'Seek and Ye Shall Not Find' – more Savile allegations.
And we’re off and running again, searching for that elusive item, a genuine example of ‘truly awful, dreadful child abuse’ as reported to Operation Yewtree, amongst the additional 20 children’s homes:
Alan Collins, abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon which represents 140 of Savile’s alleged victims, said: “We welcome any investigation that will uncover further how widespread Savile’s abuse was. It is important that we know exactly when, where and how this predatory paedophile committed his horrific crimes.
First up today is:
‘A Barnardo’s children’s Home in Ilford’ – the media version.
Claims Jimmy Savile abused children at Barnardo’s homes in Redbridge are being investigated.
That one didn’t last long in the capable hands of Sara Clarke at Barnardo’s:
Barnardo’s received information via the Department for Education from an anonymous informant, relating to an unnamed children’s home during an unspecified period of time. The information stated that Savile took a child or children out of a Barnardo’s children’s home in Ilford, Essex. The investigation has been proportionate given the absence of any allegations or reports of wrongdoing, inappropriate or criminal behaviour by Savile.
Next please. Pull!
Broome House Children’s Home – the media version.
“Care home boss delivered me into the clutches of evil Savile”, says victim.
Now Broome House is slightly different, as Maureen Noble has made clear in her exhaustive report, in that there are substantiated claims of sexual abuse made by other individuals, and on 10th December 2001, the Warden of Broome House was found guilty of 21 offences against children in his care and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment. Other members of staff have since been jailed, but none were working at the home during the period with which we are concerned.
The allegation made {in the media} by an ex resident of Broome House [Adult A] said that, on a number of occasions the warden of Broome House had introduced him to JS who had sexually abused him. MCC became aware that the individual making the allegation had previously made a civil claim against MCC, settled as part of a large Group Action and had acted through a solicitor. No allegations against JS were made in that civil claim.
A visitor’s book was kept at Broome House and this was operational at the time of the alleged incident reported by Adult A. Entries were viewed from 1965 to the final entry in 1984. There is no record of JS visiting the home during this period.
The legal advisor to the investigation team invited the alleged victim, via his solicitor, to participate in the investigation and come forward for interview. The alleged victim, via his solicitor, declined to be interviewed on the basis that he wanted to attempt to put everything that happened to him as a child behind him.
No comment.
The Sarah Laski children’s Home – the media version.
A victim of sex abuse at a Jewish children’s home being investigated in the Jimmy Savile scandal has said the Jewish community needs to do more to protect its children.
Maureen Noble again; this time the Federation of Jewish Services were involved.
Adult C alleged that when she was about 10 she was sexually assaulted by JS whilst staying at the Sarah Laski Home. The incident took place in approximately 1974/1975. Adult C alleges that JS took children to a park and whilst there committed the sexual assault.
A record of care held by MCC confirmed that Adult C was resident at the Sarah Laski from the 4th – 18th December 1974. [Ed: Two weeks – this is not a mistake!]
Adult C describes herself as having Asperger’s syndrome and having
experienced physical and emotional abuse at home.Adult C has taken legal advice on claiming against the Savile estate.
Adult C is receiving counselling at present for another matter.
“We have not been able to find any independent information to confirm any association between Sarah Laski Home and JS other than the witness statement from the alleged victim.”
Ever onwards! Do not despair.
The Manchester Taxi Driver’s Association for Handicapped Children – there is no media version of this allegation.
Adult B said he saw a young girl that he thought to be from the children’s home (unspecified) get out of WB’s taxi and into JS’s Rolls Royce before JS drove off. He thought the girl was called W and was 13/14 years old.
You have to pity Maureen Noble, yes, it’s her again, tasked with investigating child abuse by Savile in children’s homes – this time she finds herself landed with no child, no children’s homes, no perpetrator, and no possible witness:
The investigation team confirmed with Greater Manchester Police that WB died some years ago.
