Some positive progress for a change…
I had not thought when I first put pen to paper on the Savile affair, that it would still be lustily gorging every spare moment of my time months later. I doubt very much that the handful of 70s Duncroft girls had any idea where or rather what their allegations would lead to.
Eight months later, the main stream media take every opportunity to denounce a man who has never had the opportunity to defend the claims. Amusingly, today, the same media, the same journalists, are dusting off tired old phrases like ‘Stalinesque show trials’ as they denounce the Russian judicial system for at least having the grace to hold a post-humous trial in respect of the deceased lawyer Sergei Magnitsky before denouncing him – an event which has apparently ‘dragged the Russian judicial system into territory that remained uncharted even at the height of Stalin’s 1930s show trials’.
Savile wasn’t granted a post-humous trial, nor a post-humous investigation – merely a post-humous collation of tawdry allegations that allegedly gave ‘Victims’, if not ‘Veracity’, a ‘Voice’.
Since those first blog posts, now read by some 90,000 people, I have been inundated with e-mails. One memory stick alone contains over 5,000 of them. I didn’t know I would end up spending my pension on ever larger memory sticks. I have had e-mails, it would seem, from just about every girl who ever set foot in Duncroft, in the 60s, and the 70s; from old staff, parents of girls, people at the BBC, NHS staff, lawyers, other journalists, academic researchers, friends and relatives of Jimmy Savile himself, and a glorious and eclectic range of every nutter on the Internet. Mr G no longer even raises an eyebrow at some of the people he has found himself answering the phone to.
I have amassed so much information, that I admit I have been overwhelmed at times – and a tad despondent. So much to collate, just one woman to do it. Yesterday was one of those days when I woke up wondering why I didn’t just put up the shutters and get on with my life.
‘I’d say so publicly myself, but I’ve still got a career/mortgage to think of – please don’t mention my name’. £1 for every time I have heard a variation of that phrase – roughly translated by me at times as ‘please stick your head above the parapet on my behalf Ms Raccoon’.
Today I woke up and found that someone else has – most successfully – stuck their head above the parapet. A one man band; if he did ever whine as I have, that it was all too much for one person, no one heard him. He just got on with the job. I salute him.
First my thanks to the indefatigable Dr. Ros Burnett of https://www.annaraccoon.com/politics/some-positive-progress-for-a-change/www.factuk.org for bringing it to my attention. (If you have any spare pennies, donate them to F.A.C.T, they are an organisation dedicated to supporting Carers and Teachers who find themselves on the wrong end of false allegations. Even false allegations can ruin a career, and leave a man or woman treated as a pariah in their community). Ros sent me details of some work that David Rose has been doing. I hesitate to describe David as a journalist, that word is virtually a low grade insult these days, so I will call him an investigative researcher and author. A damn fine one too. David, in turn, had brought up to date word to a conference Ros was organising, of a case he had previously investigated and the work of Noel Hartnett.
It is Noel Hartnett who has really earned my admiration, though David Rose comes a close second. Noel was the deputy head master of another approved school, St William’s, in the village of Market Weighton. If you want to read the full version of the long saga of false allegations of sexual abuse by the staff, the millions spent on legal services to investigate them, the thousands of wasted police man hours giving these spurious ‘victims’ a ‘voice’ – a voice which bellowed its way through no less than five intense inquiries into the allegations – then you will find the salient details here in an earlier article by David Rose.
What cheered me today, was the role Noel Hartnett has played in these events. Because he had been under suspicion, indeed charged, during the course of the second (‘Aldgate’) inquiry – which resulted not just in a ‘not guilty’ verdict, but the judge making a point of saying that he left his court ‘an innocent man without a stain on his character’ – Noel had a huge cache of documents amassed during his own trial.
As the fifth inquiry ‘Operation Reno’ took hold and some of the same people were arrested yet again, this time on even more serious charges, Noel Hartnett turned to his papers from the Aldgate inquiry – and noticed something odd.
I have no doubt he no more wanted to involve himself in this unhappy period of his past than I did in the Duncroft saga – but whilst the St William’s saga differed somewhat from Duncroft in that there had undoubtedly been some genuine physical abuse to one boy, a matter Noel Hartnett had tried to report initially, and for which the Head Master, James Carrager pleaded guilty and was jailed for seven years, he was quite sure that the new allegations were false. He didn’t turn his back on the matter. He sat down with his immense pile of papers and achieved quite dramatic results.
