by patients in a survey, valproate victims would need an initial payment of £100,000 per patient, and vaginal mesh victims would need £20,000.
Because more mesh victims answered the survey, this amounts to an average of £25,000, for an estimated 20,000 claimants, adding up to half a billion pounds.
However, there would then be a secondary payout based on assessments of future needs.
Dr Hughes told Sky News: “The need for redress is now. I want the government to get on with it, to set up a scheme for patients and start making payments in 2025.”
The report says: “The purpose of the Interim Scheme is to offer patients an initial, fixed sum in recognition of the avoidable harm they have suffered as a result of system‑wide healthcare and regulatory failures.
“The purpose of the Main Scheme is to recognise that the system-wide healthcare and regulatory failures caused different levels of harm to each patient.
“Consequently, the Main Scheme will require a more individualised approach with greater evidential requirements that will require more time to develop.”
Ultimately, this could also mean even larger sums of money.
Primodos not included
Dr Hughes was asked by the Department of Health to explain how to meet the needs of patients who have suffered “avoidable harm” identified by Baroness Cumberlege in her review into mesh, valproate and Primodos published in 2020.
However, controversially, Dr Hughes was told by the government not to look at a scheme for children allegedly damaged by Primodos.
Dr Hughes told Sky News: “I wanted to include the Primodos families and I was told that the government didn’t want them included.
“I said right from the start that if you have an independent review, the government should accept all the recommendations. Cumberlege recommended redress for victims of Primodos and I believe the same.”
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Primodos was a drug given to women as a pregnancy test in the 1960s and 1970s which is alleged to have caused multiple forms of malformations to the foetus in the womb. The manufacturer, Bayer, has always denied a causal link between the drug and birth defects.
Valproate is an epilepsy drug that can cause what is called Valproate Syndrome in children born to women using the drug, which includes distinct facial dysmorphism, congenital anomalies, developmental delay and autism.
Pelvic Mesh implants were given to women to support internal organs after childbirth or a hysterectomy – but have left an estimated 10,000 people with disabilities as the mesh cut into their organs and nerves.
Image: Patricia Alexander
Patricia Alexander, 46, took valproate during both her pregnancies, not knowing it would cause her daughter and son to have autism and life-long learning difficulties.
She told Sky News: “We’re talking about reminding them how to use the toilet properly, washing their hands, drying their hands, having a wash, brushing their teeth… things like this that children would have learned when they’re very small, we’re still having to do every day.”
Her daughter Amelie is 14 and her son Joseph is now 23, but he still needs warning about cars when crossing the road.
Patricia added: “Our biggest worry is what will happen to children when the time comes that we’re not here to look after them.”
It is more than six years since Sky News revealed how regulators knew back in the 1970s that Valproate posed a risk, but for years chose not to tell patients.
Image: Patricia Alexander and son Joseph
‘Huge step forward’
Emma Murphy, founder of valproate support group INFACT, told Sky News this report was “a huge step forward,” adding: “The report outlines a number of options and ways the government could now implement redress but this does mean our families are again having to wait for the government to decide what to do.
“INFACT strongly urge the government to act upon this report that they requested and deliver justice to Britain’s valproate children, just like they did with Thalidomide babies.”
Sky News has also campaigned for years for recognition of the harms caused by mesh implants.
Image: Mesh victim Natasha Brown speaks to Sky’s Jason Farrell
Mesh victim Natasha Brown described the pain as “like there is a piece of wood, a pencil, wedged in there.”
She now walks with a crutch, has had to give up her cleaning business, and is dependent on her two young daughters.
She said: “I don’t want them to be my carers. It’s really hard when you’re cooking tea and you have to get your 12-year-old to lift something out of the oven for you, and seeing my neighbours take them on long walks or taking them kayaking, and all I get is the photographs at the end.
“I want to be doing that. I’m only 49. I’m supposed to be doing those things for them, and with them. It has taken our lives away, and that’s wrong.”
Image: Ms Brown now walks with a crutch due to the pain she suffers
‘Gaslit for years’
Kath Sansom, founder of campaign group Sling The Mesh, said: “While we are pleased that this report validates the suffering of thousands of women – many who have lost jobs, pensions, homes, partners, and live in constant pain – there are also concerning elements to it.