So she ploughed on for another five pages, giving us chapter and verse of the origins of the Manchester Taxi Driver’s Association for Handicapped Children, a now disbanded charity of which Savile was the Patron, and conceding that Savile may indeed have had reason to use a Taxi [sic] whilst resident in Manchester…before concluding:
On the balance of probability JS may have had a fundraising role with the charity. However, there is no evidence or suggestion that he had unsupervised access to children whilst involved with the annual trip.
And there endeth the investigation into the Manchester Taxi Driver’s Association for Handicapped Children…
Colleton Lodge Children’s Home – the media version.
Devon County Council have been asked to look into whether Jimmy Savile abused children at Colleton Lodge in Exeter. Anyone with any information relating to the allegations surrounding Colleton Lodge is asked to phone 0345 155 1071.
Jan Shadbolt, the County Solicitor for the Council, and a hefty team, set to investigating – somewhat handicapped, yet again, by the fact that they didn’t know who the victim was…nor was their only ‘witness’ sure Savile had committed an assault…on account of the fact that he hadn’t actually witnessed anything.
Person A said that he had not been abused by Savile. Person A alleged that late one evening in 1981 Jimmy Savile and another man visited Colleton Lodge. After several hours, he became aware that they were both in an adjacent bedroom which was occupied by a younger boy. He heard “haunting screams” and formed the impression that Savile and/or the other man had sexually abused/assaulted that boy. He did not witness any assault, was not aware if anyone else was a witness and did not question or speak to the boy in the room about what had occurred. Person A did not report what he had heard to any staff members at the time. He could not recall that boy’s name.
Poor Ms Shadbolt. How to pad that out to 31 pages? She managed.
And concluded:
The investigation team explored the information provided to it by the Metropolitan Police Service as thoroughly as possible but no evidence or information was found which corroborated the allegation.
None of the current and former members of Devon County Council staff who were contacted by phone or interviewed by the investigation team had any recollection of Savile visiting Colleton Lodge. Other than Person A, no other former resident of Colleton Lodge contacted by the investigation team had any recollection of a Savile being at Colleton Lodge.
‘A’ Savile? – Wot, not even a Thaddeus T. Savile, or maybe a Gas Meter reader wearing a Savile Row suit? Nothing? Nowt? Not a single Savile?
Only another 12 reports to get through. Surely they can’t all be like this – can they?
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 9:49 am -
That last one sounds like an Elm Lodge story.
- acousticvillage
March 3, 2015 at 10:05 am -
Simply incredible. Why doesn’t any mainstream paper not run with this? I am sure – no disrespect to Anna, I just don’t know how many people access her blog – that compared to a blog, the Guardian, or Times or some such paper would have their readers gasping if they printed this.
I think Anna herself said it a couple of blogs back – the worrying thing is no one seems to be taking this on – no Private Eye, no Independent etc. It’s like there is some secret agreement that Yewtree must not be seen to be a failure, and now that we have immortalised Saville as the biggest paedophile in history, we simply cannot lose face and suggest we got things wrong.
If it wasn’t for Anna’s factual references to the actual reports, this could easily be placed in the realm of conspiracy theory and aliens are eating our babies.
- The Blocked Dwarf
March 3, 2015 at 10:08 am -
“this could easily be placed in the realm of conspiracy theory and aliens are eating our babies.”
+1
- Ian B
March 3, 2015 at 11:43 am -
If it wasn’t for Anna’s factual references to the actual reports, this could easily be placed in the realm of conspiracy theory and aliens are eating our babies.
It should be; it’s part of the same vein of urban mythology as alien abductions etc. Indeed, “recovered memories” first surfaced as a technique for learning what really happened aboard the flying saucer.
- AdrianS
March 3, 2015 at 2:32 pm -
I think the media doesn’t want you to know this and it doesn’t sing their song. Also now well ingrained in the public’s mind that JS was terrible anything or anyone who suggested otherwise would be the subject of a Twitter storm. Hand wringing pressure groups decrying the Abuse apologist etc, calling for resignations, huffing and puffing.
This exactly the point why many of these claims should be tested in a court of law.
There are scoundrels out there looking to make a fast buck.