Noel went to the solicitors in charge of defending the claims against the De Salle Brotherhood, the Roman Catholic organisation that ultimately controlled St. Williams, and was allowed sight of all the documents and claims that the ‘ambulance chasing’ personal injury lawyers – Jordon’s – were sending them.
He compared them to the register of staff and pupils that had been assembled during the Operation Aldgate. That quickly dismissed some of the near 200 claims that had amassed as a result of mass advertising on the part of Jordon’s – some of the pupils alleging sexual assault simply hadn’t been at the school at the same time and the staff they were now accusing! Whodathoughtit?
Turning to the remaining claims, he discovered that some of them belonged to people who had claimed to have been the victim of physical assault in the earlier trial – and their claims dismissed as lies after exhaustive investigation; but were now claiming to have been the victims of serious sexual assault. He was able to trace the evolution of the claims and discredit them.
He did a lot more than that. He made a complaint to the Legal Aid Agency. Smart move. Jordon’s had a ‘block contract’ for legal aid – as do Pannone’s and some of the other firms involved in the Savile saga. It allowed them to do their own ‘due diligence’ as to whether there was any merit in a claim before getting a legal aid allowance for yet another client. They are supposed to ‘take appropriate steps to ensure that there is a sound foundation to the allegations being made’. By now it wasn’t too difficult for Noel to show that Jordon’s patently hadn’t shown such due diligence.
In some cases the alleged ‘abuser’ didn’t even exist, never mind wasn’t there at the same time. Jordon’s web site goes to the trouble of pointing out to prospective claimants that they mustn’t ‘worry’ about having to go to court and swear to tell the truth because ’98% of cases don’t go to court’. Jordon’s are believed to have received an estimated £2 million of tax payers money to represent these spurious victims.
Noel turned to another retired teacher, who in turn put in a complaint regarding Jordon’s to the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority who are doing whatever it is that they do behind firmly closed doors. We don’t know the result yet.
Still not finished. Noel took himself off to the Police – and demanded that they investigate some of the ‘vulnerable victims’ for fraud, perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
The Police listened. As a result, three people involved in compensation claims have been arrested, and 17 more referred to the Legal Aid Commission. A small matter that only the local paper has cared to report. Several of the suspects arrested under Operation Reno have already been informed that the Police do not intend to take any further action – their lives can return to peace and quiet.
It is a quite remarkable achievement for one man; a man with a dogged determination and the skills of a true investigator who was simply offended by the lies being told.
A man who had already shown himself to be a friend of the abused, since he was the person who reported the original and genuine abuse which resulted in the head master being jailed – despite being threatened with the sack for doing so.
I take my hat off to Noel Hartnett – and thank him for giving me the fillip I needed to boost my spirits.
Part of the material I am working on involves just such an allegation in the Savile saga that the claimant has committed fraud, perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The Police are investigating at the moment, so I cannot tell you more than that right now, but I too shall keep going.
Upwards and Onwards with renewed vigour.
July 17, 2013 at 04:21
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Anna Raccoon is one of a new breed of ‘citizen journalist’ uncovering what
our tragic mainstream media ignores.
In the state of NSW they have now introduced a law that Criminal
Compensation can not be accessed after 10 years : if you are under 18 and the
victim of a crime that 10 years begins once you reach 18. That gives the
complainant 10 years to approach the police. We shall see whether it affects
‘historic abuse’ claims although of course that does not precluded civil
claims against , say the Catholic Church etc.
It has brought howls of outrage from the usual groups-the well financed
‘victim’s voice’ lot and self appointed ‘child experts’ and so on who claim it
will inhibit victims coming forward. I cannot for the life of me see any
justification for that claim and none of these ‘experts’ explain why it should
inhibit a victim given that, justice is what you really want surely ?
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July 13, 2013 at 15:28
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David Rose was bad mouthed by conspiranoid bloggers after his expose of
Steve Messham:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234615/MoS-reporter-secret-paedophile-pay-MI5-Not-really-ludicrous-claims-web-eloquent-argument-state-control-newspapers.html
Rose has been at the forefront of attacking false allegations for many
years, which is probably why he is attacked:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/archive/1031559.stm
The comments on that program are interesting to read, nearly 13 years after
broadcast:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/archive/1050302.stm
He reminds us that some journalists aren’t wastes of space.
