SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

‘Pornography addiction worry’ for tenth of 12 to 13-year-olds – BBC News

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A tenth of 12 to 13-year-olds fear they are “addicted” to pornography, an NSPCC ChildLine survey has concluded.

One in five of nearly 700 youngsters surveyed said they had seen pornographic images that had shocked or upset them, researchers found.

The childrens charity also says that 12% of those surveyed said they had taken part in, or had made, a sexually explicit video.

It says that viewing porn is “a part of everyday life” for many of the children who contact its helpline.

ChildLine has launched a campaign to raise awareness and provide advice to young people about the harmful implications of an over exposure to porn following the survey results.

Full Story: http://www.bbc.com/news/education-32115162

By Patrick Howse – Education reporter

Also visit charity website: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/

Ant Timpson – “The ABCs of Death” R18 DVD “contains sadistic violence…” and more

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Anthony Timpson – known as Ant Timpson, a New Zealand Film maker who is co-producer of a horror anthology – The ABCs of Death – is currently campaigning to raise money to help a US teacher Sheila Keams fight against her convictions on felony charges she received for showing his unrated film to US school children, some as young as 14, in Spanish language classes. In January 2015 Kearns, 58, was found guilty of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles and has received a jail sentence of 90 days.

The film produced as a DVD comprises 26 short films – each with different directors and each dealing with a different horror death scenario based on a different letter of the alphabet – is unrated in the USA. Media are reporting it is replete with “explicit sex scenes and features gory deaths”.

In New Zealand the 129:43 min long film was submitted on DVD format to The Office of Film and Literature Classification by the Film and Literature Board of Review and was classified as a restricted R18 film for NZ audiences, on 25 March 2013. It is classified ” Objectionable except if the availability of the publication is restricted to persons who have attained the age of 18 years“. The Censor’s descriptive note states, contains “Sadisic violence, drug use, offensive language and sex scences“. The NZ distributor of the film is the New Zealand Film Festival Trust.

In 2012, friends Ant Timpson, founder of the Incredibly Strange Film Festival, and Tim League, founder of Fantastic Fest and the Alamo Drafthouse, joined forces to produce the incredibly ambitious, possibly insane, horror anthology The ABCs of Death.

 

Ant Timpson – NZ film-maker supports jailed US teacher for screening his unrated film

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ANTHONY TIMPSON – known as ANT TIMPSON, a New Zealand film-maker, is fighting to free a US teacher jailed for showing his unrated horror film  THE ABCs OF DEATH – containing explicit sex and featuring gory deaths – to US school students, some as young as 14..

Grandma and substitute teacher Sheila Kearns, 58, showed the Kiwi produced flick to a class she was teaching in Columbus, Ohio two years ago. The film remains unrated  in the USA

Anthony Timpson said his film is intended for adults. But Kearns showed it to students as young as 14 in five Spanish language classes.  Kearns was dismissed from the school and its board reported her to police.

She was arrested on five felony charges and in January this year was found guilty of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles [referred to as “objectionable material” under NZ censorship law].

She received a jail sentence of 90 days. Timpson thinks she was wrong to show his film to teens.

As a parent Ant Timpson claims he wouldn’t want his children watching it.

‘It tells a tale of mortality with each letter. It’s a really warped spin on the classic children’s alphabet book,” he said.

But he is now campaigning to free her.

“Initially I just thought you do something really stupid and you’ve got to pay for that mistake but after learning more about the case – she’s lost her job, she’s got no career, she’s been in limbo ever since the story caught worldwide media attention.”

He claims the punishment was too extreme for her crime.

” It’s absolutely absurd to send a 58-year-old grandmother to jail for showing a movie.” [Read more…]

Court ruling on claw-backs by liquidators welcomed

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‘Common sense’ decision may prevent liquidators from re-claiming payments.

A Supreme Court ruling that clears up a contentious area of insolvency law could put a hand brake on liquidators trying to claw back funds from creditors paid out before a company collapses.

One liquidator who was not involved in the case, Damien Grant, said yesterday’s decision meant there would be less distributions from liquidations in the future.

A lawyer who was on the losing side of the litigation, Kevin Bond, said directors of insolvent companies may now be encouraged to make preferential payments to creditors who have leverage over them.

On the other hand, representatives of the construction industry hailed the Supreme Court’s judgment as a “victory for common sense” that would come as a relief to “thousands of businesses”.

The unanimous decision from Justices Sian Elias, John McGrath, William Young, Susan Glazebrook and Terence Arnold concerned voidable transactions, where liquidators claw back money from individuals or companies who were paid up to two years prior to their appointment.

It follows a Court of Appeal decision from 2013 that caused many people concern, particularly in the construction industry.

That ruling, according to those in the sector, meant that unless a contractor or subcontractor was paid upfront for work done for a company later found to be insolvent, the funds could be recovered by a liquidator. [Read more…]

Revealed: Millionaire drug addict Mark Lyon convicted of sex charges

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Millionaire drug addict Mark Lyon can be revealed as the 59-year-old businessman convicted of a range of drug and sex offences last year, including offences against girls as young as 14.

Name suppression lapsed at 5pm today, exposing Lyon as using methamphetamine to exploit sex acts from girls – and carrying out a prolonged punishment assault against a woman shackled in a “dungeon”.

The woman’s agony through the sexual assault was such she begged Lyon to rape her so it would be over.

Lyon was sentenced to 15 years in jail in December in the High Court at Auckland with a minimum of eight years to be served before a parole hearing. He stood trial with a woman aged 20 who was also found guilty on charges of getting Lyon young girls for his sexual gratification.

The prison sentence brings to an end the millionaire property developer’s public fall from grace. He went from being one of the city’s most insightful businessmen to someone immersed in drug culture and preyed on by gang members.

The charges came after a police raid on a 29-apartment building owned by Lyon in Eden Terrace which he used to house associates and friends immersed in the same lifestyle.

Police had unpicked the case after Lyon’s co-accused – conflicted over her role – told a youth aid officer Lyon was using her to get young girls for sex. [Read more…]