Vatican ‘sought deal’ with Irish State to bury church documents
Mary McAleese called event ‘one of the most devastating moments in my presidency’
Former president Mary McAleese says she refused to discuss an attempt by the Vatican in 2003 to secure an agreement with Ireland that it would not access church documents.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Ms McAleese has revealed what she described as “one of the most devastating moments in my presidency”.
It occurred during a State visit to Italy when she had a private meeting with then Vatican secretary of state Angelo Sodano.
“He indicated that he would like, and the Vatican would like, an agreement with Ireland, a concordat with Ireland. I asked him why and it was very clear it was because he wanted to protect Vatican and diocesan archives. I have to say that I immediately said the conversation had to stop,” Ms McAleese said
“I told him I thought it extraordinarily inappropriate and very, very dangerous to the church, if it was pursued,” she said. “I asked Msgr Joe Murphy of Cloyne [then secretary to Cardinal Sodano] who was in the room that day along with my husband and Dermot McCarthy, then secretary to the government, and I said: ‘Look, I have heard nothing about this subject’.”
She was “very unhappy it being raised with me in private by Sodano and I said to Joe Murphy, ‘Would you explain to the cardinal that the church in Ireland is on the back foot. If this matter is pursued any further in this conversation or pursued outside of it, in my view the church would be flat on its back.’ So the matter was dropped there and I never heard any mention of it again.”
Statutory inquiries
What worried her most was that there were then two statutory inquiries under way in Ireland into child abuse involving the church. The Ryan commission (the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse), set up in 2000, was investigating the treatment of children in industrial schools, reformatories and orphanages, run by 18 religious congregations.
In March 2003, prior to her visit to Italy, the Ferns inquiry was set up, under retired Supreme Court justice Frank Murphy, to investigate clerical child sex abuse in Ferns diocese.
“What he [Cardinal Sodano] was asking for was an agreement between the Holy See and the Irish government under which church documentation would be protected by the church and the State would, clearly, have no access to it. That was what he seemed to be saying,” she said.
She was “gratified to say it never was pursued but I think the thinking is indicative of what did happen”.
“I’m hoping those days are over, that everybody is more chastened now. Everybody knows now that the secrecy was certainly not conducive to the good of the church. It eroded credibility and it eroded trust.”
The Irish Times sought a comment from the Vatican’s press office but none was forthcoming.
Colm O’Gorman Verified account @Colmogorman
This was 2003, just after I’d successfully campaigned for Ferns Inquiry, the 1st investigation of clerical abuse in an Irish diocese. The Church fought tooth & nail against its establishment. This attempt to suppress information is no surprise
We were campaigning for a full inquiry into abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin at the time. The Church was still denying that abuse was commonplace & that it knew about it & had covered it up. It argued that Canon (church) Law was superior to the law of the state
It was also the the same period within which the Vatican asserted diplomatic immunity to block my civil action against the Pope to try force them to reveal what they knew about the priest who had raped me and dozens of other boys
So all at same time, the Church was saying Canon Law was superior to law of the state, trying to get an agreement based upon international law that would allow it to bury records of the Irish Church , and asserting diplomatic immunity to avoid civil law proceedings
The Vatican was always quick to act to protect itself. That’s why from 1987 on every Irish diocese took out insurance policies to protect themselves against cost of litigation taken by victims of clerical sex abuse. A shame they had no interest in protecting kids
Think about that for a moment. Over a year or so, from ‘87 on every Irish diocese took out that insurance policy. A decade later they would baldly lie & tell us they didn’t know such abuse was even happening.That they, like the rest of us, were on a ‘learning curve’.
They lied. All the way from the Vatican down to local bishops. They claimed that revelations of abuse were just efforts to damage the church but anti-catholic forced and that abuse was not a significant issue within the church.
We were condemned as liars, accused of slandering bishops & the Church. And before you think that everything has changed, that @Pontifex is remarkably different, remember his first response to victims in Chile
Pope Francis accuses Chilean church sexual abuse victims of slander
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/19/pope-francis-victims-church-sexual-abuse-slander-chile
John Smyth tortured Christian boys at Iwerne – where’s the CofE inquiry?
The documentary maker who exposed Jimmy Savile ‘offered to sell names of DJ Jonathan King’s child sex abuse victims’ while working as a police detective on his case, judge claims
- Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed to have solved numerous high-profile cases
- Judge Deborah Taylor delivered a withering view of his work for Surrey Police
- She said a document was found offering names and introductions to victims
A former police officer in the Jonathan King case who is now a TV documentary reporter offered to sell the names of the pop mogul’s victims, according to a judge.
Investigative reporter Mark Williams-Thomas, who made his name in a documentary exposing Jimmy Savile, has claimed to have solved a number of high-profile cases, including the murder of TV host Jill Dando.
But yesterday his professional reputation was called into question after Judge Deborah Taylor delivered a withering assessment of his previous work for Surrey Police on the King case. before he left the force in October 2000 Mr Williams-Thomas was the detective who interviewed the first man to accuse King of sexual assault. He was subsequently accused – and acquitted – of blackmail in an unrelated case.
Yesterday the judge said: ‘During the investigation into that offence a document was found on his computer offering for sale names and introductions to victims of Mr King.
‘There was also information that prior to Mr King’s arrest, Williams-Thomas said that he had been provided by a journalist with information about King. Williams-Thomas left taking his contemporaneous notebooks of his involvement with inquiries into Mr King with him.
‘No attempts had been made to obtain them, although it is the Crown’s position that he should not have taken them with him as they were the property of Surrey Police.’
The judge added that it had been suggested ‘there was deliberate concealment of his previous prosecution and of the documents indicating attempts to gain financial advantage from selling details of Mr King’s case’. Yesterday Mr Williams-Thomas denied ever knowing the victims’ identities, or offering them for sale.
The ex-officer, who is working with Simon Cowell’s production company on a crime investigation series, said: ‘I have for the first time today been made aware that my name has been mentioned in a ruling by HHJ Deborah Taylor in the case against Jonathan King.
‘I am with immediate effect making contact with the CPS to seek clarification on these matters.’
Selling victims’ details would constitute an offence of misconduct in a public office. The maximum penalty is life in prison.
Music mogul Jonathan King receives police apology over failed trial
6 Aug 2018
Surrey Police have apologised for serious failings in their investigation into DJ Jonathan King after the collapse of his trial in June.
There will be no further action against King, 73, and he will not be re-tried over alleged historical sex offences, police said.
King denied 23 serious sexual assault charges against teenage boys, alleged to have happened between 1970 and 1988.
His defence team said the investigation “lacked sufficient objectivity”.
Surrey Police said it had been running a complex investigation running over several years and involving an “enormous” amount of data and documentation.
King’s trial collapsed in June, and after it was confirmed that proceedings would not continue, the force said in a statement: “We deeply regret that despite these efforts we did not meet the required standards to ensure a fair trial.”
“As a result, the evidence will not be tested by a jury and neither the complainants’ nor the defendant have their voices heard in court. For this we wholeheartedly apologise.”
Surrey Police is commissioning an independent review of the investigation.
Birds solicitors, who represented King, said: “This case is yet another example of failings in the disclosure process. The judgment of the court sets out the detail of those failings which the judge described as a ‘debacle’.
“We have long expressed concerns about this investigation which we consider lacked sufficient objectivity and was run entirely contrary to the recommendations of the Henriques Report.”
King, an ex-pop star and producer for acts including Genesis, was released from jail in 2005 after serving half of a seven-year jail term for abusing underage boys between 1983 and 1989.
He was previously found guilty at the Old Bailey in 2001 of sex offences against five youngsters aged 14 and 15.
The CPS said King originally faced 24 charges, but one was dropped.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45088996
Mark Williams-Thomas who exposed Jimmy Savile ‘offered to sell names of DJ Jonathan King’s child sex abuse victims’ while working as a police detective on his case, judge claims
The ex-officer, who is working with Simon Cowell’s production company on a crime investigation series, said: ‘I have for the first time today been made aware that my name has been mentioned in a ruling by HHJ Deborah Taylor in the case against Jonathan King.
Mark Williams Thomas working with Simon Cowell – how dodgy is all that…Cowell gave financial support to previously convicted paedo Jonathan King
For Cowell – Mr Nasty on such talent shows as Pop Idol and The X Factor – put up £50,000 of his then friend’s £150,000 bail after he was first arrested.
According to King, when Cowell heard he’d been arrested, he was the first person to offer to help
King says that he later called Cowell to see if he’d put up part of the bail money and the X Factor star replied that he “didn’t need to ask”.
The money kept King out of prison during the lead-up to his Old Bailey trial in 2001, when he was jailed for seven years for offences against boys aged 14 and 15 in the 1980s.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/columnists/article-332299/Simons-shame.html
Radio One’s founding DJs is cleared of abusing an underage boy
…steering to a ‘these are innocent men caught up in a witch hunt” All on the back of Kitty (Cliff Richards) payouts.
Loads of reporting regarding the above two – Are they drawing the eyes away from Ball
Sex abuse bishop backed by Prince Charles tries to start a new life as a Catholic
- Peter Ball has moved to Somerset to start a new life after sex abuse conviction
- Ball, 86, was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 for historic abuse against boys
- The former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester was a friend of Prince Charles
A sex abuser bishop who was supported by Prince Charles has started a new life in the West Country where he hopes to become a Catholic.
Peter Ball, 86, moved into an 18th century property in a Somerset village after his release from prison last year for abusing 16 young men.
The revelations come days after it emerged Charles had described him as the victim of ‘monstrous wrongs’.
The supportive relationship was detailed in a series of letters given to the child sex abuse inquiry, which heard new claims of an alleged Establishment ‘cover up’ of Ball’s behaviour.
Despite his offences, the former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester is still the recipient of a generous Church of England pension.
Ball last night said he had been forbidden from discussing the ongoing inquiry, which is investigating how he escaped prosecution for decades after his offending came to light.
‘I really would like to talk but I’m under strict orders not to discuss anything that has gone on over the last few weeks,’ he said.
He is living with his twin brother Michael, the former Bishop of Truro, who has been accused of attempting to deter police investigations into his sibling.
A church review earlier this year also accused Michael Ball of overlooking accusations against Jeremy Dowling, a prominent church member who was jailed in 2015 for abusing boys.
The brothers live alone in a property owned by a couple that is on the same plot as a private sports facility used by children.
Neighbours said the brothers live a largely solitary existence, occasionally dining in a local pub.
One said: ‘Most people know of Peter Ball’s past, but you very rarely see them out and about.’ In an email to friends, the brothers revealed that they are seeking to convert to Catholicism due to their ‘battering’ by the Church of England over its handling of the scandal.
They said they want to ‘live and worship in anonymity and without constant fear’. A source from the Catholic Diocese of Clifton, which includes the village where the brothers live, said it is still considering the application amid concerns that welcoming them could prompt criticism.
The brothers previously moved to Somerset in 1997, when they controversially took over a property bought for them by Charles’s Duchy of Cornwall estate.
This came after Ball’s behaviour was first investigated by police in 1992, which resulted in him receiving a caution for gross indecency and resigning from his post as bishop.
Charles has insisted he had no personal involvement in the selection of the property and merely started the rental process.
A report by Dame Moira Gibb into the Ball case last year said the Duchy bought the property ‘specifically’ to house Ball and his brother before they moved out in 2011.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is investigating whether Ball’s coterie of establishment friends aided his return to church life before his eventual conviction in 2015.
In evidence to the inquiry last week, Charles said he had been ‘deceived’ by Ball and he did not understand that his 1993 caution carried an admission of guilt.
Letters revealed the depth of their friendship, with the prince saying he wished he could ‘do more’ to help Ball while promising to ‘see off’ an unnamed person connected to the case.
Charles explained that he broke off the friendship after Ball’s conviction, claiming only then did he realise the true extent of his offending.
‘I wish I could do more’: What the prince wrote to his friend the bishop as allegations swirled around
Keith Vaz accused of ‘bullying members of staff in House of Commons’
1 Aug 2018
The MP allegedly made comments about a clerk’s race and fertility
Veteran Labour politician Keith Vaz has reportedly been accused of bullying from a number of clerks as they tried to uphold the rules and processes in the House of Commons.
The MP for Leicester East allegedly made comments about one clerk’s race and told her she was bad at her job because she was “not a mother”, when she raised an issue about him not following rules and standards.
Jenny McCullough told the BBC’s Newsnight she was repeatedly on the receiving end of Mr Vaz’s bullying and was forced to leave her job because of his behaviour.
Mr Vaz has denied the allegations.
Ms McCullough served as the second clerk of the Home Affairs Select Committee which Mr Vaz chaired from 2007 to 2016, until he was forced to quit after the Sunday Mirror revealed he had engaged in unprotected sexual activity with male prostitutes and had said he would pay for cocaine if they wished to use it.
She told the programme that he made the comments when she attempted to enforce a set of rules that designed to stop professional visits abroad turning into personal holidays or business trips.
During a trip to Russia and Ukraine she allegedly attempted to highlight to him that he had not followed protocol on a number of occasions.
When she did so, she said Mr Vaz launched a “tirade” against her in a hotel lobby.
“At one point during this tirade, he told me that I wasn’t capable of serving the committee because I wasn’t a mother,” she told Newsnight. “All I knew was it wasn’t normal to be harangued about my fertility status in the reception of a hotel room, at public expense in front of my colleague on the team.
“I think there were other members of the committee there, I think there may have been some foreign office staff and other guests of the hotel.”
She also alleged that Mr Vaz made jokes that Ms McCullough was a security threat, on account of her Northern Irish background and accent.
The treatment continued well after the trip had come to an end, she said, adding that she was eventually asked to stop coming to team meetings because her presence resulted in Mr Vaz being too disruptive and not getting any work done.
She said when she highlighted the treatment to her managers, it was treated as though it was normal.
“It was as though there was something wrong with me, that I was too sensitive, that this was normal. And I found that a really hard response to deal with because they seem content to let Keith Vaz deliver this lesson to me by his treatment of me,” she said.
She said she did not put in a formal complaint because she was “afraid” of Mr Vaz and that as he was well connected she “thought it could only end badly”.
Ms McCullough is not the only clerk to raise a complaint about Mr Vaz’s behaviour, the programme reported.
The Independent has contacted Mr Vaz for a comment, but none had arrived at the time of publication.
However, a representative for the MP told Newsnight that he “did not berate Ms McCullough at any stage whether before during or after the Russia trip, nor did he at any time insult her maternal status”.
They added: “Furthermore, our client finds the allegation that he would make insulting jokes about anyone on the basis of race extremely offensive” and “would never trivialise a person’s ethnic background. No complaint or allegation of this nature has ever been brought to his attention. Our client had considered that he and Ms McCullough had previously had a good working relationship, and had always considered her to be very effective as a clerk.”
Keith Vaz has been a Labour party member since 1982.
Convicted archbishop Wilson’s replacement, Greg O’ Kelly, ‘mishandled’ abuse complaint
20 July 2018
Why would the Catholic Church put “a man like that” in the role, his accuser wants to know.
Bishop O’Kelly, 76, has already courted controversy in the temporary leadership role by saying the church would defy new laws requiring priests to report abuse revealed during confession.
Australian Vatican ambassador Reverend Adolfo Tito Yllana did not respond to questions about whether Pope Francis had been made aware of Bishop O’Kelly’s involvement in Michael’s case prior to the appointment.
Archbishop Philip Wilson
When an Australian archbishop’s conviction for covering up child sexual abuse threw the Catholic Church into crisis this year, Pope Francis appointed Greg O’Kelly to replace him.
But child abuse survivor Michael* is stunned the pontiff would turn to a South Australian bishop he says mishandled his complaint about a teacher who groomed and sexually abused him in the 1990s.
“With my experience of Greg O’Kelly, it is absolutely astounding that they would put a man like that in that role,” Michael told SBS News.
Bishop O’Kelly was the headmaster of Adelaide’s St Ignatius College in 1995 when Michael, a former student, told the clergyman he had been abused by teacher Stephen Hamra three years earlier when he was just 14.
“A boy was being hurt and I didn’t believe his version of the ordeal,” Bishop O’Kelly conceded to Michael in a letter sent almost two decades after their meeting.
Former teacher Stephen Hamra
Hamra stayed in the Catholic school system – and even went on to review a key child protection policy at another college – until the police notified the church of separate allegations against him in 2011.
Hamra, 61, who was last year convicted of offences against one victim dating back to the 1970s and ‘80s, was found guilty in April in relation to a second victim. He is awaiting sentencing.
Hamra was reinstated despite then-Director of Public Prosecutions Paul Rofe not ruling out “there being reasonable prospects of conviction” were the matter to go to court.
30 July 2018
Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson has resigned and Pope Francis has accepted his resignation. In May, Wilson was found guilty of concealing sexual abuse in the #HunterValley in the 1970s. He was sentenced to 12 months detention earlier this month
Christ’s Hospital School where 5 teachers have been jailed for CSA:
Nigella, Lord Nigel Lawson, Tom Lawson
5 May 2015
Tom Lawson, son of Lord Lawson and half-brother of Nigella, was educated at Eton before going to Oxford, and is now deputy head of Christ’s Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex.
https://www.byline.com/project/30/article/700
Lord Lawson say Police should stop funding investigations into historical abuse.
22/11/2015
- Some students were sent from Christ Hospital School to paedophile Bishop Peter Ball for punishment.
http://www.chforum.info/php/viewtopic.php?t=4549&start=45
Jimmy Savile acted as a kind of marriage counsellor between Charles and Princess Diana.
Whitehall is ‘covering up the past’: File on Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage, Lockerbie records and MI5 ‘link’ to Belfast lawyer death among documents blocked by government
- The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives released its latest report
- Whitehall is supposed to send files to the National Archives after 20 years
- Officials can block the release of files if they compromise National security
- The number of blocked files has jumped from 4,300 to 5,900 in a year
Civil servants have been accused of covering up embarrassing incidents such as official opinions on the marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, the Lockerbie atrocity and the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.
Government departments have blocked the release of almost 6,000 documents which have been deposited in the National Archives.
Many of the documents relate to Europe and John Major’s time in Downing Street.
Ordinarily, the files would be released under the 20-year rule – but Whitehall mandarins are afraid the contents would cause controversy.
Among the files being held back are those relating to former European Commission president Jacques Delors, who became a hate figure for some sections of the media.
The National Archives last year blocked the release of correspondence between Myra Hindley and Ian Brady citing ‘ongoing criminal investigations’.
Belfast human rights lawyer Pat Finucane was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in February 1989. His family believes he was set up by MI5 so the release of information on his killing would be highly embarrassing for the government.
The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to order a public inquiry into the state’s collusion into Mr Finucane’s murder.
Under the current rules, Whitehall departments can ask that files remain secret if they will undermine foreign relations or impinge on defence or security.
The Advisory Council on National Records and Archives released their 15th annual report, which revealed they met in May, July and November 2017 and then again in February 2018 to decide on the documents which should be released.
The Council criticised an un-named government department which took more than a year to settle a Freedom of Information request on a historic file.
As well as deciding on the records to release, the Council met with the Brexit department, once headed by David Davis to determine which files should be kept for later release in 20 years’ time.
Last year, of the 74,551 government records transferred to the National Archives, some 87.6 per cent are either open or partially closed and can be inspected by any member of the public with a reader ticket for the National Archives.
However, last year, Whitehall departments blocked the release of 5,974 files – compared with 4,290 in 2016/17.
