Was Virginia Giuffre killed? Inside the troubling trail of Epstein-related 'suicides' that ended with her body being found at home - and why her family are convinced someone 'got to her': TOM LEONARD
Her family announced that the 41-year-old, who famously accused Jeffrey Epstein of trafficking her as a teenager to have sex with Prince Andrew, had died by suicide.
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Daily Mail
14 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Aussie cop exposes the red flag behaviours paedophiles use to groom kids - and the two things every parent needs to know
A former child abuse detective has exposed two subtle but sinister tactics predators use to get close to children, warning that it's not just the kids being groomed - it's the adults too. Kristi McVee, who spent a decade as a senior detective with the Western Australia Police Force specialising in child abuse, says parents are often unknowingly the first target in a predator's plan. Now the founder of Child Abuse Prevention and Education Australia (CAPE), Ms McVee is on a mission to educate parents on the real-world grooming tactics she witnessed during years of harrowing frontline work. 'There are two things child sex offenders do to groom adults so they can get close to kids,' she told viewers in a video last month. 'Number one, they want you to like them. Number two, they need you to trust them.' She explained that offenders often embed themselves into a family's life, posing as friends, mentors or even community helpers, to gain the trust they need to be left alone with a child. 'If they're not someone who is in your family already, like a parent or a grandparent, they're going to be someone introduced to your family. 'They're going to need you to trust them.' Ms McVee warned that there's no single blueprint for how predators earn trust, but there are common threads. 'How this looks depends on the person, but they're very friendly, very helpful, offering opinions, offering advice, wanting to help coach or wanting to help support, it's dependent on the child and the relationship,' she said. 'If it's a coach, for instance: 'Your child's very special, they need extra support.' 'If it's a friend who wants to get closer to your children: 'Let me take them for the weekend so that you can have a night off.' It really depends. 'They want you to like them and they want you to trust them so they can get your children alone with them.' Ms McVee also shared some of the common red flags that parents often miss. She said predators may try to normalise inappropriate physical contact, such as giving excessive hugs, kisses, or insisting on children sitting on their lap. They may touch the child in ways that aren't necessary, including around areas close to their private parts, she said. They often seek out alone time with children and go out of their way to arrange situations where other adults aren't present, such as sleepovers, private tutoring, or 'special' playdates. In many cases, the adult will keep secrets with the child and ask them not to tell their parents, using phrases like 'this is our little secret' or 'I'll get in trouble if you tell.' They may also shower the child with special treats, extravagant gifts, or foods their parents have said no to, as a way of building loyalty and complicity. Another tactic involves treating the child as if they're more mature than they are, including exposing them to adult content. Predators may create opportunities for nudity or semi-nudity, for instance by offering to bathe or change the child, and showing little regard for their privacy. In some cases, they'll deliberately undermine the parents, dismissing their rules, going behind their back, or brushing off the importance of teaching body safety and abuse prevention. Ms McVee said the risk is greater than many parents realise, warning that one in three girls and one in five boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18. Disturbingly, more than 90 per cent of the time, the offender is someone the child knows. Her own awareness of the scale of the problem began in her first week as a police officer. She said she was shocked by how widespread abuse was, and how little understanding the public had of how it really happens. Through her organisation, CAPE, she now works to bridge that gap by sharing her insights through blogs, educational resources and social media. She explained that grooming is rarely a random act, instead, it follows a pattern. Most predators go through five stages: identifying a victim, building a connection, isolating the child, initiating abuse, and then maintaining control. Her key advice to parents is to teach their children the difference between feeling safe and unsafe, because children, especially very young ones, don't always recognise when something is wrong. 'Sometimes children don't understand what it means to feel unsafe, so they don't understand when something inappropriate is happening,' she said. 'When I talk with kids as young as two or three, I'll say, 'When I feel unsafe I get butterflies in my tummy, my hands feel sweaty and my voice is shaky.' That helps kids to identify if they're feeling unsafe.' She also urged parents to be wary of adults who appear too eager to spend time with their children. 'Look out for those people who are paying way too much attention to kids,' she said. 'No one should want to spend more time with your child than you want to spend with your child. Even as parents, we don't always want to be around our kids, they're annoying at times. There is not one adult that should want to be around your child more than you.' For more information and access to free resources, parents can visit Ms McVee's website, Child Abuse Prevention and Education Australia.
