EPA-1684 – Ethical challenges posed by baby and toddler sexual abuse: ‘the lost prophets’ singer ian watkins

Abstract

Extreme abuse poses extreme challenges to mental health professionals. Becker et al (2008) covered in their definition of Ideologically Motivated Crimes (IMC) those motivated by religious, political and criminal belief systems. The Welsh singer Ian Watkins of the band The Lost Prophets illustrates the spectrum of abuse perpetrated. He pleaded guilty in 2013 attempting to rape babies provided by two of his female ‘superfans’. Rumours about his paedophile tendencies had been circulating since 2004. Since 2008 his former girlfriend tried to alert the police authorities, and set up privately a successful ‘sting’ operation. Authorities only became active due to an unrelated drugs raid in 2012 that unearthed masses of evidence including self-produced porn videos and email exchanges outlining the hatched ‘baby rape’ plan. The child protection officer who ignored the case for several years is currently suspended and South Wales Police made a self-referral to the Police Independent Complaints Commission. Media cover is sketchy with more attention paid to Peaches Geldorf erroneously ‘tweeting’ the names of the mothers (mistakenly released by the court!) who provided their babies rather than substantial coverage and discussion of this taboo topic. This paper provides an overview of the extreme abuse scene and the ethical challenges posed. Pre-verbal victims cannot verbalise what happened to them – but hold the traumatic memories in their bodies. Family members collude with the abuser and are frequently abusers themselves. Older children are often disbelieved, and even adult reporting extreme abuse are frequently ‘pathologised’ as professional and organisational dissociation takes hold.