The comments in the media about Phil Shiner and co case in point
- The Blocked Dwarf
- The Blocked Dwarf
March 3, 2015 at 10:06 am -
“Surely they can’t all be like this – can they?”
If I were a betting man…
Actually the more of the ‘evidence’ that you bring to light, the more I think this whole ‘thing’ becomes a matter of faith not fact, a theological exercise not a criminal one. TBH I have read far more convincing hypotheses that Christ was infact a homosexual alien from the Planet Sodoff. Hell even some of Barbara Thiering’s wilder flights of theological fancy seem almost rational by comparison. I see more ‘evidence’ for Christ simply being the result of too many magic mushrooms partaken by a bunch of 1st Century Jewish ‘radicals’.
I have a friend, wot knows someone, who was told by a bloke in the Pub that ‘Savile’ is actually an anagram for ‘Evil as’ , so he was obviously a wrong ‘un, innit?
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 10:09 am -
My favourite anagram was the one my Health & Safety Instructor once dolefully intoned when quoting the statistics of accidents at home and where the vast majority of them occurred. GARDEN=DANGER. How had I survived all those years without noticing….
- Mudplugger
March 3, 2015 at 1:49 pm -
Mrs Mudplugger’s favourite anagram is “BEDROOM = BOREDOM”. Can’t think why.
- Johnnydub
March 4, 2015 at 1:16 am -
A Squirrel suit, a jar of Marmite and an air raid klaxon would sort that right out..
- Mudplugger
March 4, 2015 at 8:41 am -
Have you been watching ?
- Mudplugger
- Johnnydub
- Mudplugger
- Moor Larkin
- Peter Raite
March 3, 2015 at 10:12 am -
This really is starting to get bloody stupid, isn’t it? The media keeps quoting the number of institutions/organisations, and the number of supposed allegations, even though so many of the latter are either demonstrably untrue, or in all probability involve someone other than Savile. Been abused by someone in the past and either didn’t get redress, or want some more? Bingo! Just claim Jimmy Savile was involved, as well, even though you neglected to mention him previously! A lot of the guilters seem keen on pushing the “no smoke without fire” line, but isn’t this just the other side of the same coin? With so many clealry false allegations, one has to question the ones that look circumstantially true, as well.
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 10:14 am -
* one has to question the ones that look circumstantially true *
Coo Mister! Show me! Show me!
- Cloudberry
March 3, 2015 at 10:57 am -
With so many clealry false allegations, one has to question the ones that look circumstantially true, as well.
Perhaps there’s a fear that any admission that allegations are false might hit real victims the hardest. Though perhaps personal egos have more to do with it, since real victims seem to have served as useful hostages all along anyway. - Peter Raite
March 3, 2015 at 10:58 am -
I was thinking more of the ones where Savile can be placed in the location in question and at teh time in question, even though other details still discount them (“Yes, he did visit the ward, but was accompanied at all times…”).
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 11:06 am -
Aha, the ones where he was certainly innocent then…
- Moor Larkin
- Cloudberry
- CF
March 3, 2015 at 10:46 am -
It’s going to get worse, surely. It’s now proposed that those failing to “act upon suspicions of child abuse [will] face five years in prison” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11445791/Council-chiefs-who-ignore-child-abuse-will-be-jailed.html) and “Police forces will be ordered to treat the threat [of] child sexual abuse as a “national threat” equivalent to terrorism and organised crime”.
Given as you say the acceptance of “so many clearly false allegations” the standard of proof is obviously low, let alone the level required for mere suspicion.
Obviously people will now sensibly err on the side of caution (for themselves) and reports will flood in, as they have for Savile.- Peter Raite
March 3, 2015 at 11:09 am -
Yes, we’re into real sledgehammer-and-nut territory with that one. Given that there’s no 100% accurate checklist of Signs of Abuse, this will inevitably lead to even more false or mistaken accusation or suspiscions being followed up – and lives/careers destroyed – than are already.