Civil servants claimed an ‘absolute exemption’ on 60 per cent of these files so the Committee could not subject them to a public interest test.
The Committee examined 17 per cent of the exemptions – which resulted in more than half of them being overturned.
According to the report, the Government has been criticised for blocking the release of information: ‘The Council has, however, been disappointed by the time it has taken for departments to respond to some of its recommendations, such as the institution of a procedure to ensure that the Council is consulted where FOI requests are made for records retained by departments and where the FOIA exemption claimed by the department gives rise to a public interest test.
‘In one case, a recommendation from the review took more than a year to receive a response from your department.’
One major problem relates to funding. The Ministry of Defence wants to transfer military service records from the early part of the last century and digitise them for ease of access. However, the Committee’s report suggests the funds are not available to complete the project.
Also, one researcher wrote to the Committee to complain about the release of a certain series of files held by the Ministry of Defence.
According to the 11-page report, which was submitted to Jeremy Wright, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the most common reasons to block the release of historic documents are ‘international relations’ and ‘risks to the health or safety of individuals’.
Jimmy Savile acted as a kind of marriage counsellor between Charles and Princess Diana.
Jimmy Savile caused concern with behaviour on visits to Prince Charles
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/29/jimmy-savile-behaviour-prince-charles
Paedophile Jimmy Savile was paedophile Bishop Ball’s principal entree into the royal household. Paedophile Bishop Peter Ball also counselled Prince Charles
Peter Ball: the sinful bishop and a very English cover-up
Times 27/7/18
Paedophile Peter Ball also claimed to be a friend of the Duchess of York.
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqjvmh
The Duchess of York was also good friends with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein
Cash-strapped Fergie took £15,000 from paedophile billionaire at centre of claims Prince Andrew slept with under-age ‘sex slave’
- Duchess of York struck deal with disgraced tycoon in December 2010
- Came within days of Duke of York flying out to visit Epstein in New York
Charles and the pervert: Prince tells child sex abuse inquiry he was ‘deceived’ by bishop Peter Ball but says he cannot remember who he was referring to when he said ‘I will see off this horrid man’ in letter to disgraced clergyman 21 years ago
- Prince Charles denied he tried to influence an investigation into Peter Ball
- The royal gave written evidence at a sex child abuse inquiry on Friday
- Ball, the former Bishop of Lewes, sexually abused 18 men during ’80s and ’90s
The Prince of Wales has told a public inquiry he was ‘deceived’ by disgraced bishop Peter Ball and said he ‘cannot shed any light’ on the ‘horrid man’ he referred to in a letter to the paedophile.
Prince Charles was friends with the ex-Bishop of Lewes for over two decades after he accepted a caution for gross indecency.
He only cut ties with him after he was convicted of sexually abusing 18 young men aged 17 to 25 over 30 years in 2015.
The convicted Bishop, 86, was released last year after serving half his sentence behind bars.
In written evidence today, Prince Charles refused to elaborate on a letter he wrote to Ball at the time of sexual misconduct claims, telling him: ‘I will see off this horrid man if he tries anything again.’
Ball had told the Prince a single accuser was behind allegations that led to him having to quit as the Bishop of Gloucester.
In a letter to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, the Prince said Ball had told him the complaint against him was false and had arisen from someone who had a grudge against him and was ‘persecuting’ him.
In extracts from one letter between the Prince and Ball, Charles says: ‘I can’t bear it that the frightful and terrifying man is on the loose and doing his worst.’
But in his letter to the inquiry on Friday, the Prince, who said he regrets having been ‘deceived’ by Ball, said: ‘I regret that I am unable to shed any light on references made in a letter dated 23rd March 1997 to a ‘horrid man’ or a ‘frightful and terrifying man’.
‘This seems to be a manner of speaking in the midst of a long letter written more than twenty years ago.
‘I do recall that Peter Ball felt that numerous individuals, including his critics in the media, were doing all in their power to disadvantage him unfairly.
‘I suspect, but cannot be certain, that the reference is to this issue in some way.’
The Prince says he did not know about the nature of the complaint against Ball and had not appreciated the meaning of a caution – the acceptance of guilt.
A lawyer for some of the former bishop’s victims has said it was difficult to see that ‘as anything other than willful blindness’.
Ball had previously boasted of being a confidant of Charles, and his court case heard that a member of the royal family was among a host of public figures who supported him when he avoided charges in 1993.
In a statement the Prince of Wales denied he tried to influence the police probe into Ball, as he also revealed the bishop told him he had quit his job over an ‘indiscretion’.
He is not giving evidence in person, and it is instead being read out from a prepared statement.
Today he was pictured meeting the UK’s first F-35 Lightening Squadron at the RAF base in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
In another letter from the Prince to Ball in 1995 – two years after Ball’s caution – the future king said he wished he could ‘do more’.
He said: ‘I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated.’
Charles also said he had been told by the then Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey the church was looking at bringing Ball back into public ministry.
In the 1995 letter he said it was ‘appalling’ that the Archbishop, now Lord Carey, had ‘gone back on what he told me’.
He said it was clear the Archbishop was ‘frightened of the press – what he calls ‘public perception’.’
Another letter from Charles the following year referred to the process of getting a Duchy of Cornwall property for Ball and his brother Michael, Bishop of Truro.
It said: ‘I long to see you both settled somewhere that suits you and gives you peace and tranquility – and not too far from here so you can come over more easily.’
The pair rented a Duchy property between 1997 and 2011.
Charles’s letter to the inquiry added: ‘My heart goes out to the victims of abuse and I applaud their courage as they rebuild their lives and, so often, offer invaluable support to others who have suffered.
‘I wish I could do more’: What the prince wrote to his friend the bishop as allegations swirled around
Sept 1993, Ball to Charles
Life continues to be pretty nasty for me for, it seems that my accusers still want to continue their malicious campaign. Luckily they are beginning to show some of their fraudulent plans.
Dec 1994, Charles to Ball
I saw the Archbishop the other day and he told me he is trying to bring you back to a public ministry. I do hope this will be all right and suit you, if and when it happens….
Feb 1995, Charles to Ball
I wish I could do more. I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated. It’s appalling that the Archbishop has gone back on what he told me, before Xmas, that he was hoping to restore you to some form of Ministry in the Church.
I suspect you are absolutely right – it is due to fear of the media….If it is any consolation, the Archbishop has written me a letter (between you and me) in which it is also clear that he is frightened of the press – what he calls ‘public perception’, which in fact, perception of events and characters based entirely on lies, invention, speculation and sensation.
Dec 1995, Ball to Charles
The young man who accused me keeps on harassing. The last was a few weeks back with a fax, threatening to say more, when he has agreed not to and ending with the words ‘Your never forgiving brother in Christ’. That is both vile and blasphemous and oh that the police and CPS had seen and known from the beginning the nature of the young man. How I wish the Archbishop or someone would tell them.
April 1996, Ball to Charles
And I can honestly share the pain of it all having tried to break the crippling and unchristian powers of the ecclesiastical set up, and then being deserted in my hour of need.
June 1996, Charles to Ball
…I am so glad that [X] has been in touch as I requested. I pray the Duchy will be able to find something suitable for you both in due course, but it may take a little time to locate it! I long to see you both settled somewhere that suits you and gives you peace and tranquility – and not too far from here so you can come over more easily…
March 1997, Charles to Ball
[X] tells me that your house has been bought successfully – it looks rather nice – and I only hope the rent won’t be too bad!
I can’t bear it that the frightful, terrifying man is on the loose again and doing his worst… I was visiting the vicar… and we were enthusing about you and your brother and he then told me that he had heard that this ghastly man was up to his dastardly tricks again…. I’ll see off this horrid man if he tries anything again.
Aug 2001, Charles to Ball
I do however firmly believe that one day people will be forced to signing your resignation deed but, as you have been advised, I daresay that the establishment will close ranks and you will get nowhere. But how outrageous that now these people say sorry – and only in private….
Dec 2001, Charles to Ball
I saw [ ] the other day…he mentioned that you were thinking of going to the Archbishop and seemed a bit anxious about it… I daresay by now you will have approached the Archbishop but in your letter you so kindly asked me whether I had any objections – something which you certainly didn’t need to do.
The only thing I would say is that unless you really need to go to the Archbishop of Canterbury – for financial reasons particularly – I would have thought it might be better to let sleeping dogs lie…
Oct 2009, Ball to Charles
I am now nearly a broken man, because of what the Church has put me through after seventeen years of serving in retirement. They have smashed me with the bully of an assessor -…from a Child Protection Officer and no pastoral care, except two nice letters from the Archbishop. Suddenly, I am not allowed to baptise, or go to any parish without informing the Church Warden that I had a caution all those years back…
Ball included a letter that set out he was being risk assessed.
May 2010, Ball to Charles
…the horror that has come to me from the Bishop of Chichester with the Archbishop’s obvious hand in it. I have been told that I may not minister at all when we move, nor may I worship anywhere without signing a Declaration for the Protection of Children.
May 2012, Ball to Charles
Writes to say that the police are re-opening the investigation and are to question him. He says: ‘I thought it had been fully examined twenty years ago.’
July 2012, Ball to Charles
Life is ‘almost unbearable. I am being pursued and persecuted. In ways which it would not be discreet to enlarge on, though I am sure that you can guess their source and virulence’.
Dec 2012, Ball to Charles
Ball wrote to thank the Prince of Wales for phoning him, writing in the letter that the affair of twenty years ago had been ‘stirred up’ again by Lambeth.
‘It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of Mr Ball’s activities.’
He also said, in the six-page statement read by counsel to the inquiry Fiona Scolding, that he had not appreciated the meaning of the caution and that at the time the word of a bishop was generally seen as trustworthy.
He said he did not realise the truth of what had gone on until Ball’s conviction, adding that his main source of information until then had been the bishop himself.
Dismissing any suggestion he had ever tried to interfere in the police investigation into Ball, Charles said it was possible his name had been taken ‘in vain’.
In his statement, dated July 10 this year, Charles said: ‘At no stage did I ever seek to influence the outcome of either of the police investigations into Peter Ball and nor did I instruct or encourage my staff to do so.’
Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, is too ill to give evidence in person, the inquiry has heard.
But in a statement he referred to his relationship as having been one of ‘support and respect’.
Ball said: ‘I would strongly resist any suggestion that in some way I could bring pressure to bear on him to act on my behalf and have certainly never made a request for him to do so.’
On Monday the inquiry heard there had been lengthy discussions between Charles’s lawyers and the inquiry in which his legal team initially argued that the future king could not be compelled to produce a statement.
Clarence House has since said Charles was willing to help the inquiry and had voluntarily answered all questions asked of him.
Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon who represents a number of Ball’s victims, said Charles’s explanation that he was not aware of the meaning of a caution left his clients ‘dissatisfied’.
He said: ‘Prince Charles had access to the best legal advice that money can buy and, as a man in his position, a particular responsibility to check the facts.
‘It is difficult to see his failure to do so as anything other than wilful blindness.
‘His evidence, together with that of Lord Carey, the then archbishop of Canterbury, and other establishment figures who have given evidence this week, will do little to dissuade survivors from the conclusion that the British establishment aided and protected Ball and even now have failed to give a transparent account of their actions.’
Charles said in the six-page letter dated July 10 this year that it was his ‘deep regret’ that he and others had been ‘misled’ by Ball.
Elsewhere in his evidence, Charles said Ball had been invited to his home to give holy communion a number of times, from 1993.
He said: ‘Peter Ball occasionally wrote to me in respect of private, often spiritual, matters.’
Referring to his knowledge of the complaint against Ball, he added that in the 1980s and 1990s there was ‘a presumption that people such as Bishops could be taken at their word and, as a result of the high office they held, were worthy of trust and confidence’.
He said at the time ‘there was on my part a presumption of good faith’.
The inquiry is examining how the Church of England handled allegations of sexual abuse and has previously focused on the Diocese of Chichester – where Ball and several other convicted paedophile priests once officiated.
Ball accepted a caution for one count of gross indecency in 1993 and resigned due to ill health.
Prince Charles’ full statement to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Dear Professor Jay
1. Thank you for inviting me to offer context on how I came to know former Bishop Peter Ball and on my dealings with him over the years, to assist your important Inquiry. I want to begin by applauding your work to ensure that the abuse of children is properly investigated and appropriate measures are taken to ensure they are fully protected. That is why I am pleased, on this occasion, to offer the following information, which I have set out to the best of my recollection after the passage of 25 years.
2. Over the years I have had, and continue to have, many interactions with the Clergy of the Church of England and of other Faiths, often on a daily basis. Set in that context, I first became aware of Peter Ball sometime during the 1980s, when I heard him preach. At that time, he came across as an interesting and engaging person. He was later appointed Bishop of Gloucester, in 1992. Since he had become my local Diocesan Bishop, near my home in Gloucestershire, I attended his Installation. He gave an impressive Address, which brought him to my attention again. At the same time I recall becoming aware of Michael Ball (Peter Ball’s brother) who was later appointed Bishop of Truro, to which I am also closely connected through the Duchy of Cornwall. Over the whole of my life, I have met countless senior Clergy who have been invited to preach and, on various occasions, I have myself invited them to give Holy Communion at my home. I extended such invitations to Peter Ball from time to time, starting in 1993.
3. As is well known, I maintain correspondence relationships with a great number of individuals. Peter Ball occasionally wrote to me in respect of private, often spiritual, matters. On each occasion I naturally replied as I believe that to be the polite thing to do, although there was often a significant delay on my part given other priorities which demanded my attention. My recollection is that these exchanges were normally instigated and driven by Peter Ball, in addition to a handful of telephone calls during the decades of our correspondence. Having refreshed my memory of our correspondence to try to help your Inquiry, I note this is borne out by the contents and dates of the letters in question.
4. With the significant passage of time, I cannot now recall with sufficient certainty when the following exchange took place and whether there was one particular conversation that concerned the reflections I offer below or more than one.
5. Peter Ball told me that he had been involved in some form of ‘indiscretion’, which prompted his resignation as my local Bishop at Gloucester. He emphasised that one individual, who I now understand to be Mr Neil Todd, had made a complaint to the Police; that the Police had investigated the matter; and that the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service had decided to take no action. This sequence of events seemed to support Mr Ball’s claim that the complaint emanated from a single individual; that the individual bore a grudge against him and was ‘persecuting’ him; that the complaint was false; but that the individual had nonetheless profited from the complaint by selling his story to the newspapers. The matter was described by him as ‘closed’. Peter Ball added that various people within the Church did not like him and had themselves used the complaint to curtail his ministry and force his resignation. When this exchange took place, I did not know about the nature of the complaint.
6. The true context and details of this complaint, and I now understand many others, against Peter Ball did not come to my attention until the time of Mr Ball’s trial and conviction in 2015. My main source of information before this was Mr Ball himself, though I should add that I was so fully occupied by my public role that Mr Ball’s situation was rarely at the front of my mind. As context, it seems important to say that in the 1980’s and 1990’s there was a presumption that people such as Bishops could be taken at their word and, as a result of the high office they held, were worthy of trust and confidence. That has changed over the years, as evidence has caused us all to be more challenging of what we hear and what we are told. But, at the time, there was on my part a presumption of good faith. I believe I was far from alone in taking this view.
7. I was certainly not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution that Peter Ball has accepted, or indeed sure if I was even told about it. Whilst I note that Peter Ball mentioned the word in a letter to me in October 2009, I was not aware until recently that a caution in fact carries an acceptance of guilt. I was aware that the Crown Prosecution Service had decided not to pursue a case against Mr Ball. This seemed to support Mr Ball’s defence of his position set out in his letter.
8. I recall that Peter Ball told me that following his resignation as Bishop of Gloucester he would lose the house in which he lived and that, as a consequence, both he and his brother Michael would become homeless. He told me that their monastic vows meant they had very little money. In this context, I occasionally sent the brothers small gifts of money, as I do for many people in need, and Pete Ball’s interest in becoming a tenant of a Duchy of Cornwall property then arose. A significant part of the Duchy’s business is in arranging and managing leases for properties and I mentioned the situation of the Ball brothers to the Duchy, as I do for others from time to time. The details of the eventual rental were handled, as usual, by Duchy staff. I was aware of the transaction but did not assist with the selection of the house. Some time later, in 1997, Peter and Michael Ball became tenants of a Duchy property until early in 2011, when they moved on.
Police investigations
9. At no stage did I ever seek to influence the outcome of either of the Police investigations into Peter Ball and nor did I instruct or encourage my staff to do so.
10. I understand from document ANG000021 that a member of Gloucestershire Police seems to recall that he ‘came under pressure’ in 1992 or 1993 which related in some way to some form of interest from myself and my staff in Peter Ball. This is untrue. Indeed, at the time of this Police investigation I had no knowledge of these particular matters. It follows, therefore, that I did not authorise – and could not have authorised – any such action. And nor would I have done.
11. Likewise, I have no recollection of any contact by one of my Personal Protection Officers or indeed any member of my staff with Gloucestershire Police. I was clear at the time, as I have remained clear, that the Police must be able to carry out their investigation in the proper manner without external pressure or influence. We have looked at our files and can find no record of any of these matters. It is always possible that my name was taken in vain, as can unfortunately happen from time to time. As I make clear elsewhere in this Statement, there is a gap between rumour and fact.
12. In a similar vein, I do not recall receiving a letter from Michael Ball in April 2013 as described by Detective Superintendent Carwyn Hughes (OHY000203). Having looked at our files we cannot find any record of such a letter. The occasional letters that I did receive from Michael Ball were of private and social nature and I am not aware of any interest from Sussex Police in this correspondence. Nevertheless, I have made available to you copies of the private correspondence received from Michael Ball, in case that could help your Inquiry in any way. I understand that a conversation took place between Sussex Police and the Metropolitan Police Royalty Protection team in 2013, and that Sussex Police informed the Metropolitan Police that they visited Peter Ball’s home and removed items which included a letter sent from me. I believe the Metropolitan Police asked whether or not this letter was relevant to the inquiry. I further understand that the Metropolitan Police emphasised clearly that they were not enquiring about the investigation itself and specifically wished to avoid any appearance of influence over it. They wished only to establish the facts about the property that had been removed and its correct ownership. The Metropolitan Police were told that the letter in question was not relevant and that it was to be returned by Sussex Police to Peter Ball.
The Church of England
13. Probably late in 1994 (although I cannot now be certain of the date) I recall seeing the then-Archbishop of Canterbury at an event and taking that opportunity to ask, among other issues, about Peter Ball as he had lately been my local Bishop. I remember the Archbishop was supportive of Peter Ball and thought him a good man and priest. I do not think we discussed any detail, though I recall that the Archbishop was perhaps thinking of ‘trying to bring [Peter Ball] back to a public ministry’ at some stage. I understood there were some complications, but these were not described. As this was clearly a matter for Church authorities, I took no personal position on it.
14. Other than this conversation with the then-Archbishop, I do not recall any specific conversations regarding Peter Ball, although I was aware that Mr Ball was himself keen to persuade the Church to ‘restore [him] to some form of Ministry in the Church’. The general view of members of the Clergy who occasionally mentioned him to me was that he was a capable and well-liked priest.
