To #Believe or not to #Believe. – The Anna Raccoon Archives

by Anna Raccoon on March 27, 2016

That is the question. There are so many possible answers.

When Exaro first emerged with their ‘credible and true’ allegations of exotic Westminster paedophile rings, the opprobrium heaped on the head of anyone, like Ms Raccoon for instance, who dared to suggest that perhaps tales which sounded too fantastical to be possible, were, indeed, too fantastical to be possible, was terrifying in its intensity.

Exaro had ‘thoroughly researched’ these stories; for instance the quite incredible tale of how high ranking paedophiles had tied a boy between two cars that they then drove off in opposite directions…..it was ‘murder’ Exaro said, a horrific end to a young life…

That was just one of the witnesses they claimed corroborated the allegations of their star turn – ‘Nick’. The other one was Esther; need I say more? David Hencke was particularly upset, a distressed state he doesn’t seem to have ever recovered from, after I published that article.

Imagine my surprise when the Sunday Times today published an interview with ‘Darren’, the other witness that Exaro urged us to believe corroborated ‘Nick’ – but now Exaro says we shouldn’t #believe ‘Darren’.

Now, don’t get confused here – Exaro aren’t saying that the tale they published of ‘VIP’ abuse to Darren shouldn’t be believed. They are saying that Darren shouldn’t be believed when he says the tale they published shouldn’t be believed….

Do try to keep up.

So, if we’ve got this straight; Exaro are to be believed when they write, corroborated by a witness, that a boy was murdered by being tied between two cars, subsequently driven apart, and they are also to be believed when they say that the same witness is not truthful when he says ‘don’t believe a word of it….I never said that’?

Darren says that “the tale of a boy being tied between two cars was true – but untrue that this resulted in his murder”.

I think I have it straight now. Exaro are always to be believed, but their witness is only to be believed when he says he witnessed VIPs murdering small boys…

Considering Exaro are making substantial sums of money out of these tales, and the witness ‘Darren’ has not been paid anything, I think I tend towards believing ‘Darren’.

He, after all, had nothing to gain other than notoriety.

Then there is the small matter of Mark Watts, editor in chief’s, reliability…..

Darren says:

“I have never lied. I was pressurised and manipulated.

I was coerced into saying some of the stuff that wasn’t strictly correct. It was exaggerated. They hyped up a lot of the stories”.

Exaggerated? By Exaro? Can that be remotely ‘credible and true’?

Who’d a thunk it?

#IbelieveDarren.

{ 57 comments… read them below or add one }

Margaret Jervis March 27, 2016 at 6:17 pm

I haven’t read the Sunday Times article, but I’m not sure I would believe either without more. Darren’s interview with Exaro reveals him to be a convincing and facile liar – we know this because it is most about Peter Righton and Thornton Magma where he never was. There may have been some form of suggestion, exaggeration or even coercion over an extended period of time – but equally it could be a folie a deux.

The real question is who’s in charge? And there one has to say that Exaro were probably ‘grooming’ their witness for their own ends. But I wouldn’t want to make a judgement as to ‘victim/perpetrator’. I don’t know whether Exaro are going to continue to maintain ‘cover-ups’ etc now their own credibility has been ripped to shreds even by members of its own ‘stable’, but I suppose one line might be they were ‘manipulated’ by cunning individuals, or even they they were ‘plants’ whose intention was to discredit deeper truths.

It’s not easy to row back when so invested. But Darren may have face saving motives too other than financial. Fortunately I don’t feel I need to believe or disbelieve either – they are both storytellers.

David March 27, 2016 at 6:54 pm

Darren was forced to withdraw his statements because social workers were threatening to take away his children.

Bandini March 27, 2016 at 11:00 pm

No, he wasn’t.
You’d give ‘Darren’/’Michael’ a run for his money when it comes to making stuff up… or maybe… no!!!

The social work angle only came up after the case had already been dropped BECAUSE THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE.
‘Withdrawing’ & ‘refusing to cooperate’ AFTER the cards came tumbling down has as much validity as Andy Murray ‘withdrawing’ from a Grand Slam final with Novak Djokovic after losing in straight-sets – none.