But don’t take my words for it:
“In November 2013, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools, Lord Nash, responded to a Parliamentary Question in the Lords on the potential effectiveness of a mandatory duty, stating that a mandatory duty had the potential to make children less safe:
Asked by Baroness Scotland of Asthal
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of mandatory reporting provisions for teachers and care professionals in relation to child abuse allegations in the United States, Canada and Australia; and what consideration has been given to introducing similar provisions in the United Kingdom.[HL3250]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Nash) (Con): The Department has looked at a range of research about mandatory reporting, including the impact of mandatory reporting systems in the United States, Canada and Australia. Given the various reporting models and different child protection systems in place, there are inherent difficulties in comparing mandatory reporting laws internationally.
The research is not clear on whether introducing mandatory reporting can result in children being better protected. It can make children less safe by flooding the system with referrals, many of which are not substantiated following investigation. This could divert resource from helping children and families and cause considerable distress.
Our statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013’ is already crystal clear that professionals should refer immediately to social care when they are concerned about a child. We believe what is needed is better training and awareness for professionals to understand how to spot abuse and neglect and the impact it has on children.”
http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN06793.pdf [25 September 2014]
- Johnnydub
March 4, 2015 at 1:19 am -
I think this is to stop Wankers like the Rotherham & Oxford Councillors ignoring mass rape on their doorsteps.
I draw the comparison to the Corporate Manslaughter prosecution in connection with the Potters Bar accident, and find I don’t lose any sleep over it whatsoever.
- Johnnydub
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 11:13 am -
It’s self-evident that were this the law, then both Sylvia Nicol and Janet Cope would now be facing up to five years in prison for not seeing or hearing about things that are now considered proven in law.
http://jimcannotfixthis.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/ducking-truth.html- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 11:14 am -
and incidentally so would Mrs. Jones and the other other Duncroft staff.
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 11:15 am -
Mrs? Miss… * smacks head on table * ….
- Moor Larkin
- Peter Raite
March 3, 2015 at 12:15 pm -
Ah, but then again to secure such a conviction the “evidence” would have to be presented in court….
- CF
March 3, 2015 at 12:26 pm -
I think the CPS can now safely rely on juries in East Texas (sorry, Southwark Crown Court).
- CF
- Moor Larkin
- Ian B
March 3, 2015 at 11:47 am -
Oh yes, we’re thoroughly off the rails now.
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 12:00 pm -
Legislation bringing in Mandatory Reporting simultaneously with an absolute statute of limitations might work, but imagine trying to implement time limitations in the current atmosphere of hystorical fear and loathing.
- AdrianS
March 3, 2015 at 2:42 pm -
I think it would be a total clusterfuck, with teachers etc reporting any problems to make sure they are not in the judicial firing line when things go wrong ( and who could blame them). This will cause witch hunts, I guess the lawyers it’s a bit win win as they will sue if there is any abuse and if it’s false allegations also sue.
Meanwhile, the real abusers will carry on flying under the radar, a few sad old men will get crucified in court, graduates will think twice about careers in teaching or social work
- AdrianS
- Moor Larkin
- Peter Raite
- Moor Larkin
- Duncan Disorderly
March 3, 2015 at 11:10 am -
It makes you wonder about some of the evidence that threw men in jail at Broome House. Honestly, would you want to work in social care in this environment?
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 11:37 am -
Good time for being a Tort lawyer though.
Our lovely Personal Injury Team attended the Spinal Injuries Association Cornflower Ball on March 20th and what a fabulous night it was!
Solicitor, Jenny Maloney writes her account of the evening, as well as few pictures from the nights as well! Well done to all the team at SIA for putting such a fantastic evening together to help raise money for people who are suffering with spinal injuries.
https://www.facebook.com/PannoneSolicitors/posts/10152709433684418
- Moor Larkin
- Alexander Baron
March 3, 2015 at 12:04 pm -
I saw a man upon a stair
Abuse a child, it’s true I swear!
I saw him do it yesterday,
And though he isn’t there today
I’m sure Liz Dux will find a way
To make this allegation pay. - Alexander Baron
March 3, 2015 at 12:05 pm -
Nice work by the way. Work being the operative word; I wonder how much work the people at the Daily Mail ad nauseum put into fact-checking, something all “real” journalists are supposed to thrive on.