15. The Inquiry has asked about a note made by Andrew Purkis, of Lambeth Palace, following a lunch he had with my then-Private Secretary, Richard Aylard, on 30th August 1994 (ACE003034). My Private Secretary meets regularly with members of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Office to discuss a range of matters. Having reviewed the document it is clear that the meeting took place in the normal course of business and was for the purpose of discussing matters other than Mr Ball. I cannot shed any light on what appears to be a brief mention of Mr Ball at the end of the meeting. I have no recollection of discussing the matter. I have also been shown a copy of my letter of 14th December 2001 addressed to Peter Ball. As far as I can recall, this letter conveyed that I could not assist Peter Ball in any approach he was thinking of making to the Archbishop to seek a return to public ministry. I recall Peter Ball repeating this request around this time and again some time later and my declining to assist. It follows therefore that I was not involved in ‘any discussion with Lambeth Palace’ on this matter.
Contact with Institutions
16. You have asked about contact between myself and institutions in respect of Peter Ball between 1993 and 2015. To the best of my knowledge and belief I have dealt with these contacts in the information I have volunteered above, and I can only hope this will be of some assistance to you.
17. I have been shown an extract from an interview conducted by the Chair of the Church of England’s Inquiry into Peter Ball last year, Dame Moira Gibb, with Elizabeth Hall of the Church of England, suggested there were some rumours of an interest from me in Peter Ball being given some alternative employment (INQ000682). I can confirm that this is untrue: not for the first time, and as the Gibb Inquiry concluded in respect of my contacts with Peter Ball over the years, there is a gap between rumour and fact. I did not seek any such roles for Mr Ball and did not ask others to do so on my behalf.
18. I regret that I am unable to shed any light on references made in a letter dated 23rd March 1997 to a ‘horrid man’ or a ‘frightful and terrifying man’. This seems to be a manner of speaking in the midst of a long letter written more than twenty years ago. I do recall that Peter Ball felt that numerous individuals, including his critics in the media, were doing all in their power to disadvantage him unfairly. I suspect, but cannot be certain, that the reference is to this issue in some way. It of course needs to be read in the context of my understanding at the time, namely that Peter Ball had been falsely accused of a single offence (the nature of which was unknown to me) by an individual whom the relevant judicial authorities and many others had themselves not believed. Events later demonstrated beyond any doubt, to my deep regret, that I, along with many others, had been misled and the reverse was true. At the time, however, it would have followed that people seeking to disadvantage Peter Ball, including from gaining employment, were behaving unfairly. What I can say with certainty is that I did not express this view to anyone else or take any action associated with it.
19. In conclusion, I would like to state that, throughout my life, my position has occasionally brought me into contact with prominent people who have subsequently been accused of serious wrong-doing. Rather than rushing to private judgement, I have always taken the view that the judicial process should take its course. I am then able to ground my opinions in facts tested by law, rather than hearsay. In many cases, including two very prominent cases of false accusation last year, this has proved a sensible course. It follows that I ceased contact with Mr Ball once the judicial process had concluded and he was found guilty of serious offences against young people. My heart goes out to the victims of abuse and I applaud their courage as they rebuild their lives and, so often, offer invaluable support to others who have suffered. It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of Mr Ball’s activities. That is why I wanted to volunteer the facts in this letter, which I believe to be true, in the hope that they might be able to help your important work.
Yours sincerely
DPA
Prayers at Highgrove and a friendship that lasted decades
By Sam Greenhill for The Daily Mail
Peter Ball, who made his young victims roll in the snow naked before beating them until they bled, once described Prince Charles as a loyal friend.
The pair had prayed together at Highgrove and exchanged more than 50 letters, many of them deeply spiritual.
And even after his ‘indiscretion’ with a boy of 17, the bishop was given a Duchy of Cornwall house to live in, for which he thanked the ‘wonderfully kind’ prince.
Yesterday Charles expressed deep regret that he had ever put his faith in Ball, saying he had been horribly deceived by the paedophile bishop.
Charles said that in the 1980s, when he first knew him, and the 1990s, there was ‘a presumption that people such as bishops could be taken at their word’
It is now believed that sadistic Ball preyed on more than 100 boys and men in a 20-year reign of abuse.
Born in 1932, he went to Lancing College public school in West Sussex and Cambridge University before establishing a monastery in Gloucestershire with his twin brother, Michael.
Ball showed ‘favouritism’ to novice monks, and targeted schools to deliver sermons.
He was made Bishop of Lewes in 1977 and Bishop of Gloucester from 1992, during which time he handpicked 18 vulnerable victims to commit acts of ‘debasement’ in the name of religion.
He would pray naked with them at the altar and encourage them to submit to beatings. At least five more victims were schoolchildren.
As Bishop of Gloucester, Ball’s diocese covered Charles’s country home Highgrove, and the prince was among the guests at his enthronement.
By now, he was one of the church’s best known characters, refusing to wear the ceremonial purple of a bishop in favour of simple, monastic robes, sleeping on the floor and taking vows of celibacy.
Eight months after the enthronement, Ball was arrested. Yesterday the prince recalled: ‘Peter Ball told me he had been involved in some sort of “indiscretion” which prompted his resignation as my local bishop.’
In fact he had been horrifically abusing 16-year-old trainee monk Neil Todd, forcing him to perform sex acts as they lay naked in bed together, take ice-cold, early-morning showers while reading the Bible and stand side by side naked reciting psalms in front of a figure of Christ.
Mr Todd was so tormented he eventually committed suicide aged 38 in 2012.
In his letter to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse, Charles said he was unaware of the true nature of the clergyman’s behaviour until more than 20 years after allegations first surfaced.
Ball got away with a police caution in March 1993 despite confessing his guilt. For his part, Charles said he had accepted Ball’s claim that Mr Todd had borne a grudge and made false allegations.
So Ball resumed his ministry, even officiating over communion at Highgrove.
He was also provided with Manor Lodge, a pretty cottage on Charles’s Duchy of Cornwall estate in the village of Aller, Somerset.
Clarence House has been at great pains to say it was the Duchy of Cornwall, the private estate which funds the heir to the throne, and not Charles himself that had purchased the lodge that Ball rented.
It subsequently emerged that police went easy on Ball in 1993 and cited his royal connections.
In documents unearthed by the BBC, retired police detective Wayne Murdock is said to have discussed with Ball’s legal team ‘the need to prevent a scandal, especially as Peter was a frequent visitor to Sandringham and is friendly with Prince Charles’.
It also emerged that the bishop’s lawyers had claimed to have a ‘letter of support from a member of the Royal Family’, who was not named. It is unclear whether this could be the same letter as the one that emerged yesterday.
Either way, no such letter was ever produced in any court hearings, and an official report found there was no evidence any royal had sought to intervene in the judicial process.
But the mother of the trainee monk was scathing about Prince Charles allowing Ball to live on his Duchy estate. Speaking in 1998, she said of the bishop: ‘He is pure evil, a beast, and he’s hiding behind God.
This is quite unbelievable. I don’t know what Prince Charles thinks he is doing.’
Yesterday Charles said he had always believed in allowing the judicial process to take its course ‘rather than rushing to private judgement’.
In 2006 Ball’s status in royal circles was confirmed in spectacular style when he was invited to read the homily at the funeral of the father of Camilla Parker Bowles.
He continued as a Church of England priest until 2010.
But justice was slowly catching up with him. Police re-opened their investigation in 2012 after new allegations, and this time a flood of Ball’s victims came forward.
If Charles was anxious, that might explain why in 2013 a royal aide contacted the chief constable of Sussex Police to ask whether information gathered during its investigation could ‘be embarrassing to Prince Charles or the monarchy in general’. Apparently they were reassured.
In 2015, Ball’s crimes were finally laid bare at the Old Bailey which heard shocking details of his reign of abuse. His trial heard he had been protected by ‘Cabinet ministers, the Royal Family, MPs, JPs and a lord’, not to mention the Church of England.
The Church has since expressed its ‘true sorrow’ at its shocking failures.
Ball, now 86, was released in February last year and lives a free man back in Aller, Somerset.
Clarence House was quick to insist last night that he is definitely not living in any of Charles’s properties.
Not the VSCP@NottheVSCP
Incredibly naive and unwise letters from Prince Charles to Peter Ball. Completely biased and one-sided. Showing only sympathy for the perpetrator. This is 2 yrs after Ball had accepted caution, admitting his guilt!
#iicsa #CSA #CSE #cofe #PrinceCharles
Wouldn’t you think with the sort of emotion he displays here he has inordinate affection for this sado-peado?
Extracts from correspondence between Prince Charles and Peter Ball
Ball to Prince Charles
8/12/95 “The young man who accused me keeps on harassing. The last few weeks back
Prince Charles to Peter Ball
16/02/95 “I wish I could do more. I feel so desperately strongly about the monstrous wrongs that have been done to you and the way you have been treated. It’s appalling that the Archbishop has gone back on what he told me, before Xmas, that he was hoping to restore you to some form of Ministry in the Church. I suspect you are absolutely right- it is due to fear of the media…If it is any consolation, the Archbishop has written me a letter (between you and me) in which it is also clear that he is frightened of the press – what he calls “public perception” of events and characters based entirely on lies, invention, speculation and sensation.”
Prince Charles to Peter Ball
11/12/94 “I saw the Archbishop the other day and he told me he is trying to bring you back to a public ministry. I do hope this will be all right and suit you, if and when it happens…”
Peter Ball to Prince Charles
16/11/93 “Life continues to be pretty nasty for me for it seems that my accusers still want to continue their malicious campaign. Luckily they are beginning to show some of their fraudulent plans.”
https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/6147/view/ANG000334.pdf
Charles denies trying to influence inquiry into sex abuse bishop
27 July 2018
Prince Charles has denied that he tried to influence a police investigation into disgraced bishop Peter Ball.
In written evidence to a child sex abuse inquiry, the heir to the throne said claims by a former police officer that he “came under pressure” as a result of interest from himself were “untrue” and argued there was “a gap between rumour and fact”.
The Prince of Wales also revealed that following his resignation as bishop of Gloucester, he had sent Ball’s and his brother “small gifts of money” and also assisted them in getting one of his Duchy of Cornwall property’s.
He said: “It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of many who were deceived over a long period of time about the true nature of Mr Ball’s activities.”
The written statement from Charles was read out during the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) investigation as it examines how allegations against the former Church of England bishop were handled.
Now 86, the former bishop of Lewes and then Gloucester was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 for sexually abusing 18 young men over 30 years. He was released in February last year after serving half his sentence behind bars.
https://news.sky.com/story/charles-denies-trying-to-influence-inquiry-into-sex-abuse-bishop-11451079
InquiryCSA Verified account @InquiryCSA
We are now hearing a read statement from HRH The Prince of Wales.
I want to begin by applauding the your work to ensure the abuse of children is properly investigated and appropriate measures are taken to ensure they are protected.
Over the years I have had, and continue to have, many interactions with the clergy of the Church of England, and of other faiths, often on a daily basis.
I first became aware of Peter Ball in the 1980’s when I heard him preach. At that time, he came across as an interesting and engaging person
Peter Ball occasionally wrote to me in respect of private, often spiritual matters. On each occasion I naturally replied as I believe that to be the polite thing to do.
Peter Ball told me he had been involved in some form of ‘indiscretion’ which prompted his resignation as the Bishop of Gloucester. The matter was described by him as ‘closed’. When this exchange took place I did not know the nature of the complaint.
I was certainly not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution Peter Ball had accepted, or indeed sure if I was even told about it.
I occasionally send the brothers small gifts of money, as I do for many people in need, and Peter Ball’s interest in becoming a tenant of a Duchy of Cornwall property then arose.
Probably late in 1994, I recall seeing the then Archbishop and of Canterbury at an event, and taking the opportunity to ask, among other issues, about Peter Ball as he had lately been my local Bishop.
Other than this conversation, I do not recall any specific conversations regarding Peter Ball, although I was aware that Peter Ball himself was keen to persuade the church to restore him to some form of ministry in the church.
I remember the Archbishop was supportive of Peter Ball and thought him a good man and priest.
“In conclusion, I would like to state that, throughout my life, my position has occasionally brought me into contact with prominent people that have subsequently been accused of wrongdoing.
“Rather than rushing to public judgement I have always taken the view that the judicial process should take its course.
“It follows that I ceased contact with Peter Ball once the judicial process was completed and he was found guilty of serious offences against young people.”
“My heart goes out to the victims of abuse, and I applaud their courage as they rebuild their lives and, so often, offer invaluable support to others who have suffered.
“It remains a source of deep personal regret that I was one of the many who were deceived over a long period of time as to the true nature of Peter Ball’s activities.”
We are now hearing extracts from letters between HRH The Prince of Wales and Peter Ball. These extracts are available on our website.
InquiryCSA Verified account @InquiryCSA
A letter is now being read which was sent from Lord Lloyd of Berwick to Mr Murdock: “He (Peter Ball) is the most upright, gentle and saintly man, I find it difficult to accept such an awful fate has befallen such a man.”
We are now hearing from Lord Berwick regarding a telephone call he made to Wayne Murdock, SIO in the Peter Ball case from Gloucestershire police.
Ms Scolding is now discussing with Lord Berwick his support of Peter Ball returning to the church ministry. He thought it acceptable to go back to the ministry as he had resigned as a bishop and could not be left with nothing to do for the rest of his life.
In 2008/09 Ms Wood notes that Peter Ball did not have a risk assessment while he was working in Bath & Wells. She conducted a past cases review in 2009. She described a “disturbing pattern of behaviour” from Peter Ball.
Ms Wood raised concerns in 2008/09 that a 17 year old who was attending school, who Peter Ball to masturbate in front of him. The file notes said it was no offence, but it was an offence of gross indecency.
Ms Scolding has asked Ms Gibb about the limits of her report into Peter Ball. She confirms that she had no difficulties in accessing information from the Church of England, however had difficulties with Northamptonshire Constabulary and Gloucestershire Constabulary.
Jonathan King
Southwark Crown Court 10 T20177223 Kenneth George King Details: For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Resume – 14:20 For Ment
Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Witness Number 2 Continues – 14:25 For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Witness evidence concluded – 14:41 For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Case adjourned until 15:45 – 15:41 For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Resume – 15:56 For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Hearing finished for KENNETH GEORGE KING – 16:59 For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Case to be listed on 27-Jul-2018 – 17:35
http://www.thelawpages.com/court-hearings-lists/crown-court-daily/60/lists/2018-07-25
FA sex abuse inquiry finds no evidence of conspiracy or cover-up
26 July 2018
The man leading an investigation into historical sex abuse for the Football Association has found no evidence of an institutionalised conspiracy, the BBC understands.
Clive Sheldon QC began his independent inquiry in 2016 following a series of allegations by former players.
He hopes to submit his final report at the end of September, and it is now unlikely he will conclude there was organised abuse or a cover-up of the kind alleged in other institutions like the Church of England.
However, Sheldon is still expected to find that there were failings by both individuals and clubs, and next month he will write to those he intends to comment on, giving them a chance to defend themselves.
The legal process of giving criticised witnesses the right to respond – known as ‘Maxwellisation’ – is expected to last around a month.
An inquiry spokesman said: “Over the summer the review team will be writing to institutions and individuals to provide them with an opportunity to respond to comments Clive Sheldon QC may make about them in his final report to the FA board.
“The review team are expecting to send those letters out shortly and will expect to hear back within weeks.”
It is thought around 12 clubs will form the basis of Sheldon’s findings, likely to include the likes of Crewe Alexandra, Manchester City, Chelsea and Aston Villa.
All the clubs from whom he requested a ‘structured report’ into how they handled allegations of abuse have now cooperated with the inquiry.
In March, Crewe said they would scrap plans for their own independent review into abuse by former coach Barry Bennell.
In February, Bennell was sentenced to 31 years in prison for abusing 12 boys, seven of whom were linked to the Cheshire club.
So far Sheldon has met 35 victims, and reviewed the testimony of more than 100 individuals.
Investigators have sifted through 13,000 documents in the FA archives – adding up to 1.3 million pages – as part of their search for data relating to safeguarding procedures and child protection cases.
Some 500 case management files – not all relating to child abuse – are thought to contain relevant information.
The inquiry team has also had access to documents held in the archives of the Premier League and the English Football League.
On Thursday the chief executive of the Scottish FA apologised for the abuse young players suffered in the past.
Ian Maxwell was responding to an 18-month investigation which found child protection policies are “not fit for purpose” and must change to prevent future cases of abuse.
The most recent police figures from March showed 849 alleged victims had come forward since former Crewe player Andy Woodward first spoke to the Guardian newspaper and the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme about the abuse he suffered.
Operation Hydrant, the specialist police unit in charge of the operation, has identified 300 suspects and a number of court cases involving professional clubs are under way.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44973658
Martin Walkerdine@mwalkerdine
FA sex abuse inquiry finds no evidence of conspiracy or cover-up ( Do people believe this ? )
IICSA Day 4 Transcript
Prince Charles aide asked police if anything could ’embarrass’ him during inquiry into paedophile bishop
25 July 2018
An aide to the Prince of Wales contacted police in 2013 to ask about “embarrassing” material it may have collected during an investigation into a paedophile bishop, the independent child sex abuse inquiry has heard.
A member of the Prince’s staff contacted the chief constable of Sussex Police to ask whether information gathered during its investigation into Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester, could “be embarassing to Prince Charles or the monarchy in general”.
Ball, now 86, was convicted in 2015 of misconduct in public office after admitting the sexual abuse of 18 young men.
According to the evidence of Detective Chief Inspector Carwyn Hughes, who worked on the investigation, the disgraced bishop had a “long-lasting friendship” with the Prince of Wales and the pair had exchanged several letters.
The contact was made after Peter Ball’s brother Michael Ball sent a letter to the Prince.
On Wednesday the officer told the inquiry he examined the police’s records to see if they had collected any material which could “damage the reputation of Prince Charles”, and did not find any.
Calling the contact “highly unusual” on account of the prince’s status, he said it prompted him to consider whether the prince could be a witness in the inquiry.
He insisted that Prince Charles was not treated differently from “the man on the street”, and that while he would have been notified if there was any relevant information, this would also have been the case for a member of the public.
“If there was evidence in the investigation that was of relevance to the person on the street, they would also be a potential witness,” he said, adding that he felt “no pressure” and did not feel the investigation had been influenced as a result of the contact.
The inquiry also heard that pre-charge publicity around Bishop Ball encouraged 12 victims to come forward to police.
The Inquiry is due to hear read evidence on Friday from the Prince of Wales, who maintained contact with the bishop after Ball was cautioned in 1993 for gross indecency.
He is expected to say in his statement that he did not know the caution involved an admission of guilt.
On Wednesday morning the inquiry heard from Wayne Murdock, formerly of Gloucestershire Police, who had presided over the earlier inquiry, which ended with the caution.
Mr Murdock said that he believed the outcome of his investigation could have been different had then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey handed over letters sent to Lambeth Palace by victims and their families.
“He knew we were carrying out an investigation, and for some reason he withheld them,” he said.
On Tuesday Lord Carey admitted that the letters should have been handed over, but added that he had “assumed the police were investigating this thoroughly”. The inquiry continues.
According to the BBC, investigating officer Detective Inspector Wayne Murdock is said to have discussed with Ball’s legal team in the documents “the need to prevent a scandal in the press, especially as Peter was a frequent visitor to Sandringham and is friendly with Prince Charles”.
In a separate document released by Gloucestershire Police in response to an Freedom of Information request, Mr Murdock writes that after a meeting at Lambeth Palace, it was suggested that “any form of Church investigation instigated by the Archbishop of Canterbury would be ‘fairly low key and private’.”
He said the Church had displayed a “considerable amount of naivety” over the case as it took no action when advised in early September 1992 of “irregularities” concerning Ball.
