Source: Kent Police published on this website Monday 10 August 2026 by Jill Powell

Speedy investigative work by officers helped identify a victim of a repeat sex offender from Tonbridge whilst he was in custody.

Luis Clifton was arrested on 22 April 2026 on suspicion of breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), following an unannounced visit by officers to his home address.

Devices were seized including a phone, which he was not permitted to have.

Whilst he was being interviewed in custody, specialist officers trawled through his phone and found the 22 year old had been communicating with an underage teenage girl on a social media app.

This was a further breach of his SHPO and the investigators pursued immediate lines to identify the vulnerable victim. She was contacted along with her parents and provided evidence of further offences.

Speedy investigative work by officers helped identify a victim of a repeat sex offender from Tonbridge whilst he was in custody.

Luis Clifton was arrested on 22 April 2026 on suspicion of breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), following an unannounced visit by officers to his home address.

Devices were seized including a phone, which he was not permitted to have.

Whilst he was being interviewed in custody, specialist officers trawled through his phone and found the 22 year old had been communicating with an underage teenage girl on a social media app.

This was a further breach of his SHPO and the investigators pursued immediate lines to identify the vulnerable victim. She was contacted along with her parents and provided evidence of further offences.

Source: Ofsted published on this website Thursday 6 August 2026 by Jill Powell

The directors of Catalyst Care Limited were repeatedly warned by Ofsted that they were breaking the law yet continued operating contrary to the legal requirements for registration. During this time, the homes received over £1.7 million in payments from placing authorities.

Catalyst Care Limited, and its directors, Davidson Lynch-Shyllon and Miriam Ekathor, pleaded guilty to all charges at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on 9 March 2026. On 4 August 2026, they were fined a total of £92,400 for operating 3 unregistered homes in Kent between October 2022 and April 2025, providing accommodation for 9 children. They were also ordered to pay victim surcharges totalling £2,960 and costs of £17,250.

Lynch-Shyllon and Ekathor were also disqualified from carrying on and/or managing or having a financial interest in a children’s home.

All children’s homes in England must register with Ofsted and carrying on or managing a home without registration is a criminal offence. Unregistered children’s homes operate outside of independent and regulatory oversight, meaning the children placed there have no assurance of safe or suitable care. There are no guaranteed checks on staff or living conditions, or accountability when things go wrong. Worryingly, many children placed in illegal homes are often those with the most complex needs.

Criminal investigations into these places are complex and the legal threshold for prosecution is high. Yesterday’s case is the first successful prosecution of its kind but follows hundreds of warnings issued by Ofsted over the use of unregistered provision, which has grown partly because not enough registered homes are in the right location or have staff with skills to effectively care for children with complex needs. Illegal unregistered providers frequently charge local authorities exorbitant fees, further exploiting a system already under strain.

Ofsted has recently been granted new powers through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act to help tackle illegal children’s homes. They include the introduction of financial penalties, which will allow Ofsted to issue fines to illegal children’s homes.

Boosted by increased funding, Ofsted is greatly expanding its Unregistered Social Care team to identify and investigate unregistered providers and pursue enforcement action, including prosecuting, where necessary.

Ofsted is also consulting on changes to its inspections of local authorities’ children’s services, including how it evaluates local authorities’ use of unregistered children’s homes. Measures proposed include making use of illegal placements a limiting criterion in the framework for inspecting local authority children’s services (ILACS), meaning that a local authority would not be meeting the ‘expected standard’ in the proposed ‘impact of leaders’ evaluation area.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver said:

It is heartbreaking that so many vulnerable children are placed in unregistered children’s homes where we have no assurance that they are safe or receiving the care they need and deserve.

This outcome marks an important milestone in our efforts to tackle illegal children’s homes and sends a clear message that operating outside the law will have consequences. We are determined to make increased use of prosecutions to tackle the offenders running these settings. We are currently consulting on proposals to downgrade local authorities who commission these illegal homes.

Source: Northamptonshire Police published on this website Friday 7 August 2026 by Jill Powell

A 38-year-old man who was issued with a Sexual Risk Order (SRO) while under investigation for online child sex offences has been jailed for more than four years.

Liam Pink, formerly Kettering, was issued with the civil order in October 2022 at Northampton Magistrates’ Court which are used to manage those who pose a sexual harm risk to the public.

Northamptonshire Police applied for the SRO after Pink’s arrest on suspicion of attempting to cause/incite a girl under 13 to engage in a sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

This followed allegations from an online activist group that between August 12 and 28, Pink had engaged in an online conversation, exchanging explicit messages of a sexual nature, with a 12-year-old girl. However, she didn’t exist and was in fact a decoy.

The five-year SRO was issued with certain conditions he was required to abide by, including not having unsupervised contact or communication with any child under the age of 16, not using any social media account unless in the name of Liam Pink and not using any device capable of accessing the internet without notifying police.

During a routine visit on April 9 this year, officers from Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO team, which closely manage sexual and violent offenders, arrested Pink after an examination of his mobile phone found that he had breached the SRO three times.

Between January 1 and March 31, there was evidence to suggest that he had had contact with a child under the age of two without the parent’s knowledge of his order. He had also failed to notify police about a social media account that he had set up using a different name.

