Michael Horsham

Teacher | Child Sexual Exploitation Educator | Safeguarding Trainer | Turning frontline experience into safeguarding education.

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[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

Core Signs of CSE to Recognise:

1. Relationship Changes: Sudden “boyfriend/girlfriend” much older; secretive about them. Gifts like phones or clothes without explanation.

2. Behavioural Shifts: Missing from home/school, returning late or intoxicated. Sexualised language/behaviour beyond age.

3. Emotional Indicators: Anxiety, depression, self-harm. Withdrawal or aggression.

4. Physical Clues: Unexplained injuries, STIs, and pregnancies. Substance misuse.

5. Lifestyle Changes: New “friends” from outside the area, involvement in crime.

Spotting CSE in Teens – Behavioural and Emotional Signs:

Teens are particularly vulnerable to CSE due to their quest for independence and online exposure, making behavioural and emotional changes key early warnings. I’ve supported many teens whose lives were upended by exploitation. Barnardo’s reports that over 10,000 UK children are at risk each year. If you’re a parent spotting unusual shifts in your teen’s mood or habits, or researching CSE indicators, this post details signs, examples, and response strategies.

Teens often hide exploitation due to shame or manipulation, so subtle cues matter.

Behavioural and Emotional Signs of CSE:

1. Mood and Emotional Volatility: Sudden anxiety, depression, or irritability. Victims might self-isolate or show unexplained fear.

2. Changes in Routine: Frequent absences from school/home, returning dishevelled or late. Involvement in “parties” or unknown groups.

3. Risky Behaviours: Substance use, self-harm, or sexualised actions/dress beyond norms. Running away episodes.

4. Social Shifts: Dropping old friends for older or “edgy” associates. Defensiveness about new relationships.

5. Physical and Health Clues: Fatigue, weight changes, or unexplained health issues like STIs.

CSE and Online Risks – From Grooming to Exploitation

Online spaces have amplified CSE risks, with digital grooming often leading to real-world abuse. In my work, many victims’ stories started with an innocent chat app message. The Internet Watch Foundation notes a surge in child sexual imagery, with 50% of CSE cases online-linked.

Online CSE blends grooming with tech anonymity, escalating quickly.

Key Online Risks and Signs:

1. Digital Grooming Tactics: Fake profiles offering friendship, leading to explicit requests. Signs: Secret apps, frequent video calls.

2. Content Sharing Pressures: “Sexting” coercion, often turning to blackmail. Watch for distress after online interactions.

3. Platform Exploitation: Abusers on social media, gaming, or forums. Signs: Obsessive use, new “gifts” from virtual friends.

4. Emotional Manipulation: Building “romance” to isolate. Teens may hide devices or lie about online time.

5. Transition to Offline: Meetups arranged, with unexplained absences.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

One clarification first: the court was told Baby S had 33 wounds resulting from 15 separate stabbings, rather than that she was stabbed 33 times. Prosecutors say she was alive when the attack occurred.

As for motive, we simply don't know yet. Nothing credible reported from the prosecution, police or CPS has disclosed one. Because four people are charged with murder and the case is active, I'd be particularly wary of trying to assign a psychological motive to any individual defendant.

There are, however, several general investigative possibilities that detectives would ordinarily need to explore in a newborn homicide. These aren't claims about this family: concealment of a pregnancy or birth; fear of family or social consequences; rejection of the child or disputed paternity; acute psychological disturbance associated with childbirth; domestic/family violence or coercive control; an attempt to conceal some other event surrounding the birth; or a planned decision within a household that the baby wouldn't be allowed to live. The evidence could ultimately point to something entirely different.

One newly reported fact makes the circumstances particularly unusual. The Times reports that Andrea Skopova gave birth to Baby S at the Holywell Heights address at approximately 37 weeks gestation in the early hours of 30 August, then presented herself at hospital shortly afterwards. Hospital staff alerted police. Police initially attended her home address, where the baby wasn't present, before going to Holywell Heights. Baby S was subsequently discovered wrapped in towelling inside a blue bag in the outhouse. Police have reportedly recovered a potential weapon and CCTV footage.