Gloucestershire Police received messages of support for the former clergyman from MPs, former public school heads, JPs and a Lord Chief Justice, and Mr Murdock said: “According to defence sources they claim to have in excess of two thousand letters of support for Bishop Peter Ball, including letters from Cabinet ministers and Royal Family.”
Mr Comrie third from left, handing over one of the trampolines to Dr Milner, fifth from right.
‘We were human toys at the hands of a monster’: For 24 years Barbara was dismissed as a fantasist. Then she found the files PROVING her horrific story and that of possibly thousands of other children was true
- For eight months in 1971, Barbara O’Hare was a patient at Aston Hall hospital
- When Barbara published her autobiography, it made for implausible reading
- But it was the real life account of her life under the ‘care’ of Dr Kenneth Milner
25 July 2018
Photos of her as a 12 year old (‘a particularly naive 12 year old,’ she points out) do exist, but they are not pictures any sane person would want to see.
‘They took some when they were doing whatever it was they did to me,’ she remembers.
‘I remember that vividly. I’d been drugged. The doctor had held the mask with the ether on it over my face, and I was drifting in and out of consciousness, but I remember the camera flashing over and over again. I was on my back at that point.
‘The hospital gown had been pulled up around my waist, exposing my private parts. I remember the light burning into my eyes, and not being able to scream or shout.
‘Even now I think about those pictures. Who saw them? Are they still out there? When I switch on the news and hear about paedophile rings and images being found, I think ‘were those pictures of me among them?’.
Or were the pictures taken just a part of some scientific experiment? Maybe it wasn’t sexual abuse in the classic sense. The truth is I just don’t know. That’s a terrible thing to have to live with.’
a grotesque world, one in which young girls are imprisoned in a mental institution, drugged on a daily basis and experimented on, perhaps even raped, by a doctor whose influence goes right to the top of society.
The Dr Mengele figure in her story ties his victims down, injects them against their will and pumps them full of high-dose drugs, including a ‘truth serum’ used on soldiers during wartime, all the time telling them that he is doing so to correct their ‘deviant’ behaviour.
Some are sexually abused. All are terrified and stupefied, in equal measure. Electric shock treatment is a permanent threat. There are wild rumours of some children being killed when their ‘treatments’ go wrong.
When they aren’t being drugged and tortured, the children are put to work. ‘Toothbrush treatment’ involves them being forced to clean skirting boards with toothbrushes.
All this takes place in a NHS-funded hospital, under the direction of an eminent physician who works for the Home Office.
An army of adults – nurses, social workers, even the child’s own father – are impotent, unseeing, perhaps complicit in this shocking abuse.
And her account, disbelieved by so many for so long, yesterday gained credence when the long-awaited police report into his behaviour was released. Her account was mirrored by 142 other witness statements, all making similar claims.
‘Dr Milner played with our bodies and our minds,’ she says. ‘This is the validation that we were telling the truth. When you take account of how long he was there for, he abused thousands of people.
JIMMY SAVILE ‘WAS A HOSPITAL GUEST’
Jimmy Savile, one of the country’s most prolific paedophiles, was invited to the unit as a guest of Dr Kenneth Milner, one of his victims said
Jimmy Savile visited Aston Hall hospital, it has been claimed.
The disgraced DJ, one of the country’s most prolific paedophiles, was invited to the unit as a guest of Dr Kenneth Milner, one of his victims said.
Police said they found no evidence to support or disprove the claim but included it in their report, released yesterday.
It is not known if the two men knew each other but both were linked to a number of hospitals, albeit at different times.
Dr Milner was medical officer at high-security Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire in the 1940s.
Savile later had unfettered access to the secure hospital for three decades from 1968 and even his own keys. He abused ten victims there, two repeatedly.
A report found ‘clear, repeated failure of safeguarding standards’ at Broadmoor at the time.
more here
Cliff Richard: BBC seeks leave to appeal High Court privacy judgement
26 July 2018
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44961556
Top secret: why is the government intent on keeping us in the dark?
25 July 2018
The Cabinet Office should be forced to release archive files on past events such as the Lockerbie bombing and the arms-to-Iraq inquiry
‘Four files relating to the Scott arms-to-Iraq inquiry, have been retained. Geoffrey Howe, the then foreign secretary was terrified his plan to increase British arms exports to Iraq, secretly agreed by the government, would be leaked.’
The files include juicy titbits, one appealing to the never-ending fascination with the Cambridge spy ring – confirming, for example, that the then home secretary, Henry Brooke, did not tell his prime minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, that Sir Anthony Blunt, surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, had confessed in 1964 to spying for the Russians. There are also files from the Foreign Office’s secret “Information Research Department” referring to MI5’s concerns about the BBC’s use of “extremists”.
Most of the files released on Tuesday have passages or whole pages redacted by assiduous Whitehall weeders. The full list of files carefully scrutinised shows that many entire files have been retained, some temporarily, most indefinitely.
They include files from the 1980s and early 1990s on Cyprus, on biological and chemical weapons policy, and on “developments in the European Community”.
Files that have been withheld cover topics such as John Major’s visit to Oman and Saudi Arabia in 1993; plans to close Gibraltar’s dockyard; immigration rules; “arms sales and military assistance to Middle East countries”; and subversion in the UK in 1968. They include a 1963 report on “Unavowable Information Services of Her Majesty’s Government Overseas”, and a 1966 report on “Enquiries about the background of people coming into contact with ministers”.
Curiously, a report on a visit by the US president Richard Nixon to Britain in 1970 has been retained for 56 years. A file dated 1992-93 on the Lockerbie bombing, the Pan Am disaster of 1988, has also been withheld.
Even more curiously, four files relating to the Scott arms-to-Iraq inquiry have been retained. The judge-led public inquiry that was bitterly opposed by ministers who had been involved in supplying Saddam Hussein with equipment he used for his weapons of mass destruction programme, heard devastating evidence. It included the Thatcher government’s secret decision to supply Saddam with equipment that could be used to manufacture weapons after he shelled the Kurdish town of Halabja in March 1988 with gas bombs, killing an estimated 5,000 civilians and maiming thousands more.
Geoffrey Howe, the then foreign secretary, drew up a paper pointing to “major opportunities for British industry”. But he was terrified his plan to increase British arms exports to Iraq, secretly agreed by the government, would be leaked. “It could look very cynical if so soon after expressing outrage about the treatment of the Kurds, we adopt a more flexible approach to arms sales,” noted one of Howe’s officials. The government duly adopted a more liberal approach to exports to Iraq but kept MPs and the public in the dark – a policy, Richard Scott remarked, that was even more cynical.
The Cabinet Office, which is responsible for the release of the records at the National Archives, declined to comment on the record when I asked, specifically, why files on the Scott inquiry and Lockerbie were being withheld. Whitehall’s traditional response when asked about archives is to point to the statute that allows government departments to keep back files relating to security, defence, international relations and personal data relating to living individuals.
It is not quite like that. For there is one section of the (inappropriately named) Public Records Act 1958 that gives Whitehall carte blanche in deciding what files to release and what to retain. Under section 3 (4) of the act, Whitehall departments can hold on to documents indefinitely for “administrative purposes” or “for any other special reason”. The department concerned informs the minister responsible for the archives, the culture, media and sports secretary, now Jeremy Wright. He appoints an advisory council (whose members include a former top Ministry of Defence official and former British ambassador). That body has not had the inclination, and the staff of the National Archives have not had the clout, to argue with Whitehall departments, and in particular the Cabinet Office, the powerful bastion of official secrecy at the heart of government. Until and unless they do, or the act is reformed, we will continue to be prevented from knowing about, and learning from, our recent history.
Jonathan King court case 25 July 2018
No media coverage
Former UN official Peter Dalglish is currently on trial in Nepal on charges of sexually abusing young boys.
24 July 2018
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/2018/07/24/nepal-arrests-two-suspected-french-paedophiles
Prem @Prem_S
Peter Dalglish most recently who worked for the UN arrested for pedophilia is a close friend of Justin (Trudeau) . Don’t forget his ties to Bronfman’s who are involved with #NXIVM#cdnpoli#uspoli
Nxivm: Nigel Havers’ step-daughter arrested over claims she funded secret ‘sex cult’ that branded women with symbol
Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman has been arrested on charges of racketeering conspiracy after allegedly using her fortune to help finance the group
25 July 2018
The step-daughter of actor Nigel Havers has been arrested over claims she funded a suspected US sex cult.
Investigators in America allege Seagram liquor heiress Clare Bronfman used her fortune to help finance the operations of Nxivm.
The 39-year-old is the daughter of Georgiana Bronfman, who is the Chariots of Fire star’s third wife.
Bronfman was arrested on Tuesday along with three others on charges of racketeering conspiracy.
She later appeared in a Brooklyn federal courtroom pleading not guilty to charges of running a criminal enterprise.
A judge ordered she be held under house arrest as the judge considered the prosecutor’s request for a $100 million bond.
Bronfman’s lawyer said her client “did nothing wrong”.
Her attorney, Susan Necheles, said in a statement that Nxivm was “not a criminal enterprise” but “an organisation that helped thousands of people”.
“The charges against Clare are the result of government overreaching and charging an individual with crimes just because the government disagrees with some beliefs taught by Nxivm and held by Clare,” Necheles said.
Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman, 64, her daughter, Lauren Salzman, 42, and the group’s 60-year-old bookkeeper, Kathy Russell, were also charged with racketeering conspiracy.
Six people have now been charged in the Nxivm inquiry, including 35-year-old actress Allison Mack, who starred in the TV show Smallville.
The US Department of Justice says all six committed “an array of crimes, including identity theft, extortion, forced labour, sex trafficking money laundering, wire fraud and obstruction of justice”.
They included Nicki Clyne, an actress who appeared on Battlestar Galactica, Bronfman’s sister Sara, a son of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and India Oxenberg, a daughter of Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg.
In an indictment, prosecutors said Mack, who played a teenage friend of Superman in the CW network’s Smallville, helped Raniere recruit women to a secret sub-society within NXIVM whose members were branded with a surgical tool with a symbol that resembled his initials.
Women were expected to be subservient to “masters”, prosecutors said, including giving in to demands for sex.
In February, Havers credited his wife for saving him from grief following the death of his second wife, Polly Williams.
The actor was happily married to Polly Williams for many years before her death from ovarian cancer in 2004 at the age of 54.
Despite criticism for years by ex-followers who called NXIVM a cult and a pyramid scheme, the organisation’s intense self-improvement classes had, at one point, earned it thousands of adherents, including some with Hollywood ties.
They included Nicki Clyne, an actress who appeared on Battlestar Galactica, Bronfman’s sister Sara, a son of former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, and India Oxenberg, a daughter of Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg.
In an indictment, prosecutors said Mack, who played a teenage friend of Superman in the CW network’s Smallville, helped Raniere recruit women to a secret sub-society within NXIVM whose members were branded with a surgical tool with a symbol that resembled his initials.
Women were expected to be subservient to “masters”, prosecutors said, including giving in to demands for sex.
In February, Havers credited his wife for saving him from grief following the death of his second wife, Polly Williams.
The actor was happily married to Polly Williams for many years before her death from ovarian cancer in 2004 at the age of 54.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/nigel-havers-step-daughter-arrested-12975257
Edgar Bronfman Jr., half-brother of Sara and Clare, is a member of Queen Elizabeth’s Committee of 300, and the chairman of Warner Music Group.
Charles Bronfman is also a member of the Committee of 300, and the owner of Seagram liquor, net worth $2 billion.
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_committee300_14.htm
And Edgar Bronfman Jr is on the Council on Foreign Relations
https://www.cfr.org/membership/membership-roster-a-f
The Bronfman family has very close ties to the Rothschild banking dynasty, with members of both families belonging to many of the same companies, including their joint financial firm, Bronfman & Rothschild.
At Bronfman & Rothschild, Donald Trump’s, the Clinton’s and Jeffrey Epstein’s friend, “Lady” Lynn Forester de Rothschild, is on the Board of Directors:
https://thefreethoughtproject.com/al…-slavery-ring/
Edgar Bronfman Jr. is also in the “little black book” of paedo billionaire Jeffrey Epstein
Nigel Havers’ step-daughter, Clare Bronfman – her brother Edgar Bronfman Jr is in convicted billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epsteins’s black book
The Havers family has a long history with paedophiles:
Nigel Havers’ father Lord Michael Havers tried to stop Geoffrey Dickens from naming Sir Peter Hayman
Brother of child abuse inquiry judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was accused of ‘cover up’
Late brother of Baroness Butler-Sloss, judge formerly in charge of Westminster child abuse inquiry, was attorney general who refused to prosecute paedophile spy Peter Hayman
Sir Michael Havers, the late brother of Baroness Butler-Sloss, was accused of a “white-wash” after he backed a decision not to prosecute Sir Peter Hayman.
Baroness Butler-Sloss, a former president of the Family Division of the High Court who led the inquest into the death of Princess Diana, has been appointed by Theresa May to lead an independent inquiry into allegations that child sex abuse was covered up by state bodies, the church, political parties and the BBC. The Home Office said she had “impeccable credentials”.
Elizabeth Butler Sloss covered up for Bishop Peter Ball
Wonder if Prince Charles had anything to do with these Butler Sloss appointments?
Butler Sloss- Cleveland Inquiry… Prince Charles’ friend & mentor, Sir Jimmy Savile had an interest in the Cleveland Inquiry
Butler Sloss – coroner for Diana Inquest
Butler Sloss – Bishop Ball investigation
Butler Sloss – first chair to IICSA
Prince Charles tried to keep links to paedophile bishop Peter Ball private
July 24 2018
Prince Charles argued that information about his connection with Bishop Peter Ball was “private and confidential”
The Prince of Wales staged a lengthy legal fight against demands from a public inquiry for him to provide evidence about his long friendship with a paedophile Anglican bishop, it has emerged.
Lawyers for Prince Charles protested that requests for evidence from the child abuse inquiry about his connection with Bishop Peter Ball were beyond its powers, unfair and a breach of the prince’s human rights by seeking to obtain “intensely private and confidential” material.
Alexis Jay, chairwoman of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), issued a statutory notice requiring the prince to provide evidence but met continued resistance from Clarence House.
When the prince’s evidence was submitted last week the inquiry was surprised that it came in the form of a letter to Professor Jay rather than a formal witness statement “finalised with a statement of truth and signed”.
Richard Scorer, solicitor for six of Ball’s victims, told an inquiry hearing that the prince’s refusal to provide a statement in the usual way “will feed concerns that the letter is less than entirely frank about his relationship with Peter Ball”.
The Times revealed last week that the prince’s draft evidence admitted that he maintained a friendship with Ball, 86, former Anglican Bishop of Gloucester, for more than 20 years after the cleric accepted a police caution for gross indecency in 1993.
The prince invited Ball to his Highgrove home and to royal occasions, gave him “small gifts of money” after he was forced to resign his ministry and helped to arrange a Duchy of Cornwall house for him to live in.
His evidence said he did not understand that a criminal caution involved an admission of guilt and did not cut contact with Ball until he was convicted and jailed at the Old Bailey in 2015. The prince expressed “deep personal regret” that he had been deceived by the bishop.
The investigation of the Ball case is part of the IICSA’s wider inquiry into the handling of child abuse cases by the Church of England.
The inquiry counsel Fiona Scolding, QC, said the IICSA had heard from 32 men who were victims of grooming, abuse and sexual exploitation by the bishop when they were teenage boys or young adults.
At the time of the initial police inquiry into Ball in 1992-93, police and prosecutors received 24 letters from prominent figures — including senior clergy, MPs, an appeal court judge and public school headmasters — lobbying on his behalf.
Ball exploited his royal and establishment connections in a voluminous letter-writing campaign in which he pressed, with success, for his return to Church duties. He was given permission to officiate at services and between 1996 and 2002 preached at 25 schools.
William Chapman, counsel for some of Ball’s victims, said the cleric had been able to “call upon the willing assistance of the establishment — including the heir to the throne”.
He told Professor Jay and the inquiry panel: “These establishment helpers claim they were duped by Peter Ball. You will have to consider whether that is credible — given what they must have known or could easily have found out about Peter Ball. Prince Charles has many advisers, he only had to ask what a ‘caution’ meant.”
Mr Scorer also argued that the prince could have inquired about the accurate legal position concerning Ball. “Prince Charles apparently decided not to seek clarification of the legal position. To my clients, this extraordinary lack of curiosity looks like wilful blindness,” he said.
Ms Scolding said that the format of the prince’s eventual evidence “was not what had been requested” but the IICSA was satisfied that it did answer the questions put to Prince Charles.
She said: “The last sentence of the letter does make clear that the material set out within it is true. The inquiry considered that this complies with the requirements of a statement of truth and that the letter received contained all the evidence required.”
Ms Scolding said the inquiry had withdrawn the statutory demand for the prince to provide evidence and had “adjusted its requests in some respects”. She added, however, that the IICSA “did not resile from its demands the need to obtain this evidence or accept the contention that the prince should be treated in a way that was different from any other witness”.
The prince’s evidence will be read at the inquiry on Friday but he will not be called to answer questions.
A Clarence House spokesman said: “The prince made it clear that he was willing to help the inquiry and voluntarily answered all the questions asked in the form of ‘free flowing text’ as requested by the inquiry itself. The final submission includes a statement of truth in common with all witness statements.
“The legal exchanges, which have been extensively referred to by the inquiry’s solicitors, were necessary to ensure clarity regarding both the structure, relevance and content of the statement. Once resolved, the inquiry raised no objection to the format of the prince’s submission.”
Lord Carey to face questions
Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, faces intensive public questioning today about his handling of the case of the disgraced bishop Peter Ball.
Lord Carey, 82, will appear at the child abuse public inquiry to explain why he wrote to senior police and prosecutors in support of Ball when the Bishop of Gloucester as he was then was under criminal investigation in 1993. When he was lobbying on Ball’s behalf, the former archbishop was aware that Lambeth Palace had received further allegations of sexual misconduct against Ball. Only one letter was passed to the police.
The peer will also be asked to explain why he tried to rehabilitate Ball after his criminal caution by giving him permission to conduct church services.
The inquiry was told yesterday that in 2014 Lord Carey again wrote to officers claiming that the bishop had “served the church with great distinction”.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey admits ‘fobbing off’ sex abuse victims
July 24 2018
A former Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted “fobbing off” victims of sex abuse who complained about a paedophile bishop.
Lord Carey of Clifton said Lambeth Palace failed to deal properly with letters sent by victims and their families after the arrest of Peter Ball in December 1992.
Ball, then the bishop of Gloucester, was arrested following disclosures by Neil Todd, who had been a pupil on his scheme for young men considering a monastic life, that Ball had sexually abused him.
Lord Carey also admitted that the church had “mishandled” the case, after the inquiry heard evidence that many of the letters had received holding responses and victims had been forced to follow up to gain a proper reply.
“We have been fobbing people off. They should have had direct replies. We should have carried on our enquiries and dealt with it in a much more serious and adult manner than we did,” he admitted.
The inquiry also heard that a “personal message” from the former Archbishop had been sent to the diocese of Gloucester in January 1993, several weeks after the allegations had been received, expressing a hope that the ongoing police enquiry would “clear his [Ball’s] name”.
He also wrote to the chief constable of Gloucestershire and the director of public prosecutions in 1993 on Ball’s behalf after the bishop’s psychiatrist told him that he was suicidal, and wrote to Ball himself telling him “you are in my prayers”.