- Ancient+Tattered Airman
March 3, 2015 at 12:07 pm -
To answer your question Anna:
“Only another 12 reports to get through. Surely they can’t all be like this – can they?
ALMOST CERTAINLY! - Henry the Horse
March 3, 2015 at 12:36 pm -
I am wondering what everyone makes of the bizarre Tabak CP court case this week. The man has been sentenced to a minimum of twenty years for a famously violent murder yet four years after that the police are justifying it as ‘in the public interest’ to bring him to court for ‘around 143 images’, almost all of which are in the lowest category (i.e. clothed or possibly nude). What is that all about? Is there anything to be gained from this apart from an expensive way to get Tabak a few more months to serve concurrently?
- Peter Raite
March 3, 2015 at 1:23 pm -
“Tabak was sentenced to 10 months in jail for the indecent image offences, to be served immediately, which means he will serve no extra time on top of his murder sentence.
In January 2011 detectives investigating the murder discovered 145 indecent images of children on Tabak’s laptop.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing indecent images of children between January 2009 and 2011.
The majority of the pictures were classed as category C – the lowest category in terms of seriousness, the court heard.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-31700109
Clearly this is just Avon and Somerset Police goign for the low-hanging fruit to bump up their stats. Only 145 images over 2-3 years doesn’t sound like the result of an active interest in CP, but is almost certainly just images cached in the course of trawling regular porn.
- Ian B
March 3, 2015 at 1:34 pm -
Probably not even that. They’re probably, from the description, just “young looking” models in the eyes of Plod- the kind that Rolf’s financial capacity to contest in court forced Skeletor to drop the kiddie porn charges against him. It’s likely that most of these cases are the same. There was one a while ago of a gentleman who actually was acquitted; the accidental download defence worked for him. What this revealed though was that it worked because he’d auto-downloaded 100s of GBs from a porn website, among which were a few images classified by Plod as underage.
That much material severely narrows down the websites with that quantity of content to a few majors and I think I can guess which one. And none of their stuff is actually underage, though some of it- they do a line in slim, smaller busted models- would probably be stuff that you could persuade a jury is underage, unless you went and got their 2257 records.
Remember, most of these cases are not being judged on “beyond reasonable doubt” or even the civil “balance of probabilities”, but on pure personal opinion.
- Duncan Disorderly
March 3, 2015 at 3:13 pm -
The BBC report says there were some category A pictures as well, which is more serious. I don’t know what that entails. We are reassured that “Tabak would remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years” although “he’s serving a minimum tariff of 20 years’ imprisonment.” The report does note that he will be banned from working with children or young people. I suppose this prosecution was to further restrict Tabak when he is finally released from jail, so it’s not totally mad. His first offence was merely to have strangled someone to death with his bare hands; we now have proof he’s a real sicko.
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 3:20 pm -
Not kept up with the case but internet abuse-provocateur “Chrs Spivey” has been had up on “images”, so pretty much anybody on the internet could probably be nabbed in truth if Plod put their minds to it.
- Ian B
March 3, 2015 at 3:26 pm -
Category A pictures are simply ones involving penetrative sex. Category B are non-penetrative sexual images (presumably masturbatory, effectively). Category C is anything else. So basically A is hardcore, C is softcore and B is explicit softcore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COPINE_scale
But most people reading a news report won’t look that up, and the ominous declaration of “category A” will imply to them some terrible and unimaginable horror. In a nutshell, any picture or video of a girl that Plod claims is underage where she has penetrative sex is Category A.
- Henry the Horse
March 3, 2015 at 8:24 pm -
Hmmm. He is a Dutch national. I seriously doubt given his well known crime that he has any intention of remaining in Britain on release.
Isn’t also somewhat odd that the restrictions on an image offence after release could be more severe than those on a convicted murderer?
