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16 Sep 2013

Northern Ireland child sex abuse: up to 50 suspects

Police investigating 22 suspected cases of abuse in Northern Ireland say there is no evidence of a “sex ring”, but that they are exploring any connections between the incidents.

Most of the children involved were based in residential care homes at the time of the incidents, but the allegations refer to times when they were not being supervised at a home. It is understood that others were living with their families and were abused when they left the family home.

Both boys and girls aged between 13 and 18 have allegedly been targeted.

So far 30 arrests have already been made, and suspects are believed to be between 14 and 60 years old.

The coordinated investigation led by police and social workers follows an 18-month review of cases where young people in care went missing. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) followed the review with an overarching investigation drawing all the cases together, some dating back to 2011.

We haven’t identified a sex ring, but we are looking for it – Sean Wright, PSNI

A senior police detective said that up to 50 suspects have been identified so far and arrests have been made in each case. A number of individuals have been charged, though some with non-sexual offences such as drug crimes.

PSNI Detective Superintendent Sean Wright said: “We haven’t identified a sex ring, but we are looking for it.”

He added. “We have looked to see if there are links and connections across.

“We can see, for example, that many of the children know each other, we can see that some of the suspects know each other.”

The suspicion of large-scale child abuse is being discussed at Stormont on Monday during a joint meeting of the committees for health and justice.

The PSNI have been working with police officers in England, including those involved in the recent major investigation into organised child abuse in Rochdale, to help inform their work.

Detective Wright added: “What we are trying to now understand is what or how significant those links are, how organised this may or may not be, and through those investigations to try and understand what degree of organisation is in place by these perpetrators to groom and exploit young people.

“We haven’t uncovered any sex ring, I want to be absolutely clear about that, we have no evidence of it, but we are looking.”

Social workers and a representative from children’s charity Barnardos are working alongside the team of PSNI detectives handling the cases.