Yahoo Finance Focus On Historical Child Abuse 'Is Backwards'
The former head of Britain's police chiefs has called for less money to be spent on historical child abuse cases, and more on safeguarding children now.
Sir Hugh Orde, who retired after heading the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Association of Chief Police Officers, has described it as a "back to front" way of using limited resources.
Nearly £2m was spent on Operation Midland, which investigated allegations against politicians including Lord Brittan, Sir Edward Heath and Harvey Proctor, but was halted with no charges being brought.
Sir Hugh told Sky News: "You fully resource a historical investigation, yet you don't fully resource a current day investigation.
"That is back to front.
"We have to focus on people who need our protection now.
"I absolutely understand and respect the need for the victims of these awful cases to have some form of resolution.
"Personally, I would far rather that money was spent protecting the next generation and we look differently at how these past cases are reinvestigated or resolved to a degree."
His stance has been challenged by Liz Dux, a lawyer at Slater and Gordon who specialises in sexual abuse claims and represented some of Jimmy Savile's victims.
She said: "It's very dangerous if an offender thinks 'well, if I committed my crime 40 years ago I'm not going to be prosecuted because there isn't any police money'.
"That would be a terrible message to send out."
Sir Hugh is backing a charity called the Dot Com Children's Foundation, which teaches primary school children how to recognise the warning signs of grooming and abuse.
His wife is one of the charity's trustees.
The foundation is run by Sharon Evans, who says she was abused by her grandfather when she was a child.
She explained: "When you are abused, when the moment happens, you are absolutely terrified.
"So therefore it's important to understand what being afraid means and what's going to happen in your body, and it's also important to know who is there to help you and to learn those skills of speaking up when you feel afraid."
Children are encouraged to keep journals about their feelings, which are read by their teachers.
The charity says the journals have highlighted evidence of abuse and bullying.
Ms Evans was a member of the government's inquiry into historical child abuse, but her focus is now on the present and future.
"It doesn't just help to prevent child abuse, it helps children to understand when they're being groomed and that could be for any crime," she added.
"I believe that every child in the country has the right to this education and it is the only way we're going to change things, because right now there are children in the same situation that I was in who are being abused."
