Tuesday, July 23, 2024 - Police chiefs in the UK have blamed influencers such as Andrew Tate for fuelling an 'epidemic' of violence against women and girls.
A new report published on Tuesday revealed police recorded
more than a million crimes against women and girls in 2022/23, accounting for
almost a fifth of all offences excluding fraud, leading bosses to label the
crisis a 'national emergency'.
Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, national lead for
policing violence against women and girls, said 'toxic' misogynist Tate's
influence on young boys online was 'quite terrifying'.
Tate faces criminal charges in Romania for rape,
human trafficking and sexual exploitation, which he denies.
Reacting to the report, Lisa Squire, whose daughter Libby
was raped and murdered after being kidnapped walking home after a night out in
2019, claimed that social media and internet pornography played a 'big part' in
poisoning boys' thoughts.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Ms Squire said: 'I think
there is a lot of influence on social media. The whole bravado thing between
boys. I have got a son who is 16 and he has not been brought up that way. He
doesn't behave that way. Maybe education starts at home and in schools.
'Their brains are not formed enough to understand these
things. So that [the internet] has a big part to play in it.'
Ms Squire also called for tougher sentences for gateway
offences to more violent crimes against women and girls.
She told the ITV show: 'We accept these lower-level offences
happening to us, and it’s ‘Oh, nobody was hurt’.
'They don’t get long sentences - it could take two or three
years to get to court and they might get a six-month or eight-month sentence,
or suspended, so (victims ask) is it worth it?'
Police records of VAWG incidents have increased by 37
percent in just five years, the report from the National Police Chiefs' Council
found.
And child sexual abuse and exploitation offences have soared
by 435 per cent between 2013 and 2022, the report estimated from just over
20,000 to nearly 107,000.
One in 20 adults or 2.3 million people in England and Wales
are perpetrators of such violence every year, the report estimated, with the
actual number thought to be significantly higher.
The age of offenders is also getting younger, with the
average age of a suspect for child sexual abuse and exploitation now 15.
Met Police Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe said the
force were taking the findings of the report 'incredibly seriously' and were
working 'harder than ever' to improve their response to these crimes.
She told GMB: 'We are dealing with this in the way we deal
with issues of terrorism and other significant threats. Ensuring that we have a
police response that is capable and officers are trained.
'The reason we want to get this information out there is
that this is the tip of the iceberg and police must deal with perpetrators
effectively. But others must work with us too.
'The growing group for perpetrators are people under the age
of 18 and policing is not the best solution for those people.'
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