I’ll remind you again that Tom Watson MP promised to strain his poor legs to raise his imperious frame to its feet, ready to bellow the name(s) of those threatening & attacking poor old Daz on the floor of the house! Strangely, this never occurred – despite the shreddies being nicked off of Daz’s washing-line…

If only someone had thought to record these terrifying attacks by installing a bog-standard camera. It’s almost as if they knew it was a load of nonsense from the off!!!

David March 28, 2016 at 9:33 am

The ‘threat’ of social workers, and of losing his children, were there before. In the end he chose to keep his children, and refuse to cooperate because of the threats. I think that is what happened.

Anna Raccoon March 28, 2016 at 9:35 am: You ‘think’????

I note you are still maintaining that those threats had to emanate from the one and only social worker to visit Darren…..

Little wonder Darren has such strong feelings about Exaro then.

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Anna Raccoon March 28, 2016 at 12:16 am

Er, Exaro were proud to report that ‘their own social worker’ – actually the wife of Tim Woods – had interviewed Darren in respect of his children.
You are not seriously suggesting that a relative of one of Exaro’s hacks threatened to take his children are you?

David March 28, 2016 at 9:22 am

Suffolk police said: “We have a duty of care to protect young people where a concern has been raised for their well-being.”
Police sources have suggested the referral to social services was made over growing concerns over Darren
It was Suffolk Police who referred Darren to Social Services ?

Anna Raccoon March 28, 2016 at 9:33 am

“Sources at Suffolk Country Council Social Services department told Exaro that it had dismissed the referral, believing that it did not even warrant an assessment“.

The only social worker to visit Darren was Exaro ‘own social worker’ – the wife of Tim Woods.

Ipso, the only social worker who could have threatened to take Darren’s child away was?….your starter for ten David. See if you can get this one right.

David March 28, 2016 at 9:45 am

Last week, Darren refused to comment. He has complained to Exaro that police had ‘betrayed his trust’ and that he had withdrawn his cooperation with Suffolk police. He said that police had referred his baby son to social services. “I feel that this was done to silence me,” he said.
He also stands by his claims. “My allegations are true, I have no reason to lie to anyone, I’ve never made any money from speaking out and neither would I want to,” he has said, “I told the truth in the belief that there would be justice. Why would I lie? What would I have gained by lying?”
Police sources have suggested the referral to social services was made over growing concerns that Darren’s postings on the social networking site.
‘Any’ social worker, (worth their salt),would tell Darren that there ‘was’ a possibility of him losing his son ?

Then of course no one looked at where Darren said the bodies were? That I presume will be for future generations to explore?

Anna Raccoon March 28, 2016 at 9:54 am

Darren is a man who has suffered an undoubtedly traumatic childhood – his foster carer was jailed for offences against him.
Don’t you think its time the #CSA activists left him alone to rebuild his life with his family, rather than continually trying to drag him into ludicrous claims of murder?
I mean, it is Darren’s interests that you have at heart, isn’t it?
Perish the thought that the priority might be an idealogical desire to perpetuate the theory of VIP paedophiles.
Darren has said that the claim that murder was committed did not come from him – so spend your time trying to figure out where it did come from, and leave the man alone to rebuild what is left of his life after you have all had your fun with him.
The only support he has had has come from Graham Wilmer (sheesh!) and Exaro (double sheesh!) and a bunch of nutters on Twitter.
Darren says that he didn’t say ‘where the bodies were’- he didn’t claim there were bodies. Exaro claimed that he said that.

Bunny March 28, 2016 at 10:32 am: His foster carer was jailed yes, but not for offences against Darren, though Darren did receive compensation later.

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Bandini March 28, 2016 at 10:39 am: I’m not sure about the foster carer – it could be taken either way but I think this refers to ‘another boy’ as in ‘a different boy’, not ‘a second boy’:

“This foster carer was later – after caring for Michael – convicted of sexually abusing another boy.”

Either way, he’s been through a system which I wouldn’t have fancied experiencing … a happy-ish, ‘normal’ family life was sufficiently traumatic for me. But I can’t reconcile the multiple-graves claim as being solely down to Exaro with his offers to lead people to them. That’s not to excuse Exaro, of course, who I don’t believe for a second had any faith in the truthfulness of the rubbish they were printing; they can carry the can.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-28228902

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Anna Raccoon March 28, 2016 at 9:58 am

“Last week, Darren refused to comment”.

