Youth pastor facing jail after rape verdicts
A former youth pastor and trainee vicar is facing jail after being found guilty of three counts of child rape. Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court also found Timothy Storey, 35, guilty of assault. The court heard Storey was working for the Diocese of London when he began grooming two underage girls via telephone calls, social media and texts.
He was previously convicted of grooming girls aged 10 to 16 and encouraging them into engaging in sexual activity via social media in 2014. The two victims in this current case came forward after hearing of Mr Storey’s previous conviction.
A spokeswoman for the Diocese of London said, ‘Timothy Storey has today been convicted of a series of appalling crimes and we are profoundly sorry for what his victims endured.’ She also said the diocese first received complaints about Storey in early 2009 and spoke with police and withdrew him from ordination training.
Detective Constable Paul Hill, of the Metropolitan Police’s Sexual Offences Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: ‘In his position as a youth leader he manipulated the victims and forced them to engage in sexual acts that they did not want to do. They have shown courage in coming forward after so many years to tell us what happened to them. This conviction goes to show that the sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command will pursue sex offenders and bring them to justice.’ He’s due to be sentenced on 15th April.
Consultation launched on pornography age-verification plans
The Government has launched a consultation on plans to install ageverification technology online to prevent children and young people from accessing adult content. Under the proposals, the burden will be put on those who run porn websites to take action. If they don’t, they could be fined up to £250,000. The government is now looking for input from charities, academics and those working with young people.
Cautious welcome for Facebook’s suicide prevention tool
A new tool on Facebook, aimed at stopping people taking their own lives has prompted a mixed reaction from a Christian project for people affected by self-harm. The Suicide Prevention resource has already been rolled-out across Facebook in the United States and Australia but it is now being introduced on its UK site, in partnership with The Samaritans.
The tool involves users being asked to flag-up alarming material to Facebook staff who review the material before deciding whether to refer the publisher to advice and support services. Rachel Welch, founder of ‘Free from Harm’, a Christian self-harm support project, said she welcomes the idea in principle but a wider issue of damaging material available on the internet still needs to be addressed. Speaking to Premier Youthwork, she said: ‘I think there’s a bigger issue to address about keeping social media a clean and safe place. I did a quick trawl through a few different sites this morning and very quickly I found something that was encouraging self-harm and eating disorders. It’s all very well trying to reach out to those who are struggling with something but we also need to be proactive in making sure that these forums are kept safe. For all of us that engage with social media, it’s all of our responsibility, not just the providers and the organisations behind them.’
Julie de Bailliencourt from Facebook said: ‘Keeping the Facebook community safe is our most important responsibility. We worked with organisations including Samaritans to develop these tools, and one of the first things they told us was how much connecting with people who care can help those who are struggling to cope - whether offline or online.’
Mark Yaconelli begins welsh residency
Mark Yaconelli, the internationally renowned author, teacher and youth ministry specialist has begun a six month stint living and working in the Diocese of St Asaph in North Wales, where he will become the diocese’s ‘missioner in residence’. He’s moved from Oregon in the United States, along with his wife Jill and daughter Grace, and will spend his time focusing on youth work, community engagement and spiritual growth within the diocese.
Speaking about the move, Mark Yaconelli said: ‘I will work to help train and establish a number of community storytelling projects similar to “The Hearth” here in the United States. In addition to the community storytelling training I will work to help develop a youth ministry training programme and do some spiritual formation work with local priests.’
Youthscape launches new research centre
Youthscape has launched a new Centre for Research with the aim of supporting and equipping youth workers across the country.
Speaking to Premier Youthwork, head of research Phoebe Thompson said: ‘We are absolutely delighted to have launched the Youthscape Centre for Research, and to begin the first phase of our research work. This is a rare and unprecedented opportunity to take time out to reflect on what it’s really like to be a teenager in 2016, and how we as Christian workers can engage deeply, meaningfully and relevantly with them - wherever they are at. The Church faces extraordinary challenges with regard to its engagement with young people. We feel that now, more than ever, we need to pause, reflect, innovate and pioneer new things if we are going to stand a chance of passing on our faith to this generation.’
One of the first research projects Youthscape wants to undertake is to launch a UK-wide church youth work census to find out the reality of the country’s youth ministry landscape. For more information and to see how you can get involved with the Youthscape Centre for Research, visit youthscape.co.uk/ research.