- July 12, 2013 at 18:45
- July 12, 2013 at 18:28
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When Jimmy came to Duncroft there was a driver for the Bentley on one
occasion only, but this was in the 70s of course. Not David Smith at all. Are
they SERIOUSLY trying to link this UNVERIFIED temporary and/or part-time
employee of the BBC in the 80s to Savile???
- July 12, 2013 at 19:44
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His “victims” are two teenaged boys he befriended at Tooting Lido or
something like that; it’s all in the old news cuttings.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/402441/Ex-BBC-driver-is-charged-with-sex-abuse-of-boy-12
Nothing
to do with Savile. Nothing to do with the BBC.
It actually all reminds me of that old David Bowie song from 1969.
Sunshine entered our Frankie’s days
Gone his worries, his hopeless
maze
His life was fun and his heart was full of joy
Two young children had changed his aims
He gave them toffees and
played their games
He brought them presents with every coin he made
Then two gentlemen called on him
Asked him for his name
Why was he
friends with the children
Were they just a game?
Leave them alone or we’ll get sore
We’ve had blokes like you in the
station before
The hand of authority said no more
To the little
bombardier
- July 12, 2013 at 13:57
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I see Dave Smith is in front of the beak again today. The press still refer
to him as Jimmy Savile’s ‘driver, he wasn’t was he ?
http://jimcannotfixthis.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/driving-me-backwards.html
- July 12, 2013 at 14:02
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@rabbitaway
He didn’t drive caravans so far as I know…………..
- July 12, 2013 at 13:31
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Any idea’s for NEXT YEARS subject …….. ?
- July 12, 2013 at 10:43
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a particular “leading Criminologist and Child Protection Expert” certainly
has a lot to answer for. I hope he’s milking this particular cash cow whilst
it lasts.
- July 12, 2013 at 10:57
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Today in fact………..
Friday 12 July
13.30: The Case of Jimmy Savile a panel discussion with
Mark Williams-Thomas, Paul Connew, Miles Goslett, Gavin Millar QC.
Where
were the watchdogs? The panel will discuss how the police failed to act, the
media failed to report and how the story only became public after his
death.
Prices (all three days)
Full price – £450
NUJ –
£350
Student** – £150
http://www.tcij.org/summer-school
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July 12, 2013 at 12:20
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The centre for investigative journalism ! What bright spark came up
with that for a name ? Still, you have to admit, they have a sense of
humor.
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July 12, 2013 at 13:04
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A fiver on the door to listen to their BS – it starts at 2pm until 3 so
I was told. How on earth will they fill an hour, although are four of them
!!!
- July 12, 2013 at 13:22
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Last year’s Alumni-speak certainly has an amusing irony now……
How do Investigative Stories get Commissioned?
David Leigh, the
Guardian’s investigations executive editor and Iain Overton, the editor
of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, talk about the process of
commissioning investigative stories: what they look for and what would
make them say yes to a story idea.
http://www.tcij.org/node/720
- July
12, 2013 at 13:30
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The boys at the BBC should have gone to that Moor
- July 12, 2013 at 13:37
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@rabbitaway
I rather think the problem is that they DID…..
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July 13, 2013 at 13:27
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The ” Bureau of Investigative Journalism” has been widely and
thoroughly discredited by its involvement in and ties to the Hacked
Off puppeteers and Common Purpose. Surprised they are still
operating.
See:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2233681/Leveson-Inquiry-Mail-dossier-raises-disturbing-questions-influence-quasi-masonic-nexus-people-know-best.html
and
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4649364/The-leftie-plotters-with-one-Common-Purposeto-gag-the-Press.html
- July 12, 2013 at 10:13
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As an old show biz trooper I know full well there can be a lot of smoke
without fire; it’s what we use dry ice for on stage. But then, why expect
today’s society to be able to tell truth from fiction? And, as those nice
senior plods keep telling us on court steps… “Liars and criminals making false
allegations, feel free to come forward to help us raise our conviction rates
and get bonuses – you WILL be believed”.
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July 12, 2013 at 08:01
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Its an old one, but : What do you call a dozen Lawyers on the seabed
?
…..A good start.
- July 12, 2013 at 16:15
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…but the sharks won’t eat ‘em:- professional courtesy!
