Nazir Afzal, former chief prosecutor for the north-west of England, said every allegation of sexual abuse should be looked at
(Picture: Getty Images)Hardly any of the school sex abuse allegations will end up in court because the system cannot cope, a former chief prosecutor warned today, as he called for better sex education for children.
Nazir Afzal, former chief prosecutor for the north-west of England, said every allegation of sexual abuse should be looked at, but we cannot “legislate or police our way out” of the situation, as investigators and the courts are already struggling to cope with the existing number of adult sex abuse cases.
It comes as more than 11,000 testimonials of sexual abuse and harassment have been published on the Everyone’s Invited website by schoolchildren and former pupils.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast today Mr Afzal said: “You have got thousands and thousands of allegations that need to be investigated potentially. We have got to manage expectations. Hardly any of these will end up in court.”
Geoff Barton, head of school leaders’ union ASCL, said the problem of sexual abuse is not just an issue for schools to tackle, but social media companies, parents and the criminal justice system all have a role to play.
