Latest news with #BeckyRiggs
Spectator
03-06-2025
- General
- Spectator
Does the national policing lead understand grooming gangs?
To BBC Newsnight, where DCC Becky Riggs – the national policing lead on child protection and abuse investigations – has hit back at claims by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick about grooming gangs. Speaking on the programme, Riggs said it was 'not true' that these types of crimes are from predominantly British Pakistani men – despite acknowledging that they are 'overrepresented when you look at their share of the population'. So what is true? Well, Pakistani men are up to five times as likely to be responsible for child sex grooming offences than the general population, according to figures from the Hydrant Programme, which investigates child sex abuse. Around one in 73 Muslim men over 16 have been prosecuted for 'group-localised child sexual exploitation' in Rotherham, research by academics from the universities of Reading and Chichester has revealed. 'All of these issues need tackling,' Riggs added, insisting: 'I'm not here to lessen any of this type of offending in the slightest.
BBC News
02-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Grooming survivors to speak to Newsnight
Update: Date: 21:56 BST Title: Phillips apologises for delay to grooming gang report Content: Earlier today Home Office Minister Jess Phillips apologised to MPs for a delay to the publication of a report on grooming gangs. In January, the government asked Baroness Louise Casey to lead a "rapid" three-month audit into the data and evidence on the nature and scale of group-based child sexual abuse. Asked about the status of the review in the House of Commons earlier, which was due to be published in May, Phillips said she was sorry for the wait and that Baroness Casey requested a short extension, adding that it was expected "very shortly". "When we have the report the government will respond to it and lay out its plans with all the evidence in hand,' she told MPs. Update: Date: 21:50 BST Title: What's in store on tonight's programme? Content: Victoria Derbyshire presents tonight's programme You'll be able to watch tonight's programme live as Victoria Derbyshire is joined by five survivors in the studio from 22:30 - we'll share some background on their stories before the programme begins. We'll also hear from England and Wales' most senior police officer on grooming, Deputy Chief Constable Becky Riggs, on how authorities are responding. Before we begin, a reminder that some of the details we'll be sharing tonight will be distressing to hear. Update: Date: 21:45 BST Title: Survivors of grooming to speak to BBC Newsnight Content: Victoria DerbyshireNewsnight presenter Tonight, live, in a specially-extended programme, we have brought together survivors of gangs and individuals who groomed and raped women when they were young girls and teenagers. Their abusers were mostly British Asian men and they operated in plain sight in towns and cities like Rotherham, Telford, Bradford, High Wycombe and Manchester, over a decade and half through the late '90s and 2000s. It's an epidemic that has wrecked the lives of thousands of victims – these women included. They are here tonight to tell you about what happened to them, and because they say that some of the men who abused and raped them, and some of those in authority who totally failed to protect them, have still not been held accountable - and they want that to change. Expected in the next week or so is a government-commissioned "rapid" national audit of grooming gangs, led by Baroness Louise Casey. The government has promised it will uncover the "true scale of grooming gangs in the UK, including looking at ethnicity". As you'd expect, our conversation is going to be frank, open and it will involve details of sexual abuse. We're incredibly grateful to the incredible women for speaking to us tonight - Jade, Chantelle, Fiona, Kate and Zara. You'll be able to watch the programme live on the page from 22:30.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- BBC News
Ex-Staffordshire officer would have been sacked over racist videos
A police officer who had racist and homophobic videos on his phone would have been sacked had he not resigned, a disciplinary panel has Staffordshire DS Aaron Evans was found to have breached standards of professional has been banned from working for any police had shared an offensive image and remained in a WhatsApp group where racist and homophobic content was routinely shared over a long period of time. The ex-officer was placed on the National College of Policing's Barred List after a one-day hearing on 15 Ch Con Becky Riggs said the discrimination and attitudes revealed in the messages were "completely unacceptable and have no place in policing."Ms Riggs added: "We are fully committed to having a police force that is anti-discriminatory, and we will continue to deal with behaviour like this robustly."I hope today demonstrates that WhatsApp is nowhere to hide offensive imagery and content."The large majority of our officers, staff, and volunteers are professional, dedicated individuals who act with integrity and work hard to keep their communities safe." Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- BBC News
Staffordshire Police officer had 'inappropriate relationships'
A former officer has admitted improper use of police powers after he engaged in "inappropriate relationships" with people he met through his Mills, formerly of Staffordshire Police, pleaded guilty to two counts of corrupt or improper exercise of police powers and privileges at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on came after the 22-year-old, of Bude, Cornwall, struck up a personal and sexual relationship with a vulnerable woman, a force spokesperson also developed a relationship with a witness he had dealt with in the course of his duties, they added. Mills, who was based in the south of the county, was arrested and suspended in January 2023 following an investigation by Staffordshire Police's professional standards department. He later resigned, the force confirmed. Dep Ch Con Becky Riggs said: "Mills misused his position to engage in inappropriate relationships with people he met through his work, including a vulnerable woman."This is a serious breach of trust and police values."She said the force had carried out "extensive" training with its officers about improper and inappropriate is due to be sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court at a later date. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Independent
12-03-2025
- The Independent
Nearly 40,000 child-on-child sexual abuse offences recorded in one year
Nearly 40,000 child sexual abuse offences were committed by children in the space of a year, a new report has found. Analysis of data from 44 police forces in England and Wales found that in total 115,489 crimes linked to child sexual abuse and exploitation were recorded in 2023. Age was recorded for offenders in 75,769 of the cases, of which 39,049, or 52%, were children aged 10 to 17, a new report by the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme found. The crimes they committed included 22,821 offences that involved physical contact, 58% of the total, while 16,067, or 41%, involved indecent images. Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs, who is the UK policing lead for child protection, said unfettered access to the internet has partly fuelled the trend of young people abusing other children. She said: 'If unfiltered, if those safeguards are not put in place from a parental control measure, they've got access to information on the internet unlike we could have ever imagined a decade ago. 'I do think technology has played a part in it.' Gareth Edwards, director of the Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP) that produced the report, said a combination of factors came into play, including the behaviour of peers, home and school environment as well as content viewed online. He also said it can be challenging for children to understand the concept of consent in different contexts. A similar proportion of offenders in child sexual abuse and exploitation cases were aged 10 to 17 in 2022. A VKPP report from that year suggested historically around a third of child sexual abuse had been carried out by children, but that the proportion has since risen. In the latest report looking at 2023 data, researchers analysed 375 sample cases involving children, and found four out of five offences involving indecent images of children were due to self-generated images. Of these cases, around one third were classed as non-aggravated, meaning the person took and shared the images willingly, while the remainder involved aggravating factors such as coercion or blackmail. Changes are due to be brought in that would mean a child involved in a non-aggravated case would be classed as an 'involved person' rather than a suspect. The report found that on social media, Snapchat was the app most commonly used by young people to share images, partly because they are supposed to disappear. Pictures shared on the app can be snapshotted and saved permanently, but the report said this should be blocked in the same way as on banking apps. Instagram was the second most commonly used app, particularly by abusers who want to blackmail victims because they can access their follower list and threaten to share pictures. Most victims of child sexual exploitation and abuse are female, however the picture is very different when it comes to financially motivated sexual extortion – commonly referred to as sextortion. For these offences, 90% of victims are boys aged 14 to 17. It is estimated that about 500,000 children are sexually abused each year, and that many crimes are not reported or identified. Ms Riggs said the total number of offences is 'horrific and shocking'. She said: 'It's easy for society to look away from these types of crime because they are abhorrent types of crime. ' Society will struggle to acknowledge that these types of crime occur in our world.'
