COLUMN

A crime beyond belief

The murder of two schoolgirls in the United Kingdom sets off a new wave of anxiety among parents of young children and emphasises the need for legislation and police measures to strike effectively at predators who seek to abuse children sexually, by employing ever-newer means including the Internet.

ALMOST the whole of the United Kingdom is basking in glorious sunshine. For nearly a week, there have been no rains; what was perhaps a most miserable spell of wet summer has ended. With the Bank Holiday around the corner, there is perceptible gaiety in the air, and many are packing their travel bags with great zest. But amidst this cheer, the fly in the ointment has been the reporting of a horrendous crime, one that has not only dampened spirits but has struck terror in the minds of parents all over the country who are tending their young children.

Holy Wells and Jessica Chapman were 10-year-olds belonging to two middle class families of Soham in Cambridgeshire. They were found missing from their homes late in the evening one day three weeks ago. The two sets of parents initially believed that the children were playing a prank on them. They realised to their dismay late that night, when the children did not come back home, that this was more than a prank. The police were soon alerted and there began a massive search operation and an investigation of enormous proportions.

Cambridgeshire has a small police force and, naturally, it had to seek the assistance of a number of neighbouring forces. Soon the hunt for the possible abductor(s) became nationwide, and the media coverage quickly picked up momentum and drew the contours of what was beginning to loom as a gruesome crime. More than 400 investigators, a mind-boggling number for a country of the size of the U.K., jumped into the fray in search of the two young girls who were classmates at the St.Andrew's Primary School in Soham.

Remarkable was the way the community rallied behind the distraught parents. There was more than palpable understanding of the latter's feelings. Everyone in the region shared in the grief, also because they could see in this episode a lot at stake for civilised and peaceful existence. What was more striking was the way the police marshalled the community's resources through frequent citizen meetings and pointed press briefings. Also, the parents were kept informed almost continuously on the progress of the investigation. Three policemen were tagged on to them in turns for this purpose. This action indeed reflected extreme sensitivity to victims of crimes during stressful times. This is something that policemen in India will have to emulate if they are to become really people-friendly.

After a sustained investigation for nearly a fortnight, on August 17 the police picked up two suspects, Ian Huntley (28), a caretaker at Soham College which is a middle school, and his girlfriend Maxine Carr (25), an assistant at the primary school, for questioning. A little later it was known that the two had given voluntary witness statements to the police. The substance of these statements is yet to be made public. Hours later two bodies were found near a field in Lakenheath, a village seven miles from Soham. The police believe them to be those of the missing girls. A prolonged post-mortem was on. The exposure of the bodies to the elements for more than ten days was posing problems with regard to fixing the identities and the cause of death.

AP
Holy Wells (left) and Jessica Chapman, in a photograph issued by their families.

As I write this column comes the news that the police are almost clear about the role of the Huntley-Carr duo. The motive for the crime is still unclear. It is just possible that the girls were being employed for pornographic assistance. Startling is the information that Huntley is mentally deranged and is therefore being subjected to a psychiatric examination after being held under the Mental Health Act, 1983. Even if he is ultimately charged for murder, it is not known if he can stand trial. Carr is likely to be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice.

THE Soham tragedy has shocked a whole nation that has been watching the progress of the investigation with great anxiety. The revelation that the main perpetrator of the crime is a mentally sick person should cause further anguish to parents desperate to protect their children against crime. A certain despondency should definitely envelop community feelings. Large-scale counselling to help cope with the trauma has been organised for the benefit of Soham residents. But what is being widely discussed is how an unstable person was hired by the local college, an act that gave him access to one of the most vulnerable sections of society. This aspect of the episode should serve to highlight how easy it is for individuals to hide their illnesses while seeking positions from where they can cause havoc to fragile and unsuspecting groups that are in need of the utmost protection at an impressionable age.

THE U.K. is now seriously considering a draft Sexual Offences Bill. The Soham tragedy is expected to trigger pressure for its early passage in Parliament. The law is intended to strike mainly at predators who sexually abuse children up to the age of 18. In the place of seven distinct offences for which they could now be prosecuted, the proposed legislation will have a comprehensive offence, namely, "adult sexual activity with a child," that could carry a drastic life penalty. It will also put on the statute a new offence of "grooming" that will deal with undesirable contact of adults with children through e-mail or text messages or even people simply loitering around schools under suspicious circumstances. Further, those responsible for making or distributing child pornography material will invite harsher penalties.

ANDREW PARSONS/AFP
Police officers at work at Wangford fen near Lakenheath, Suffolk, on August 18, where the bodies of Holy Wells and Jessica Chapman were found.

Early police enquiries found out that Holy and Jessica were browsing the Internet just before they disappeared. This triggered the suspicion that the children had possibly been lured away by means of some communication on the Net by their abductors. It was later stated that investigation did not prove that this was anything significant. We will, however, have to wait till the police confirm this. The point for consideration is how advisable it is for parents to allow unlimited Net access to children. It is generally believed that chatrooms are becoming more and more popular and that these have had a deleterious impact on young minds. What goes on in such chatrooms is a matter for conjecture. There is one recent report in The Times that sexual advances and "grooming" do take place on these occasions. It refers to an incident that took place two years ago in England when a 33-year-old adult posing himself as a 15-year-old boy lured a 13-year-old girl into a meeting and later sexually assaulted her. This is a real danger that parents should guard children against. The accountability of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is somewhat hazy, although it is technically possible for them to monitor the goings-on in such chatrooms and also incorporate warning features in the facility extended by them. I am told of an Internet Watch Foundation, a self-regulatory body set up by ISPs, that exists in the U.K. for this purpose. I have no access to any assessment of its effectiveness. But the creation of such a body, at least in the major Indian cities, is worth the effort. Alongside this is an Internet Task Force on Child Protection which is expected to submit its final report shortly. Significantly, it is the interim report of this task force that defined "grooming" and this recommendation is being built into the Sexual Offences Bill that is now under consideration.

DURING the Soham investigation, one feature of the Police structure in the U.K. came in for public debate. The country has 43 separate police forces of uneven sizes. Some are too small to cope with situations like the one that Cambridgeshire had to tackle. While there was perceptible cooperation among forces in diverting resources to Cambridgeshire, there was the feeling that an agency on the lines of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) could have acted with greater speed and professionalism. But opinion within the U.K. police is divided on this. My good friend Peter Neyroud, Chief Constable of the Thames Valley Police, believes that the country does not need an FBI. In his opinion, structural changes are less important than sharpening police sensitivity and enhancing incentives for tackling social evils such as infringement of child rights. In every force there is a dedicated corps of ace investigators who can fulfil the role of conducting major investigations that attract national attention. I am reminded of the move by the Ministry of Home Affairs some time ago to create a new federal agency, apart from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to handle terrorism and other problems that impinge on national security. This proposal never got off the ground because State governments did not like to see a loss of control over criminal investigation. Given a chance, many of them would like to see a whittling down of the already existing extent of jurisdiction and authority of the CBI!

Another thought that haunts me is the possible growth in India in the numbers and influence of those behind providing child pornography over the Internet. Legislative support to counter this evil is nominal. More worrisome is the relative lack of knowledge of the pernicious nature of the crime and the might of the international gangs involved. This is compounded by a general lack of interest in protecting children from conventional crime. Reporting of crime against children has been low nationally, and the few non-governmental organisations (NGOs) espousing the cause of children have not received the kind of support that they deserve. Sensitising the police in this area meets only a part of the problem. A massive effort will have to come from community groups. Parents will have to organise themselves meaningfully to protect children. If this does not happen quickly, India will be confronted with outrages of the Soham variety at frequent intervals.