- Moor Larkin
- Duncan Disorderly
- Ian B
- Peter Raite
- Tom Paine
March 3, 2015 at 1:37 pm -
We are witnessing a modern witch hunt. The psychology is identical. The reason why professional journalists are not asking these questions is that if you stop crying “witch” during a witch-hunt, people may start crying it at you. “Believe the victims” is an unworthy slogan for the nation of Magna Carta. Unless and until JS’s executors make a proper attempt to defend the claims, and at least *one* of the many claimants proves – in the face of that proper attempt – his or her allegations, the only victims here may be the beneficiaries of the charities to which he left his estate.
The sheer volume of allegations suggests (unless JS had the stamina, as well as the morals, of a stoat) that most of them are false. The people who are lying in the hope of taking wealth from those charities are thoroughly wicked. Not least because they are worsening the moral panic which already has many men refusing to teach children in primary schools, engage in volunteer work or even help a child in need. In practice we now have a disgusting presumption that *every* man is a threat to children unless he has been signed off for a fee by that well-known beacon of morality, the state.
To a child, the adult men in his or her family and community are as important a part of growing up as the women. If they are afraid to engage, it is the children who will suffer in the long term. In my own childhood I encountered (and avoided) one weird man, but was helped, taught, encouraged and morally guided by dozens. Without their benign engagement, I would be a different person today. I shudder to think of the long term consequences of our current situation. To coin a phrase, won’t someone please think – sensibly, not hysterically – of the children?
- James
March 3, 2015 at 2:23 pm -
To my four year old daughter I am her hero. She lives for every moment she spends with me, jumping on the bed in the morning to rouse me, clinging to my hand as I walk her to nursery and flying into my arms when I arrive home from work in the evenings. With the encouragement of my wife who relishes the break, she accompanies me on errands and shopping trips, washes the car, travels to the tip or even just walks around town. She is my perfect little mate and I cherish every moment I spend getting to watch her grow up.
Yet because I have not been cleared, checked, examined and otherwise legally sanitised the state automatically considers me a danger to other children, unsuitable to be left to supervise them in any official capacity and to be regarded with suspicion should I even contemplate offering my life and parenting skills in the wider service of society.
I don’t need to spell out how deeply offensive this is to me, and pretty much every other man.
- Chris
March 3, 2015 at 3:04 pm -
I can’t speak for anybody else – but for me, the language used in this report explains precisely why we’re in the midst of this modern-day witch hunt.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31691061
Bear in mind, in 2015 Britain most people born without ‘silver spoon’ or ‘contacts’ will more often than not find that occupations such as teaching, care-work, social work, nursing, emergency services etc are the only real options open to them, once they got thru’ a costly & ultimately pointless degree *like everyone else* and already mortgaged themselves to the hilt. And then they will find that, through no fault or negligence of their own, their chosen career has handed them a ‘Go To Jail’ card. Ultimately that’s what everything has been for – promoting the idea via ‘witchfinding’ that the wise old heads of the 20th Century were all negligent fools, and that *progress* can only be achieved by mass criminalisation of hard-working & law-abiding folk. They have no way off the hamster-wheel, and everything they do – fornicate, procreate, drive, walk the dog, consume, work – increases the chance that they too will be convicted criminals.
And that is why Jimmy Savile allegedly walking across a car park in 1966 is accepted as a ‘historic offence’.But however hopeless the future is, the work done by Anna (& others) here is essential – it needs to be published even if we are destined to journey to Hell in a handcart.
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 3:09 pm -
The industrial aspect seems to primarily apply to State Institutions, which only makes the whole thing even more nutty.
- Cloudberry
March 3, 2015 at 5:40 pm -
If they establish a culture of ratting on other people, it won’t be surprising if rats in the workplace find it an appealing idea and start ratting on their colleagues in order to climb the greasy pole.
- Cloudberry
- Ian B
March 3, 2015 at 6:20 pm -
From the article-
Experts have been warning for decades that up to a million children in Britain are victims of sexual abuse – each day.
According to Wikipedia there are about 15M people in the UK aged 0-19. Are we supposed to believe that 1 in 15 of them is sexually abused every day?!
- Duncan Disorderly
March 3, 2015 at 6:49 pm -
‘Up to’ – as in ‘up to 50% off!’
