Source: Gloucestershire Police published on this website Friday 25 October by Jill Powell

A 64-year-old man from Stroud who sexually assaulted five women has been sentenced.

Michael Florek was a driving instructor and abused his position to sexually assault women while on driving lessons with him in the Stroud area.

He committed the crimes between November 2016 and November 2021.

The court heard how Florek would make sexual and inappropriate comments to the women during their lessons, and he would ask them unwanted personal and sexual questions.

He sexually assaulted the women, who were aged between 17 and 19, by brushing his arm and hand against their breasts and by putting his hand on their legs.

Following an appearance at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court on 13 September, he was found guilty of five counts of sexual assault.

Florek, who gave his address as Swallowcroft, Eastington near Stonehouse, was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court on Thursday 17 October and must now have his name added to the Sex Offenders' Register for the next ten years.

The 64-year-old was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which prohibits him from working or acting as a driving instructor until October 2034. During that time he must also provide police with the details of any vehicle he owns, uses or has access to.

In defence, Florek said that he may have accidentally made physical contact with the students when he was teaching them about clutch control or if he had to grab the steering wheel to avoid an accident.

He stated that on the occasions when this happened, the touching was never sexual.

The judge sentenced Florek to 14 months in prison, suspended for 24 months. He was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and undertake a rehabilitation programme for up to 30 days. He was also ordered to pay £650 in prosecution fees.

Speaking after sentencing, Sergeant Hutton said: "I would like to commend the women who have worked with us to ensure that Florek is sentenced for the crimes he has committed.

"Thanks to them, and the court measures that have been put in place, the Stroud community is now a safer place.

"Florek abused his position as a driving instructor to sexually assault women and I welcome the decision to ban him from the profession for the next ten years.

"He claimed his actions were accidental - there is no excuse for committing sexual offences, and I would like to encourage anyone who has been sexually assaulted to please come forward.

"We will listen, you will be believed and we are dedicated to ensuring sexual offenders, and those who pose a risk to people, are held accountable for their vile actions."

If you have experienced rape, sexual assault or abuse, and wish to report the crime, contact police by calling 101 or 999 in the case of an emergency. You can also report sexual offences online here: https://www.police.uk/ro/report/rsa/alpha-v1/v1/rape-sexual-assault-other-sexual-offences/

Gloucestershire Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre support women dealing with the effects of rape and sexual abuse. For more information visit their website www.glosrasac.org/

Source: National Crime Agency published on this website Wednesday 23 October 2024 by Jill Powell

An Essex man who made payments to live stream and direct the sexual abuse of children in the Philippines has been jailed for 15 years.

Cesar Cordero Conejo, 39, from Ilford, was investigated by National Crime Agency officers, after being identified by international law enforcement agencies as a UK-based offender obtaining child sexual abuse material and livestreamed child sexual abuse from a Filipino woman.

Information regarding Conejo, from between September 2022 and February 2023, was provided to the UK. This included a number of message exchanges between him and the woman, which were provided by Homeland Security in the US.

In one message, she told Conejo that she is giving birth but doesn't have money to go to hospital, to which he replies: "well good luck ok, hope you have another girl." Later in the chat he asked her to get the children to carry out sex acts on each other.

In further messages, Conejo indicated that he wanted to travel to the Philippines to rape one of the children himself, saying that he'd pay the woman 100 dollars a day in return.

NCA investigators arrested Conejo in July 2023 and conducted searches of his home, seizing a number of devices, including a laptop and phone. Forensic examination of the devices revealed they contained in excess of 12,500 indecent images of children, including 4,706 in the most severe category A.

Further chat records between him and various Filipino women dating back six years were also identified. One message stated: "Do you have PayPal darling. I wanted to see your daughter today."

Financial enquiries showed that he had sent a number of Filipino women a total of £1,300 over the course of six years. At least sixteen of these payments were linked to one woman who abused children known to her, for financial gain.

A number of child victims were rescued and safeguarded in the Philippines, including three in relation to this case.

These three children would have been aged between five and thirteen at the time of the offending. The imagery obtained from the Filipino woman included category A images (the most severe) involving penetration with a number of objects, and oral rape. The youngest rape victim was only 2-3 years old and was directed to perform sexual acts with others.

