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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

Sex offenders free to abuse children after changing ID

77 replies

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 22/07/2021 11:01

Times:
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sex-offenders-free-to-abuse-children-after-changing-id-bpdlx59p0

I know a while ago a MNer did some hard work chasing the DBS people about if changing name / sex created a loophole.

And yes, yes it does.

In the most serious cases men barred for life from working with children used their new name to gain employment in schools and homes where they committed multiple further offences.

One, who worked as an au pair, was jailed last year after police in Belgium uncovered a paedophile ring with nine million child abuse images. Another is in custody in Spain suspected of abusing 36 young girls at a school.

Both were British teachers convicted of child abuse and placed on the sex offenders register. Each changed his name by deed poll, acquired a passport and in one case clearance from the disclosure and barring service (DBS) to work with children. The Times has been shown a copy of the DBS certificate.

A source close to the DBS said it was aware of cases in which registered sex offenders had, by changing their name, gained DBS certificates clearing them to work with children. It wanted to find a way to “close this loophole”.

Sarah Champion, the Rotherham MP, has been urging the government to close “this gaping hole in safeguarding”. The Home Office announced this month a “time-limited review” of name changes “to better understand whether current processes are being exploited”.

Potential solutions include placing a digital marker on the files of all registered sex offenders at the DVLA and the passport office, or to remove the do-it-yourself option for the name change process.

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LegoCaltrops · 22/07/2021 11:15

Let's say it again - But this never happens!

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GettingUntrapped · 22/07/2021 11:15

Why hasn't this already been sorted out?
Disgraceful how women and children's safety is a low priority. Yet again highlighted.

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MrsOvertonsWindow · 22/07/2021 11:24

Thank you for this OP. I'd put money on it that some FOI requests would show that there's a connection between the many Stonewall captured government departments and the refusal to take seriously the risks of name changing in safeguarding terms?

I'd expect to see that the lobby groups have made representations about the tragedy of deadnaming to those with the power to change this. The insistence that any disclosure is a crime no matter what the reason (yet again) demonstrates the lack of thought for the unintended consequences for the safety of children. Otherwise why would it be a problem to have closed this loophole years ago?

I recall all the weasel words that women have encountered when they've challenged the government departments about the undermining of the DBS system by legal name changes. The story of these paedophiles demonstrates perfectly how predators (yet again) can abuse systems set up to protect the demands of a sacred caste.

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MrsFelicianoLopez · 22/07/2021 11:31

Is there a campaign somewhere / petition we can sign etc? I will write to my MP about it - it's disgraceful Sad

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risefromyourgrave · 22/07/2021 11:32

It’s ridiculous that they’ve known that this happens at least as far back as Ian Huntley but have done nothing about it.

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FannyCann · 22/07/2021 11:34

I'm sure I read just recently that Colin Pitchfork is expecting/planning to change ID. It's disgraceful.

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EmbarrassingAdmissions · 22/07/2021 11:40

@FannyCann

I'm sure I read just recently that Colin Pitchfork is expecting/planning to change ID. It's disgraceful.

Does GDPR also allow Pitchfork to apply to Google to have any results for that name deleted etc. and to limit the results that are retrieved?
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Flyingantday · 22/07/2021 11:44

I think there was a petition, i presume it was discussed in parliament and irc there was a very mealy response talking about protections against this happening and the offenders right to anonymity. I can’t believe this was hand waved away when more children have come to direct harm because of this loophole. Glad the times have picked it up.

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GingerBeverage · 22/07/2021 11:47

Do victims (as there are many) have any recourse for compensation?

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tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 22/07/2021 11:51

This is staggering.

And yet we're accused on here daily of hysteria when it's discussed. Transphobic for worrying about the repercussions for kids. Bigots because we assume anyone looking to self ID could be a predator. Because apparently no one's going to go to this much trouble to get access to kids.

And then they do.

But the feelings of a few (mainly adult men) are more important.

Angry

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PumpkinSpiceWoman · 22/07/2021 12:10

This is feck all to do with trans issues. And you know that what these men did is already illegal, so it's a stretch calling it a "loophole".

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EmpressWitchDoesntBurn · 22/07/2021 12:13

@PumpkinSpiceWoman

This is feck all to do with trans issues. And you know that what these men did is already illegal, so it's a stretch calling it a "loophole".

So does that mean you think that sex offenders should not be allowed to change their names if they wish to transition after committing an offence, or that they should?
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MrsOvertonsWindow · 22/07/2021 12:15

@PumpkinSpiceWoman

This is feck all to do with trans issues. And you know that what these men did is already illegal, so it's a stretch calling it a "loophole".

On the contrary - somebody has been lobbying the government to enable easy name changes with criminal prosecutions for anyone 'deadnaming' or exposing someone's previous identity with no care for the unintended consequences for children and how this provides a loophole that these paedophiles exploit. Ask yourself who has lobbied for this? Clue - it's not parents or women.
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Flyingantday · 22/07/2021 12:19

Nothing to do with gender self id - deed poll.