- Duncan Disorderly
- Jimbob McGinty
March 3, 2015 at 7:43 pm -
“Mr Cameron…said: “I think it’s very important we take a step back and just recognise the horrific nature of what has happened in our country.”
This may be the only true thing he has ever said in public, but only if you take it out of his intended context
- Moor Larkin
- Mudplugger
March 3, 2015 at 4:18 pm -
Given the acknowledged statistics that 85+% of child sexual abuse is carried out by close family members, you are thus a far greater risk to your own 4-year-old daughter than any other male is. But of course, that also means you represent less risk to other folks’ kids than their own family members do, so their kids are actually safer with you. Mad, ain’t it ?
- Chris
- James
- Ed P
March 3, 2015 at 1:45 pm -
The effects of all this insane made-up or imagined stuff is starting to be seen:
In the supermarket the other day a woman left her toddler standing in the trolley (yes, I know he should not have been in it) to dash off for some item she’s missed. I was in the next-but-one line. The boy stood up and leaned out, grabbing at the items she’d already put on the conveyor. The trolley moved away from the conveyor and he would have fallen out on his head if I had not ran over & pushed the trolley gently back. All the other people queueing nearby – all women & mostly nearer than me – did nothing. But they all looked at me as if I was wrong to help or had some suspicious intent. I am very thankful, especially considering it afterwards, that I did not actually need to touch the child or his clothing to prevent him falling.
We now live in a sick society, where you help others at your own potential peril.- Tom Paine
March 3, 2015 at 3:25 pm -
You did what any decent human should and were looked at as if you were sick. That is an index of how sick our society has become. My family had to tell a late relative in his old age that he must stop standing at the church door every Sunday handing out sweets to children. He liked children, his own were grown up, he liked to see them smile and for most of his life parents had looked kindly on this generosity. He also paid for the annual children’s party at the vicarage. No impropriety was ever involved. The look of horror in his eyes when it was explained to him why parents were now looking at him askance was a symbol of our foul age. All this has been brought about by the same smug, hypocritical, cold-hearted collectivists who tell us we can’t make choices for our own children because “it takes a village to raise a child.”
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 3:28 pm -
Wasn’t it something like this that drove Thomas Hamilton mad all those years ago? …
- Mrs Grimble
March 3, 2015 at 10:52 pm -
Hamilton was an extremely odd man. He had almost no adult friends, was obsessed with running boys’s clubs, had boys running around in shorts or swim trunks on every possible occasion and didn’t think there was anything strange about covering his walls with photos of scantily-clad young boys. He apparently had zero self-awareness; so when persistent rumours and suspicions led to parents removing their sons and his club being denied the use of school premises, he saw it as unust persecution. And years of simmering rage led eventually to mass murder of the children he was denied…
- Mrs Grimble
- Moor Larkin
- Tom Paine
- Carol42
March 3, 2015 at 4:24 pm -
I doubt they will ever admit they were wrong in even one case as it could bring the whole phoney house of cards down. It is a national disgrace that we no longer have journalists worth the name. I well remember the cases in Scotland being a bit involved at the time, I was horrified at the suspension of common sense that damaged so many families and no amount of compensation can make up for the trauma these innocents suffered. My only hope is that Anna’s good work will be carried on by Edinburgh university and one day the truth will come out.
- Joe Public
March 3, 2015 at 4:35 pm -
More meticulous demystifying, Madame. It’s so intriguing.
Colleton Lodge: “Poor Ms Shadbolt. How to pad that out to 31 pages?” Paid per word?
- Alexander Baron
March 3, 2015 at 5:10 pm -
Here’s more nonsense, this time from the US.
I sued to do all sorts of things alone when I was 9. Crazy.
- Peter Raite
March 3, 2015 at 5:19 pm -
“Innocent until we find you guilty.”
- Moor Larkin
March 3, 2015 at 5:27 pm -
used=sued…. Good one.