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July 12, 2013 at 06:12
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God, what a mess. Aspects that I hadn’t even thought of. I have been so
outraged by accusations against a dead man that are impossible to prove,
accusation that The Media present as proven, and certainly some that I know to
be untrue, that I just hadn’t thought any further.
But it is turning into a
full blown horror story, and so much damage has been done that can likely
never be repaired.
And I can no longer remember where it all began. Who
cast the first stone? Did none of these people think it through? Did they
expect to be believed? Or has society simply encouraged them to lie?
But
thank goodness some people are now fighting back, and thank goodness you are
no longer alone, Anna. Not that I actually expect any of the cheats and liars
to be punished, sadly. That wouldn’t suit society at all.
- July 13, 2013 at 06:30
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“I can no longer remember where it all began.”
To a certain extent it began before the beginning What has to be
remembered that for a wildfire to start there has to be not just the spark
but also the right conditions for it to take hold..
The right conditions
have been building up for some time. It’s been a spreading idea that
“victims” are always telling the truth and are always to be believed. Note
the outrage when an “victim” in court is accused of being a liar by the
defence. Well, what else are they supposed to do? Especially if the accuser
actually is lying!?
There has been a growing mood music of “rape
conviction rates are lower than for other major crimes” (not true but the
re-use of misleading statistics continues no matter how many times they are
discredited tells you all you need to know about how important facts are in
this). There is the growing implication, or flat-out proposition, that
standards of proof should be lower in rape cases.
This atmosphere leads to the nonsense of police/NSPCC “inquiries” which
are nothing of the sort (and the fact of a vested interest like the NSPCC
being privileged in the first place!), the media being entirely uncritical
and even the BBC not daring to question its attackers.
All this feeds into creating the environment in which the Savile scare
could take off whereas stories of underage groupies and pop figures have
been commonplace before but have barely raised eyebrows.
- July 12, 2013
at 00:43
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Well done – I didn’t know that the ambulance chasers were advertising….
There is also a broader issue here with speculative legal action – trolls
one might call them – it’s obvious that they have not done due diligence and
are irresponsible chancers seeking opportunistic “wins” – where a case is
found to be without merit or worse my sense of justice tells me that there
should be a some significant sanction on the perpetrators like forfeiture of
all fees – proceeds of crime indeed.
- July 12, 2013 at 09:04
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It’s not as simple as “ambulance-chasing”. The success of the Savile
Revelations media campaign is also leading to pressure being applied to
those responsible for the various “Inquiries”.
“I have noticed that just recently, the Agents Provocateurs have morphed
from being the journalist fraternity or the police, to become the
lawyers.
Daily Mail:
* Lawyer representing victims of Jimmy Savile says new
evidence will show more NHS staff than previously thought turned a blind eye
to his sex attacks *
* Lawyer says offences were just as bad as those on
BBC premises *
* Liz Dux claimed many NHS staff knew of his crimes, but
did nothing *
What I found especially mind-boggling was the phrase, “offences were just
as bad as those on BBC premises”. Which “offences” is this woman talking
about? Those that never happened at BBC TV Centre for the simple reason that
Jimmy Savile was not on those premises? Those that never happened to Val
& Angie because they were patently journalistic creations, and besides,
Jimmy was not on those premises at the time of the allegations?
- July 12, 2013 at 09:05
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Missed the link for my own quotes…..
http://jimcannotfixthis.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/and-beat-goes-on.html?q=dux
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July 12, 2013 at 09:29
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I hope that the lawyers defending the claims made against the Jimmy
Savile estate are aware and acting on the evidence unearthed recently in
regard to the scenes of the alleged offences. The police should be made
aware of the lies peddled by the accusers and their facilitators,
including the makers and participants in Exposure and subsequent
documentaries aired on British television.
http://jimcannotfixthis.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/footsteps-across-london-pt3.html?view=flipcard
- July 11, 2013 at 22:15
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It is refreshing to hear that good journalism still exists in the
mainstream. I came across one of Mr Rose’s earlier articles on the same story
from 2005, this one focused on the Head teacher Ben McKay describing the
‘devasting impact’ of being charged as a result of Aldgate in
2003.
Outrageous that the solicitors were still trying to find new
customers even after the acquitals in 2004.
