MODERN STATE SANCTIONED CHILD ABUSE

Safeguarding  officers, policies, practices, police checks, child protection units are everywhere.

However, in Bexleyheath Police Station on Thursday, behind the iron door of a bolted cell, in a small cold room, with no window was the small slight figure of an eleven year old boy.

'He's been picked up this morning and brought in with his brother for alleged theft.' I was told, 'He's ADHD. He's on medication for it. So is his brother. We've put them in different cells.'

When I entered the cell of the eleven year old, he looked pitiful and forlorn.

'Are you frightened?' I asked.

'I'm OK', he said, although his eyes and expression told a different story.

'I've been in a cell before,' he continued, 'you get used to it'.

'Do your Mum or Dad know your here?  I asked.

'I'm fostered.' he said.

Young people should not be placed in locked cells according to PACE. The police claim publicly that they are not. I find repeatedly that they are.

'It's budget cuts,' the police say, 'lack of staff and resources. We haven't any choice.'

So there you have it.

A diminutive eleven year old, diagnosed and drugged by society, taken from his family, in the care of the local authority,  farmed out to strangers, banged up in a cold police cell.

A clear example of child abuse. And no one is doing anything about it. Not a safeguarding officer in sight.