Why I'm Still Here: The Real Reason Cyber Safety Guy Exists
Child online safety is not a topic I talk about because it is trending. I talk about it because it very nearly cost me everything and because I am only still here to write this thanks to my wife, Colleen.
I don’t say that for effect. For eight of my twenty-two years in the Royal Air Force Police, my job was Digital Forensics and Incident Response. In plain English, that meant investigating some of the very worst things that can be inflicted on children online. I analysed more than a million images in that role, roughly a quarter of them criminal. There was no counselling built in and I was medically discharged in 2019 with Complex PTSD and Colleen has carried more of the weight of that than any one person should ever have to.
I tell you this not for sympathy, but because it is the honest answer to a question I get asked a lot. Why do you keep doing this? Why build guide after guide, resource after resource, for free on child online safety, when it costs you sleep and sometimes your peace of mind?
Because every single one of those resources exists to stop a parent from finding out too late, the Internet Watch Foundation confirmed 311,610 reports of child sexual abuse material last year, and also built a tool called Report Remove, alongside Childline, specifically so a child who has shared an image of themselves can get it taken down before it becomes evidence in a case rather than after.1 Plain-English education, at home, before anything goes wrong, is still the single most protective thing I know of. Not surveillance. Not panic, just a simple Conversation.
That is what Cyber Safety Guy is. Years of what I saw turned into something a parent or a teacher can actually use on a Tuesday evening at the kitchen table. Every subscription this newsletter earns goes straight to Childline, not to me.
If you have found even one guide here useful, I am not going to ask you to do much. I am going to ask you to send it to at least one other person. One parent. One teacher. One Designated Safeguarding Lead who is trying their best with not enough information. That is how this reaches the people who need it, one honest recommendation at a time.
I am only here to keep writing these because of Colleen. The least I can do with the time she has helped me hold onto is make sure it goes toward something worth the fight. That is my mission and honestly, it seems like a good one. I just need your help to make it a successful one.
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As always, thank you for your support. Please share this across your social media, and if you do have any comments, questions, or concerns, then feel free to reach out to me via the Social page, as I am always happy to spend some time helping to protect children online.
Remember that becoming a paid subscriber means supporting a charity very close to my heart and helping it do amazing things for people. Childline, I will donate 100% of paid subscriptions collected every six months, as I don’t do any of this for financial gain. Or to make a one off donation go to my Just Giving page.
If you or a child you know needs support:
Childline: 0800 1111 | childline.org.uk
Available 24/7, 365 days a year. Free, confidential, and here for every child.
Internet Watch Foundation, 2025 Annual Data & Insights Report, Executive Summary, iwf.org.uk/annual-data-insights-report-2025/executive-summary, accessed 6 July 2026. 451,210 reports were assessed and 311,610 confirmed as criminal in 2025, reflecting the IWF's global operational dataset, not UK-only figures. Report Remove is a joint IWF and Childline (NSPCC) service.