Successful prosecutions are encouraging victims of historical sexual abuse to come forward

Victims of child sexual abuse have been encouraged to come forward by the Royal Gibraltar Police after a four-year investigation conducted by the force led to Graham Southwell being jailed for 39 years for a string of historical offences.

Detective Sergeant Jo Ullger of the RGP’s safeguarding team told the Chronicle that successful prosecutions in court are encouraging other victims of sexual abuse to come forward and speak to the police.

Five children were sexually abused by Southwell, 63, of Varyl Begg Estate, in separate incidents which took place between 1990 and 2017.

“The safeguarding team and Royal Gibraltar Police are extremely pleased with the sentence,” DS Ullger said.

“The investigation took about four years and there were five victims for this investigation, they have been extremely courageous and brave in coming forward.”

“Any victim that comes forward is brave, any victim of child abuse. It's extremely challenging for them to come forward and especially living in such a small community.”

“But we are having successful prosecutions, which is really encouraging for other victims that are out there to come forward.”

DS Ullger said that the RGP are encouraging anyone who is a victim of abuse to come forward to the force, no matter how far back the allegations go.

“Clearly victims have internal barriers and challenges in coming forward and it takes a really big step from them to come forward,” she said.

“Any small step is significant and if anyone wishes to ring our office directly to speak to one of our specialist detectives, they can call direct on 200 48042 and they can speak to one of the specially trained detectives within the office.”

Whoever contacts the RGP would be reassured that they will not be forced to make a formal complaint.

“However, if they did wish to speak to us about the process, we would be more than happy to meet with them in a place where they are comfortable,” she said.

To keep victims at ease, anyone wanting to meet with specialist detectives can do so in a comfortable environment such as at home or in a café, where how an investigation would work would be explained while having any of their questions answered.

“We can let them go away and have some time to think about it,” she added.

“And then if they wish to come forward, we would pursue their complaint and we would investigate.”

“We do not want anybody to suffer in silence.”

“We support them throughout the whole process and, without prejudice in the investigation, we will be there to support them and hopefully with that, their families and friends will also support them.”

DS Ullger told the Chronicle that victims should not feel guilty or embarrassed and should not blame themselves.

She added that anyone who suspects that someone they know may be committing child abuse should go straight to the RGP.

“Please come forward and report those concerns because prevention is better than cure,” she said.

“Sometimes when people make a report or formal complaint, they might not realise that they might not be in isolation, there actually may be more complaints, and it’s like fitting all the pieces of a puzzle and their information could be vital to completing that puzzle.”

DS Ullger praised the change in attitudes in talking about child abuse, which help to tackle the crime.

“30, 40 years ago, talking about child abuse was taboo, it was something that was never mentioned,” she said.

“And now, thankfully, times have changed, legislation has changed, and we are having some very successful prosecutions at court.”

Reflecting on the investigation into Southwell, who was convicted on 19 counts of child sexual abuse including rape, sexual assault, and sexual activity with children, DS Ullger said: “This investigation was harrowing, the abuse on the victims was horrendous.”

“In my 14 years of investigating child abuse, this is by far one of the worst cases I've ever dealt with.”

“As detectives we interview each of the victims and we have to interview each of those victims in a lot of detail with regards to what happened to them.”

“And it's important for the public to know that when we are given that information, we are human beings and that has an impact on us as well.”

“We cannot prejudice the investigation in any way, we are impartial. But at the same time, these types of investigations have an impact on us.”

She also spoke of the impact of child sex abuse on the community and pointed to people on the Rock rallying together with words of encouragement and support for those who survived Southwell’s abuse.

Offences of this nature have an impact on the wider community, including the families of offenders suddenly faced with realising there was “someone in their family that they didn’t really know”.