IT SEEMED extraordinary that the three child abusers whose appalling behaviour led to the closure of a nursery met for the first time as they stood together in the dock, a situation made possible by the ease with which electronic images and messages can be used and abused.

The pain and humiliation of their victims, and the anguish for the children’s parents, will remain for years to come, of course.

Much attention will again focus on the safeguards surrounding people who have access to children. It was only recently that the government was forced to back off over controversial proposals for even tighter vetting procedures for virtually anyone in contact with children. It was accused of promoting paranoia and suspecting everyone of being a potential abuser.

A chilling aspect of this latest case, which made it different from others, was that two mature women enthusiastically carried out the abuse.

It is a taboo area which we do not like to contemplate as a society, but police fear other, similar women might be connected in some way to this case because so much is still shrouded in mystery. Official figures suggest that more women than we think might be involved in child abuse and, along with this case, it might change our perceptions about safeguarding issues.

Psychological testing, vetting and information-sharing are all part of the protection process. After this, the government might be encouraged to resurrect partially its original vetting plans.

Knowing how far to go in tightening protection measures is an awful dilemma because the authorities will be damned if they do and damned if they don’t as bad cases surface.

Source: PressAndJournal.co.uk