Loophole as in making it incumbent on a sex offender to be honest with authorities about changing their name and getting a new passport and a job with children. What could possibly go wrong?

The CRB process is quite rightly rigorous for anyone who volunteers or works with children and vulnerable adults, pretty pointless if all you have to do your name to bypass all the checks. Ditto Claire’s law with domestic abusers.

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ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 22/07/2021 12:20

@PumpkinSpiceWoman

This is feck all to do with trans issues. And you know that what these men did is already illegal, so it's a stretch calling it a "loophole".

No. It's to do with legal name changes which means that a DBS doesn't pick up sex offences carried out under a previous name.

Legal name changes which can be carried out by anyone, including trans people. This is not specifically about trans people, but it should certainly include them, especially as by pretending to be trans predators get the additional protection of the fact that "dead naming" is seen as unacceptable and transphobic.
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Shedbuilder · 22/07/2021 12:32

Horrifying situation, OP. Why has it taken so long for this to be exposed.

Mrs Overton said:
I'd put money on it that some FOI requests would show that there's a connection between the many Stonewall captured government departments and the refusal to take seriously the risks of name changing in safeguarding terms?

Yes, we can't be the only ones, surely, who are making the link between Stonewall, Stonewall Diversity Champions, institutional capture, failure to carry out impact assessments relating to women and girls and loopholes in the law/ breaking down women's boundaries/ paedophilia?

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FannyCann · 22/07/2021 12:33

I've no idea how it works @EmbarrassingAdmissions
I can't remember where I saw it, it could just have been a headline I scrolled through as the details are all so awful I haven't been able to bring myself to read the articles.
Allison Bailey was tweeting about it, but I can't see she has mentioned a name change.

Sex offenders free to abuse children after changing ID
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KittenKong · 22/07/2021 12:54

Why do agencies just not consider human nature? Why do they not seem to even consider people ‘legally’ using loopholes for such purposes?

They just don’t seem to think - or even listen when people pipe up and suggest there could be a problem. Mostly they say ‘that won’t happen’.

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JustcameoutGC · 22/07/2021 13:03

It may not be an issue specific to trans people, but I think they would be one of the very few groups campaigning against linking current identities to previous identities when necessary for safeguarding purposes.

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ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 22/07/2021 13:03

Pitchfork illustrates loopholes galore.

Not only

And the killer, who now calls himself David Thorpe, will be well within his rights to change his name - yet again - by deed poll, for just £33.

But also

Double child killer Colin Pitchfork will be kept off the sex offenders register when he is released from prison, causing outrage among his victims' families

Pitchfork can dodge the sex offenders list because of a legal loophole which dictates that it cannot include anyone convicted of sex crimes before 1997.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9799771/Child-killer-Colin-Pitchfork-WONT-sex-offenders-register-freed-days.html

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Thelnebriati · 22/07/2021 13:05

One of the barriers to safeguarding is the creation of 'sacred castes' who's motives or behaviour cannot be questioned.

Creating a sacred caste puts people at risk of harm, and leaves them unable to talk about that harm when it happens, or to seek justice; which adds insult to injury.

People who want social justice need to understand the process of how harm happens. If you can't write it out as a flow chart you won't be able to work out how to intervene and reduce the risk.

People who want to ally themselves with a sacred caste have nothing useful to say about harm prevention. If your activism protects those who would harm - even inadvertently - then your activism is harmful.
Find a way to get what you want without removing the rights of others. Its your problem to solve.

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Comingoutfighting · 22/07/2021 13:21

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Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

LegoCaltrops · 22/07/2021 13:34

It's not really about trans people. It's about the fact that sex offenders & predatory paedophiles will potentially do anything to gain access to children. Including changing their appearance & entire identity. And hiding behind another group of people.

This is why parents & women cannot assume all trans women are safe to be around. Not because we automatically presume all, or any trans woman are a danger to us. But because we know that sex offenders will take advantage of the trans community to gain access if it gets them what they want. Like a human shield. They'll take advantage of any opportunity.

Once again it is male violence that is to blame. Against trans women, who don't feel safe in male spaces, so they feel their only option is the women's spaces. And against natal women, who grow up having to put up with male harassment from an early age, so obviously we are wary of anyone we perceive as male.

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Szyz2020 · 22/07/2021 13:53

I came here to post a link if there wasn’t one already. I felt sick reading about the man who moved to Madrid to be an au pair and then worked in a school. He abused 4-8 yr olds and filmed secretly photos in the toilets.

Why can’t people see that some people will go to any length possible to get a chance to abuse. They change their name, they move abroad, they apply for jobs in schools. This is what they do. They put effort into the plan, they really do go to a lot of trouble. Changing your legal sex could be just another way of getting this sort of access and flying under the radar. Why won’t people wake up and see this?! Sad

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