An Arizona judge has freed a man who was charged with the first degree murder of his son nine years ago. Judge Sally Duncan cited ‘a pattern and practice of misconduct’ by prosecutors during the controversial trial of Jeffrey Martinson, 43, who was being held on a charge killing his five-year-old son, Josh, in 2004 while in the midst of a custody battle. Duncan dropped all charges against Martinson and ordered he be released at noon on November 26, saying the prosecution team acted with a ruthless ‘win-by-any-means strategy’.

Jeffrey Farrey, the father of 5-month-old Jackson Farrey whose body was presumably found in the New Mexico desert, was booked into El Paso County Jail today. Farrey, 22, is being held on a charge of injury to a child by omission and his bond is set at $1.5 million.

DENVER — A 22-year-old Colorado man posted photos of himself and his 19-month-old daughter, and messages to the toddler’s mother, on Facebook before he shot the girl dead and turned the gun on himself, police said on Wednesday. Police in the Denver suburb of Westminster are investigating whether Merrick McKoy made the postings on the social media network minutes before Monday’s shooting, as local news outlets have reported, said police spokeswoman Cheri Spottke.

The married couple found dead at their Massachusetts home along with their twin boys have been named as Scott Jones and Mei Kum Jones, both 43, and relatives have said that they were in the middle of a ‘nasty divorce’. The couple, who lived on a quiet street in Arlington with their sons, Colt and Cameron- who would have celebrated their first birthday on November 26th- were discovered on Monday afternoon and police sources said they appear to have been killed with ‘some kind of cutting tool.’ The Arlington Chief of Police added that there is no risk to the public safety and that police aren’t looking for a suspect. They were called to the scene by another tenant in the building who requested a well-being check. It has now been revealed that police had previously been called to the home on two different occasions before the twins were born last year.

Texas officials are investigating a new lead in the case of a Pearland man suspected of sexually assaulting as many as 15 young girls and taking photos of the abuse. Tad Costin, 42, was arrested November 1 after police say they received several computer SD cards that contained thousands of graphic photos, many with Costin allegedly sexually assaulting young female children between the ages of 4 and 7, Jeff McShan of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office told HLN on Thursday.

LONDON — Google and Microsoft have introduced software that makes it harder for users to search for child abuse material online, the companies said in a joint announcement Monday. Writing ahead of a British summit on Internet safety, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt said his company has fine-tuned Google Search to clean up results for over 100,000 search terms. When users type in queries that may be related to child sexual abuse, they will find no results that link to illegal content.

Children were forced to eat their own vomit and have sex with staff at an Australian orphanage run by the Anglican church, an inquiry has heard. A former child resident told the royal commission into the alleged abuse that young children were viciously beaten over decades of systematic abuse at the North Coast Children’s Home in Lismore, New South Wales. The witness, known only as CK, said today that some children suffered ritual sexual abuse at the hands of staff.

Parents are leaving their children at risk of sexual abuse because they don’t check the messages they receive on their mobile phones, a report has warned. More than half of parents – 56 per cent – thought it was ‘most intrusive’ to check on texts youngsters aged between nine and 14 had received. But the study into child sex exploitation found that pedophiles often try to contact children through their mobile phones rather than their computers. Smartphones are now a ‘key tool’ used by sex offenders targeting children, according to Parents Against Child Exploitation, which commissioned the study along with Virtual College’s Safeguarding Children e-academy.

Two parents in Washington state have been found guilty of murder after following the abusive parenting techniques advocated in the parenting book “To Train Up a Child” by Michael and Debi Pearl. Larry and Carri Williams received the maximum prison sentences allowable under the law after being found guilty of beating and starving their adopted daughter Hana to death. The methods they used to “discipline” their daughter were advocated in the controversial Christian book.

Orlando, FL – Jennifer Lee Herrington, a 51-year-old Florida woman, was jailed Monday after she allegedly tried to flee the scene after she ran down 13-year-old boy with car, tried to flee scene. According to police, Herrington was driving at the intersection of North Semoran Blvd. and Old Cheney Highway when she struck 13-year-old Omar Figueroa with her car.

WASHINGTON – A terrifying new ‘game’ that’s already caused deaths in Syracuse, St. Louis and New Jersey is sweeping the nation, and it preys upon unsuspecting people walking the streets, anywhere. A recent report from New York-based CBS 2 shed light on the growing trend, displaying unsettling footage of teens participating in this game – which goes by the name ‘Knockout’ – and involves randomly targeting passersby, with the ultimate goal being to knock them out with one punch as they walk by.

UNION COUNTY, NC -Officials in Union County say an employee with the Department of Social Services has been suspended without pay while she undergoes a criminal investigation after deputies say a foster child in her care was found handcuffed to a porch. According to county officials, Wanda Sue Larson, 57, is on investigatory suspension with no pay while Union County Deputies investigate the incident. Larson and 57-year-old Dorian Lee Harper were arrested Friday after a young boy was found handcuffed to the front porch of a home with a dead chicken tied around his neck.

Pelham, Alabama — Pelham police on Friday arrested a Columbiana man on felony charges of first-degree rape and sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 years old. Brandon Lee Brown, 30, who lists an address on Harris Road in court documents, remains in the Shelby County Detention Center in Columbiana today on bonds totaling $90,000 for the two charges. His court file did not show any upcoming court hearings scheduled.

Thousands of pedophiles are feared to be evading justice as police refer less than half of all reported child sex abuse cases to prosecutors. Although 18,915 child sexual offences were reported to police last year, just 9,381 went further in the legal system, according to figures unveiled by Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. The number of reported offences has risen since 2010/11, however the Labour MP revealed there had been a drop in the number of abuse cases passed on to the Crown Prosecution Service, which decides whether to charge alleged offenders.