'A culture of sexual abuse of children': Shocking report claims British overseas territory of St Helena is rife with child abuse, domestic violence and sexual exploitation
- A vile 'cultural acceptance of the sexualisation of children' was uncovered
- Health workers on the island said sexual violence was endemic
- Were a number of 'serial' sex offenders among the island's 3,800 inhabitants
- Review of policing on the island has begun because of 'significant' concerns
A shocking report which was never published claims the British overseas territory of St Helena is rife with child sexual abuse, domestic violence and sexual exploitation.
A child protection charity – which was dispatched to St Helena Island and Ascension Island last summer by the British government – uncovered a vile ‘cultural acceptance of the sexualisation of children’.
Health workers on St Helena told respected UK charity, The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, that ‘sexual violence and brutality were endemic’.
Vile culture: A report on the overseas territory St Helena suggests child abuse, sexual exploitation and domestic violence were rife.
The island only has 3,800 citizens
Meanwhile, the charity reported there were a number of ‘serial’ sex offenders on St Helena despite a population of just 3,800 inhabitants.
The charity also called for a review into policing on the South Atlantic island, where many officers are English, over ‘significant’ concerns.
Residents told the Mail the island was ‘worse than Pitcairn Island’ – another remote British territory where, ten years ago, six men on an island of just 47 people were convicted of dozens of sexual offenses.
The report will embarrass the government, which gives the poverty-stricken St Helena £20million-a-year to help the residents survive on the remote island.
Despite the horrifying abuse laid out in an 83-page report in May 2013, the visit was never publicised and the files were reduced to a four-page summary, which was quietly published on the islands’ government websites.
Now, the Mail can reveal that the charity found:
- A ‘persistent’ culture on both islands of ‘the sexual abuse of teenage girls’.
- ‘An evident failure on the part of the police’ to tackle sexual offenders and notions of ‘victim blaming’ among authorities.
- Provisions for disabled children which were ‘as bad as anything that could be imagined’ and reminiscent of a ‘Victorian lunatic asylum’.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) could now face accusations of a cover-up in the same month it emerged a dossier detailing explosive claims of a paedophile ring within Westminster had gone missing.
Investigation: The charity also called for a review into policing on the remote South Atlantic island, where many officers are English,
over ‘significant’ concerns
David Cameron has ordered a fresh investigation into what had happened to the files which allegedly exposed sexual abuse by a paedophiles at Westminster and Whitehall.
The government faced serious questions last night over what action it had taken since the report – commissioned by the Department for International Development (DFID) – had been written, and why the findings had never been released in full.
Critics suggested officials had kept the report quiet over fears it could derail British plans for St Helena to become a tourist destination and finally become self-sustainable.
The remote island, which has no natural resources or economy, is only accessible via a five-day journey Royal Mail ship from Cape Town or a two-day boat from Ascension Island.
As a result, the UK government has invested £250million into building an airport on St Helena, which opens in 2016, in the hope it will attract holidaymakers and end its reliance on hand-outs from UK taxpayers.
But reports that the island had become ‘a safe haven for sex offenders’, as one resident phrased it, could crush hopes of its future as an exotic, sub-tropical tourist destination.
A source said the island was already a ‘sanctuary for paedophiles’ and that the abuse of children was ‘routine’.
Shocking: The report will embarrass the government, which gives the poverty-stricken St Helena £20million-a-year to help the residents survive on the remote island
A British worker told the Mail: ‘The UK public would be absolutely horrified by the casual acceptance of the sexual abuse of children and adults by people on the island.
‘The government is desperate for it not to get out because of the airport. It cannot be allowed to fail.’
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation has warned that the airport ‘could attract ‘cash rich tourists’ and be a recipe of ‘sexual tourism and vice’.
They said the island was ‘ripe for exploitation by more sophisticated visitors’.
Residents also warned it would become a ‘paedophile’s paradise’ when the airport opened, as predators took advantage of a ‘perfect storm’ of extreme poverty, a cultural acceptance of sex abuse and ‘lax policing’.
One British police officer told us he could not talk about his time on the island for fear of repercussions, but said: ‘There are dark forces at work on St Helena.’
Danger: A worker on the island said it was a destination ‘ripe for exploitation by more sophisticated visitors’
Five months after the publication of the Lucy Faithfull Report, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office sent Northumbria Police to investigate ’current police practices’ on St Helena, which also manages officers on Ascension.
The last three police chiefs on St Helena have been from Sussex Police and many senior officers on the island are also from the UK.
But while Northumbria Police made a number of findings after visiting last October, these have also never been made public.
Speaking of the investigation by Northumbria Police, an FCO spokesman said: ‘The report found no evidence of criminality by individual officers, but make a number of helpful recommendations about how the performance of the police could be improved.
‘As a result, the St Helena Police Service is implementing these recommendations, under new leadership, and we will continue to support them in these efforts.
‘The Governor and the UK will not hesitate to take action when low standards of policing and social services require it.’
They suggested the report had been condensed to just four pages because it ‘presumably contained personal data’.
Past case: Residents said it was ‘worse than Pitcairn Island’ (pictured) – another remote British territory where, ten years ago, six men on
an island of just 47 people were convicted of dozens of sexual offenses
Peter Coll, the St Helena Chief of Police between 2009 and last November, accused the Lucy Faithfull Foundation of being ‘hysterical’ and ‘hunting out issues’.
Mr Coll, who claimed the situation on the island was no worse than his old beats of Brighton and Hastings, retired one month after a condensed version of the charity report was published, after his four-year contract ended.
The former Metropolitan Police officer and retired Sussex Police Chief Superintendent said St Helena police were ‘committed’ to investigating every allegation of crime.
He said: ‘They [Lucy Faithfull] seem to say there is a really serious endemic problem but my personal view is I have encountered a lot more serious crime locally in the towns I have worked in in the south of England.
‘My genuine opinion having worked in the police service in child protection and other issues, my genuine view is that it their take on it is extreme.’
He added that the report ‘contains some useful advice and recommendations that are welcomed by all people concerned about child safeguarding on St Helena.’
The St Helena Government said it had taken on board the recommendations by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation and these were now ‘well in train’.
A spokesman for the St Helena Police and the government said: ‘There is no reluctance to investigate sexual abuse allegations on the Island.
‘To suggest that there is a reluctance to examine cases, somehow linked to a wish not to damage tourism, is absurd.
‘On the contrary, the police continue to investigate and successfully prosecute offenders.
‘In addition, the various agencies here are now working closely together to review historic cases.’
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2693416/A-culture-sexual-abuse-children-Shocking-report-claims-British-overseas-territory-St-Helena-rife-child-abuse-domestic-violence-sexual-exploitation.html#ixzz37Zk2mBRJ
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