Source: UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC)  published on this website Wednesday 3 December 2025 by Jill Powell

To help you deliver sessions for Safer Internet Day, UKSIC have created a range of free, engaging and interactive resources on this year's official theme: Smart tech, safe choices – Exploring the safe and responsible use of AI

Whether you are a school, nursery, youth group, library, police service, or wider, these educational resources have been specifically designed to support educators in delivering messages about AI that are suitable for all ages.

These free resources are designed for use with 3-7, 7-11, 11-14 and 14-18 year olds, with each resource pack containing presentation slides, activities and also an assembly for the whole school.

Download Resources

Source: Cambridgeshire Constabulary published on this website Monday 1 December 2025 by Jill Powell

A man found with more than 270 sexual images and videos involving children and babies has been sent to prison and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Michael Mitchell’s collection of sexual imagery was discovered when police raided his home in Blenheim Close, Shepreth, South Cambridgeshire, on 5 March last year.

Police searched devices owned by the 24-year-old and found category A images – the worst level of offending – in his recently deleted folder.

Mitchell had images in all categories – A, B and C - on numerous devices and including some showing images of babies being abused.

They also uncovered evidence of Mitchell engaging in sexual communications with a teenager where he threatened to share intimate photos and videos of her to friends and family if she did not perform sex acts and send him recordings.

The teenager refused to co-operate and confided in staff at her school who reported the incident to the police.

Mitchell was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison after pleading guilty at St Alban’s Crown Court to eight offences:

1. Engage in sexual communication with a child
2. Cause / incite a girl 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity - offender 18 or over – penetration
3. Cause a child aged 13 to 15 to watch / look at an image of sexual activity - offender 18 or over
4. Disclose / threaten to disclose private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress
5. Make indecent images of children Category A (73 videos and 36 still images)
6. Make indecent images of children Category B (25 videos and 71 still images).)
7. Make indecent images of children Category C (six videos and nine still images).)
8. Possess extreme pornographic image / images portraying an act of intercourse / oral sex with a dead / alive animal (30 videos and 21 still images)

He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) – a means of restricting his behaviour - for ten years. SHPOs also appear on Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks to prevent people working with children and vulnerable people. 

PC Shane O’Brien said:

“This case was truly horrific. The child abuse material Mitchell was found in possession of is the worst material I have had to review and grade in more than 15 years in policing.

“His abhorrent behaviour is both indefensible and incomprehensible. The only light in this awful case is the courage of the teenager who I applaud for reporting the incident to school staff.

“Not only was she brave, but she also set an example to all youngsters that speaking out to a responsible adult is the right course of action.

“Thankfully she had great support around her and was able to provide evidence to support the prosecution, leading to an early guilty plea.”

Source: Police Scotland published on this website Tuesday 2 December 2025 by Jill Powell

Three woman have been convicted in connection with child cruelty and assaults in the 1970s and 1980s at two homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth in Scotland.

Eileen McElhinney, aged 78, Carol Buirds, aged 75, and Dorothy Kane, aged 68, were convicted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Friday, 28 November, 2025.

They will be sentenced at a later date.

The offences took place between 1972 and 1981 at children’s homes in Lasswade, Midlothian, and in Kilmarnock.

Detective Inspector Lynn McPhail, senior investigating officer from Police Scotland’s National Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said:

 “This was a harrowing and complex investigation, and I hope these convictions bring some form of closure for those who were treated inhumanely.

“I would like to thank the victims for coming forward. It is never easy, even with the passage of time, to talk about these kinds of experiences. The acts carried out by these women towards children they were supposed to be taking care of and protecting, were horrendous. Their behaviour included kicking, punching and pushing children, hitting them with objects, locking a child in a room without food or water, forcing one to eat soap, and making others take cold showers.

“I would also like to thank all the officers who worked on this investigation and commend them for their dedicated work alongside partners to bring these women to justice.

“I urge anyone who has experienced abuse to come forward, regardless of the passage of time. We have specialist officers you can speak to.

“Anyone with information or concerns about child abuse should call us on 101 or contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

Source: Metropolitan Police published on this website Friday 28 November 2025 by Jill Powell

Officers from Counter Terrorism Policing London are urging parents across the Capital to be vigilant about the online activity of their children, with many buying them phones and tablets for Christmas in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

The warning comes as referrals in London to the Government’s Prevent scheme have increased by more than a third (38 per cent) in the last year. The increase has been primarily driven by a record number of referrals due to concerns about the vulnerability to radicalisation of children under the age of 18.

The concern is that with more and more children having access to the internet through their phones, there is an increased risk they may be exposed to dangerous and harmful material that could lead them down a path towards radicalisation.

Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan, who is the Met’s London Prevent Co-ordinator, said: “I know lots of children will receive new phones or tablets this Christmas, with many purchased over the coming weekend’s sales, so it’s vital that parents are setting appropriate controls to ensure their children are kept safe on their devices.

“It is extremely concerning to see more and more young people in our caseload, who are accessing extremist, violent and terrorist-related content online.

“That is why we need both parental and public help with this – to protect children from encountering this type of material in the first place and to prevent them from disappearing into dark and dangerous spaces online.

“As well as setting parental controls on devices, I’d also urge parents and carers to take an active interest in their children’s digital lives to try and ensure they don’t become drawn towards this kind of material. And if you do have concerns, then the best thing to do is ACT Early and reach out to us for help – before it’s too late.”

If you are concerned about a loved-one who may be on a path towards radicalisation, then you can visit the ACT Early website www.actearly.uk. The site contains useful tips, advice and guidance on how to spot potential warning signs, as well as what to do should someone you know be taking a dangerous path.

Some of the warning signs that parents can look for include:

• Becoming more isolated from friends or family
• Speaking as though they are reading from a script
• Being secretive about who they are meeting or speaking to online

Many of the children referred into Prevent have no identifiable ideology, but they have accessed terrorist-related content online or developed a fascination with extreme violence they have found via internet searches or social media.

As well as an increase in Prevent referrals linked to children, there has also been a steady increase in children being arrested for terrorism-related activity over the past four years. According to the latest figures from the Home Office, there was a record-high number of terrorism arrests for those aged 17 and under in the year ending June 2025.

Earlier this month, officers from CTP London arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of sharing terrorist publications of extreme Islamist ideology on a social media account. He was released on bail and the investigation remains ongoing.

And on 11 November, an 18-year-old man was charged with a terrorism offence after he was arrested at Gatwick Airport. It is alleged that he was intending to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State.