That chronology creates some very important questions. Why did Skopova go to hospital without her newborn? What did she tell medical staff that caused them to contact police? How long elapsed between the birth, the alleged attack and her hospital attendance? Who was present for each event? Those are factual questions investigators can potentially answer through medical evidence, CCTV, phones, forensic evidence and interviews.

The other unusual feature is the charging decision. All four adults aren't merely charged with murder; each is also charged with causing or allowing the death of a child and perverting the course of justice by allegedly cleaning/concealing what happened. That doesn't establish that all four physically attacked Baby S. Precisely what the prosecution alleges each defendant did will become clearer as the case progresses. That distinction is key for Police and prosecutors at the moment because the offence of causing or allowing the death of a child is specifically designed for situations where a child dies within a household and it may initially be difficult to prove which responsible adult actually caused the fatal injury. So the present charging pattern can look “everyone was involved,” when legally it may instead reflect uncertainty about who did what, who knew what, and who failed to act.

And the 15-year-old remains particularly important from our safeguarding perspective. She's not charged with murder. At present she's charged only with perverting the course of justice. Until prosecutors provide particulars of what she's alleged to have done, we shouldn't infer that she participated in the killing.

The number and distribution of wounds will inevitably attract psychological interpretations online, but wound count alone cannot reliably tell us motive. Multiple injuries can occur in very different circumstances and don't, by themselves, prove rage, hatred, ritual behaviour, mental illness or anything else people may speculate about.

What is becoming potentially very important for The Risk Register is the concealed/unsupported pregnancy and birth question. If a woman reached approximately 37 weeks, delivered at a residential address, appeared at hospital without her newborn and medical staff immediately became sufficiently concerned to involve police, the obvious safeguarding question is what contact—if any—she had with maternity, primary-care or other services during pregnancy. That may eventually tell us considerably more than speculation about motive.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

Hey @grok, Based on my X posts, I am:
-Which dictator?
-Which politition?
-Which religious figure?
-Which King?
-Which General?

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

We now have much more information from yesterday's Sheffield Magistrates' Court hearing, and it clears up several things we were uncertain about.

The baby's mother was identified in open court as 20-year-old Andrea Skopova, one of the four adults charged with murder. Prosecutor Luke Hopkinson told District Judge Tim Spruce that Skopova was Baby S's mother. He also said that the baby's father is currently unknown.

The relationships are becoming clearer:

Andrea Skopova, 20 — Baby S's mother; charged with murder, causing or allowing the death of a child, and perverting the course of justice.

Peter Horvath Jr, 19 — Skopova's boyfriend. Prosecutors said he is not believed to be Baby S's father. He faces the same three charges.

Nina Horvathova, 37 and Peter Horvath Sr, 38 — parents of Peter Horvath Jr. They face the same three charges.

15-year-old girl — her identity and precise family relationship remain protected. She is charged only with perverting the course of justice, not murder or causing/allowing Baby S's death. She was remanded into youth custody yesterday.

We also now have confirmation from court that all four adult defendants are Slovakian nationals. That means the earlier neighbours who described the household as Slovakian appear to have been correct. It also makes the earlier social-media narrative we encountered about a Pakistani/Muslim family and parents being in Pakistan look increasingly unreliable. There is still nothing credible connecting this case to Pakistan, forced marriage, Islam or asylum.

There are also substantially more disturbing details from the prosecution case. The court was told that Baby S suffered 33 wounds resulting from 15 separate stabbings. Her body was allegedly wrapped in a towel, placed inside a blue bag and found on top of a washing machine in an outhouse at the Holywell Heights address. The four adults' perverting-the-course-of-justice charge relates specifically to an allegation that they cleaned the scene of the alleged killing. These remain prosecution allegations rather than findings of guilt.

The CPS independently confirms the underlying charges and that the forensic post-mortem established stab wounds as the cause of death.

There should actually be another important development today, 3 September.

All four adult defendants were remanded in custody yesterday and ordered to appear at Sheffield Crown Court today. The 15-year-old was dealt with separately at the magistrates' court; she reportedly sobbed in the dock while representations were made concerning bail. District Judge Tim Spruce ultimately remanded her into youth custody and ordered her to appear at the Crown Court today as well.

