Family Composition
David- father
Jane – mother
Jake – young person subject of AIM3 – 16 years
Joel – brother – 13 years
Susie – sister – 9 years
Victim: Danielle – 15 years
Background:
Approximately 3 months ago Jake was referred to social services by his school after indecent images of children were found on his phone. The background was that he was telling his friends about his recent ‘conquest’ which was having semi-nude photographs of Danielle and he showed these to a couple of friends, one of whom was then over heard by a teacher, telling another pupil. Jake was brought to the Principal’s office and voluntarily opened his phone and showed two photographs to the Principal. The Principal was able to see 2 photographs of Danielle in semi- nude state. His parents were contacted and arrived at the school. Jake was then interviewed by the Principal with his father present.
Jake stated those were the only photographs and didn’t think there was anything wrong with having them because Danielle agreed to send them. Danielle is also a pupil at the school, and it was understood that she and Jake were friendly and Danielle had been wanting to make their friendship more intimate. Jake stated he had shared the photographs with one of his friends after being pressured and teased that they did not believe he had any photographs. This friend then sent them to another pupil and by the end of the day they were widely circulated around the school. A Principal of another school contacted Jake’s school to say they had just suspended two boys for sharing the images around their school.
Danielle was spoken to by the school safeguarding teacher and informed about the photographs circulating, her mother was contacted, and she left the school that day and has yet to return. She reported that although she had taken them of herself and sent them to Jake, she had felt under pressure by Jake as he said he would not become her boyfriend unless he got to see ‘what he would be getting’. She spoke about being upset and crying but then feeling she was being a ‘prude’ by not doing what he wanted because she did want to be his girlfriend. She knows her parents would have not approved of what she did. She is now receiving counselling but still has not felt ready to return to the school.
Jake was annoyed at the ‘big deal’ the Principal was making out of it all, he offered to apologise to Danielle, if that was what she wanted and thought that was enough. His father, David, was appropriately annoyed in his response to Jake, he felt Jake was not taking it seriously enough and was embarrassed at his actions. Although David was annoyed at Jake, he thought Jake would be suspended for the rest of the week and struggled to understand why Jake had to be referred to social services and his suspension was pending social services and police decision making. David and Jane are annoyed at the school involving the police and social services as they nor any of their families have ever had any involvement with statutory services. Jake has never displayed any antisocial / criminal behaviour and as such has had no previous involvement with criminal justice agencies. Neither parent reported any concerns about drugs or alcohol misuse, both are aware Jake has taken some ‘dope’ when out with his mates but do not see it as an issue. Jake would report having beers when out with friends but also in the company of his parents, he states he started drinking alcohol from aged 14 years and taking ‘dope’ occasionally since he turned 16 years. He reports not really having an interest in ‘harder’ drugs as he is a keen sportsman.
Jake comes from a very close, supportive family, both parents are employed in the successful family business which provides a range of health care such as physiotherapy, reflexology, chiropody and children’s nurseries. His parents would provide everything for their children and have a good standard of life, involving the children including Jake in many sports and arts activities. They believe in respecting Jake and his younger brother’s privacy once they became adolescent and did not feel they needed to have restrictions on their phones as they have been consistent in their messages about online safety and needing to protect themselves. They feel both Jake and Joel are mature for their years because of how they have raised them to be forward, assertive, apply themselves to their studies and sports. They have restrictions on their daughter’s phone and internet use due to her age. There is no evidence or reports of any domestic abuse in the home, and Jake reports no exposure to adversities / or childhood abuse in his life. He reports life as good, great parents and caring about his siblings.
Jane was keen to highlight they were proactive as parents in teaching Jake and his siblings sex education and are aware he has looked at pornography but sees this as normal teenage behaviour and that he is able to know the difference between pornography and reality. Jane describes Jake as a model son, that they are proud of the positive relationship they have with their children and that they have never given cause for concern. Jake was comfortable in his parents’ company and spoke of them and his siblings fondly.
Jake is a popular pupil, well liked though described as sometimes pushing the boundaries. He has a good group of friends who are all similar in nature in terms of pushing boundaries with teachers and they all play sport together. Due to the nature of why he is suspended, he has limited contact with two friends but only through social media on his mum’s phone, but no friends have taken up his requests to meet him in person since he left the school that day. He believes his friends are being told by their parents not to meet him and that his friends are all supporting him.
Prior to undertaking the AIM3 assessment interviews, police informed Jake’s parents that their forensic examination of his phone has shown evidence of other females in various sexual posing similar to Danielle, the police are stating these females appear to be aged approximately 12/13 years old and start from 2 years previously. There was evidence of text messages from Jake requesting the images but with more explicit threats to show their images if they did not send more. These females appear to be known to Jake through extended family, references in the texts are linking back to family social events and they all live locally. The most recent text messages and images of these females are within the last 2 months. He has numerous non-sexual photographs of Susie on his phone, none deemed indecent but questions being asked regarding quantity. There was evidence of Jake searching for sexual pictures / videos of children aged ranged from approximately 8-12 years of age again dating back a couple of years.
Since his suspension from school, his parents have employed a tutor to keep him on top of his schoolwork and he also helps in the family business to keep him busy. No-one in the extended family, or the younger sister know why Jake is not at school and a range of reasons have been provided to answer any queries. The family have employed a solicitor to attend police and social services meetings, and they are determined to prove the additional new IIOC material does not belong to Jake. They feel Jake has been a victim of a scam and/or other boys must have been using his phone when he was not watching. This is the information Jake has given his parents but refuses to say which of his friends used his phone. Jake refuses to discuss the additional new information in relation to his own alleged behaviour but has accepted through ‘third person’ work that it would be concerning if a person was to access indecent images of children.
Jake’s parents have agreed to the safeguarding plan in respect of Jake having no unsupervised contact with his sister Susie. A social worker met with Susie, and she reported no concerns in how Jake behaves with her.
Jake has admitted to asking Danielle for the photographs and doesn’t see anything wrong with that, he sees it as normal to ask a girl for nudes. He was vague when discussing whether he was intending to start a relationship with Danielle. He has expressed no feelings about the impact on Danielle.
He attends all the sessions to complete the assessment, he is keen to get back to his mates and sport and sees this assessment as something he must do, but he is not difficult to engage in the sessions. He intends to go to university to study physiotherapy as it is intended, he joins the family business on leaving university. He does not perceive the current concerns will affect his future. He is a socially competent young person, confident and feels this will all ‘blow over’ and he can get back to his normal life.
Complete AIM3 Competency Assessment