Parental abuse
ANOTHER form of elder abuse is abuse by a child to a parent and this can be violent, psychological, emotional or for financial gain. Det Ch Supt Simon Retford from the Trafford Division has been researching this area of crime. “In 2012 I studied for a master degree in criminal psychology and during that time it became clear that this was an emerging crime and very much under researched. “A lot of perpetrators often have other problems such as drugs, alcohol or mental health issues. At the moment there is a disproportionately high demand on police resources but here at Trafford
Selfish motives: Stephen Seddon
we are working together with our partners to ensure that the right support is in place for the perpetrators, their parent victims as well as the wider family. “From the people I’ve spoken to so far, they tell me that while the reporting of the problem has gone up as a result of talking about the problem, there are very few who actually know that what they face. This is the case both in the professional world and with the families themselves. For the parent they can be embarrassed or feel they need to protect their child or have let them down in some way. Also the parent
Features
will often get blamed for a child’s behaviour and in some cases will be told to sort out their kids out we’ll take them off you. This clearly isn’t the answer as it is important that all the agencies work together. The new strategy isn’t going to increase the demand on our resources as we are already dealing with the people involved. It should however enable other agencies to get involved to provide the right expertise at the right time to the family.” As Det Ch Insp Retford continues his research, we will be following his progress in a future edition of Brief.
In March this year, Stephen Seddon from Sale was jailed for a minimum of 40 years for the murder of his parents. At the time that Seddon was sentenced Supt Denise Worth said: “He knew that due to tragic family circumstances, he would be the next of kin who would inherit the family home on Clough Avenue as well as their finances. Seddon wanted more money and thought nothing of killing his mum and dad for his own selfish motives.” Brief Summer 2013 Edition 23