Source: The Charity Commission published on this site Thursday 31 July 2025 by Jill Powell

The Charity Commission for England and Wales has criticised the Central Oxford Mosque Society and The Mosque and Islamic Centre of Brent, both of which failed to prevent their platforms being misused to communicate inappropriate material.  

It was found that there was misconduct and / or mismanagement committed in connection with the charities.  

Central Oxford Mosque Society 

The Commission opened a case into the charity after concerns were raised about posts on the charity’s social media platform in October and November 2023.  

The posts commented on the recent escalation of conflict in the Middle East. One provided information on what to do if arrested at a protest and advertised the services of a specific private solicitor’s firm. Another featured a graphic cartoon which seemed to criticise media reporting of the conflict. A third post included another cartoon suggesting the media misrepresents the situation in Palestine. Both cartoons were shared by the charity just three days after the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. The Commission considered that the sharing of these cartoons could create community tensions in the context of the conflict in the Middle East.  

The regulator engaged with the trustees, who were unable to explain how the posts furthered the charity’s purposes for the public benefit. It found that, at the time of publishing the posts, the charity had no social media policy in place and that only one trustee had access to the social media account. The trustees’ responses to the Commission also failed to acknowledge or recognise all of the concerns about the posts in question.  

The Commission concluded that the posts were outside the charity’s purposes, and that two were divisive and inflammatory.  

The Official Warning sets out actions the charity is to take to address the wrongdoing, including to create, implement and adhere to robust policies, including a social media policy, and to ensure all of the charity’s activities are in furtherance of its purposes.   

The regulator acknowledges that, since it gave the charity notice of its intention to issue an Official Warning, the charity’s trustees have taken steps to address the concerns. 

The Mosque and Islamic Centre of Brent 

The Commission opened a case after concerns were raised in the media about speeches held at the charity’s premises. The sermons were promoted on the speaker’s social media channel.  

The Commission determined that of five speeches given at the charity’s premises in November and December 2023, four included inflammatory and divisive content, two contained content that could reasonably be interpreted as encouraging support of Hamas, a proscribed organisation, and one could be reasonably interpreted as discouraging worshippers from engaging with democratic processes.  

The Commission found that, at the time of the speeches, the charity did not have effective policies in place to manage risks related to speakers at the charity. In response to the regulator’s concerns, the charity’s trustees did not demonstrate that that they fully understood the risk of reputational harm being caused by the sermon and were unable to offer adequate assurance that they would take action to prevent a similar failure in the future.  

The Official Warning sets out steps the charity now needs to take to address the concerns.  

The Commission notes that, since it gave the charity notice of its intention to issue an Official Warning, the charity has adopted a written policy on speakers.  

Charity Commission Assistant Director for Investigations and Compliance, Stephen Roake said

“We recognise that recent events in the Middle East are emotive and distressing. But it is precisely in times of conflict that charities are expected to bring people together, not to stoke further division.  

“Trustees of charities have a legal duty and responsibility to ensure everything their charity does is capable of furthering its purposes, and must also take steps to protect the charity’s assets, including its reputation.  

“Sadly, in the case of these two charities, the trustees failed to have appropriate processes in place, and allowed their charity’s names and reputations to be exposed to serious harm through inflammatory and divisive language, and in one case, seeming to associate the charity with a proscribed organisation.  

“We expect the trustees to continue to take swift action to address the respective concerns.”

During the last 18 months, the Commission has opened more than 300 regulatory cases involving charities supporting different sides of the Middle East conflict. It has issued formal statutory guidance to charities in around 100 of these cases, and has made more than 70 referrals to the police where it considers a criminal offence might have been committed. 

Source: Metropolitan Police published on this website Wednesday 18 June 2025 by Jill Powell

Former nursery worker found guilty of child cruelty against children in her care. A 22-year-old nursery worker has been found guilty of 21 counts of child cruelty after she abused multiple children in her care.