That Sunday Times article looked like a pretty substantial comment to me.

It really makes me angry that a man who has undoubtedly been abused, should be so used and further abused for commercial profit and prurient internet interest.

This is Karin Ward all over again.

Margaret Jervis March 28, 2016 at 9:02 pm: @anna “It really makes me angry that a man who has undoubtedly been abused, should be so used and further abused for commercial profit and prurient internet interest. ”

‘Undoubtedly been abused’ – what evidence of what? Difficult life and damaged maybe – but does the clarion cry of ‘abuse’ (define, please) mean that victim status is conferred without agency ? Frankly given the agreed difficult life Darren has negotiated it seems unbelievable he would walk naively into an Exaro trap – and without ulterior motive.

And of course there is no apology, no retraction, no nothing in his claims to the ST other than ‘victim’.

Of course he might be a ‘therapy victim’ but I note that this is not on his agenda – as yet.

So no tears for Darren – as presented.

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David March 27, 2016 at 6:53 pm

The ‘truth’, which I hope will come out soon, is even more ‘fantastical’.

Bandini March 27, 2016 at 10:44 pm

Any more fantastical than your deranged ‘identical Proctor triplets’ bullshit, David?
And what about all that fantastic ‘evidence’ you claimed to have dumped into the poor plod’s lap at the now-defunct Operation Midland? Can’t have been up to much, eh? And your fossilized leaf? Deciduous, was it?

You are nothing more than a regurgitator of poorly researched tripe which unfortunately others open their bird-brained beaks to receive… and in turn to repeat the ‘favour’ to the next batch of hatchlings who’ll keep the show trundling along: a chain of puke, basically. (See for example your WRONG assertion that Midland’s missing-link was a dreadful Mail-article conflating & confusing the dim of wit, which was given the seeing-to it deserved under the previous article here; one of the bozos has already grabbed the baton & he’s off! And who cares if it ain’t true?!?)

David March 27, 2016 at 10:51 pm

You are wrong on all counts.

Bandini March 27, 2016 at 11:03 pm: Haven’t read that well-written & argued rebuttal I see that I’ve been mistaken. My most sincere apologies.

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Alexander Baron March 27, 2016 at 7:00 pm

A bit of nostalgia, back in the 70s I used to work with a bloke called Watts; there was a saying “Herr Watts, the bald-headed bastard”. He was actually quite a nice bloke really. Can’t say that for our chum from Exaro though.

David March 27, 2016 at 7:01 pm

Darren’s story ‘could’ have been solved, one way or another, if the police had hired an excavator, and digging, on the estate, where he said the body was buried. they did not, leaving another ‘Jack the Ripper Scenario’, for future sleuths to work on.

Bandini March 27, 2016 at 10:19 pm

No need for an ‘excavator’ – the graves (plural) were shallow, and ‘Darren’ was promising to hand-out the GPS co-ordinates to anyone who cared to pick up a shovel.

If the lunatics who thought nothing of manifesting themselves in front of what was once Elm Guest House and bothering the inhabitants by waving white-flowers about like a bunch of mad Morriseys couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to scratch (literally!) beneath the surface to prove once and for all that their filthy fantasies were true you might want to ask yourself: “Why not?”

As others have pointed out, they need to believe it all to justify their existences (and possibly their internet search history: ‘young boys’ bottoms’, ‘torturing children’, ‘paedos paedos paedos’, etc.) & their cowardice in confronting their big opportunity is because they’d rather live with the lie than face the truth.

David March 28, 2016 at 9:25 am

You are correct, but no one did ‘pick up a shovel’, did they?

Bandini March 28, 2016 at 10:41 am

“…because they’d rather live with the lie than face the truth.”

Mr Ecks March 28, 2016 at 11:52 am

This David character is a living brick wall. The type who could be run over by a 32 ton juggernaut and he would still tell you through broken lips out of his hospital bed that it never happened.

Mr Ecks March 28, 2016 at 11:54 am

Or more likely NOT get run over by a 32 ton juggernaut and still you, not from a hospital bed, that it DID happen but it was covered up.