Daily Mail
44 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Ex-Trump investigator Robert Mueller discovered in memory-care facility as Republicans demand his Epstein testimony
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the man who led the Russia investigation into President Donald Trump, has reportedly lived in a memory-care facility for years. Muller, 80, served as the sixth director of the FBI from 2001 until 2013 and the special counsel overseeing the federal government's multi-year investigation into Russia's ties to the 2016 Trump campaign. The probe found that neither Trump nor members of his campaign team coordinated with the Russians on their interference. It did not conclude whether Trump obstructed the investigation, citing DOJ policy not to indict sitting presidents. Mueller's investigation dominated years of news coverage, and Trump frequently lashed out at the special counsel and his efforts, repeatedly labeling the effort as a 'witch hunt' and 'Russia hoax.' Now, just a few years after the bombshell report was released, Mueller is spending time in a memory-care unit, sources familiar with the matter told Real Clear Investigations. 'Sources tell me Mueller has been living in a memory-care facility for the past few years,' reporter Paul Sperry wrote on X Tuesday. The news comes as Mueller is scheduled to sit with the House Oversight Committee investigators regarding the FBI's work relating to Jeffrey Epstein next month. Mueller testified before lawmakers in July 2019 to speak about his investigation. He frequently had to consult his notes during the session The committee is seeking information Mueller may know about Epstein from overseeing the FBI during the pedophile's 2005 Florida prostitution case, a matter in which the FBI eventually intervened. Many critics have said Epstein's sentence in that case was too lenient. The Daily Mail reached out to a former Mueller spokesman for a statement. And one former lawmaker is now saying the signs of Mueller's decline have been evident for years. 'It was clear this is where things were heading when we questioned him before Congress,' ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., posted on social media. 'Mueller was used by some very vicious people,' Gaetz, now a conservative TV host, continued. 'I'm not sure he really ever knew what was happening in the investigation.' Mueller testified before Congress about his report's findings in the summer of 2019. During that hearing, the former special counsel struggled at times to remember the questions from lawmakers, often asking them to repeat their inquiries. He also appeared flustered at times when trying to remember key portions of his probe. During his testimony, he forgot that Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm, was behind the infamous Steele Dossier - a file that alleged false ties between Trump and the Russians that many presume was the origin of the Trump-Russia allegations. A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee did not respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment on whether they sent Mueller's subpoena to a memory-care unit. Still, the committee's chairman, James Comer, R-Ky., says he is expecting Mueller to show up and talk. Comer posted on his X on Tuesday that Mueller is scheduled to appear for a transcribed interview with the committee on September 2. Other top Trump and Obama administration officials will also testify in the committee's probe into Epstein. Bill and Hillary Clinton are both scheduled to sit with the committee in October. Former Attorneys General Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Merrick Garland and Trump's former DOJ boss Bill Barr are also expected to talk to the lawmakers. It's a spectacular move by Republicans to pressure Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi to put out more documents related to the disgraced financier while the administration has been embroiled in controversy over 'cover-up' claims. Bondi has been blamed by both Democrats and Republicans for stalling the release of the files. The Trump administration has since hurried to find out more about the Epstein scandal. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has met with Epstein's accomplice and longtime partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, to speak about what she knows about the late pedophile's crimes. Blanche spent several days in Florida at the detention facility where Maxwell was staying to interview the woman who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking crimes. She has repeatedly claimed she was treated wrongly during her trial, a claim that will soon be argued before the Supreme Court.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Reckoning for Australia's childcare sector after onslaught of abuse cases
Twice a week, Ben Bradshaw drops his young son off at a Sydney childcare centre before heading off to thousands of parents and carers across Australia, the 40-year-old had always been confident that the staff have his child's best interests at in recent months, that trust in the childcare system has been "eroded", the father-of-two says, after several high-profile cases of alleged sexual and physical abuse at centres across Australia."It's that old adage of cockroaches - if you see one in your house, there's 10 that you don't see. These are the ones that get caught. It's more scary the ones that you can't see," he tells the the past few weeks, 2,000 children in Victoria have been urged to undergo infectious disease testing after a childcare worker was charged with the mass sexual abuse of babies; police have named a Sydney man who worked for 60 after-school-care providers and is accused of taking "explicit" images of children under his supervision; a Queensland woman has faced court over allegations she tortured a one-year-old boy; and another two workers in Sydney have been charged after a toddler was left covered in comes as the nation is still reeling from the crimes of childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith - dubbed "one of Australia's worst paedophiles" - who was late last year sentenced to life in prison for raping and sexually abusing almost 70 series of allegations have sparked panic and fear among parents, child safety advocates have demanded action to fix what they call a dangerously incompetent system, and politicians have promised reform to keep Australia's most vulnerable safe."Some childcare centres are still safe, but the current childcare system is definitely not working to protect children or prioritise their safety," says Hetty Johnston, a leading child protection advocate. "It fails at every step." Rapid growth, greater risks In recent years, there has been a nationwide push to give more children access to early childhood education and care, which research