Roksana Helena Lecka, 22 of Avro Place, Hounslow appeared at Kingston Crown Court on Monday, 16 June, where following a six-week-trial was found guilty of 21 counts of child cruelty.

She was brought to justice after a Met investigation found Lecka had abused children as young as ten months at two separate nurseries in Twickenham and Hounslow between October 2023 and June 2024. Met Officers first began investigating Lecka in June 2024, following concerns from a diligent staff member at the nursery about Lecka’s behaviour.

Investigators unveiled shocking CCTV footage which showed Lecka repeatedly pinching the children and roughly placing them on the floor causing the victims to be cry and appear distressed. The footage also showed Lecka vaping less than a metre from a small baby on more than one occasion. Met Police officers were called to the location and reviewed over 45 hours of CCTV from 28 June 2024.

Statements were taken from the children’s parents and multiple red marks, bruises and scratches were located on the children a number of parents provided pictures of the injuries found on their children. The victim’s families received specialist support from officers.

After these enquiries had taken place, Lecka was arrested at her home on 5 July on suspicion of child cruelty offences. During interview, she answered no comment to all questions and refused to acknowledge her actions when shown the CCTV footage. She was released on bail whilst officers within the Child Abuse Investigation Team continued enquiries.

Detective Sergeant Geoff Boye of Met Police’s Public Protection Command said:

“As our officers continued to review over 300 hours of CCTV, it became clear that Lecka’s offending was prolific. Footage showed Lecka carrying out multiple assaults on the children in her care which included repeatedly pinching and grabbing children, dropping babies into their cots and on one occasion, she delivered several kicks to a young boy to the face and stepped on his shoulder.

“She was further arrested and charged on 25 July 2024 with 12 counts of child cruelty, 12 counts of actual bodily harm and one count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.”

Following an initial appearance in court, this indictment was amended to 24 counts of child cruelty against 24 separate children.

Lecka was convicted on Monday, 16 June of 21 counts of child cruelty. The jury found her not guilty on three counts. She will appear at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, 26 September for sentencing.

Source: Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) published on this website Tuesday 29 July 2025

A celebrity osteopath who is thought to be one of London’s most prolific ever voyeurs was jailed for three years today, after he admitted taking intimate images and videos of thousands of women without their knowledge.

Torben Stig Hersborg, 64, of Tower Hamlets, London, took secret pictures and videos of approximately 2,000 women in his clinic, in public and private places and students living in university accommodations across London for more than a decade.

The scale of his offences – revealed for the first time in court yesterday by prosecutors – suggests he is one of the capital’s most prolific ever voyeurs.

Hersborg, a Danish national, boasts a string of high-profile celebrity clients including TV personalities and Olympians, and has been pictured with some of the nation’s most famous faces.

He was jailed for three years and five months after prosecutors built a strong case against him, even though victims couldn’t be identified, and as a result he pleaded guilty to eight serious charges at the earliest possible opportunity.

Alex Weichselbaum of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Hersborg operated in plain sight for too long and, having targeted thousands of women over 12 years, we believe the scale and significance of his offending makes him one of London’s most prolific voyeurs.

“His meticulously planned acts included setting up secret cameras in his clinic and covertly filming women - both in public and when they thought they were in the privacy of their own homes.

“Hersborg deliberately abused the trust of his unwitting patients by filming them in intimate positions and targeted strangers for his own sexual gratification.

“Women should be free to live their lives without unwanted intrusion – particularly from sexual offenders like Hersborg who deliberately chose to film or photograph them in their most private or intimate moments.”

A phone call to the police:

In December 2024, a member of the public contacted the police after they spotted a suspicious vehicle outside university accommodation in Islington, north London.

Hersborg was seen in the back seat of a dark Lexus wearing black gloves and sat on seats lined with black plastic bags. A search of the vehicle found a telescope in the footwell and a video camera with black tape around the lens, pointed at students living inside.