Pink was subsequently charged with the three breaches of the SRO as well as the online child sex offences that he was under investigation for and on June 3, he pleaded guilty to all five offences at Northampton Magistrates’ Court.

His case was sent to Northampton Crown Court for sentencing, and on July 13, he was jailed for four years and four months and issued with an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register.

Risk Management Officer Libbie Stiff from the Force’s MOSOVO Team, said: “We take an absolute zero-tolerance approach to situations like this. Liam Pink’s repeat offending showed that he had a blatant disregard for the sanctions imposed by the court, and I am pleased that this sentence reflects the serious risk that he poses.

“I also hope this case reassures the public that we are working proactively to continue to keep children in Northamptonshire safe from online predators and to bring anyone who threatens that safety to justice.”

Source: Disclosure and Barring Service published on this website Wednesday 5 July 2026 by Jill Powell

From 1 September 2026, the law about regulated activity with children is changing. The current rule about the supervision of paid staff and volunteers carrying out specific activities with children will be removed from the legal definition.

This means some people will be in regulated activity with children from 1 September 2026 when they were not before, because they were sufficiently supervised by someone else. This will apply if they do the work often enough, or overnight.

Regulated activity is work that a barred person must not do. It is against the law for:

• a barred person to engage in regulated activity;
• someone to allow a barred person to do regulated activity

This change only impacts regulated activity with children. No change is being made to the definition of regulated activity with adults.

Who this affects

This change affects any organisation with paid staff or volunteers who teach, train, instruct, care for, or supervise children. It affects people who were not in regulated activity with children specifically because someone else carrying out regulated activity with children supervised them to a sufficient level. This includes, but is not restricted to circumstances involving:

• people who volunteer in schools, such as reading helpers who are supervised by a teacher
• people who coach children’s sports clubs, such as assistant coaches who are supervised by a head coach
• people who work or volunteer with children in outdoor activity centres, youth groups, charities or community groups, and are supervised by someone else who is in regulated activity with children

What is changing

Before 1 September 2026, people who teach, train, instruct, care for or supervise children often enough are not in regulated activity with children if someone else who is in regulated activity supervises them sufficiently. This means an organisation can ask for an Enhanced DBS check in the child workforce, but there is no access to a Children’s Barred List check for that supervised role.

From 1 September 2026, this supervision rule will no longer apply. If a person teaches, trains, instructs, cares for or supervises children often enough, or overnight, they will be in regulated activity with children even if someone else supervises them. This means an organisation will be able to ask for an Enhanced DBS check in the child workforce with a Children’s Barred List check.

The work is done often enough, or overnight, if it occurs:

• on more than 3 days in any 30-day period
• once overnight, between 2am and 6am

See some examples below – the examples can be applied to similar activities carried out in other settings.

Example 1 – weekly school reading volunteer

A parent volunteers at a primary school to listen to children read. They do this every Monday morning during term time. Because a teacher is always nearby and supervises them, the school decided that the parent is sufficiently supervised in line with the guidance set by the Department for Education (DfE) and asked the parent to apply for an Enhanced DBS check without a check of the Children’s Barred List.

Before 1 September 2026, the parent was not in regulated activity with children because a teacher supervised them. Following the legislation change, from 1st September 2026, the parent will be in regulated activity with children and will be able to get an Enhanced with Children’s Barred List check.  The school should consider the guidance from DfE on these changes to ensure the volunteer is still suitable for the role.

Example 2 – monthly school art volunteer

Another parent volunteers once a month at the primary school to help with art activities. Again, a teacher is always present to supervise them. This parent is not in regulated activity with children because they are not carrying out the role often enough. The parent was asked to apply for an Enhanced DBS check without a Children’s Barred List check.

The school does not need to consider the supervision changes for this role as it is not being carried out often enough to be regulated activity with children.

Example 3 – music club volunteer

A volunteer helps at a community music club for children twice a week where lessons are given and children have the opportunity to play together. The main instructor is always there and supervises the volunteer.

Before 1 September 2026, the volunteer may not have been in regulated activity with children if the club decided that the main instructor supervised them sufficiently. From 1 September 2026, the volunteer will be in regulated activity with children because they instruct or supervise children often enough. The club should consider if the volunteer needs an Enhanced with Children’s Barred List DBS check.

Example 4 – outdoor activity centre

A paid activity instructor works at an outdoor activity centre. They lead climbing and canoeing sessions for different groups of school children 4 days a week. Teachers are present and a senior instructor always supervises the instructor’s work.

Before 1 September 2026, the instructor may not have been in regulated activity with children if the centre decided that the senior instructor supervised them sufficiently. From 1 September 2026, the instructor will be in regulated activity with children because they instruct children often enough. The centre should consider if the instructor needs an Enhanced with Children’s Barred List DBS check.

What organisations should do now

Organisations should get ready before the change starts. They should:

• identify roles where people teach, train, instruct, care for, or supervise children and are currently supervised by someone else in regulated activity
• check if the activity is done often enough or overnight
• check if the person’s current DBS certificate included a Children’s Barred List check
• decide if a new Enhanced DBS check with Children’s Barred List information is needed in line with sector specific guidance
• update recruitment, volunteering and safeguarding steps so they include the change from 1 September 2026

If a person’s role changes, or the way they do the role changes, organisations should check DBS eligibility again.