Child Abuse

Lauren Ashley Mastrosa given 18-month community corrections order after book was read by handful of advance readersThe author behind an offensive novel depicting toddler role-play has been convicted but spared jail for penning child abuse material.Lauren Ashley Mastrosa, a 34-year-old former marketing executive for a Christian charity, wrote Daddy’s Little Toy under the pen name Tori Woods and published it through an online pre-release in March 2025. Continue reading...

Police allegedly found images on iCloud account of singer accused of killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas HernandezA Los Angeles prosecutor said that the singer D4vd, who was charged this week in the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, was in possession of a “significant amount of child pornography”.Police allegedly found the images on the iCloud account of the 21-year-old singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke. Continue reading...

Analyst who worked on Internet Watch Foundation report says content exists ‘across all social media platforms’ and is ‘very easy’ to findThe number of commercial child sexual abuse websites has doubled in a year as experts say that criminal gangs are making “huge profits” from online sexual exploitation.According to data collected by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), 15,031 commercial child sexual abuse sites were found in 2025, compared with 7,028 found in 2024, a 114% increase. Continue reading...

The 82-year-old was accused of abusing girls in the 1960s but was acquitted in Perth despite judge finding the alleged victim was telling the truthGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe former champion footballer Barry Cable has been acquitted of a slew of historical child sexual abuse charges despite a judge finding the alleged victim was likely telling the truth.The 82-year-old faced a judge-only criminal trial over allegations he abused a girl aged about eight or nine at his family home in the late 1960s. Continue reading...

Owner of X summoned along with former CEO Linda Yaccarino over investigation by cybercrime unitBusiness live – latest updatesEurope live – latest updatesElon Musk has been summoned to Paris, where investigators are looking into allegations of misconduct related to the social media platform X, including the spread of child sexual abuse material and deepfake content.The world’s richest man and Linda Yaccarino – the former chief executive of X – were on Monday summoned for “voluntary interviews”, while other employees of the platform were scheduled to be heard as witnesses throughout this week, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Continue reading...

Man initially charged in July but Australian federal police uncovered dozens more alleged offences after reviewing files on his devicesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA former childcare employee accused of abusing children in his care has been hit with another 129 charges after investigators say they identified more victims.The man, aged in his 30s, was initially charged with eight counts of online child abuse material offences in July 2025 after years of alleged offending. Continue reading...

Lack of funding leaving police forces failing to keep pace with two-thirds annual increase in referrals, says reportChild victims of online sexual abuse are being inadequately protected from further harm because police forces are struggling to cope with an increase in this crime, his majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary has warned.Michelle Skeer said: “Without investment and coordination, the situation will worsen and children could be put at further risk.” Continue reading...

Woman tells court ‘I lost my teenage self’ from abuse by teacher William ‘Rob’ Gilfillan, already in prison for offences against daughter Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA woman who was repeatedly sexually assaulted in the 1980s by her high school PE teacher has told a court how the man’s actions resulted in her life being changed “negatively for decades”.In December, William “Rob” Gilfillan was found guilty of indecent assault of a person under 16 and sexual penetration of a child under 16. The five counts against two victims took place at Traralgon high school in Gippsland. Continue reading...

Experts warn lapse could sharply reduce reports of abuse, echoing a 58% drop during a similar legal gap in 2021Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe European parliament has blocked the extension of a law that permits big tech firms to scan for child sexual exploitation on their platforms, creating a legal gap that child safety experts say will lead to crimes going undetected.The law, which was a carve-out of the EU Privacy Act, was put in place in 2021 as a temporary measure allowing companies to use automated detection technologies to scan messages for harms, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM), grooming and sextortion. However, it expired on 3 April, and the EU parliament decided not to vote to extend it, amid privacy concerns from some lawmakers. Continue reading...

The former Little House on the Prairie star said husband was ‘last person in world who would hurt a child’Melissa Gilbert has staunchly defended her husband and fellow actor Timothy Busfield in her first interview since New Mexico prosecutors charged him with child sexual abuse in early February.In part of a conversation scheduled to be broadcast on Monday on Good Morning America but circulated in advance as a preview, Gilbert told ABC host George Stephanopoulos that she believed the Emmy winner whom she married in 2013 to be “the last person in the world who would hurt a child”. Continue reading...

Robert Morris, who started Gateway church, pleaded guilty in October to sexually abusing girl in the 1980sThe founder and former pastor of one of the US’s largest megachurches has been released from an Oklahoma jail six months after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in the 1980s.Robert Morris, 64, who started Texas’s Gateway church and also once served as a White House spiritual adviser during Donald Trump’s first presidency, pleaded guilty in early October in Osage county district court on five counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. Continue reading...

Her husband, 19 Kids and Counting’s Joseph Duggar, was recently charged in separate case with lewd behavior against a childArkansas police have arrested Kendra Duggar, the wife of reality TV personality Joseph Duggar, on misdemeanor child abuse charges, in the latest scandal to envelop the family featured on TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting.Kendra Duggar faces four counts each of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree false imprisonment, according to the Washington county sheriff’s office in Arkansas. She has a hearing scheduled for Monday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: eSafety commission pointed to Musk’s promise that ‘removing child exploitation is priority #1’ in letter obtained by Guardian Australia The Australian online safety regulator warned Elon Musk’s X amid the Grok sexualised image generation scandal that it found child abuse material was “particularly systemic” on X and more accessible than “any other mainstream service”, correspondence obtained by Guardian Australia reveals.The eSafety commissioner wrote to X in January after its chatbot Grok was used to generate sexualised images of women and children online, in what the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, described as “abhorrent”. Continue reading...

Judge describes Nathan Bennett as ‘incorrigible and dangerous’ over string of offences including rapeA “dangerous paedophile” who sexually abused five children in his care at a nursery in Bristol has been jailed for 24 years.Judge William Hart described Nathan Bennett as “evil” and said that he had thought seriously about imposing a life sentence because it was difficult to assess whether he would ever not be a risk to children. Continue reading...