Lord Carey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury between 1991 and 2002, oversaw Ball’s return to ministry and the payment of thousands of pounds to the bishop, including money for holidays, which came from his own discretionary funds, used to support church leaders in need.
The inquiry also heard that Ball was given the role as Bishop of Gloucester in 1992 after then-appointments secretary to the Prime Minister Sir Robin Catford wrote a glowing letter recommending him, including mentioning that he was a “squash blue” at Cambridge and that he had a “quite extraordinary sparkling personality” and was “loved and revered by everyone who crossed his path”.
Lord Carey blames end of Diana’s marriage for failures over Peter Ball @MailOnline WTAF?
Tom Young@FULLY_BADASS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherard_Cowper-Coles
Butler-Sloss quits Diana inquest
25 Apr 2007
Lady Butler-Sloss’s departure may also be “an Establishment fix”.
“Quite clearly the word has gone out she isn’t capable of bringing in the decision that the Establishment wants forced through, i.e. accidental death,” he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.
Lady Butler-Sloss was brought out of retirement to oversee the inquests in September after Michael Burgess, stepped down citing a “heavy and constant” workload.
Clarence House declined to comment.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1549594/Butler-Sloss-quits-Diana-inquest.html
InquiryCSAVerified account@InquiryCSA
A letter from Peter Ball to Lord Carey in 1994 he asks for £10,000 to help with legal funds. In the letter, Peter Ball describes allegations as a “little nuisance”.
Ms Scolding QC asks do you think it was appropriate to give a bishop who had been found guilty of gross indecency discretionary funds? At the time we felt that Peter Ball needed help, after careful scrutiny of his finances Lord Carey responds.
Ms Scolding QC asks Lord Carey why Peter Ball was allowed to attend Stowe School and Radley College in 1996/97. He says he thought there would be proper supervision. Ms Scolding also notes there is no evidence schools were warned about Ball’s previous behaviour.
Daisy Law@theDaisyLaw
What, like the supervision which the church undertook by their conspiracy to cover up his crimes against children? Carey is looking like a fellow poacher rather than a gamekeeper trying to protect the flock. Corruption & shady networking are phrases which come to mind.
‘We knew that Bishop Peter and the Prince were good friends. He didn’t refer to him as Prince Charles. He would always say just Charles.’
…on his (Ball’s) desk at his home in Gloucester and displayed an invitation from the Queen for dinner at Buckingham Palace.
Savile is understood to have visited Prince Charles’s official London rebsidence several times in the late 1980s when he was acting as a kind of marriage counsellor between Charles and Princess Diana.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/29/jimmy-savile-behaviour-prince-charles
Ball had ecome a spiritual advisor to the Prince, particularly in the period between Diana’s death in 1997 and his marriage to Camilla in 2005.
That Savile committed a number of sex offences in Sussex at the time when Ball was bishop there is not disputed
But the concern over his behaviour expressed by a senior aide will raise questions over how Savile, who is now under investigation in relation to child abuse involving 300 potential victims, managed to develop such a long-standing relationship with the heir to the throne.
Asked about Savile’s behaviour with the royal assistants or whether Prince Charles had taken any action to find out if anyone in his family or staff might have suffered any abuse or have any information relating to the criminal investigation into Savile’s alleged paedophilia, a spokesman for the prince said: “We have no record of anyone making a complaint.”
Throughout the years, Prince Charles and Peter Ball would pray together in the Sanctuary – a Harry Potteresque temple built by Prince Charles deep in a glade in Highgrove’s grounds.
alun:
Surely I-Don’t-Carey must have been aware of this:
Linda Woodhead@LindaWoodhead
IICSA … on the Peter Ball scandal: hears of the extraordinary lengths to which Prince Charles’s lawyers went to wiggle out of complying with IICSA’s request that the Prince give a witness statement to the Inquiry like everyone else. Even invoking European convention HRights!
William Chapman, counsel for survivors @InquiryCSA : “Were they really as ignorant as they claimed about the nature of Peter Ball’s activities? Prince Charles has many advisers, he only had to ask. So did the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
Under current @churchofengland procedures Peter Ball is still able to call himself, Bishop, with the title, Right Reverend”
In 1993, Ball resigned in disgrace after receiving a police caution for committing an act of ‘gross indecency’
“Evil bishop drove me to suicide”- this Telegraph article about his abuse was published 14 Mar 1993 in the Sunday Telegraph
@craftymuvva
For a man that wrote numerous letters proffering his opinions on political matters to the PM (this proving his continued interest and knowledge of current affairs), Charlie is certainly very selective about what he knew…
Daily Telegraph March 1993
and this
Ball had become a spiritual advisor to the Prince, particularly in the period between Diana’s death in 1997 and his marriage to Camilla in 2005.
Ball had also become close to the Duchess Camilla Shand
‘She liked him …’ says an aide.
Prince Charles refused to give formal statement to sex abuse inquiry
23 July 2018
Prince Charles refused to provide a formal witness statement to the child sex abuse inquiry, lawyers told a hearing on Monday.
The inquiry is currently hearing evidence relating to abuse carried out by Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester, who knew the prince and exchanged letters with him.
Lawyers for the Prince of Wales used human rights law to object to block efforts to compel him to send a witness statement in the format used by the inquiry, instead sending a signed letter.
Fiona Scolding, lead counsel to the investigation into the Anglican church, said that his lawyers had previously argued that compelling him to give evidence was outside its powers.
Ball was convicted in 2015 of misconduct in public office after admitting abusing 18 teenagers and young men between the 1970s and 1990s.
His abuse had first been reported to the church in 1992, but police and CPS decided to give him a caution, and he was stripped of his role as bishop.
He was later allowed to officiate at events including at schools and confirmations.
Ms Scolding said there would have been “no doubt” about what the inquiry’s lawyers were asking for, as they sent a template for the document and used the word “statement” five times in one letter asking for the document to be signed.
“Despite lengthy correspondence, including assertions from the Prince’s solicitors that the Inquiry’s requests for evidence were outside its powers, i.e. ‘ultra vires’, there was never any suggestion at any point that the statement would be provided by letter,” she said.
The inquiry made several attempts to compel the lawyers to provide a witness statement with a formal statement of truth, which is essentially equivalent to swearing on oath.
The prince’s law firm Harbottle & Lewis also tried to argue that asking for a witness statement was “unfair”, and constituted a request for “intensely private and confidential” personal data.
Following “lengthy and extensive correspondence” an agreement was reached and the inquiry has decided to treat the letter, which ends with a sentence saying that its contents are true, as equivalent to a witness statement, she said.
The Prince will not give evidence in person but will have the statement read out at the hearing on Friday.
Earlier in the hearing Richard Scorer, of law firm Slater and Gordon, who is representing victims and survivors, expressed “surprise and concern” at the decision.
“This will inevitably raise concerns that the letter may be less than entirely frank about his relationship with Peter Ball and that it contains matters to which he s reluctant to attach a formal statement of truth,” he said.
The prince’s statement is expected to say that he was “not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution that Peter Ball had accepted”, including the fact that a caution involves admission of guilt.
On Tuesday the Inquiry is expected to hear evidence in person from former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, who was found in an independent inquiry last year to be among senior church figures who “colluded” with Peter Ball.
Earlier in the day the inquiry heard that the church was dealing with a “turbulent” period in 1992, with Lord Carey raising the “constitutional crisis” caused by the Prince’s split with Diana, Princess of Wales, as well as the decision to allow women to be priests.
William Chapman, a lawyer from Switalskis, also representing victims and survivors, told the inquiry that there had been concern that gay clergymen would be outed by a full criminal investigation, ending their career in the church.
A Clarence House spokesman said: “The prince made it clear that he was willing to help the Inquiry and voluntarily answered all the questions asked in the form of ‘free flowing text’ as requested by the Inquiry itself.
“The final submission includes a statement of truth in common with all witness statements. The legal exchanges, which have been extensively referred to by the Inquiry’s solicitors, were necessary to ensure clarity regarding both the structure, relevance and content of the statement.
“Once resolved, the Inquiry raised no objection to the format of the prince’s submission.”
Elizabeth Butler Sloss, 1st IICSA chair, member of the establishment protected Bishop Peter Ball
Establishment ‘rallied to help ex-bishop later jailed for abuse’
Prince Charles and Lord Carey among powerful backers of Peter Ball, abuse inquiry told
23 July 2018
Members of the establishment, including the heir to the throne, the then archbishop of Canterbury and a senior member of the judiciary, rallied to the support of Peter Ball, a Church of England bishop accused of sexual abuse, an independent inquiry has heard.
“The story of Peter Ball is the story of the establishment at work in modern times,” said William Chapman, representing survivors. “It is the story of how the establishment minimised the nature of Peter Ball’s misdeeds … and silenced and harassed those who tried to complain.”
One survivor told the inquiry the C of E’s response to his disclosure of abuse amounted to “enduringly cruel and sadistic treatment”.
The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse is examining how the church handled allegations. A five-day hearing this week is scrutinising the church’s response to claims of sexual abuse against Ball, a former bishop of Lewes and then Gloucester, who was jailed in 2015.
Ball was able to call upon the “willing assistance of members of the establishment”, said Chapman. “It included the heir to the throne, the archbishop and a senior member of the judiciary, to name only the most prominent.”
Between them, they provided Ball with money and accommodation, legal advice, a private detective, references and approaches to the police and the prosecuting authorities.
“The alacrity and the extent of the response by Peter Ball’s friends to one of their own in trouble was impressive. It makes a horrible contrast to the way Peter Ball’s victims were treated,” Chapman said.
He told the inquiry: “These establishment helpers claim they were duped by Peter Ball … But you will have to consider if it is credible, given what they must have known or could easily have found out about Peter Ball, whether they were really as ignorant as they claimed they were about the nature of Peter Ball’s activities.
“Some claimed they did not know what a caution meant. Well, Prince Charles has many advisers; he only had to ask. So does the archbishop of Canterbury.”
Ball’s friends were willing to “add their weight” against the due criminal process. “They went far beyond the normal obligations of friendship.”
Allegations were first made against Ball in 1992, but he accepted a police caution and resigned his position as bishop. An independent review of the case commissioned by the C of E and published last year found evidence of collusion and a cover-up at the highest levels.
Richard Scorer, also representing survivors, said that Ball found in his fellow bishops the “perfect accomplices, prepared to turn a blind eye to his abuse over many decades”.
None bore greater responsibility than Lord Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, Scorer said. “We fear that when we hear from him this week, the usual litany of excuses will be trotted out,” he said, adding that Carey must give a “transparent account of his actions”.
Prince Charles’s assertion that he did not understand the significance of a caution was “frankly astonishing”, he said. The prince has access to “the best legal advice that money can buy,” Scorer added.
The prince chose not to clarify the legal position. “To my clients, this extraordinary lack of curiosity looks like wilful blindness,” he said.
In her opening statement, Fiona Scolding, senior counsel to the inquiry, said that Ball’s “fall from grace was a huge shock to the church”.
She added: “He was a very senior clergyman with enormous spiritual authority. He also had power and charm.”
People inside and outside the church had attested to Ball’s charisma and oratorical brilliance. She said that power had been “further enhanced by his cultivation of influential friends both within and outside the church”.
As an example, Ball had told people after his arrest that four cabinet ministers had offered him a “bolthole from the press”.
“He did not stint from mentioning those friends in prominent places when he thought it would assist his cause,” Scolding added.
She told the hearing of a scheme set up by Ball for young men interested in religious life that gave him the opportunity to groom them for sexual abuse and exploitation. The men were encouraged to pray naked, and engage in massage and spanking. One, Neil Todd, who first made allegations against Ball, killed himself in 2012.
Scolding said that Ball, now 86, was too unwell to give evidence either at the inquiry or by video link. But in one of two statements he had submitted he made an apology and said he had “neither been open nor shown penitence in the past”.
The hearing heard from three survivors who described their abuse by Ball. One, the Rev Graham Sawyer, who has waived his right to anonymity, said: “The sexual abuse that was perpetrated on me by bishop Peter Ball pales into insignificance when compared to the enduringly cruel and sadistic treatment that has been meted out to me by officials, both lay and ordained, in the Church of England.”
He described the culture within Anglicanism as an “ecclesiastic protection racket – and anyone who seeks in any way to threaten the reputation of the church and institution has to be destroyed”.
Safeguarding should be taken out of the church’s hands he said, as “it cannot police itself with any credibility”.
At the start of proceedings, Alexis Jay, the chair of the inquiry, said she had ordered an investigation into the leaking to the media of the Prince of Wales’s letter.
She said the leak was a “very serious breach of confidence by someone with direct access to information in this investigation” and promised “firm action” should the source be uncovered.
Scolding said a suggestion reported by the Times that the timing of the statement, to be read on the final day of this week’s hearings, was to prevent the prince being called for cross-examination “could not be further from the truth”.
She said: “There is no requirement for him to attend in person as his evidence, whilst important, is not of central relevance to many of the issues raised by this case study.”
The hearing continues.
Donna Birrell@BBCDonnaB
Powerful evidence by Rev Graham Sawyer, victim of Peter Ball : “ It is an ecclesiastical protection racket… anyone who threatens the reputation of the Church has to be destroyed. That is the culture within Anglicanism.”
Ball was able to call upon the “willing assistance of members of the establishment”… it included Prince Charles, the archbishop and a senior member of the judiciary…they provided Ball with money and accommodation, legal advice, a private detective, references and approaches to the police and the prosecuting authorities.
Peter Ball (right) and his twin brother Michael Ball, pictured in 1989
Bishops were ‘perfect accomplices’ for ‘nauseating’ Peter Ball, IICSA hears
23 July 2018
PETER BALL found the “perfect cover” for his sex-offending in the Church of England, and the “perfect accomplices” in fellow bishops who turned a blind eye to his actions, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) has heard.
The details of the abuse carried out against vulnerable adults by Mr Ball, the disgraced former Bishop of Gloucester, during his ministry were heard on Monday at the start of a week-long hearing being conducted by IICSA, as part of its investigation into the extent to which the Anglican Church failed to protect children from child sex abuse.
The first hearing, in March, used the diocese of Chichester as a case study (News, 9 March). This week is to focus on the repeated failures of the police, Crown Prosecution Service, and the Church to identify, prevent, and prosecute abuse carried out by Ball over several decades, the lead counsel to the Anglican investigation, Fiona Scolding QC explained.
Ball received a three-year sentence in 2015, having admitted to a series of indecent assaults and the abuse of 18 young men aged 17-25 (News, 7 October 2015).
The offences included praying naked with vulnerable young people who had joined the monastic-community scheme Give a Year to God, which Ball had founded and run in Littlington, East Sussex, in the 1980s, when he was Bishop of Lewes.
Summarising the evidence received by the Inquiry, which included more than 100,000 documents, Ms Scolding said that Ball had admitted to being naked with, caressing, anointing, and physically assaulting young men, who would sleep in his house, sometimes in his bed, and with whom he would prayer naked, embrace, and masturbate. The victims were told that these practices were an expression of humiliation, penitence, and devotion to Christ.
One of his victims was the late Neil Todd, who was repeatedly abused during the 1980s and ’90s, and who later took his own life. His allegations brought about the police investigation in 1993, which resulted in Ball accepting a police caution, thereby admitting his guilt.
Ms Scolding also quoted several senior clerics who had held Ball in high esteem, most of whom had “flooded to defend him” after the police investigation and, latterly, his conviction. It had become clear in the Chichester hearing that abusers were required to “manipulate and charm” everyone around them, not just their victims, she said.
Among his defenders was Michael Ball, his twin brother and a former Bishop of Truro, who repeatedly urged Lambeth Palace to restore Peter Ball to ministry during the 2000s in what has been described in evidence as “manipulative” campaign which drew on connections with senior figures, including the Prince of Wales.
A lawyer representing six survivors of Ball, Richard Scorer QC, said that in the Church Ball had found the “perfect cover” for his offending.
“If a charlatan with an insatiable appetite for abuse wanted to secure a continuous supply of vulnerable young victims, there was no better way of achieving this than by founding a religious order not subject to any external supervision, and by making his victims participation in the abuse a religious duty obligated by their oath of absolute obedience.
“Not for the first time, theology and religious ritual provided the ideal mask for abuse, with the evil of what Peter Ball did being compounded by his nauseating claim that the abuse was spiritually uplifting.
“Most of all, however, Peter Ball found in his fellow bishops in the Church of England the perfect accomplices, prepared to turn a blind eye to his abuse over many decades, to collude in the lie that the abuse of Neil Todd was an uncharacteristic aberration, to cast doubt on his guilt, to smear his victims, and to rehabilitate him.”
Mr Scorer also criticised Prince Charles for not making efforts to check the position of Ball in 1993, after the bishop accepted a caution. “This extraordinary lack of curiosity looks like wilful blindness. . . He failed in that responsibility and therefore failed the victims.”
At the start of the hearing, the chair of the Inquiry, Professor Alexis Jay, expressed her disappointment at the “serious breach of confidence” after the content of a draft witness statement of Prince Charles was leaked to the press last week (News, 13 July).
The statement from Prince Charles had been disclosed to core participants on 9 July, Professor Jay said. “The panel is disappointed by the leaking of the draft statement. Deliberate leaking of information to the media before evidence is made public by the Inquiry not only undermines the ability of the Inquiry to get to the truth, but can also erode confidence in the Inquiry at all levels.”
Peter Ball preached at over 25 schools between 1996 and 2002.
Sussex police documents, released under an Freedom of Information (FOI) request, indicate Ball associated with other sex offenders in the clergy and that he was investigated in 2008 for being part of a suspected paedophile ring.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-36767415
The police files also suggest Ball covered for and helped other priests accused of sex abuse, including:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-36767415
Norma Moore@Mousehole1
Esther Baker@Esther9982
I do wonder if the lawyers acting for the CP’s ought to challenge the lawyers running the @InquiryCSA on the basis that they are now accepting the accused (and their reps) words rather than truth seeking as their powers allow?
Recent examples of this would be a) allowing royalty to not give pertinent evidence because he’s royalty. B) inaccurately issuing a statement that I am under investigation for PCJ, and only removing it at the insistence of the police – because an ex-MP said it so it must be true
Peter Ball was a governor of both Lancing College but also the wider Woodard Group, which is a group of Anglican boarding schools
Peter Ball appointed to the Anglican Scouting Fellowship
In January 1996 Lord Carey agreed that Ball should be permitted to preach at a public school, provided that the school were made aware of possible hostile press interest. He further agreed in March that Ball could conduct confirmations and preach at two more schools. Ball was still the President of the Anglican Fellowship in Scouting and Guiding 17 and the Archbishop agreed that he could attend their Annual General Meeting and celebrate the Eucharist at their headquarters in Gilwell
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Peter Ball developed a scheme called “Give a year to God”. He set this up informally with the approval of Bishop Kemp.
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
“Evil bishop drove me to suicide”- Telegraph article about his abuse was published 14 Mar 1993 in the Sunday Telegraph
If he didn’t know, he’s hardly fit to be King …
Bishop Ball with Prince Charles and Camilla at Camilla’s father’s funeral 2006
Richard Scorer: My clients accept the Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) has many interactions with Church of England clergy. However our clients do not accept that he claims he was not aware that a caution means an acceptance of guilt.