David March 28, 2016 at 12:00 pm

As I have said before, one of the missing keys to Operation Midland are 3 men arrested and bailed last year, who vanished.
Perhaps you would like to share your insight into this?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3174757/Civil-servant-arrested-claims-VIP-paedophile-ring-visited-notorious-London-brothel.html

Bandini March 28, 2016 at 1:19 pm

You were more fun when pretending to take elevenses with Madame Bovary or walk the dog with security service fishwives. The bedroom antics of President Putin as relayed to you by your stinking rich Chelsea-set & your worryingly poor grasp of basic medicine (for a high-flying specialist) at least raised a smile; now you are just being boring, and that is unforgivable.

You’d be justified in asking the crap journalist for an update:
“All three men have been arrested and bailed until October [2015] while police inquiries continue.”

But it has nothing to do with either Midland or Elm, as you’ve had patiently explained to you several times.
[Hits the ‘mute David’ button.]

David March 28, 2016 at 3:56 pm

“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” ― Socrates

Mr Ecks March 28, 2016 at 6:45 pm: Repeating nonsense is not debate.

David March 28, 2016 at 8:20 pm

your ‘debates’ always end in ‘argumentum ad hominem’

Mr Ecks March 29, 2016 at 9:24 am: You are impervious to all argument and continue to repeat untruth and nonsense like a wind-up toy. What debate? You just repeating like a bad stomach on vindaloo.

A Potted Plant April 2, 2016 at 9:41 pm

Bandini said: “…they need to believe it all to justify their existences (and possibly their internet search history: ‘young boys’ bottoms’, ‘torturing children’, ‘paedos paedos paedos’, etc.)…”
HAR-DEE-HAR-HAR!

Thanks so much, for that

IlovetheBBC March 27, 2016 at 10:00 pm

No David, Jack the Ripper’s identity is unknown but his victims were real.

Bandini March 27, 2016 at 10:03 pm

I haven’t seen the Sunday Times piece but doubt it would change my opinion of either Exaro or ‘Darren’, neither of whom I believe.

Worth mentioning again that before being re-named by Exaro the individual under discussion was making related claims via the local press & the BBC (the same journalist in both cases, from memory) under the moniker of ‘Michael’: living like a ‘slave’ on a ‘country estate’ and being abused by Peter Righton, abused by ‘uniformed police officers’ at a children’s home, sex parties, being locked in a cupboard, etc..

Interesting to see how the mental health angle was tackled pre-Exaro (assuming, that is, that they didn’t nudge the story towards the BBC…): after raising the idea of a council ‘conspiracy’ to have him declared mentally ill & the competing psychiatric reports are weighed up (“dissociative personality disorder” or “no history of mental illness has been found”, take yer pick) the following appears:

“The confidential council documents also mention Michael was arrested on suspicion of rape and murder in 1994 – he was found to have had nothing to do with either crime.”

The journo’s angle is clearly that ‘something is being covered up here’, but the events take on a different air when we know that the arrest came after falsely claiming responsibility for the crime. I wonder how he (Laurence Cawley) feels about his articles now… or when he read about the Satanic Rituals at the French Embassy & the offer of asylum in North Korea!

But Exaro have NO excuse & knew full well they were peddling rubbish time after time. One of their tall-tales was based on the ‘Mad Mary Moss Documents’ and she’s just dug-up a recording of the poor ol’ mail-order ‘Reverend’ Ash(worth) making inaudible allegations before being drugged, kidnapped & taken for a spin in, inevitably, a Rolls Royce; it led to a front-page in that marvellous rag, The Sunday Times, more than a quarter of a century ago. Round and round it goes…

Eric March 28, 2016 at 4:29 am

And I wonder if in 20/30/100 years -if there is a media- they will be regurgitating all this nonsense and claiming Operation Midland was a failed opportunity to finally catch the Stanic murdering VIPs etc?

Again I’m reminded, but I can’t find the source anymore, of the Russian journalist who recently said that citizens in the UUSR were so used to being fed rubbish in their media they never believed (and still don’t) much of what was published whereas, he couldn’t understand why those in the West believed similar claptrap when there was no requirement to.

windsock March 28, 2016 at 8:58 am

At school in the 70s, I studied Russian for a year. We learned that Pravda, the name of one news title, mean “truth”, while “Izvestia”, the other main title, meant “news”.