“Most notably, the initial sum of £25,000 for mesh is disappointingly low. We hope second-stage payments for women directly harmed will compensate for that.
“All women harmed by pelvic mesh trusted they were having a gold standard surgery, with little to no warning of risks from their surgeon, and as a result experienced irreversible, life-altering complications.
“Many were then gaslit for years, and, just like the post office scandal, told they were the only ones suffering, forcing them to suffer in silence.
“Finally, our hearts go out to the Primodos families who have been campaigning since the 1960s and 70s, who have no positive financial redress news at all in this report.”
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2:09
From February 2022: Epilepsy drug victim: ‘Government hid this’
Marie Lyon from the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy tests said: “The PSC has failed to engage with our families to ensure their patient safety needs are met.
“For more than five decades, our families have had sole responsibility of both the physical and mental health of their children. Shameful.”
Women’s health minister Maria Caulfield said: “Our sympathies remain with those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh and we are focused on improving how the system listens to patients and healthcare professionals, as well as introducing measures to make medicines and devices safer.
“I am hugely grateful to the Patient Safety Commissioner and her team for their work on this important issue.
“The government is carefully considering the Patient Safety Commissioner’s recommendations and will respond to the report fully, in due course.”
The family of Scarlett Jenkinson – who has been jailed for 22 years for murdering Brianna Ghey – have said they are “truly sorry”.
The killers, both 16, who were named for the first time on Friday, had denied murder and blamed each other for the attack, which was described as “horrific” by detectives.
Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe were 15 when they carried out their “disturbing” plan to murder her in a “frenzied and ferocious” attack with a hunting knife.
Image: Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe. Pic: Cheshire Police
Jenkinson was jailed for at least 22 years and Ratcliffe for a minimum of 20 years. They will be transferred to adult prisons when they turn 18.
Read more: Father disagrees with decision to name killers How teenagers ‘thirsty for death’ plotted murder
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Moment Brianna Ghey’s killers arrested
In a statement given exclusively to the Warrington Guardian, the family of Jenkinson said: “All of our thoughts are for Brianna and her family.
“The last 12 months have been beyond our worst nightmares as we have come to realise the brutal truth of Scarlett’s actions.
“We agree with the jury’s verdict, the judge’s sentence and the decision to name the culprits.
“Our lives are in turmoil, but our immediate focus is to make sure that we don’t do anything against the wishes of Brianna’s family.
“We offer our sincere thanks to Esther Ghey for her incredible selflessness and empathy towards our family. Her compassion is overwhelming and we are forever grateful.
“To all of Brianna’s family and friends, our community and everyone else that has been affected by this horror, we are truly sorry.”
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Brianna was stabbed with a hunting knife 28 times in her head, neck, chest and back after being lured to Linear Park, Culcheth, a village near Warrington, Cheshire, on the afternoon of 11 February last year.
Jenkinson, whose parents are teachers and lives close to the park in Culcheth, had been asked to leave her school, Culcheth High, over giving cannabis-laced gummy sweets to another pupil and joined Brianna’s school, Birchwood High, in October 2022 and quickly became “obsessed” with her.
Image: Brianna Ghey. Pic: Cheshire Police
After the teenage killers were convicted, Esther Ghey called for “empathy and compassion” for their families as “they too have lost a child” and “must live the rest of their lives knowing what their child has done”.
Trial judge Mrs Justice Yip warned that anyone tempted to direct “vitriol or malice” towards the defendants’ families would be “acting against the express wishes” of Ms Ghey.
The families of the three victims killed by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham have spoken out after a judge ordered he be detained at a high-security hospital “very probably” for the rest of his life.
The mother of 19-year-old Barnaby Webber told Nottinghamshire Police “you have blood on your hands”, as she spoke outside the court on Thursday.
In a series of missed opportunities to prevent the killings, Calocane had previously been detained in hospital four times, and a warrant for his arrest had been issued months before his deadly rampage.
Image: Valdo Calocane. Pic: Nottinghamshire Police
Emma Webber added: “True justice has not been served today. We as a devastated family have been let down by multiple agency failings and ineffectiveness.”
James Coates, son of victim Ian Coates, said the killer had “got away with murder”.
Image: James Coates. Pic: PA
He added that Calocane had “made a mockery of the system” and if he had not been stopped it “could have been one of the most catastrophic attacks this country has ever seen”.