Scorer claims senior leaders in the Church knew of Peter Ball’s offending but Lambeth Palace did not hand over letters to police: http://ow.ly/M5yK30l4wJe
Mr William Chapman: There’s a reluctance to trust the secular authorities to handle the matter and a willingness to forgive and reintegrate Peter Ball, no matter what he’d done
Elizabeth Hall, Nat Safeguarding Advisor, recommending a further review of Peter Ball information which should involve trying to find all files/documents
Both Michael Ball and brother Peter Ball were not shy about using the name of the Prince of Wales to seek to influence others. Bishop Michael Ball wrote to Lord Carey in Dec 1992 saying that his brother was receiving support from 2 Cabinet Ministers and Prince Charles Peter Ball often mention their friendship.
On 8 March 1993 Peter Ball received a caution for one count of gross indecency against Neil Todd. He resigned immediately. Peter Ball alleged to the Church of England shortly that he either did not wish to resign, and accepted a caution to avoid a trial.
“This Inquiry has been provided with details of allegations made by a total of 32 individuals. These all relate to an alleged abuse of power by Peter Ball for the purposes of his sexual gratification.”
The former Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball was convicted of two offences of indecent assault, and an offence of misconduct
Peter Ball admitted when pleading guilty that he received sexual gratification from the deliberate manipulation of vulnerable young men, that the contact was consistent with grooming and that he abused his position as a Bishop in the Church of England
In January 1996, Ball was permitted by Archbishop Carey to preach at a particular public school and, to conduct confirmations at other specific schools later on in that year
(1) Why he was permitted to return to ministry in this fashion? (2) Why did no-one think to carry out some kind of risk assessment? (3) Whether or not senior clergy simply thought that Peter Ball’s pleas of innocence should be believed?
2006 Peter Ball former Bishop of Lewes with his good friends Prince Charles and Camilla at a memorial for her father Bruce Shand
Paedophile Peter Ball remained a confidant of Prince Charles right up until 2012
Although it took him time to accept the facts, the Prince has now cut the cleric out of his life. It was a difficult decision because Ball had become a spiritual advisor to the Prince
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-36767415
Watch: http://ow.ly/Ibhh30l4x9a #Anglicanhearing
“Evil bishop drove me to suicide”- Telegraph article about Ball’s abuse was published 14 Mar 1993 in the Sunday Telegraph
2005 The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Shand attended by Bishop Peter Ball
Peter Ball ‘preached at the funeral of Camilla’s father’s in 2006, which indicates his standing in their household.’
If Prince Charles didn’t know, he’s hardly fit to be King …
similarly…
InquiryCSAVerified account@InquiryCSA
Both Michael + Peter Ball were not shy about using the name of the Prince of Wales to seek to influence others. Bishop Michael Ball wrote to Lord Carey in Dec 1992 saying that his brother was receiving support from 2 Cabinet Ministers + the PoW. PB often mention their friendship.
Cassandra Cogno@CassandraCogno
Will we be told the 2 cabinet ministers didn’t understand a caution as an admission of guilt too? Or will they never be mentioned again
Gilo@seaofcomplicity:
That tiny handful of letters (I believe there were 2000+) shows the extent to which the great and the good brought undue influence to bear. Why write such letters … unless intending to influence judicial proceedings? There cannot be any other reason.
And Carey quietly sat on 6 letters from parents and victims – letters which had they gone to police in mid 90’s would almost certainly have led to prosecution. This was a cover-up involving lambeth palace archbishops, bishops, and other assorted figures.
Gibb Report said Lord Carey “set the tone for the Church’s response to Ball’s crimes and gave the steer which allowed Ball’s assertions that he was innocent to gain credence”. But will IICSA find anything more than this? In 5 days and with so few witnesses.
Carey mentions Stephen Platten @StephenPlatten Senior figure who had no recollection on my disclosure. Now assistant bishop in London. Walked away with “no recollection” and “can offer no further assistance”. Lamentable culture
Stephen Platten and his wife
He was a young priest in training with the Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey
In 2016 Platten was cited in a Guardian report as one of the senior figures in the Elliott Review case who had received a disclosure of child sex abuse but had no recollection of the victim’s story. While some of those the victim had spoken to had clear recollections of the disclosures, none of the senior figures had any memory of the conversations. Elliott, who led the review, described this as “a deeply disturbing feature of this case”. The church acknowledged the report was “embarrassing and uncomfortable” reading. A statement from London diocese said Platten had apologised for his “lack of detailed recollection of their conversations in the 1980s” and “regretted he was unable to help further”.[8]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Platten
Prince Charles assumed bishops did not lie https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/prince-charles-assumed-bishops-did-not-lie-3thjg9qg7… “There are questions about why he provided a sex offender with a Duchy of Cornwall house…whether Charles really didn’t understand the gravity of Ball’s conduct, which had been front-page news when he resigned”
I didn’t know bishop was a paedophile, Prince Charles protests https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/i-didnt-know-priest-was-a-paedophile-princecharles-protests-g3fx96df9… (he did not understand that the clergyman’s caution for gross indecency involved an admission of guilt)…. Yeah, right.
During his time in Lewes, Ball got to know Savile well and he was the bishop’s principal entree into the Waleses’ household
Peter Ball was propelled into the royal circle by two people, I understand. One was prebendary Willie Booth, a former chaplain at Westminster School, who’d taken over from Caesar. The other was Jimmy Savile.
During his time in Lewes, Ball got to know Savile well and he was the bishop’s principal entree into the Waleses’ household. After his appointment to Gloucester was announced, Ball became a regular visitor to Highgrove and was held in such high regard that Charles attended his enthronement.
Charles, meanwhile, must surely have been advised to keep Ball at arm’s length — just as he had been advised to distance himself from Jimmy Savile.
‘The Prince did receive letters from the public complaining about Savile,’ says a senior aide. ‘But the writers were dismissed [by him] as jealous or mad.’
Prince Charles kept in touch with ex-bishop later jailed for abuse
Prince told inquiry he was deceived by Peter Ball, who called him a ‘loyal friend’
20 July 2018
Prince Charles maintained contact with a former bishop who was later jailed for abusing young men and occasionally gave him money because he was deceived over the man’s crimes, he has told the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
In a written submission to be read at the inquiry next week, the Prince of Wales has said he did not understand that Peter Ball’s caution for gross indecency in 1993 involved an admission of guilt, according to a report in the Times.
In the statement, described as a draft, Charles said he had “decades of correspondence” with Ball and occasionally sent him “small gifts of money, as I do for many people in need”.
The former bishop has described the prince as a “loyal friend”.
Ball was invited to give Communion at Highgrove, the prince’s home, preached at the funeral of Bruce Shand, the Duchess of Cornwall’s father, in 2006 and lived in a Duchy of Cornwall property from 1997 to 2011.
Charles said the bishop told him he had been involved in an “indiscretion” and that an individual with a grudge had been persecuting him.
The prince added: “I was certainly not aware at the time of the significance or impact of the caution … Whilst I note that Peter Ball mentioned the word in a letter to me in October 2009, I was not aware until recently that a caution in fact carries an acceptance of guilt.”
He expressed “deep personal regret” that he had been deceived by Ball.
Next week’s hearings at the inquiry are to investigate “whether there were inappropriate attempts by people of prominence to interfere in the criminal justice process after [Ball] was first accused of child sexual offences”.
Ball, 86, the former bishop of Gloucester, was sentenced to 32 months for charges relating to 18 teenagers and young men between the 1970s and 1990s when he was bishop of Lewes. He admitted one count of misconduct in public office and two counts of indecent assault relating to two young men.
Ball was first accused in 1993 by Neil Todd, who tried to kill himself three times as a result of his abuse, and went on to do so in 2012.
Sussex police investigated Todd’s claims, and six other victims came forward. But support flooded in for Ball from within the establishment and he was never charged. Instead he received a caution for gross indecency, resigned his post as bishop and was allowed by Carey to continue officiating at church services.
Last year, an independent review of the C of E’s handling of the Ball case, conducted by Dame Moira Gibb, found senior church figures colluded with the accused bishop over a 20-year period. The report said: “The church appears to have been most interested in protecting itself.”
George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, will also give evidence to the inquiry, in person and including cross-examination. He resigned his position as an honorary assistant bishop after being criticised in the Gibb report. His “permission to officiate” was reinstated earlier this year.
A Clarence House spokesperson said on Thursday: “IICSA has asked the Prince of Wales if he could help the part of their inquiry that deals with Mr Peter Ball. Whilst the prince made it clear that he was unaware of Mr Ball’s behaviour, he indicated that he was happy to volunteer context on his contact with Mr Ball if that would help.”
The spokesperson also referred to findings in the Gibb report, which said it had found no evidence “that the Prince of Wales or any other member of the royal family sought to intervene at any point in order to protect or promote Ball”.
Jonathan King back in Southwark Crown court
24 July 2018
For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Case Started – 09:58
For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Case adjourned until 14:00 – 12:34
For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Resume – 14:10
For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – No Event – 14:26
For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Witness Number 2 Sworn – 14:38
For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – No Event – 15:26
For Mention (Defendant to Attend) – Case adjourned until 14:00 – 16:09
http://www.thelawpages.com/court-hearings-lists/crown-court-daily/60/lists/2018-07-24
Ex-football coach faces retrial over indecent assault charges
23 July 2018
Former football coach Bob Higgins is to face a retrial after a jury found him guilty of one count of indecent assault and not guilty of another but failed to reach verdicts on the remaining 48 charges.
The 65-year-old, from Southampton, Hampshire, was convicted of the single charge by the jurors following an eight-week trial at Winchester Crown Court.
Higgins was found guilty of indecently assaulting complainant M, one of 24 alleged victims, in his car. He was cleared of an alleged assault on complainant G during a training session.
Judge Jonathan Fuller QC thanked the jurors for their service and told them: “I am going to discharge you from giving verdicts on the remaining counts.
“Thank you very much for the efforts and hard work you have put into this case over the last eight weeks.”
Adam Feest QC, prosecuting, told the court that a retrial is likely to be held on the remaining counts in February 2019.
Higgins, who ran the schoolboy coaching programmes for Southampton Football Club and Peterborough United, was accused during the trial of 50 counts of indecent assault against 24 complainants dating between 1971 and 1996.
The defendant was released on conditional bail.
Prince Charles gives evidence to inquiry into Peter Ball
The Prince of Wales says he was aware that Peter Ball, who lived in Aller, near Langport, had been given a police caution, but claims he did not realise it amounted to an admission of guilt.
Details of Prince Charles’s relationship with Ball will be revealed at an inquiry into the case on Friday.
The next in line to the throne had “decades of correspondence” with Ball and occasionally sent him “small gifts of money”, according to the draft copy of his statement to the inquiry, The Times has reported.
The statement will add that Ball confided in him in 2009 that he had been involved in an “indiscretion” years previously, which he blamed on a person with a grudge.
![Mark [not his real name] a victim of the Caldey Island scandal looks towards the Island's only Lighthouse where he was abused as a child on the main island of Caldey, Pembrokeshire, UK](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c88f1a3b589a85c7224cbbb3a20776bb7c0d70b4/0_277_3808_2285/master/3808.jpg?w=300&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=a37d9b797234af19b6889b5c750f8da3)
Caldey Island survivor: ‘It should be given over to the National Trust’
A survivor of Thaddeus Kotik returns to Caldey after 35 years and is haunted by memories of abuse
20 July 2018
In the bright sunshine, the monastic island of Caldey looked a picture. Visitors, young and old, hopped off the day trippers’ boats and milled around the abbey, the perfumery, the chocolate factory and lighthouse, occasionally catching faraway glimpses of the Cistercian monks who live, work and worship there.
For Mark, a retired public servant in his 60s, however, this was no holiday visit. Mark is a victim of the sexual abuse scandal that has engulfed the island off the south Wales coast since it was revealed in the Guardian last November.
Mark (not his real name) says he was one of the children abused by the monk Father Thaddeus Kotik during family holidays and described his return to the island for the first time in 35 years as “mind-numbing”.
“It brings back a lot of memories, bad memories,” he said. “I can’t think of anything good at the moment. I can only think of the bad times and I want to grieve. It [was] the home of people responsible for ruining many people’s lives including mine.”
He would like the privately owned island to be taken from the monks and handed over to a conservation body. “The island and the monastery should be given to the National Trust so visitors can appreciate the natural beauty of the island without the spectre of child abuse.”
Mark first met Kotik in the 1960s when his family visited the island, off Tenby in Pembrokeshire. He remembers being met at the island green by a man in “very funny clothes”. It was Kotik.
The monk made Mark and his family feel privileged by inviting them into the monastery’s private walled garden and serving them tea, squash and biscuits. The following year in the same garden Mark, then eight, says Kotik lifted him up and abused him.
Mark kept quiet because he did not want to get into trouble. Kotik behaved as if nothing had happened and the following year the ordeal continued. Kotik encouraged the boy to help wash up. While Mark was at the sink, he says Kotik stood behind him, wrapped his arms around him and rubbed the boy’s genitals.
On another occasion, Mark says he was helping to wrap the chocolate bars made at the monastery’s small factory when Kotik approached him from behind and assaulted him.
The monk remained a family friend. The grooming process was so efficient that as an adult, Mark even returned to the island for holidays with his own young son – but was careful never to leave him unattended.
Mark’s father maintained his friendship with Kotik and attended the monk’s funeral in 1992. It was only when the Guardian revealed Kotik’s offending that Mark accepted he was a victim.
Now almost every nook and cranny of Caldey Island holds a memory for him – and precious few are happy ones.
He paused at the medieval pond close to the island green and recalled how he had released goldfish won in a fair on the mainland in the water. He and his son later fished in the pool with Kotik.
Mark remembered how Kotik would hide treats around the island. He – and no doubt other children – were delighted when the monk would suddenly appear with a chocolate or cake.
Up the hill, Mark peered over a wooden gate into the walled garden where he was abused by Kotik. “This is where it began,” he said. “Father Thaddeus rubbed his hands up and down my thighs and across the front of my shorts. I did not understand what was happening.”
The lighthouse is also a place of trauma. Mark says Kotik also assaulted him there and the sight of any lighthouse brings back the pain. “It doesn’t matter where I am in the world,” he said. “The feeling of being assaulted by the monk at the lighthouse returns.”
Families make a beeline for the small chocolate factory. Mark could not bear to cross the threshold. “I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to walk in the door. I don’t think I’ve been in there since I was a young kiddie,” he said.
The impact has been profound. “I rebelled against authority at school, in the workplace and I struggled with relationships because I found it very difficult to trust people,” he said. “It was only last year that I realised with a shock that everything Thaddeus did was aimed at grooming parents so he could gain their trust and abuse their children. It was a betrayal of my parents and of me.”
More than a dozen women have come forward to report offences committed by Kotik, who lived at Caldey Abbey from 1947 until his death in 1992.
The Guardian has learned that two other men who lived and worked on Caldey Island were subsequently convicted of child sex offences. Six women sued the Abbey in 2014 and settled out of court. After the Guardian revealed the scandal, the abbey apologised via social media for not reporting allegations of abuse to police.
This year, Mark wrote to the current abbot, Daniel van Santvoort, explaining his feeling of trauma. “Despite 50 years passing, I still live with the memory of abuse,” he wrote.
“Can I ask you, when you open a bar of chocolate do you have memories of being sexually assaulted? When you see a picture of a monk in a newspaper or on television or indeed in a public place, do you have memories of being sexually abused as a child? I truly hope that in all of these your answer will be no.”
He asked for a meeting with the abbot but says he was shocked to receive – via his solicitor – a cursory response acknowledging receipt of the letter.
Mark had thought of trying to confront the abbot this week but in the end could not bear the idea and simply spent a few hours visiting the places he had been abused. He is planning to launch a civil action.
He concluded that the island was more about making a profit by selling chocolate and perfume rather than welcoming visitors.
“It’s all about business, keeping themselves going,” said Mark. “They haven’t woken up to reality, to 21st-century living. They are totally consumed in their own wellbeing. They hide, there’s no engagement. It’s not a welcoming island.”
Suddenly, Mark wanted to leave. He walked briskly back to the landing stage and caught the first boat back to Tenby. “I never want to come back here,” he said. “I’ve seen it for one last time and it’s something I never want to do a
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/20/caldey-island-abuse-victim-wales-it-should-be-given-over-to-the-national-trust
more here on Caldey Island
Prince Charles to tell child abuse inquiry he sent ‘small gifts of money’ to bishop friend but was ‘certainly not aware’ he was a paedophile despite clergyman accepting caution for gross indecency
- A written statement from Prince Charles will be read out at the inquiry next week
- Ball, who has boasted of being a confidant of Charles, was jailed in October 2015
- Heir to the throne says he sent him ‘small gifts and money’ after being deceived
- Former Bishop of Lewes had sexually abused 18 young men over three decades
- He was released in February last year after serving half his sentence behind bars
20 July 2018
The Prince of Wales sent a disgraced former bishop ‘small gifts and money’ – but didn’t know he was a paedophile, the heir to the throne has told an inquiry.
The heir to the throne remained friends with Peter Ball, now 86, because he did not understand that the clergyman’s caution relating to gross indecency was an admission of guilt, it was reported today.
Charles was in contact with Bishop Peter Ball for more than 20 years until he was convicted in 2015 for sexual abuse offences.
Ball resigned in 1993 after a police investigation into abuse of boys and young men and accepted a caution over it – but told the Prince it was because someone with a grudge was ‘persecuting’ him.
Charles’ written statement submitted to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, seen by the Times, is due to be made public next week.
He is quoted as saying: ‘I was certainly not aware at the time of of the significance or impact of the caution. Whilst I note that Peter Ball mentioned the word in a letter to me in October 2009, I was not aware until recently that a caution in fact carries an admission of guilt’.
The letter, which is reportedly a draft, was submitted voluntarily and said the prince had ‘decades of correspondence’ with the bishop and that he sent ‘small gifts of money, as I do for many people in need’.
Charles is also said to have said he has ‘deep personal regret’ that Ball, who was finally jailed for 32 months in October 2015, had deceived him and hidden his sexual abuse of 18 young men over a period of 30 years.
He was released in February last year after serving half his sentence behind bars.
Ball often spoke of his links with the Royal family and was invited to give communion at the Prince’s home in Highgrove.
He also spoke at the Duchess of Cornwall’s father Bruce Shand’s funeral in 2006 and lived on Duchy of Cornwall land from 1997 to 2011.
The inquiry is examining how the Church of England handled sex abuse allegations and has previously focused on the Diocese of Chichester – where Ball was the former Bishop of Gloucester and several other convicted paedophile priests once officiated.
The week-long case study beginning on Monday will investigate ‘whether there were inappropriate attempts by people of prominence to interfere in the criminal justice process after he was first accused of child sexual offences’.
Ball was allowed to continue giving church services after he accepted a police caution for a single offence in March 1993.
The secretive deal meant he was not exposed until a fresh police investigation uncovered the extent of his abuse 22 years later.
Ball’s court case heard that a member of the royal family – who has never been named – was among a host of public figures who supported him when he avoided charges in 1993.
He boasted of his links to royalty and was said to be a confidant of the Prince of Wales, with an independent review finding he used his connections to boost his position.
Prince Charles’s evidence, which will be read out on the final day of next week’s inquiry, is being met with skepticism by some close to the case.
One source told The Times they were concerned there would be no chance for the Prince to be cross-examined on his evidence.
They told the newspaper: ‘It’s very convenient that Charles’s statement is to be read at the last session of the Ball inquiry.
‘He was either staggeringly naive about him or he was part of the influential that supported him.’
Previously Clarence House reportedly said it did not believe the correspondence between Ball and the future king had any bearing on the issues before the inquiry but did not object to them being shared for consideration.