The saying among Russians was: “There is no truth in the news, and there is no news in the truth”.

David March 28, 2016 at 9:27 am

I wonder if in 20/30/100 years someone will pick up a shovel and find the bodies ?

Don Cox March 28, 2016 at 9:44 am: Why don’t you go and do it now ?

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Bandini March 28, 2016 at 10:46 am: David, you’ve got 20/30/100 years to go and bury something for ’em to find should they ever get around to it.
Give ’em something to get really EXCITED about when they finally step away from the computer & into the real world.

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Jonathan King March 28, 2016 at 11:43 am

Anybody with a few brain cells could see this kind of media created “great story” would crumble; I’m just waiting for the Savile and other tales to collapse – harder when the perpetrator is dead and the exaggerations merely include fumbling and kissing – much more tricky to disprove than rapes which might produce DNA carrying babies or murders which might provide DNA containing bodies or, at very least, media, police or hospital reports from the time. Conspiracy theorists will never accept proof that destroys the conspiracy. It’s a kind of madness. But some of us hoping sense will eventually emerge should get a copy of Bob Woffinden’s forensically researched Nicholas Cases about the ten worst miscarriages of justice of the past 30 years when it’s published in May. And despair at the chaos and, sometimes, corruption behind so many “great stories”.

Mr Ecks March 28, 2016 at 11:58 am

It took 25 years for the UKs “satanic panic” to be officially declared nonsense by confirming that not only was there no Satanism but no child abuse either.

Barry Cook March 28, 2016 at 4:28 pm

JK do you really believe the Savile claims and associated legal bandwagon will unravel?

Even the demise of one of the main instigators (S&G) might not bring the authorities OR press to their senses.

A collection of dodgy similar fact claims does not constitute actual evidence. Yet here we are with Dames pronouncing Savile was guilty…..but nobody in authority knew.

Such wasted expense and resources all at a great cost to those suffering now.

I wish it were true that the truth will come out but sadly I’m starting to believe there are too many folk invested in the biggest legal scam of the century.

Fat Steve March 28, 2016 at 6:59 pm

@Barry Cook I wish it were true that the truth will come out but sadly I’m starting to believe …..it won’t
I am almost certain you are right

Misa March 29, 2016 at 1:01 am

The demise of S&G is a step in the right direction but, I’m afraid, either until MWT is caught with his pants down, or until Meirion/Liz see what a horrible mistake they’ve made, it all seems unlikely to unravel. Which is a shame, really. I used to have some faith in UK justice. I didn’t imagine for a moment that it always worked, but the principle seemed worth trying to uphold.

I fear that even if the truth were to come to light, the only result would be a massive swelling of the ranks of the conspiracy nuts.

@JK I hope you’ll forgive my naivety and, more importantly, I hope you’re not being given a hard time.

Mr Ecks March 29, 2016 at 9:28 am: In 25 years or so lots of the chief BS merchants will be gone and the emotional head of steam will have died down.

I think it was the Psychiatrist Eric Berne who said it takes about a hundred years for the hatreds etc of wars to cool. The participants are mostly gone after that time as is the heat in the various issues.

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Fat Steve March 28, 2016 at 6:50 pm

@Eric Again I’m reminded, but I can’t find the source anymore, of the Russian journalist who recently said that citizens in the UUSR were so used to being fed rubbish in their media they never believed (and still don’t) much of what was published whereas, he couldn’t understand why those in the West believed similar claptrap when there was no requirement to.
Yes Eric it took me over half a century and enough time to track down the Raccoon Arms and listen a bit to the chat to reach the conclusion that the UK Media is unreliable……actually misleading …..though whether deliberately so the whole time I am not so sure……irresponsibility incompetance and hubris play their part as well as a need to earn a crust in the world of competitive sensationalism.
So are the citizens of the old USSR more politically mature than ourselves? Possibly yes but I guess we are catching up.
Our Media is possibly best viewed through the prism of those who produce it …..as you view it remember its only infotainment though most confuse it for reality …..a sort of X Factor or the Voice (not that I have ever watched more than five minutes of either)..
The ultimate confabulation between reality and infotainment appears to me to be Donald Trumps potential nomination for the Republican Party Presidential candidate …..but recent history has produced more than a few ‘successful’ politicians whose public persona draws on the infotainment model .
Perhaps the majority of the Public get the media they want …..a comforting media…. in the sense that it makes them feel good or better about themselves.
The problem though is what happens when having cried wolf so many times a wolf really does appear?