He blamed the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the health service for his father’s death, saying they failed.
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“All we can hope is that in due course some sort of justice will be served,” he said.
Father of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, described the last few days as “absolute hell”.
Image: Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar and brother James outside court
He said the family will “never come to terms” with her loss and how she died saying Grace was a “gift to us, she was a gift to the country”.
Dr Kumar said the family never questioned Calocane’s diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, but pointed to a “lack of toxicology [reports]” and “contemporaneous mental health assessments” during the case.
He said there were “missed opportunities” to “divert [Calocane’s] lethal calls” that will “forever play on our minds”.
Prosecutors accepted 32-year-old Calocane’s guilty pleas to manslaughter, not murder, on the basis of diminished responsibility. He also admitted three counts of attempted murder after hitting three pedestrians in a van he stole from Mr Coates.
Calocane repeatedly stabbed teenagersBarnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumarwith a dagger as they walked home after a night out to celebrate the end of their exams.
He also knifed school caretaker Ian Coates, 65,to death as he made his way to work at Huntingdon Academy in the early hours of 13 June last year.
Image: School caretaker Ian Coates, and students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, were stabbed to death. Pic: Family handouts
‘Foolishly’ trusted in the system
On the CPS, Ms Webber said the agency “did not consult us as has been reported – instead we have been rushed, hastened and railroaded”.
“We were presented with a fait accompli that the decision had been made to accept manslaughter charges,” she said.
“At no point during the previous five-and-a-half-months were we given any indication that this could conclude in anything other than murder.
“We trusted in our system, foolishly as it turns out.
“We do not dispute that the murderer is mentally unwell and has been for a number of years.
“However the pre-mediated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows and brutality of the attacks are that of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing. He knew entirely that it was wrong but he did it anyway.”
CPS explains manslaughter decision
The chief crown prosecutor for the East Midlands, Janine McKinney, said Calocane was assessed by three expert psychiatrists, all of whom said his actions were influenced by paranoid schizophrenia.
The condition had a “significant impact” on his actions and “impaired his ability to exercise self-control”, she said.
It gave him a legal right to put forward a partial defence to murder and offer manslaughter pleas, Ms McKinney added.
On reviewing the evidence, the CPS concluded “there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction for murder, but there was for manslaughter and attempted murder”, Ms McKinney explained.
“That is why we accepted the pleas.”
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Hundreds of domestic abuse survivors will receive cash payments of £2,500 each to help them flee their tormentors, under a new initiative.
The £2m scheme, which launches this month, is described as a “lifeline” for women who can’t flee – or are forced to return to – abusive relationships because they cannot afford essentials.
A successful pilot of the scheme last year, saw 600 victims given £250 or £500. A review found 80% of applicants used it to flee to a safe location, as well as buy food, clothing, nappies and security cameras.
The new scheme funded by the Home Office and delivered by Women’s Aid charities, will see these “flee funds” rolled out across England and Wales, and offers an additional £2,500 payment to pay for a rental deposit or bills.
The safeguarding minister, Laura Farris, told Sky News: “The most common reasons preventing people leaving a relationship are a lack of money, the strong fear of reprisals or being found in the future and concern about their kids – can you take them with you, how are you going to pay for everything?
“The point of this cash injection is to give them the security and confidence to make that first move to leave the relationship, and then a more substantial amount to get back on their feet, as they pay for those first few months of rental accommodation and look for a job.
“No government has done this before. Of course, we’re going to have to see how it works and it may be that we need to increase funding.”
Image: Laura Farris said no government has implemented a scheme like this before
Read more: Domestic abusers will be tagged on leaving prison to protect victims Domestic abuse victims put at risk after data breaches revealed their locations
Labour also backed the scheme, but shadow home office minister Alex Davies-Jones said it was “against a backdrop of total failure” given prosecutions for domestic abusers have halved since 2015 despite a rise in reported cases.
There were 2.1 million victims of domestic abuse in the year to March 2023. Domestic abuse charities report calls to helplines last year were well above pre-pandemic levels – blaming the cost of living.
‘I came here because I was scared’
Sky News visited a small refuge for South Asian, Turkish and Iranian women in London, run by the Ashiana charity. They had fled violent relationships and most were ineligible for any public funds.
