Another British sex offender legal loophole let a convicted Manchester paedophile, Nicholas Moxham, to supervise children’s activities, during which he exploited this access to perpetrate abuse.
Nicholas Moxham organised parties in Manchester but was not required to complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, a standard assessment for anyone working with youth that would have disclosed his prior sexual conviction, due to his self-employed status.
Nicholas Moxham, previously incarcerated for four years in 1992 for injuring a woman and cautioned in 1997 for indecent exposure, was sentenced to a minimum of 19 years in 2024 after being found guilty of multiple sexual offences against women and children, some occurring at parties.
The advocacy organisation Freedom from Abuse asserted the legislation should be amended to mandate that “any individual” engaging with children undergoes DBS checks.
Nicholas Moxham conducted party experiences like laser tag, zorbing, go-karting, and science presentations through his owned firms in facilities, outdoor spaces, and woodlands leased from Parrs Wood High School.
In 2016, police uncovered that he had enticed three children engaged in laser tag to a concealed location in the woods, where he had covertly positioned a camera among the foliage, and thereafter exposed himself and behaved indecently while they were unaware.
Authorities discovered that from 2018 to 2019, he concealed a motion-activated camera in the restrooms of an outbuilding utilised by both youngsters and adults participating in his events.
Nicholas Moxham stored devices containing obscene photographs of children and animals in a storage unit at the school.
Educators and other personnel engaged with children, who operate without oversight from senior staff, are required to possess an enhanced DBS, which examines criminal histories and verifies that they have not been prohibited from child-related employment.
Nonetheless, individuals operating via their own company are not legally mandated to possess a DBS certificate; rather, self-employed individuals may get checks by applying through agencies, professional groups, or specialised firms.
While some parents typically attended Nicholas Moxham’s events, regulations stipulate that only the presence of senior staff eliminates the requirement for an enhanced DBS clearance for anyone not employed by their own organisation.
Sarah, a pseudonym used to safeguard her identity, engaged Nicholas Moxham for her son’s birthday celebration.
She said most parents “just assume that these people have been checked and that it is safe”.
“I’d trusted him, it was at a school, it was a registered company, I’d done the research, I’d looked at the reviews,” she said.
“What more can you do?”
When Nicholas Moxham was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court in July 2024, Judge John Potter said he was a “determined and predatory sexual offender” who used his businesses “as a means to sexually exploit children”.
The judge also said his “random attack” in 1992 had been motivated by his “anger” towards women, because of their “disinterest” in him, and that Nicholas Moxham had shown he had “a capacity to cause very serious harm”.
He added that the school should review whether “appropriate checks were made” before his business was allowed to operate there.
Head teacher Mark McElwee said Nicholas Moxham “ran an independent business that was not connected to our school beyond the fact that his business held events for the wider community when the school was closed on premises he hired out from us”.
He said “all correct procedures” were followed in relation to the site hire and “no concerns were raised with us in relation to this, either at the time or during a subsequent safeguarding review of our lettings procedures once the offending came to light”.
He added that the school had been “shocked and appalled by the offences committed” and “additional requirements for hire arrangements” had since been brought in.
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