The Blocked Dwarf March 29, 2016 at 1:02 am: The question at the top of the Journalism degree paper, the very first question (besides the trick one titled ‘your Name:’) should be ‘How many floors does Duncroft have? List your reasoning and photographical evidence?’

Although these days they’d need to make it a multiple choice question.

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Eric March 28, 2016 at 8:46 pm

The media is a business & profit making entity, in all it’s parts, so that is the first thing to consider. In a way they cannot lose (although so much of the media has been caught on the hop with the advent of the internet) : they can publish a fantasy or skewered tale in which the truth is extremely difficult to uncover. Headlines sell as does sensation even if it’s exaggeration and unproved claims. And the echo chamber of course which is even more evident now as each outlet tries to match the other. There have been so many recent examples, quite apart from Savile & sex where outlets and even ‘respectable’ ones like the BBC have scooped up & published a sensation, just to appear to be on the ball.

And then when the claims , whatever they are- sexual, political etc etc collapse the media wins again by documenting the collapse of the previous claims.

Fat Steve March 29, 2016 at 9:53 am: @Eric The media is a business & profit making entity, in all it’s parts, so that is the first thing to consider.
Yes, not just the media but sadly the Law also.
Some things that historically were thought of a having an element of dignity of themselves are now thought of a commodity simply with a price to them

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David March 29, 2016 at 8:39 am

Britain’s uncomfortable extremes in dealing with past sexual abuse
http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21695759-value-three-investigations-called-question-britains-uncomfortable-extremes

Mr Ecks March 29, 2016 at 9:34 am

It is a standard cut and past article by a hack who mostly believes the usual assertions if not being hysterical about them. The author is forced to confront police bungling and makes a mild suggestion that the witch-hunt should not be able to publicise without proof.

And just so demonstrates that he/she? is clueless about what is going on.

Eric March 29, 2016 at 9:50 am

A completely pointless article as it says nothing new. It’s like The Economist wanted a piece of the action. They should stick to stock reports.

Bandini March 29, 2016 at 1:40 pm

Dreadful article in which we learn that Jimmy Savile abused “perhaps 400 children in the 1970s” & that Op Midland was “a six-month investigation”. Basic factual inaccuracies that, what with Harvey Proctor welling-up in the media again, reminds me of one of his former persecutors, Annette Witheridge (who appeared along side him in the ‘After Dark’ discussion programme into “the accuracy and ethics of journalism”).

The tabloid-hack sent such a shiver up my spine that I once idly googled for news of her post-Proctor career & found she had moved to the USA to continue scribbling. An interview had her explaining the culture-shock she had experienced working in the media there; firstly, the custom of reported quotes being a verbatim record of what the interviewee actually said knocked her for six – no more ‘tidying up’ or ‘editorialising’ of a person’s words must have made her job far more difficult – and, secondly, the post of ‘fact-checker’ was new to her & it was one apparently taken seriously. The dates of events, the spelling of names, all would pass beneath the nose of someone employed to ensure their accuracy before appearing in print. Ah, if only that were the norm!

P.S. I note that Proctor is concerned about the police imagining themselves as fictional detectives, having watched or read “too many Miss Marples and Midsomer Murders”. [coughs]

David March 29, 2016 at 1:45 pm

‘Proctor is concerned about the police imagining themselves as fictional detectives, having watched or read “too many Miss Marples and Midsomer Murders”. No, Harvey is wrong. I suspect that detectives have not watched enough fictional detectives. I recommend Inspector Montalbano.

Bandini March 29, 2016 at 1:51 pm

Agente ‘David’ Caterella:
http://www.ilmessaggero.it/photos/MED/38/82/1623882_catarella.jpg

David March 29, 2016 at 2:18 pm

No, The young Inspector Montalbano

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/8151LVxorWL._SL1500_.jpg

Mr Ecks March 29, 2016 at 9:01 pm: David–your connection with fiction is already far too strong.

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