Ball’s sentence came 22 years after the abuse allegation first surfaced. He eventually admitted misconduct in a public office and two counts of indecent assault.
The court heard that Ball convinced some of his victims to strip naked to pray and even suggested they submit to beatings between 1977 and 1992.
The first of his victims to come forward took his own life in 2012 after hearing that Sussex Police had reopened the case.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey – who will also give evidence next week – resigned as honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Oxford after an inquiry found he delayed a ‘proper investigation’ into Ball’s crimes for two decades by failing to pass information to police.
Reverend Graham Sawyer, who was abused by Ball as a teenager and waived his right to anonymity, is also among those due to give evidence next week.
Cleric rented house on the Duchy estate owned by ‘friend’ Charles
The Prince of Wales will give a written statement to a public inquiry about a paedophile bishop next week.
It will be read during the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) investigation into the Anglican Church as it focuses on Peter Ball.
The 86-year-old was jailed for 32 months in October 2015 for offences against 18 teenagers and men.
Prince Charles exchanged a series of letters with Ball, whose Gloucester diocese covers his Highgrove home.
The former Bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester carried out the abuse between the 1970s and 1990s.
He was released from jail in February 2017 after serving 16 months.
The written statement from Prince Charles will be read on 27 July, at the end of a week-long case study on Ball.
The inquiry is examining how the Church of England handled allegations of sexual abuse and has previously focused on the Diocese of Chichester – where Ball and several other convicted paedophile priests once officiated.
From next Monday it will investigate “whether there were inappropriate attempts by people of prominence to interfere in the criminal justice process after Ball was first accused of child sexual offences”.
Ball’s court case heard that a member of the royal family – who has never been named – was among a host of public figures who supported him when he avoided charges in 1993.
He boasted of his links to royalty and was said to be a confidant of Prince Charles, with an independent review finding he used his connections to boost his position.
Last year, the independent review by Dame Moira Gibb found senior figures in the Church of England “colluded” with Ball.
A Clarence House spokesman said: “IICSA has asked the Prince of Wales if he could help the part of their inquiry that deals with Mr Peter Ball.
“Whilst the Prince made it clear that he was unaware of Mr Ball’s behaviour, he indicated that he was happy to volunteer context on his contact with Mr Ball if that would help.”
Referring to the findings in the Gibb report, the Clarence House spokesman said it had “reviewed all the relevant material including the correspondence passing between the Prince of Wales and Ball held by the Church”.
This review “found no evidence that the Prince of Wales or any other member of the Royal Family sought to intervene at any point in order to protect or promote Ball”, the spokesman said.
“The Crown Prosecution Service has publicly stated that it had neither received nor seen any correspondence from a member of the Royal Family when Ball was under investigation in 1992-93,” he added.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey will also give evidence next week, along with The Reverend Graham Sawyer, who was abused by Ball as a teenager and waived his right to anonymity.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-44888827
Could ‘culture of cover-up’ force Pope Francis to defrock McCarrick?
21 July 2018
Revelations that one of the most respected U.S. cardinals allegedly sexually abused both boys and adult seminarians have raised questions about who in the Catholic Church hierarchy knew — and what Pope Francis is going to do about it.
If the accusations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick bear out — including a new case reported Friday involving an 11-year-old boy — will Francis revoke his title as cardinal? Sanction him to a lifetime of penance and prayer? Or even defrock him, the expected sanction if McCarrick were a mere priest?
And will Francis, who has already denounced a “culture of cover-up” in the church, take the investigation all the way to the top, where it will inevitably lead? McCarrick’s alleged sexual misdeeds with adults were reportedly brought to the Vatican’s attention years ago.
The matter is now on the desk of the pope, who has already spent the better part of 2018 dealing with a spiraling child sex abuse, adult gay priest sex and cover-up scandal in Chile that was so vast the entire bishops’ conference offered to resign in May.
And on Friday, Francis accepted the resignation of the Honduran deputy to Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, who is one of Francis’ top advisers. Auxiliary Bishop Juan Jose Pineda Fasquelle, 57, was accused of sexual misconduct with seminarians and lavish spending on his lovers that was so obvious to Honduras’ poverty-wracked faithful that Maradiaga is now under pressure to reveal what he knew of Pineda’s misdeeds and why he tolerated a sexually active gay bishop in his ranks.
The McCarrick scandal poses the same questions. It was apparently an open secret in some U.S. church circles that “Uncle Ted” invited seminarians to his beach house, and into his bed.
While such an abuse of power may have been quietly tolerated for decades, it doesn’t fly in the #MeToo era. And there has been a deafening silence from McCarrick’s brother bishops about what they might have known and when.
Fraternal solidarity is common among clerics, but some observers point to it as possible evidence of the so-called “gay lobby” or “lavender mafia” at work. These euphemisms — frequently denounced as politically incorrect displays of homophobia in the church — are used by some to describe a perceived protection and promotion network of gay Catholic clergy.
“There is going to be so much clamor for the Holy Father to remove the red hat, to formally un-cardinalize him,” said the Rev. Thomas Berg, vice rector and director of admissions at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, the seminary of the archdiocese of New York.
Berg said the church needs to ensure that men with deep-seated same-sex attraction simply don’t enter seminaries — a position recently reinforced by the Vatican at large and by Francis in comments to Chilean and Italian bishops.
Berg said the church also needs to take action when celibacy vows are violated.
“We can’t effectively prevent the sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults by clergy while habitual and widespread failures in celibacy are quietly tolerated,” he said.
McCarrick, the 88-year-old retired archbishop of Washington and confidante to three popes, was ultimately undone when the U.S. church announced June 20 that Francis had ordered him removed from public ministry. The sanction was issued pending a full investigation into a “credible” allegation that he fondled a teenager more than 40 years ago in New York City.
The dioceses of Newark and Metuchen, New Jersey, simultaneously revealed that they had received three complaints of misconduct by McCarrick against adults and had settled two of them.
Another alleged victim, the son of a McCarrick family friend identified as James, came forward in a report in The New York Times and subsequently in an interview with The Associated Press. James said he was 11 when McCarrick first exposed himself to him. From there, McCarrick began a sexually abusive relationship that continued for another two decades, James told AP.
“I was the first guy he baptized,” James told AP. “I was his little boy. I was his special kid.”
McCarrick has denied the initial allegation of abuse against a minor and accepted the pope’s decision to remove him from public ministry.
Asked Friday about James, a spokeswoman said McCarrick hadn’t received formal notice of any new allegation but would follow the civil and church processes in place to investigate them.
Even now, Francis could take immediate action to remove McCarrick from the College of Cardinals, said Kurt Martens, a canon lawyer at the Catholic University of America.
He recalled the case of the late Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who recused himself from the 2013 conclave that elected Francis pope after unidentified priests alleged in newspapers that he engaged in sexual misconduct. In 2015, after a Vatican investigation, Francis accepted O’Brien’s resignation after he relinquished the rights and privileges of being a cardinal.
O’Brien was, however, allowed to retain the cardinal’s title and he died a member of the college.
“I think that is totally unsatisfactory,” Martens said, noting that just as the pope can grant the title of cardinal, he can also take it away. “O’Brien resigned, the pope accepted it. Isn’t that the world upside down that someone picks his own penalty?”
O’Brien was never accused of sexually abusing a minor, however, as McCarrick now stands.
The stiffest punishment that an ordinary priest would face if such an accusation is proven would be dismissal from the clerical state, or laicization.
The Vatican rarely if ever, however, imposes such a penalty on elderly prelates. It also is loath to do so for bishops, because theologically speaking, defrocked bishops can still validly ordain priests and bishops.
Not even the serial rapist Rev. Marcial Maciel was defrocked after the Vatican finally convicted him of abusing Legion of Christ seminarians. Maciel was sentenced to a lifetime of penance and prayer — the likely canonical sanction for McCarrick if he is found guilty of abusing a minor in a church trial.
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/07/revelations_of_us_cardinal_mccarrick_sex_abuse_wil.html
IICSA announces timetable for hearings on Peter Ball
IICSA has published this timetable for next week’s public hearings, 23 to 27 July (from 10 am daily).
Former archbishop, Lord Carey, is due to appear on Tuesday.
As during the previous hearings, TA will try to provide daily links to the transcripts and to some of the key documents.
The Guardian has this news story: Prince Charles to give evidence on bishop to child abuse inquiry.
The BBC has this: Prince Charles to give evidence at Peter Ball abuse inquiry.
MPs who fiddle their expenses will be given anonymity under new plans
18 July 2018
MPs alleged to have cheated on their Parliamentary expenses will be given anonymity under new rules, it has emerged as a record ban was handed to an MP for failing to declare an expenses-paid holiday to Sri Lanka.
The Government has been accused of protecting “the sensitivities of politicians” after attempting to quietly push through a change which would hide the names of all MPs under investigation.
Since 2010, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has listed all MPs under inquiry on its website and rulings are also automatically published.
Child sex abuse inquiry fined £200,000 for bulk email identifying possible victims of child sexual abuse
18 July 2018
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has been fined £200,000 after sending a bulk email that identified possible victims of child sexual abuse, the Information Commissioner’s Office has said.
The inquiry sent a blind carbon copy email to 90 participants on February 27, 2017, telling them about a public hearing, but then a member of staff sent a correction where the email addresses were entered into the “to” field instead, the ICO said.
This allowed the recipients to see each other’s email addresses, identifying them as possible victims of child sexual abuse.
Steve Eckersley, the ICO’s director of investigations, said the incident “placed vulnerable people at risk” and was concerning, adding that the inquiry “should and could have done more to ensure this did not happen”.
“People’s email addresses can be searched via social networks and search engines, so the risk that they could be identified was significant.”
One of the respondents said he was “very distressed” by the data breach, and in total the ICO received 22 complaints.
Of the 90 email addresses, 52 contained the recipient’s full name or a label with their full name.
IICSA became aware of the breach when a recipient added two further email addresses to the “to” field and clicked “reply all”.
The Inquiry then sent three emails asking the recipients to delete the original email and not to send it on. One of these emails led to another 39 “Reply All” emails.
The ICO said the Inquiry had failed to give staff proper training about the importance of using the “bcc” field, and relied on the assurance of the IT company hired to manage the mailing list that people would not be able to reply to the entire list.
Several months later, in July 2017, a further incident arose when a recipient clicked on “Reply All” in response to an email from the Inquiry, sent via the mailing list, and revealed their email to the entire list.
IICSA had also breached its own privacy notice by sharing participants’ emails addresses with the IT company without their consent.
Retired teacher Roger Martin leaves Crawley Magistrates’ Court after denying sexually abusing a 10-year boy
Roger Martin today pleaded not guilty at Crawley Magistrates’ Court to assaulting a boy at Christ’s Hospital School, Horsham, West Sussex
18 July 2018
http://www.theargus.co.uk/…/16361896.retired-private-school-teacher-denies-sex-assault-on…
Ronnie Kray’s letter of praise for Cliff Richard
A Collection of personal items that belonged to gangster twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray has sold for more than £20,000 at auction.
They include a misspelt letter from Ronnie, who reveals delight at being contacted by Cliff Richard.
He writes from Brixton prison to biographer John Pearson: “I had a verry nice letter from Cliff Ritchards. It was marvoulas of him.” The sale was held in Lewes, East Sussex, yesterday
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/ronnie-kray-s-letter-of-praise-for-cliff-richard-6527292.html
Does this answer all questions relating to Cliff’s visits to EGH child brothel or his relationship with Boothby and the Krays?…
Harriet Harman’s uncle Lord (Longford ) Porn took Cliff Richard and Jimmy Savile on a fact-finding mision to study porn industry.
Martin Noakes@Marndin12
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3646240/Sir-Cliff-Richard-s-accuser-one-Britain-s-worst-serial-rapists.html… – Sir Cliff was accused of abuse by 9 men – Why have the MSM only focussed on one of them?
Charlie O’Malley♬@charliebadger99
Cliff Richard wins £210,000 in damages in BBC privacy case
Singer sued BBC for invasion of privacy over its coverage of child sex abuse claims
18 July 2018
Richard appeared in court to hear the verdict, accompanied by his friends Gloria Hunniford and Paul Gambaccini.
… the BBC director of news, Fran Unsworth…said the corporation could appeal against the judgment, and she warned about the wider consequences of the ruling for for press freedom.
Warning that the judgment created new case law and represented a “dramatic shift” against the ability of journalists to report on police investigations, Unsworth continued: “We don’t believe this is compatible with liberty and press freedoms, something that has been at the heart of this country for generations. For all of these reasons there is a significant principle at stake.”
Big Momma@BigKw20171973
Nothing but a set up to force the anonymity of predators. Many in high places do not want to be named
Sue Crocombe@shinybluedress:
Extending anonymity to those accused of sexual offences is not the answer, and could do great harm to survivors in an area where it is already very hard to achieve justice.
The number of people whose lives are impacted by false allegations of CSA is dwarfed by the number who might be prevented from accessing justice if anonymity were granted to the accused (or denied to the accuser) in such cases.
It would also set a strange precedent to extend anonymity to those accused of sexual offences, while no such anonymity exists for those accused of other crimes. Such as murder
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo:
In 1986, Geoffrey Dickens used parliamentary privilege to name a doctor and a vicar, both of whom were said to be involved in sexual offenses against the young (Times, March 15-21, 1986).
The doctor concerned was Raymond Colin Birth, also a patron of the Elm Guest House.
On March 17, 1986, Mr. Dickens asked the Attorney-General in Parliament if he would prosecute Dr. Raymond Colin Birt for sexual offences involving an eight-year-old girl in Chelmsford. The Attorney-General said there was insufficient evidence.
Here is the full verdict:
Mother Teresa’s Sainthood is a Fraud, Just Like She Was.
To this day, money continues to be an issue with the ‘Missionaries of Charity’ that Mother Teresa established in 1950. They refused to publish their accounts in India, where it is required by law. When asked to do the same in Germany, they responded that it was “none of their business”. A former sister put the annual figures of the
organisation’s income at around $50 million in New York alone, but there is little evidence of any expenditures. Locally, services largely rely on donations and the appalling state of care in Mother Teresa’s time makes it clear that very little money makes it back to those they are helping, and new missions set up across the world are expected to become self-sufficient. Her charity received money from known-fraudsters, and when they were convicted in a criminal court, she tried to use her large personal influence to change the outcome of the trial. Sources suggest that the majority of money she received was sent straight to the Vatican bank; an institution few will believe in more dire need of assistance than India’s most vulnerable citizens.
However, it may explain why she was able to make so many friends in high places. Often shown photographed with Princess Diana, the Clintons and Pope John Paul II, very few touch on her close relationship with the Duvalier regime in Haiti. The Duvalier family lived in luxury whilst many in the country suffered in poverty, they tortured and murdered political rivals, and were involved in the underground trading of drugs and body parts. Their brutal regime was no secret at the time, but all Mother Teresa had to say was that they were full of love. In her home country of Albania, she laid flowers on the grave of former Communist dictator, Enva Hoxha.
Mother Teresa shelters investigated after ‘children sold’
Police are investigating after a nun working at one of the homes was taken into custody, with one child allegedly sold for £1,333.
17 July 2018
Several homes run by a religious group founded by Mother Teresa are to be investigated after a nun was arrested over allegations that youngsters in their care had been sold.
The Indian government has ordered an immediate inspection of every shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity, which is based in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state in the east of the country.
It comes following the arrest of nun Anima Indwar and a care home worker, who were taken into custody amid claims that several infants had been sold, with one couple having allegedly paid 120,000 rupees (£1,333).
The case came to light after local child welfare authorities informed police about a newborn missing from one of the homes, which were set up to care for people Mother Teresa described as “the poorest of the poor”.
Police have confirmed that they are investigating at least three complaints, but the charity – which was set up by the famous missionary in Kolkata in 1950 – has denied that any children had been sold.
Spokeswoman Sunita Kumar said that “there was no question of selling any child as the Missionaries of Charity had stopped giving children for adoption three years ago”.
Police stand outside a home run by the Missionaries of Charity in Ranchi, India
The charity was previously involved in providing legal adoption services, but in 2015 said it would close down its adoption centres due to new regulations that made it easier for single and divorced people to adopt children.
Since then, it is said to have focused on helping unwed pregnant women and mothers in distress.
According to the government, illegal adoption is big business in India, with more than 100,000 children reported missing every year.
Many are given up by their parents who cannot afford to look after them, and others are snatched from hospitals and train stations
https://news.sky.com/story/mother-teresa-shelters-investigated-after-children-sold-11439594
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Order of Canada recipient Peter Dalglish accused of abusing children he pledged to help
Peter Dalglish worked with Mother Teresa
https://scottmurray.info/characters-stories/just-causes/23-peter-dalglish
Former Christ’s Hospital teacher charged with historic sex offence
A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “This is a separate case to those of five other former teachers from the same School, who have already been subject of separate criminal proceedings – three have been convicted and sentenced and two have been convicted and await sentencing. “The prosecution follows an investigation by officers from the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit after information was received for the first time in November 2017.
Andrew Griffiths MP with Princess Anne
MP Andrew Griffiths quits ministerial post after “sex texts” to female constituents are revealed
14 July 2018
Theresa May’s former chief of staff has resigned after a Sunday newspaper revealed he sent “depraved” social media messages to female constituents.
Andrew Griffiths, a minister in the Department for Business, is alleged to have sent up to 2,000 sex texts by the Sunday Mirror.
The newspaper has reported the content of the messages, which it described as “depraved“, will be disclosed tomorrow.
Griffiths moved to Westminster to work for the Shadow Cabinet, as Chief of Staff to Theresa May, where he worked on environment, transport and later family policy. During this time, Griffiths also helped set up Women 2 Win, a campaign to get more Conservative women elected to Parliament. In 2006, Griffiths moved to work for the Culture, Media and Sport team, working as Chief of Staff to Hugo Swire MP. The next year, he focused on community cohesion and local government matters as Chief of Staff to Eric Pickles MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and remained Pickles’ Chief of Staff when he became the Party chairman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Griffiths_(politician)
The shamed MP also boasted about being powerful in politics.
He claimed he was thinking about the girls as he drank champagne with Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
He boasted abut having a friendship with opera star Katherine Jenkins
Many of his texts were sent to Imogen and her friend before and after conducting important Parliamentary business.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/married-tory-minister-andrew-griffiths-12919581
He did not feature on the spreadsheet of 40 sex pest MPs WhatsApped by Tory staffers last year
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/how-andrew-griffiths-sex-text-12919902
Andrew Griffiths was made minister despite ‘touching’ allegations
17 July 2018
Exclusive: MP who quit over explicit texts was subject of bullying probe when appointed
Tory Minister Andrea Leadsom says Theresa May knew disgraced Tory MP Andrew Griffiths had been accused of groping women when she appointed him
George Carey allowed church role despite part in abuse cover-up
Former archbishop of Canterbury was criticised in report into abuse by Peter Ball
13 July 2018
George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury who was heavily criticised in an independent report for his part in the cover-up of sexual abuse carried out by a bishop, has been allowed to resume an official role in the Church of England.
Lord Carey stepped down last year as an honorary assistant bishop at the unprecedented request of Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, after a damning report which found the church had colluded over the abuse.
But it emerged this week that Carey has been granted “permission to officiate” (PTO) by Steven Croft, the bishop of Oxford, allowing him to preach and preside at churches in the diocese. Croft is reportedly under police investigation for allegedly failing to respond properly to a separate report of clerical sexual abuse.