One, a woman in her thirties who was forced to leave her daughter behind, had slept in a church for several nights after fleeing her violent husband. She is now training to be a beautician, and hopes to leave the refuge this year.
Image: One woman told Sky News she slept in a church before going to a refuge
“I came here because I was scared,” she said. “My husband was beating me; he was hurting me, and I couldn’t find any help.
“It was really scary, it was a new country and I couldn’t speak English. I didn’t know anything”.
She needed specialist support, but said the payment scheme “is a very good idea, being able to buy things I need gives me confidence”.
‘A lifeline for many victims’
Ms Farris said when the prime minister had promised, in a weekend interview, to tighten the benefit system to pay for tax cuts “he’s not talking about victims of domestic violence who have made the life-changing decision to leave their abuser”.
Nicole Jacobs, domestic abuse commissioner for England Wales, said cash payments have never been tried nationally, because domestic violence crossed different government departments.
Image: The scheme could become a lifeline for many victims of domestic abuse
She said it would be “a lifeline for many victims” but said they must reach “those who face the most difficult barriers to support”.
Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said: “When we worked on the pilot of the fund in May last year, we saw immediately the impact this was having on survivors – over 75% of applicants used their grant to replace or purchase essential goods for themselves or their children, after they had fled their abuser with nothing to their name.”
Labour peers are trying to amend the Victims and Prisoners Bill, currently in parliament, to ban police and other authorities passing on data about domestic violence victims to immigration control.
Domestic abuse victims have been put at risk after data breaches meant their locations were disclosed to their alleged abusers, the UK Information Commissioner has said.
The breaches have taken place at organisations including a law firm, a housing association, an NHS trust, a police service, a government department and local councils.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued reprimands to seven organisations for data breaches affecting domestic abuse victims since June 2022, with four of those cases related to inappropriate disclosure of the victim’s safe address to alleged perpetrators.
In one case, a family had to be immediately moved to emergency accommodation.
In another, an organisation gave the home address of two adopted children to their birth father, who was in prison on three counts of raping their mother.
Organisations had also revealed the identities of women seeking information about their partners to those partners.
There was also a breach in which an unredacted assessment report about children at risk of harm was sent to their mother’s ex-partners.
The people they trusted exposed them to further risk
John Edwards, the UK Information Commissioner, has called on organisations to handle personal information properly to avoid putting vulnerable people at further risk.
Mr Edwards said: “These families reached out for help to escape unimaginable violence, to protect them from harm and to seek support to move forward from dangerous situations. But the very people that they trusted to help, exposed them to further risk.”
He called on organisations to handle personal information properly and stressed that “getting the basics right is simple” through training, double checking records and contact details and restricting access to information.
A lack of staff training and failing to have robust procedures in place to handle personal information safely were among the various reasons for the breaches.
Mr Edwards continued: “This is a pattern that must stop. Organisations should be doing everything necessary to protect the personal information in their care.
“The reprimands issued in the past year make clear that mistakes were made and that organisations must resolve the issues that lead to these breaches in the first place.”
He added: “Protecting the information rights of victims of domestic abuse is a priority area for my office, and we will be providing further support and advice to help keep people safe.”
Read more: Domestic abuse victim shares image of ‘horrific’ injuries Domestic abusers to be tagged after leaving prison
‘A data breach can be a matter of life or death’
Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, said: “It takes a huge amount of bravery for victims and survivors of domestic abuse to come forward, and many go to extreme lengths to protect themselves from the perpetrator. To then be exposed to further harm due to poor data handling is a serious setback.
“That seven organisations have breached victims’ data in the past two years, with some sharing their address with the perpetrator, is extremely dangerous. For victims of domestic abuse, a data breach can be a matter of life or death.”
Kelly Andrews, the chief executive of Belfast and Lisburn Women’s Aid, said: “In the most serious cases lives are at risk.
“We encourage organisations to read the guidance and ensure staff are trained in handling confidential and sensitive data to better protect victims and prevent further harm.”
The ICO revised its approach to public sector enforcement last year. It aims to reduce the impact of fines on the public by working more closely with the public sector, encouraging compliance with data protection law to prevent harms before they happen.
The reprimands give instructions to the organisations on how to improve their data protection practices.