The power of the unconscious mind should never be underestimated…
- Peter Raite
- Bill Sticker
March 3, 2015 at 5:23 pm -
Anna, do you recall a song by Brian Protheroe B side to his 1975 hit ‘Pinball’? It’s called ‘Money Love’ and could have been written exactly for the Savile saga. Opening lines;
Did you know,
Did you know,
There was a man,
Tell a lie,
Tell a lie
Tell a lie while you can. - Owen
March 3, 2015 at 5:28 pm -
The sneering mockery is relentless, with minimal attempt to avoid the cheapest shot. I guess it keeps the boys happy here, but it demeans you.
- Peter Raite
March 3, 2015 at 5:33 pm -
Do you disagree with the assessment of the reports in question, and if so, why?
- Peter Raite
- Alexander Baron
March 3, 2015 at 7:24 pm -
I don’t know if anyone has noticed this
http://www.thelatestnews.com/dangerous-satanic-abuse-fantasies-surface-hampstead/
but this is my take. You can find the actual videos of the kids on YouTube; they look happy enough considering they witnessed babies being murdered. Incredibly the “truthers” of the “alternative media” are presenting this nonsense as fact. Sabine McNeill has been caught up in it and has fled to Germany. I know her slightly, she is a highly intelligent woman. Hopefully the housewife and the man on the Clapham omnibus will have more sense.
- Alexander Baron
March 4, 2015 at 12:50 am -
Another dissenter:
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31652210
anyone consider making an FOI request for any of the letters (suitably redacted) that warned of Savile at the time? Bet there were none.
- Peter Raite
March 4, 2015 at 10:03 am -
An intersting highlighted point:
“It also revealed that Savile was given a bedroom that allowed him to live “alongside young female students for four decades”. ”
This is a great bit of nudge-nudge wink-winkery, presumably in the absence of any complaints from said students (how large would that cohort be?!).
- Moor Larkin
March 4, 2015 at 10:07 am -
Julia, Staffs, UK, 3 years ago
As a student nurse, at Leeds General Infimary in 1969, I often saw Jim sitting quietly in the Nurses’ Home lounge watching television (the only male who was allowed into the home and trusted by all.) He often worked as a porter and could be seen scooting down the corridors, chatting to his patients and cheering them up. I even had a dance with him at one of the Nurses’ Home dances and he was a perfect gent. A good man who loved people and went out his way to help them. RIP Jimmy.Posted on the Daily Mail comments after Jimmys’ obituary was published.
One of over 600 – all complimentary or fond.
- Moor Larkin
- Peter Raite
- Misa
March 4, 2015 at 2:01 am -
Dearest Anna (& Moor),
I appreciate Moor is focussing on Stoke Mandeville (SMH). I’ve just seen his piece on Kimset Kate, by subscription email, but am not able to access his (or her!?) website at the moment. It made me reflect on what I’d read…
It appears that the SMH report is not, as such, an investigation into ‘abuse by Savile.’ It’s an “Investigation into the Association of Jimmy Savile with Stoke Mandeville Hospital.” A large part of the report is not dedicated to ‘Savile’s offending behaviour’ at all, but to the stormy relationship between Savile, his SMH charity, and the hospital management. This appears to revolve around the question of WHO OWNED the National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC).
The report gives the impression that the issue of title to the NSIC was probably ‘resolved’ at some point in the 1990s, though it appears that Jim believed that he (or his ‘Jimmy Savile Stoke Mandevile Trust’) still owned the deeds in 1999. It seems that even if he didn’t hold title to the property, the contents may well have belonged to the charity.
There was clearly much biterness around the time (and after?) Jim withdrew from SMH – the time at which Janet Cope was ‘sacked’.
I seem to recall that one or both of you have been in touch with trustees from Jim’s estate. Perhaps you might be in a position to know whether the battle with the trustees and all the talk about compensation has any connection to whether or not Buckinghamshire NHS Trust (which has not, according to the report, yet achieved ‘Foundation’ status) actually has full ownership of SMH and the NSIC, or whether there remains an issue regarding any funds still in Jim’s SMH charity – possibly a rather more significant sum than the relatively modest estate.
{ 66 comments… read them below or add one }