In custody, he was charged with causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child under the age of 13. He was later charged with further counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, offences relating to making indecent images of children, possessing indecent images of children and possessing an extreme pornographic image.

He pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 4 January and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment at the same court today (17 October). He will also become a Registered Sex Offender for life and was given a 20-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

NCA Operations Manager Jen Cruickshank said:

"This was a horrific case which is shocking on so many levels. Not only did Conejo orchestrate the most depraved abuse imaginable on vulnerable children, purely for his own sexual pleasure, he displayed his intentions to travel to the Philippines to carry out these attacks personally. He is a dangerous, high harm offender who posed a significant risk to children.  The fact they were on the other side of the world probably hadn't escaped his attention, and no doubt made him think he'd avoid

Source: National Cyber Security Centre published on this website Thursday 24 October 2024 by Jill Powell

Following the successful initial roll out of PDNS for Schools last year, all schools in the UK can now benefit from the enhanced cyber resilience service.

Schools are being encouraged to sign up for a free cyber defence service from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ – which helps block online threats such as malware, ransomware and phishing attacks.
 
Following a successful initial rollout of the PDNS (Protective Domain Name System) for Schools, the service has now been extended to more educational settings across the UK, with multi-academy trusts, academies, independent schools and school internet service providers encouraged to sign up.
 
The service, which is part of the recently announced partnership with Cloudflare and Accenture, prevents access to websites which are known to be malicious, limiting access to domains hosting malware, ransomware and spyware.
 
It means more schools – regardless of their resources or status – can now benefit from enhanced cyber resilience. 
 
Schools continue to face a range of cyber threats to their systems with recently published figures from Ofqual showing more than a third of schools and colleges in England has experienced a cyber incident during the last academic year.
 
Local authorities, eligible public sector networks from devolved administrations of the UK and local authorities in England that provide DNS to their maintained schools are already eligible to sign up. 

NCSC Deputy Director for Economy and Society, Sarah Lyons, said:

"With a growing range of cyber threats, it has never been more important to protect our educational environments from online threats. The PDNS for Schools service offers a crucial layer of protection, helping schools defend against common online threats, at no cost. I encourage all schools to take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen their cyber resilience and ensure a safer digital future for students and staff alike."

Department for Education Minister for Early Education, Stephen Morgan, said:

“I know how important it is that our schools, colleges and nurseries are protected from online threats, and our work to help these settings improve their cyber security never stops. We have worked closely with the National Cyber Security Centre on this service to ensure all schools can now benefit from enhanced cyber resilience at no cost to them and I encourage settings to take advantage of this enhanced protection.”

PDNS for Schools is part of a wider cyber security offer of actionable advice, guidance and tools that the NCSC has provided to help schools to improve their cyber security.

All educational organisations can sign up for ‘PDNS for Schools’ by asking their DNS provider to register for PDNS through MyNCSC.

Source: The Samaritans published on this website Tuesday 22 October 2024 by Jill Powell

The Guidelines have a very helpful and thoughtful Introduction, and the first section is headed:

“Suicide is a major public health concern and is therefore a subject that is very much in the public interest”

It follows on with:

“While sensitive reporting can inform and educate the public about suicide and the signs to look out for, there is strong and consistent research evidence that some forms of news reporting lead to increases in suicide rates. Media coverage can influence how people behave in a crisis and their beliefs about the options open to them. The research shows that certain types of media depictions, such as explicitly describing a method and sensational and excessive coverage, can lead to imitational suicidal behaviour among vulnerable people. For example, in the five months following Robin Williams’ suicide in 2014, there were 1,841 more suicide deaths in the USA compared to the same time period from the previous year – a 9.85% rise. In contrast, some forms of reporting can help save lives. Coverage describing a person or character seeking help and coming through a difficult time can serve as a powerful testimony to others that this is possible and can have a protective influence over audiences. Stories can highlight that suicide is preventable and direct vulnerable people to sources of support. We know from international research that when media guidelines are followed this has a positive effect by improving reporting standards.”

To read the Guidelines