After weeks of delay the Western Health and Social Care Trust (Western Trust) has failed to answer enquiries around safeguarding in children’s residential facilities.

They were asked to set out how safeguarding/monitoring is carried out around internet sexual crime and/or exploitation to ensure children are neither victims nor perpetrators, particularly given the ease of access by phones, laptops and similar devices.

The enquiry was made after a teenager within the Western Trust care system appeared in court on serious child sexual-related offending, which included disturbing commentary about the children murdered in the Southport tragedy.

The alleged offending occurred within a care facility setting and brought into question how this was permitted to go on so long, apparently unnoticed and in the presence of particularly vulnerable children and young people.

The accused – from Fermanagh, who cannot be identified due to his age – is charged with possessing, making and distributing indecent images of children between January 1, 2023 and August 8, 2024.

A police officer previously explained the youth’s brother disclosed he had been sent images of naked children aged between 5 and 10, several times a week for more than a year.

He told the accused the images weren’t wanted, and to stop sending them or police would be informed, but this persisted.

The images were sent by Facebook, X-Box, and shown during video-calls, leaving the brother “angry and upset”.

He told police the accused “has a weird obsession with young people and wants to rape young children”, and sent his brother a photograph of a report on the recent murder of three young children in Southport accompanied by horrific comments.

The youth was arrested and during interview admitted owning various devices, but refused to answer questions or divulge passcodes.

While the youth has no convictions, “There are numerous occurrences of sexual incidents and concerns for children.

“He has a history of assaulting staff in various children’s homes, particularly females with sexual undertones, some dating back to 2017.

“The current reports and previous allegations suggest serious risk.

“His current residential facility has safeguarding concerns for him being among other children.

“Given the disturbing content, police have serious concerns that he is a serious risk to the public, particularly children.”

The judge on that occasion noted “his refusal to hand over passcodes indicates something to hide”, continuing: “These types of images are horrific and his comment about the children murdered in Southport frankly fills me with horror of what he’s capable of.

“He’s not fit to be released, and certainly not without a full assessment as to dangerousness.”

Bail was refused; however, the youth was released by the High Court back to the children’s care facility, with strict conditions.

However, within 48 hours police were called to reports of him going outside the facility unsupervised.

He contended he would “go out again the minute police left”.

An officer said the youth “isn’t adhering to the safety plan”, and continued: “He leaves the facility unsupervised, meaning two staff have to follow him, obviously leaving other young persons at risk.

“He lasted two days on bail. Social workers say he is capable of carrying out the threats he makes.”

The judge remarked the youth “presents a risk to himself and others which I’m very concerned about”.

The Western Trust were first contacted on August 12 – the first working day after the youth appeared in court.

Following some issues over a specific press officer being on leave, a response was anticipated the following week.

This slipped considerably, and a reminder was sent on September 2, with the reply estimating another week was needed for contact with a specific person to obtain details.

As the enquiry reached the four weeks,  a final reminder was sent on September 13 that the matter could wait no longer.

There has been no response at the time of publishing.