Family and Friends Forum

Having received a copy of this today, and read through it, I am genuinely concerned about the future for my son. It presents some very concerning reading.

some of you may already be aware of my sons case from previous posts but his sentencing was meant to be today, however it was pushed back by 2 days and will now happen tomorrow.

The probation officer describes my son as someone who she feels will struggle immensely in custody, be vulnerable to bullying/exploitation, and states she believes his mental health will further deteriorate if sentenced to custody.

however she goes on to say she has "significant" concerns with him remaining in the community (despite him being on unconditional bail, offence free, for 1.5-2 years now). She describes him as a high risk of both internet offending and contact offending (he has no convictions for contact offending but does have previous convictions for IIOC as well as breaching his SHPO). She says she believes he has an "emotional congruence to children" and it is her opinion that he has a sexual interest in children and poses a risk to both male and female children from infancy to 16 years old. She comes to this conclusion because of my sons history of downloading IIOC and because he acts like a child and, in her words, "thinks he is a 12 or 13 year old boy". She talks about childhood trauma, including sexual abuse at school (that I was unaware of and feel like I have seriously failed my son) and it is her opinion that this could be an underlying factor behind his offending behaviour. She says it is "difficult" to recommend any sentence to the judge and says his inability to talk at the moment poses a further barrier to engaging with him. She does talk about him being severely isolated (and describes this as a major risk factor), and mentions how social services have recently reduced his support hours. She also mentions that he has been assessed as "too complex" for a mental health treatment requirement emphasising his communication diffuculties as one of the barriers.

It really makes for very difficult reading because, on the one hand she acknowledges that a custodial sentence will only make things worse but at the same time mentions "significant" concerns about any possible alternative.

I am desperate for my son to receive help (I do not believe he wants to hurt anybody) but we are really struggling to get anybody to help him.

the presentence report concludes that "IF" the court is inclined to impose a community sentence that he would be suitable for 1-2-1 "RAR" days and a MAPS for change program but she assesses him as unsuitable for any accredited programs because of his communication difficulties and his inability to cope in a group setting.

I have not discussed this report with my son as I fear it will only stress him further but I am genuinely concerned how this will affect tomorrows sentencing hearing.

The psychologist report, ordered by the defence earlier in the year, emphasises the need for a trauma focused approach and agrees that a custodial environment would be "mostly negative". But it describes my son as someone entrenched in trauma, dependent on others and vulnerable.

The police are applying to make monitoring software a requirement of his SHPO which I, personally, believe will help him (even though that's not the intention). But it will surely pick up on anyone trying to exploit him as well as any risky behaviours and could promote earlier intervention and increase safety. However my fear is that it will be used solely as a means of finding reasons to punish him rather than better protect from the dangers of the internet.