In December 2004, after the last Operation Aldgate acquittals, an advert
appeared in the prisoners’ newspaper Inside Time. Placed by Jordans solicitors
of Dewsbury, it asked: ‘Were you at St William’s care home 1970-88?’ The firm,
it went on, was coordinating claims by former residents, and it was ‘important
that potential claimants enforce their legal rights as soon as possible.
Especially those who have been contacted by Operation Aldgate at Hull Central
police station’.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/jun/12/childrensservices.childprotection1
Note to Anna – this poor man had lost his wife to cancer in 1995 and then
this ! The real victims are finding their voice at last !
- July 11, 2013 at 21:56
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I’m so glad that you’re going to take this to the end Anna.
- July 11, 2013 at 20:36
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Good to see someone defend those others won’t. And be justified for having
done so too
- July 11, 2013 at 20:21
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Not far from my neck of the woods.
The local rag still has occasional
articles with coppers grandstanding on behalf of “the victims”
- July 11, 2013 at 19:51
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Thank heavens there are people like that and yourself Anna, I cannot
imagine anything worse than being falsely accused os sexual abouse of a child.
In almost all cases it seems to be follow the money or attention seeking. Some
of the accusers in the Saville appear to be seriously disturbed, keep up the
good work.
- July 11, 2013 at 19:48
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It is interesting to note that West Yorkshire Police came in for MEGA
criticism following Newgreen. No evidence of anything on Jimmy Savile ‘cept
‘rumours’ and ‘uncorroborated’ ‘gossip’. You would naturally assume that the
Police force that handled the IPCC investigation into Aldgate in 2010 would go
the extra mile to ensure that they got it right in 2013 !
- July 11, 2013 at 19:08
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Anna – The David Rose piece is most illuminating, especially where it gets
to the IPCC inquiry into the three year ‘fiasco’ that was Operation
Aldgate.
Who conducted this inquiry and produced it’s findings in 2010 ? Well, none
other than West Yorkshire Police – I picked out the following :
Aldgate, it said, had not been ‘robust’. Officers had believed accusers’
stories without checking them and had adopted an over-credulous ‘mindset’ that
had led them to hound innocent people.
There had been a ‘failure to pursue
reasonable lines of inquiry which could have helped prove/disprove witness and
suspect accounts’, and a ‘failure to seek corroboration in respect of
allegations made’.
Well done Mr Hartnett, well done Mr Rose, well done everyone who is doing
their bit to expose the cheats, liars, charlatans and fraudsters. They should
all be worried, very worried !
Well done Anna !
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July 11, 2013 at 17:50
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Nice one, again indefatigable Anna.
Just one possible small error, BIG legal-eagle vultures ‘Jordans of
Doncaster/HAAP-Historic Abuse Appeal Panel’ – not ‘Jordons’ ?
- July 11, 2013 at 18:18
- July 11, 2013 at 17:35
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Are all these people making false claims escaping justice? Or perhaps,
having already received legal aid under false pretences, Sue, Grabbit &
Runne will turn Queen’s Evidence and prosecute them at no extra cost?
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July 11, 2013 at 17:00
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John, with respect to your comment where you assert that there is no doubt
a certain amount of “no smoke without fire”, have you not been keeping up? I’d
suggest Anna, along with bloggers like Ambush Predator, have indeed
illustrated that there is often smoke with no hint of fire.
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July 11, 2013 at 17:14
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Exactly my point – a CERTAIN amount of fire, but by no means anything
like the amount claimed.
- July 11, 2013 at 16:57
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I have a friend who would say “onwards and upwards with a nude vicar” Which
would, these days, be funny except……. Go for it Ms Raccoon, don’t let the
bstds grind you down.
- July 11, 2013 at 16:54
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“Not only was 1979 not the beginning for Jack Mount, but all this time
later it seems unlikely to be necessarily the end either. Given that abuse
lawyers are on the trail of Brookside [after all years] and as it seems that
ex-pupils are now trying to get it together on the internet, it is presumably
only a matter of time before the forces of the thoroughly modern law in
Britain have enough corroborative evidence to finally nail Jack Mount. He was
60 in 1979, so he should be safely dead by now.”
http://jimcannotfixthis.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-school-that-died-of-shame.html
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July 11, 2013 at 16:21
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Fascinating!! While there is no doubt a certain amount of “no smoke without
fire” it seems remarkable that suddenly everyone is remembering being
assaulted by someone in the public eye. No doubt they also are being
represented by these enterprising lawyers!!
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