So we should get further reporting from today's Crown Court hearing, although at this early stage it may principally deal with remand, representation and future hearing dates rather than substantive evidence.

What becomes more interesting from a safeguarding perspective is something different: why was a 15-year-old allegedly involved in cleaning/concealing the aftermath of the death of a newborn? That is potentially an extremely serious safeguarding question in its own right. We don't know what prosecutors allege she actually did, what she witnessed, whether adults directed or influenced her, or what her relationship is to the defendants. Until those facts emerge, we shouldn't infer an answer.

And there is another major question emerging now. If Andrea Skopova was Baby S's mother, what was known about her pregnancy? Was she receiving antenatal care? Where and when was Baby S born? Was the birth attended or unattended? Did health professionals know the baby existed? How long did Baby S survive after birth? Those answers could completely change the safeguarding analysis.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

We now have much more information from yesterday's Sheffield Magistrates' Court hearing, and it clears up several things we were uncertain about.

The baby's mother was identified in open court as 20-year-old Andrea Skopova, one of the four adults charged with murder. Prosecutor Luke Hopkinson told District Judge Tim Spruce that Skopova was Baby S's mother. He also said that the baby's father is currently unknown.

The relationships are becoming clearer:

Andrea Skopova, 20 — Baby S's mother; charged with murder, causing or allowing the death of a child, and perverting the course of justice.

Peter Horvath Jr, 19 — Skopova's boyfriend. Prosecutors said he is not believed to be Baby S's father. He faces the same three charges.

Nina Horvathova, 37 and Peter Horvath Sr, 38 — parents of Peter Horvath Jr. They face the same three charges.

15-year-old girl — her identity and precise family relationship remain protected. She is charged only with perverting the course of justice, not murder or causing/allowing Baby S's death. She was remanded into youth custody yesterday.

We also now have confirmation from court that all four adult defendants are Slovakian nationals. That means the earlier neighbours who described the household as Slovakian appear to have been correct. It also makes the earlier social-media narrative we encountered about a Pakistani/Muslim family and parents being in Pakistan look increasingly unreliable. There is still nothing credible connecting this case to Pakistan, forced marriage, Islam or asylum.

There are also substantially more disturbing details from the prosecution case. The court was told that Baby S suffered 33 wounds resulting from 15 separate stabbings. Her body was allegedly wrapped in a towel, placed inside a blue bag and found on top of a washing machine in an outhouse at the Holywell Heights address. The four adults' perverting-the-course-of-justice charge relates specifically to an allegation that they cleaned the scene of the alleged killing. These remain prosecution allegations rather than findings of guilt.

The CPS independently confirms the underlying charges and that the forensic post-mortem established stab wounds as the cause of death.

There should actually be another important development today, 3 September.

All four adult defendants were remanded in custody yesterday and ordered to appear at Sheffield Crown Court today. The 15-year-old was dealt with separately at the magistrates' court; she reportedly sobbed in the dock while representations were made concerning bail. District Judge Tim Spruce ultimately remanded her into youth custody and ordered her to appear at the Crown Court today as well.

So we should get further reporting from today's Crown Court hearing, although at this early stage it may principally deal with remand, representation and future hearing dates rather than substantive evidence.

What becomes more interesting from a safeguarding perspective is something different: why was a 15-year-old allegedly involved in cleaning/concealing the aftermath of the death of a newborn? That is potentially an extremely serious safeguarding question in its own right. We don't know what prosecutors allege she actually did, what she witnessed, whether adults directed or influenced her, or what her relationship is to the defendants. Until those facts emerge, we shouldn't infer an answer.

And there is another major question emerging now. If Andrea Skopova was Baby S's mother, what was known about her pregnancy? Was she receiving antenatal care? Where and when was Baby S born? Was the birth attended or unattended? Did health professionals know the baby existed? How long did Baby S survive after birth? Those answers could completely change the safeguarding analysis.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

@LornaLong1960 @JeanHatchet The baby's mother was identified in open court as 20-year-old Andrea Skopova, one of the four adults charged with murder.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

A baby, a care-experienced mother, and videos of harm

A recently published local child safeguarding practice review from Brighton looks at the physical abuse and neglect of Baby Aspen.