A hard drive, SD cards and recording device were all recovered and analysed after Hersborg was arrested and were found to contain thousands of files containing images and videos of victims.

It soon became clear that women were filmed without their knowledge in Hersborg’s private practice in Old Street, at beaches, on footpaths, waiting at bus stops or for the tube and when they were in their own homes.

Some pictures and videos showed victims undressing in their bedrooms and bathrooms. On two videos found on his SD cards, women were filmed having sexual intercourse without their knowledge.

Building an evidence-led case:

Despite not being able to identify any of the women who appear in the videos and photographs, nor obtain statements from them, prosecutors were determined to secure justice for every one of Hersborg’s victims.

By focusing on the digital material, which showed thousands of different women being filmed and photographed without their knowledge, the Crown Prosecution Service focused on an evidence-led approach which identified consistent patterns of offending.

They built a picture of Hersborg’s motive – which over a 12-year period consistently saw him use secret or concealed cameras to focus on intimate areas of the body or when women were in private situations in their home.

Working closely with officers from the Metropolitan Police, the prosecution team was able to bring an overwhelming volume of digital evidence to court at the first hearing in December 2024, which saw Hersborg plead guilty to multiple voyeurism charges.

After his devices were analysed by officers, Hersborg was later charged with five further counts of voyeurism and admitted all of these offences at a separate court hearing in January 2025.

Source: Home Office published on this website Tuesday 3 June 2025 by Jill Powell

A new criminal offence of ‘coerced internal concealment’, to be introduced as an amendment to the landmark Crime and Policing Bill, will crack down on anyone, including gang leaders who force people to hide items inside their bodies to avoid detection.    

This practice, also known by the street names ‘plugging’, ‘stuffing’ and ‘banking’, is typically used by organised gangs to transport items like drugs, money and SIM cards from one location to another.   

It relies on forcing or deceiving children and vulnerable adults into ingesting or hiding items inside their bodily cavities and is often linked to county lines drug running.   

Internal concealment is an extremely dangerous practice. It can be fatal if drug packages break open inside the body and can cause significant physical and psychological harm to those forced to do it.   

Where senior gang figures are found to have coerced other individuals to ingest or carry specified items inside their bodies, they will face up to 10 years behind bars.   

Jess Phillips, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, said:

“There is something truly evil about the gang leaders who degrade young girls, young boys and vulnerable adults in this way, forcing them to put their lives at risk.   This new offence will go alongside other measures in our landmark Crime and Policing Bill to turn the tables on the gang leaders and hold them to account for exploiting children and vulnerable adults.   

“As part of our Plan for Change, this government will give police and prosecutors the powers they need to dismantle these drug gangs entirely and secure convictions that reflect the severity of these crimes. To deliver the government’s mission to halve knife crime in the next decade and deliver safer streets, it is crucial to tackle the drug gangs that run county lines through violence and exploitation.”   

That is why the government has committed to investing £42 million into the County Lines Programme this year, to break down the organised crime groups behind this trade.

The latest statistics from the programme show that since July 2024, law enforcement activity resulted in over 1,200-line closures and 2,000 arrests – including the arrest and subsequent charging of over 800 violent offenders controlling the lines.  

There were also more than 2,100 safeguarding referrals for children and vulnerable people.      

The County Lines Programme also provides specialist support for children and young people to escape the drugs trade.    

Over 320 children and young people received dedicated specialist support during this period, which can include one-to-one casework for young people and their families to help prevent exploitation or support their safe exit.

The criminalisation of ‘coerced internal concealment’ will ensure that victims are properly recognised and receive the support they need.   

It also sends a clear message to offenders that the punishment for this crime will match the impact of the harm they have caused.    

The new offence will join a package of other measures in the government’s Crime and Policing Bill designed to protect children and vulnerable adults, including a specific offence of child criminal exploitation aimed at the ringleaders behind county lines operations.