indicates has many positive long-term of dollars have been poured into the sector from federal and state governments, including funding to guarantee three days of childcare for low and middle-income families. Such measures have prompted rapid growth in the sector, with a rush of new centres opening which has deepened a shortage of qualified growth has led to "significant vulnerabilities", says Prof Leah Bromfield, director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection."Whenever you grow something really quickly, that comes with risks," she says, listing off a lack of regulation and monitoring, limited training for managers, and the disparate and casual nature of the workforce."You put all that together and you've created a weak system from the perspective of a predatory perpetrator… a system where it's easier to infiltrate."In the wake of the Melbourne child sexual abuse case where Joshua Dale Brown was charged with 70 counts of abuse against eight babies, the federal government gave itself greater powers to strip funding from providers that breach quality and safety Education Minister Jason Clare said the measure was not designed to "shut down centres" but rather increase pressure for them to "raise standards".But Mr Bradshaw wants more. He says taking away funding from a centre "doesn't stop the crime, it just punishes it"."You have to do things that are proactive in nature." Knee-jerk reactions The spate of alleged crimes have sparked a heated national conversation about how to better protect kids. Limiting the role of men in childcare is one of the most controversial was a public call to ban men from certain tasks such as changing nappies and taking children to the toilet – though some warned this could place extra pressure on female staff."It's not about banning male educators, but about providing families with agency and informed choice," says Louise Edmonds, an advocate for child sex abuse case prompted G8 Education – who owned the centre where he worked - to introduce so-called "intimate care waivers", giving parents and carers the opportunity to choose who carried out private and sensitive duties. It also pledged to install CCTV at all of its centres. Ms Johnston - who founded child protection group Bravehearts - says these are natural responses, but cautioned that, though "men are definitely a higher risk", women do abuse children too and offenders can do so in all kinds of settings."They are opportunistic… when others don't pay attention, when they are distracted, complacent, disinterested or too trusting, they create 'opportunities' for offenders."Other practical measures centres could adopt to improve child safety include having two educators with direct line of sight of children at all times and getting rid of blind spots in centres - replacing solid doors with glass panes, eliminating windowless walls, and putting more mirrors up to create "incidental supervision"."It's all about reducing opportunities for predators to isolate or conceal in nooks and crannies," Ms Johnston says. Hiding in plain sight But massive system reform is also long overdue, experts 2017, more than 400 recommendations emerged from a years-long royal commission into child sex abuse in institutional settings – like churches, schools and childcare - but critics say progress has stalled on some of the most significant of those outstanding recommendations, to be discussed by the country's attorneys-general at a meeting this month, is to overhaul Australia's checks on those who work with each state and territory complete what is essentially a police check required for those who work alongside children, but they don't share the information with each other. Advocates have called for a nationalised system, but some say the checks themselves don't go far enough."It's inconsistent, relies too heavily on prior convictions," Ms Edmonds instance, many say, the system should capture red flags such as formal complaints, workplace warnings, police intelligence, and people identified as alleged abusers in confidential applications to the national redress scheme set up after the royal a broader net is important, experts argue, as child abuse allegations can be difficult to stand up in court. Often the witnesses are young children, who are either non-verbal or have limited vocabulary, may struggle with memory, and often have a lack of situational understanding."Catching someone red-handed and being able to prove it beyond reasonable doubt is almost impossible," Ms Johnston says. That's why Prof Bromfield is among those calling for a national registration scheme for the childcare sector – like those that exist for doctors or teachers. It would require workers to prove their qualifications, could provide a detailed work history, and would bind them all by a code of argue the system could also capture many of the things the working- with-children checks currently do not."Often in child sexual abuse cases, when you look back, you see lots and lots of red flags," Prof Bromfield says."There might be a pattern, but [at the moment] we just don't see that because they are moving between states or between sectors or between providers."Mr Bradshaw says having access to more information about staff would help parents like him make informed is a necessity for his family, he explains, as he works full-time and his wife, a high school teacher, works four days a often, there's little detail about the childcare centre's staff "beyond the pictures on the wall" of the teachers and educators, so parents often have to assess a provider "based on vibes"."It's a bit of a blackbox and you're bound because you need to have your kids in childcare so you can pay for living in a big city."That's where greater education for parents is needed too, Prof Bromfield says, so they know what questions to ask and, in the worst-case scenarios, how to spot signs of grooming include enquiring about a provider's child safety policies, asking about its staff turnover, and assessing the physical spaces for any visibility issues. There also needs to be better, more regular training for managers in the sector on how to prevent and identify problematic behaviour or patterns, experts Prof Bromfield - who was part of the team which conducted the royal commission into child sex abuse – these are conversations she has been having for over a she is hopeful the current crisis will shock Australia into taking greater action."Perhaps one of the things that will happen is there will be greater political will to prioritise safety for children," Prof Bromfield says."The big lesson is that we can never rest on our laurels when it comes to children's safety."Perpetrators just keep getting smarter, working around the systems we've got. We can't forget the lessons of the past… and we can't assume that this is a problem that's gone away."