Videos later shared with police showed assault, neglect and distressing interactions involving the baby’s mother and her partner. The mother had been in care as a child. The infant had been on a child in need plan that ended at four months. Concerns about parental mental health, domestic abuse and housing instability continued.

The review’s themes will be familiar to many practitioners: complexity; impression management; “unknown men”; information that is held but not triangulated; assumptions about whose job it is to hold the risk.

One recommendation is worth sitting with. Partners are asked to consider a “corporate grandparent” approach — longer-term, nurturing support for care-leaver parents and their children, rather than closing a plan because the baby looks well enough on a single visit.

The question for practice is simple. When a parent’s own childhood was spent in the system, do we treat that history as background colour, or as a live safeguarding factor that should shape how long we stay involved?

Source: Brighton local child safeguarding practice review, listed by NSPCC Learning (collection updated 2 September 2026).

Read the story:
https://t.co/N4wnxASWCb

#Safeguarding #ChildProtection #ResidentialCare #TheRiskRegister

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

Gary Glitter

Gary Glitter has pleaded not guilty to eight further historical child sexual abuse charges concerning allegations involving a girl aged between eight and 11. The allegations will be determined at trial, and the presumption of innocence applies.

But there is a wider safeguarding lesson here that doesn't depend upon the eventual verdict.

Children don't always disclose abuse when they're children.

Fear, shame, grooming, dependence and simply not understanding what happened can delay disclosure for years or even decades.

That's why historical allegations still deserve proper investigation — and why organisations need accurate safeguarding records that may become important many years later.

Time can make evidence harder to establish. It doesn't make a disclosure unworthy of being heard.

Read the full Risk Register analysis: https://t.co/gEqHv6nJim

#ChildSexualAbuse #Survivors #Safeguarding #TheRiskRegister

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

Children allegedly exposed to drugs

Australian Federal Police say suspected ketamine was found inside a baby formula tin during a search of a Sydney home where two young children were living. Investigators allege some drugs were kept in rooms accessible to the children.

The immediate danger is obvious, but safeguarding needs to look further.

If serious drug offending is occurring in a family home, what else might those children have been exposed to? Who was visiting? What had they witnessed? Were there risks from criminal associates, violence or unpredictable adults?

Police removing drugs deals with one immediate hazard. It doesn't automatically deal with what the children have experienced.

Child protection needs to run alongside the criminal investigation, not arrive as an afterthought.

Read the full Risk Register analysis: https://t.co/GqWDRSyqIJ

@AusFedPolice

#ChildProtection #Safeguarding #ChildNeglect #TheRiskRegister

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

Latrobe Special Developmental School

Parents are calling for an independent investigation into allegations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse spanning almost 20 years at a Victorian special school. The allegations remain unproven, but they demand proper scrutiny.

There's a particularly important safeguarding question here:

How well does our system listen when a child can't communicate their experiences conventionally?

Changes in behaviour, distress, fear and avoidance can all communicate something. They don't prove abuse, but they should prompt professional curiosity rather than being dismissed as simply part of a child's disability.

Where serious allegations persist despite an earlier internal review, independent scrutiny can also be essential to rebuilding trust.

Children with communication difficulties shouldn't need adults around them to fight harder before they're heard.

Read the full Risk Register analysis: https://t.co/giWyHjpg2x

#Disability #ChildProtection #Safeguarding #TheRiskRegister

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

Keith Lockwood

Two more survivors came forward after former Kirklees teacher Keith Lockwood was jailed for sexually abusing other boys. He has now been convicted of further offences.

That matters from a safeguarding perspective. Disclosure can take decades, particularly when the alleged abuser was an adult in a position of trust.

When one survivor is finally heard and believed, others may feel able to speak too. Police, schools and institutions need to keep those reporting routes open — and be prepared to examine what was known at the time.

Historical abuse isn't historical to the person still living with its consequences.

