It's very easy to silence children

Tink Palmer, Barnardos

John Walker, a 58-year-old author of chess books for children, abused both boys and girls in his care.

"There is far more awareness among professionals - and there is training to raise awareness and to identify signs and behaviour," says Tink Palmer, Barnardos' principal officer for preventing the sexual abuse of children.

"Teachers are trained in what to do if a child discloses abuse - and schools are more likely to take it seriously."

And she says there are processes in place for concerns to be brought to social services and the police.

Warning

But she warns that paedophiles are "very shrewd and very calculating" and will deliberately find jobs where they have power over children - making their detection difficult.

"It's very easy to silence children," she says.

"Only 20 years ago people didn't accept that this kind of abuse could happen - and it made it much more difficult to respond to what children and parents were saying," says Steve Boocock, director of the UK Child Protection in Sport Unit.

This organisation was set up last year by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Sport England in an attempt to prevent child abuse among pupils in the trust of sports coaches.

It is believed that John Walker had used chess as a way of gaining access to children - and the Child Protection in Sport Unit was a response to the particular vulnerabilities of pupils who work alone with a teacher or coach.

Mr Boocock says there are now structures in place to ensure that pupils and parents can make complaints and prevent ongoing abuse.

Investigation

In terms of sports coaching and out-of-school activities, there are helplines which offer a first point-of-contact for victims and their families.

Once a credible complaint has been made, this leads to the suspension of the accused pending an investigation.

Social services and the police can also be informed.

Where children are involved in sports clubs there should also be an independent adult nominated to listen to any concerns of children and parents.

In the past, said Mr Boocock, there were not enough channels for victims to report abuse from adults in authority.

Since 1999, the NSPCC has been running a Full Stop campaign which has sought to raise awareness of child abuse.