Read the full Risk Register analysis: https://t.co/HsULvOhP8w

#ChildSexualAbuse #Safeguarding #Survivors #TheRiskRegister

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

A newborn baby girl has died from stab wounds in Sheffield.

Four adults have now been charged with murder, causing or allowing the death of a child, and perverting the course of justice. A 15-year-old girl has separately been charged with perverting the course of justice.

Court reporting alleges Baby S suffered 15 stab wounds and 33 injuries in total, with her body allegedly concealed in an outhouse. These allegations have not yet been tested at trial.

There are now serious safeguarding questions that will need answering.

Was the pregnancy or birth known to health or other services? Were other children in the household known to agencies? Had there been previous contact with children's social care, schools, housing, health services or police? And if different agencies held separate pieces of information, did anybody ever have enough of the picture to recognise a child might be at risk?

There is also a 15-year-old caught up in these criminal proceedings. Whatever the evidence ultimately establishes about her alleged involvement, she remains a child whose own circumstances and experiences will need to be understood.

This isn't the time for the extraordinary rumours already circulating online about the family. Criminal proceedings are active, and several of those claims remain completely unsubstantiated.

The safeguarding task now is to follow the evidence — and the warning signs — backwards.

https://t.co/tjqdFp9huJ

#TheRiskRegister #Safeguarding #ChildProtection

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

@LeeHarris I would never get tired of slapping that face. And if I ever did, I would build a slapping machine that I could turn up all the way to '11'.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

@DarrenRJones Wouldn't it be nice to hear from his constituents to see how often he's been around to offer his help and support as their MP?

[Matt Goodwin @GoodwinMJ]

Keir Starmer never cared about the country. It was all about him. He only ever showed emotion when he lost his job. And he now leaves parliament because he cannot be bothered to serve his constituents. No doubt Starmer is so “principled” he now eyes the same Boris-Blair-money-junket and will try to rake in millions while leaving the British people to suffer the dire effects of his policies.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

100% correct. In my CSE work, I have looked after many girls. One, of Bangladeshi parents, had to have her passport held by the Police as the family couldn't be trusted not to take her back to Bangladesh for FGM.

It’s sad when safeguarding in the UK is spoken about as though it begins and ends with white British girls.

Safeguarding girls is universal. Girls from every race, culture and background — UK-born or not — deserve protection from abuse, exploitation, coercion, grooming, trafficking, honour-based abuse and FGM.

Some may face extra barriers to being heard, believed or protected. That makes our safeguarding responsibility greater, not smaller.

The point we must always come back to is this: Abuse is never the child’s fault.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

Good luck!

It’s sad when safeguarding in the UK is spoken about as though it begins and ends with white British girls.

Safeguarding girls is universal.

Girls from every race, culture and background — UK-born or not — deserve protection from abuse, exploitation, coercion, grooming, trafficking, honour-based abuse and FGM.

Some may face extra barriers to being heard, believed or protected. That makes our safeguarding responsibility greater, not smaller.

The point we must always come back to is this:

Abuse is never the child’s fault.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

It’s sad when safeguarding in the UK is spoken about as though it begins and ends with white British girls.

Safeguarding girls is universal.

Girls from every race, culture and background — UK-born or not — deserve protection from abuse, exploitation, coercion, grooming, trafficking, honour-based abuse and FGM.

Some may face extra barriers to being heard, believed or protected. That makes our safeguarding responsibility greater, not smaller.

The point we must always come back to is this:

Abuse is never the child’s fault.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

It’s sad when safeguarding in the UK is spoken about as though it begins and ends with white British girls.

Safeguarding girls is universal.

Girls from every race, culture and background — UK-born or not — deserve protection from abuse, exploitation, coercion, grooming, trafficking, honour-based abuse and FGM.

Some may face extra barriers to being heard, believed or protected. That makes our safeguarding responsibility greater, not smaller.

The point we must always come back to is this:

Abuse is never the child’s fault.

[Michael Horsham @TheRiskRegister]

@TruthFairy131 Absolutely disgusting pandering. You see Labor gazebos popping up in local markets across Australia, only in the summer though. Handing out toy windmills and freebies to kids.

Makes my skin crawl. Try dressing up as a moral human being one day and serve Australians.