The decision to grant the PTO was made in February despite expectations of further revelations this month about Carey’s role in the case of Peter Ball, a former bishop of Gloucester, at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA).
The inquiry will spend a week scrutinising the C of E’s handling of the Ball case, starting on 23 July. Ball was jailed in 2015 for the grooming, sexual exploitation and abuse of 18 vulnerable young men between 1977 and 1992. Prince Charles has been asked to give a witness statement to the inquiry about his correspondence with Ball.
Carey, who was archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, resigned his honorary post after the publication of an independent report on the Ball case by Dame Moira Gibb.
She concluded that senior figures in the church had “colluded [with the abuser] rather than seeking to help those he had harmed”. She said: “The church appears to have been most interested in protecting itself.”
Carey had “set the tone for the church’s response to Ball’s crimes, and gave the steer which allowed Ball’s assertions that he was innocent to gain credence”, said Gibb.
The former archbishop responded to the report, saying it made “uncomfortable reading” and that he accepted its criticisms of him.
In February this year, Carey contacted the diocese of Oxford to request a PTO, which was granted by Croft. It followed letters from members of the congregation where Carey worships that requested he be allowed to resume ministry at their church.
A spokesperson for the diocese of Oxford said: “The granting of PTO enabled Lord Carey to preach and preside in the church where he worships, a church where his ministry is much valued. The granting of a PTO does not indicate a planned return to the role of assistant bishop.”
It is understood that Carey underwent fresh checks on his criminal record and C of E safeguarding training.
The church’s national safeguarding team was not consulted on whether the PTO should be granted.
A survivor of abuse by Ball said he was extremely concerned to learn that Carey had been granted a PTO. “It’s a real stab in the back for Ball survivors,” he said, adding that it would have been prudent to wait until further evidence had been heard by IICSA.
Croft is one of several senior church figures, including John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, who are reportedly being investigated by South Yorkshire police over alleged failures to act on disclosures of an alleged rape of a teenage boy by a clergyman in the 1980s. The force declined to confirm or deny an investigation was under way.
Matthew Ineson claims he was raped by the Rev Trevor Devamanikkam, and in 2012 and 2013 reported the crime to senior figures in the church, including Croft. He alleges they failed to follow proper procedures and did not advise him to tell police.
Devamanikkam was later charged with indecent assault and buggery without consent, but killed himself in 2017 before coming to trial.
A spokesperson for the diocese of Oxford said: “Written records and notes taken at the time give a different picture to the one Mr Ineson is presenting about how his case has been handled.”
An independent review had been commissioned by the C of E’s national safeguarding team, the spokesperson said.
Ineson told the Guardian: “Steven Croft may disagree about the wording of my disclosures, but nonetheless accepts I did tell him of my abuse. No word of apology has ever been forthcoming for what I have been put through.
“Given the circumstances it is incredible that Croft is still in a position to decide whether PTO should be given to George Carey or anybody else who has been so involved in the dreadful case of Peter Ball or any other safeguarding case.”
PTOs are mostly granted to retired priests who wish to continue their ministry by preaching, taking communion and providing holiday or sickness cover to serving clergy. PTOs are granted at the discretion of the local bishop.
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
Doesn’t Welby have the clout to withdraw this permission to officiate? @churchnewspaper
Boys from Christ’s Hospital School were sent to protected pervert Bishop Ball
“Using a skeleton key and taking wine from the staffroom resulted in a few nights at the now infamous Peter Ball’s house down near the coast.
Just glad I wasn’t among the boys who are now all over the news having spent time with him and his ‘special friends’….”
http://www.chforum.info/php/viewtopic.php?t=4549&start=4
5 teachers from Christ’s Hospital School have been jailed for sexual abuse
Christ’s Hospital School teacher jailed for pupil rape
13 July 2018
A former teacher at a top independent school in West Sussex has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for a string of sex offences including rape.
James Husband, 68, from York, was convicted of raping a 15-year-old pupil at Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham.
He was also found guilty at an earlier hearing at Hove Crown Court of five indecent assault charges on the girl.
During the trial, the court heard Husband told the girl: “It’s OK, I’ve had a vasectomy,” before raping her.
Husband, of Wigginton, is the fifth Christ’s Hospital School teacher to be convicted of sexually abusing students.
His crimes spanned a period of more than 30 years and involved 22 victims.
His co-defendant and a former head of house at the school Gary Dobbie, 66, of Albi, France, was convicted of 15 counts involving multiple offences against six boys and two girls as young as 12.
Dobbie, formerly of Hereford, was teaching at independent Shrewsbury School, in Shropshire, at the time of his arrest in 2016.
He has yet to be sentenced.
Jurors heard the abuse took place between 1990 and 2001 and that both men were friends and used to laugh together about their abuse.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-44817719
Victim of paedophile doctor urges more women to come forward
Woman, known as Jasmine, awarded damages after being abused by Myles Bradbury
11 July 2018
A female victim of a paedophile doctor, who it had been assumed only preyed on boys, has urged other women to come forward after being awarded a five-figure sum in damages.
Myles Bradbury was jailed for 22 years in 2014 for abusing boys at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridgeshire between 2009 and 2013.
It is feared that his abuse began earlier and was more extensive. A 26-year-old woman, referred to only as Jasmine to protect her identity, alleged that Bradbury abused her during his time at Birmingham children’s hospital between 2007 and 2008, when she was 14.
She said Bradbury arranged an appointment that was not needed when she was being checked for blood clots. He then asked her to undress, carried out an unnecessary examination and sexually assaulted her, Jasmine said.
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS foundation trust paid more than £10,000 to settle the case.
In a statement issued her by lawyers, Hudgell Solicitors, Jasmine said: “You try and convince yourself that something like this has not affected you, but it does. I have lost my trust in health professionals.
“My 18-month-old daughter had to go to A&E recently and it was a male doctor, and I wasn’t comfortable with that.
“I haven’t heard of any other girls coming forward, and have seen that all his convictions were against boys, but I don’t believe that I was the only girl to have been hurt in this way.”
Her lawyer, Renu Daly, said: “When she first approached me, she said ‘nobody is going to believe me because I’m a girl and it was in a different hospital’.
“She always felt her examination was totally inappropriate, which it was. Bradbury chose to see her and carry out an examination when she was being investigated for a blood disorder, nothing to do with a physical examination.”
Daly added: “She wanted to raise the profile for other women, on the basis that if there are other women struggling they should come forward. It is less scary to do it when someone else has taken the plunge.”
“I think there are lot of other victims. And it is about getting your life back on track. She has really moved her life on since she first came forward. She was broken to start with. She wants to move on with her life and she is not going to let Bradbury destroy the rest of it.”
In a statement, the trust said: “The safety of the children and young people we see is a priority. When these allegations came to light we contacted all of the families under Bradbury’s care to offer support and advice, referring any concerns to the police.
“At the time, we also conducted a thorough review of our approach to chaperoning to offer families further reassurance around the safety of their children, while in our care. This is something we continuously audit.”
Bob Higgins trial: Coach denies using gifts to groom boys
10 July 2018
A former football coach has denied using gifts and threats to “manipulate and groom” trainees in order to sexually abuse them.
Bob Higgins, 65, told a jury he was never alone with any youth player at Southampton or Peterborough United over the course of nearly two decades.
Under cross-examination, he denied putting trainees “under his spell”.
At Winchester Crown Court, Mr Higgins denies 50 counts of indecent assault against boys between 1971 and 1996.
Most of the 24 alleged victims are former youth players at the two clubs.
Prosecutor Adam Feest QC told the court the defendant was a “manipulative person as far as… trainees are concerned”.
‘Second dad’
He threatened one alleged victim with the police and gave another a piece of football kit to gain his affection, Mr Feest said.
The defendant denied the suggestions.
He accepted though his relationship with boys could be “intense, in a football way”.
“You would know which boy’s father was away, which boy came from a troubled background,” Mr Feest said.
Mr Higgins said some called him “second dad” because “that was how they felt”, but he denied selecting boys to abuse.
Mr Feest suggested the ex-coach had “supreme influence” over “teenagers desperate to be professionals” through his power to recommend them for contracts.
Asked about soap-water massages given to trainees, Mr Higgins said he learned the technique from a TV programme about former England and Leeds United manager Don Revie.
‘Lot of soap’
“Did you ever stop to think, ‘Is it appropriate for me to be massaging a young naked boy in this way?’,” Mr Feest asked.
“No,” Mr Higgins replied.
“You accept there was a risk of touching a boy in an intimate place?” the prosecutor continued.
“I might have brushed them. There was a lot of soap on the player,” Mr Higgins said.
The trial continues.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-44783789
Disturbing account of sexual abuse at Sherborne Prep School revealed in 1990s archive released by Department for Education
10 JUL 2018
Sherborne Preparatory School was rocked by scandal in 1998 when it was alleged that the then-headmaster, Robin Lindsay, had committed a catalogue of abuse dating back to 1972.
The headmaster ‘retired’ from the school after the allegations cam to light, but research into the case carried out by Somerset Live has revealed a number of complaints made against the the head teacher to the Department for Education and police in 1974, 1982, 1985 and 1986.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, Somerset Live has gained the witness statements that helped to make the case against Lindsay, and finally saw him banned from teaching and branded a ‘fixated paedophile’.
The 81 pages include testimonies from staff and teachers at the school, former staff and even include a statement given to the police by a pupil alleging a serious sexual assault.
While the pages have been redacted to protect the identities of those who gave statements, the words themselves make for powerful – and terrible – reading.
They contain concern after concern after concern about inappropriate behaviour towards pupils at the school, with one anonymous person writing:
Evidence from one witness
“My feeling is that Mr Lindsay has an inappropriate interest in boys, particularly those aged about 12 or 13.
Mr Lindsay was in the habit of supervising the boys’ showers and I would often observe him doing this. When walking down the corridors, past the showers, Mr Lindsay’s voice could frequently be heard saying ‘in between – buttocks’. ”
“Mr Lindsay had also told me that he was in the habit of going into the boy’s dormitory to see if there was anyone who could not sleep, and if he found anyone then he would either take them to his bedroom or his study and give them sleeping pills. I was horrified.”
The writer added: “Mr Lindsay certainly had favourites among the boys and I remember one of them saying ‘well, I can get anything I want because Mr Robin is in love with me.”
Included in the bundle are resignation letters from staff at the school, which also mention their concerns about his conduct with the pupils in his care.
There are also complaints about his treatment of the staff and pupils at his school, and suggestions he tried to pressure staff into not co-operating with Inspectors from Ofsted and Social Services. with one writing that they were told: “Feel free to say what you wish to Ofsted, but be careful what you say to the Social Services Department, you cannot trust them.”
Witness statement:
“He believes Social Services’ activities are an intrusion into the running of the school and he sees no reason why he should take their advice or be told what to do by them.
“He takes steps to try and make sure staff present a united front to inspectors and indicates the responses they should make on certain issues. I believe he also coaches children in this regard.”
That same witnesses also writes that they found packages of condoms in a suitcase owned by Lindsay, and later found him with photographs of young boys in swimming costumes in his possession.
The chest of drawers
“Shortly after Mr Lindsay departed on the skiing trip, I took the opportunity to search his room more thoroughly. I opened the top drawer of the chest of drawers and found the packages of condoms. Most of them were not opened, but one had been and I noticed these were strawberry flavour. In addition, I found in the drawer photographs of young boys, ranging in age from about seven to 14 or 15.
They appeared to be of middle eastern race, some were in jeans and t-shirts…the ones of the younger boys were wearing trunks. There was also a photograph of a Caucasian boy of 11 or 12, and it is not clear from the photo whether he is wearing any clothes, but he is on a beach and leaning on a post with writing in English upon it indicating there is a nudist beach in the vicinity.”
Another states: “I heard about a recent event when a boy had reported he had gone to Mr Lindsay’s room at night to tell him he could not sleep. In response, Mr Lindsay had invited the boy into bed with him. I have heard boys say that they hated Mr Lindsay and did not like the way he stared at them in the showers.”
The Showers
“Mr Lindsay insisted that the towels be placed at some distance from the showers themselves, that children were not allowed to rush to recover their towels and were not allowed to cover themselves in any way.”
There were further concerns about Mr Lindsay’s behaviour in the dormitories from staff at the school, as well.
One statement reads:
The dorms
“One boy told me that at lights out Mr Lindsay had the habit of coming into the dormitory to chat with the boys. He would sit on their beds and stroke their hair and insisted on pulling the duvet back so as to sit right next to the boy in question…
“There was one boy who could not bear to be hugged by Mr Lindsay and would duck under his arm and run away. At one point Mr Lindsay said to me ‘He doesn’t like physical contact, does he?’.
The boy said that he did not like physical contact with Mr Lindsay, but did with respect to his parents.
“Mr Lindsay replied that this was ‘absolutely ridiculous – I am in loco parentis here.”
Another speaks of seeing Lindsay going from room to room in a state of undress, while another claimed he had been seen unblocking toilets with his bare hands.
Punishment…
“Mr Lindsay favoured slapping boys on their bare bottoms and indeed he would insist that boys changed into their pyjamas for the punishment to be delivered.”
Perhaps most concerning of all is a statement collected by Dorset Police, alleging a serious sexual assault at the school.
The statement is undated, but appears to have been from a former student at the school, who says he has come forward to try and prevent what happened to him happening to anyone else. The person making the allegation says they are happy to appear as a witness at Crown Court.
The abuse allegation
“Mr Lindsay would always stand by the shower and watch us in there and make an issue out of the fact that we were not allowed to take a towel from the locker to the showers. He would take great pains to weigh us naked.
“One early evening I was the victim of a serious sexual assault. I was aware of a disturbance in an annexe and I went to see what all the noise was. When I entered the room I was set upon by four or five boys. Two boys pushed me down facing the rear on the bed. I was being held down by these boys who were holding my limbs.
“I heard the boys say ‘who’s going to do it?’ then I heard a boy say ‘I will’. I thought I was going to be penetrated and was very frightened. At this point the headmaster entered the room and all the boys stood up and let me go. Mr Lindsay told me to go into his study and I followed him into the room.
“He told me to pull my pyjama bottoms down, which I did. He told me to show him what the boys were doing to me. I said they had not done anything, he repeated the question, but more forcefully.”
After being forced to show what had happened to him, the statement continues:
“He looked at me and said come here. He took hold of me and laid me across his lap and struck me with a cupped hand. He struck me about five times, each time his hand moved nearer to my anus and I was able to feel him becoming erect against me. On the third blow I felt his finger near to my anus.
“I was very angry that I was being punished for the previous incident with the boys, but I was aware this was not an ordinary punishment and he was getting enjoyment out of it.”
Another witness speaks of seeing Lindsay ‘staring up the dress of a 10-year-old girl’, who was later taken to one side and told how to sit in future to preserve her modesty.
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/disturbing-account-sexual-abuse-sherborne-1757140
‘Prostitutes, orgies, group sex – all of it’: Ex-wife of former Maori leader says he led a paedophile ring who ‘passed victims around like a box of beer’ – and it goes to the ‘highest heights’ of New Zealand’s power structure
- Te Awanuiārangi Black was a Māori Party councillor until his 2016 death aged 48
- His wife Anihera claimed he and several other men sexually abused young girls
- He would have affairs, orgies and abuse young girls with paedophiles, she said
- Mrs Black said he abused because he was assaulted by his father when young
An esteemed politician had orgies, groomed young girls and led a paedophile ring, his wife has claimed in a bombshell video.
Te Awanuiārangi Black, a Māori Party councillor and parliamentary candidate from Tauranga, New Zealand, died aged 48 of organ failure after ‘drinking himself to death’ in 2016.
In an emotional Facebook Live video two years later, his wife Anihera has claimed he and several other men sexually abused young girls and passed victims around ‘like a box of beer.’
Weeping hysterically in the self-filmed video, she said on Saturday: ‘I have an announcement to make on behalf of my kids and I and perhaps it will shock a lot of you and perhaps it will help some of you find some comfort… something that needs to be done.’
Mrs Black explained that her husband, who she met aged 15 and married aged 18, was not the man many in her community thought.
‘Those good deeds Awa did for individuals will live on in the memory of their lifetimes, she said.
‘However the pain and suffering he caused others may live on for generations to come if things are left unsaid.’
She went on to explain how he would have affairs, orgies and abuse young girls with other paedophiles.
‘He became a predator, a recruiter, a teacher, a pimp, a ringleader of one of the many child-adult sex rings here in his beloved Tauranga Moana and he took that s*** nationwide with all his contacts in every stream of life.
‘They would recruit the innocent… share them around like a box of beer, consume every last drop and discarding the empty vessels into the gutter, soulless, cold and broken.’
Mrs Black said her husband behaved the way he did because he was abused by his father as a child.
‘In turn it created the same behaviour in Awa,’ she said.
Awa became a paedophile and over the years, honing his skills, waiting for that perfect moment he had preordained to steal the innocence of others.
‘I wondered why Awa invited so many young people through our home over the years and I thought it was to be a good aunty and uncle. I know differently now.
She then urged his victims to come forward and speak out, adding: ‘I am so extremely sorry and devastated. You are all my babies now and I will do what I can to navigate through your healing process.’
‘Take back the power of the secret. It has no power in the light. Give yourself permission to be heard, be it a whisper or a bloodcurdling scream.’
After her bombshell Facebook Live video, Mrs Black spoke to the New Zealand Herald to explain her husbands’ behaviour in more detail.
She said: ‘He thought he was entitled to have women wherever he slept for the night. That might have rolled a few hundred years ago but it’s not what I signed up for.
‘He was never ever faithful. Prostitutes, orgies, group sex – all of it.’
She added: ‘This goes deep and wide, in terms of the paedophile ring, to the highest heights you can imagine. These people aren’t just labourers and workers at fast food restaurants. These people are suits and people in power.’
Police are investigating the allegations.
Mr Black was a regional councillor and Māori Party candidate.
He also held roles with the Māori Language Commission, Te Wānanga o Raukawa and the Tauranga Moana Iwi Leaders’ Group.
Mr Black’s former colleague at the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Arapeta Tahana, said he watched the video with his partner.
Former co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell says he had known Mr Black a long time, and felt a range of emotions seeing the video.
Teacher at leading boys’ school arrested on suspicion of sexual misconduct with pupils
8 July 2018
A teacher at one of Britain’s leading boys’ schools has been arrested on suspicion of sexual misconduct with pupils.
Surrey Police are investigating after Hampton School, which charges £20,000-a-year, reported him to the authorities.
The member of staff was sacked from the 450-year-old south-west London school following an internal disciplinary probe earlier this year.
Hampton School, which educates boys aged 11 to 18, is among the highest performing for GCSEs and A-levels in the country.
Its alumni – known as Old Hamptonians – include Lord Kenneth Baker, who was education secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government, and Brian May, the guitarist in the rock band Queen.
It boasts one of the top rowing clubs in the country and counts two Olympic Gold-winning oarsmen – Greg Searle and Jonny Searle – among its former pupils.
Founded in 1557, when the businessman and local brewer Robert Hammond bequeathed land and property for a school, it became a grammar school in 1910 but changed to independent status in 1975.
A spokesman for the school said: “The welfare of all pupils at Hampton School is always our highest priority.
“As soon as we became aware of concerns, we immediately informed all the relevant authorities. We have been working very closely with them ever since.
“The member of staff was dismissed with immediate effect following an internal disciplinary investigation. Given the continuing police investigation, it would not be appropriate to say more at this point.”
The school says on its website that The Hampton School Trust takes the safety and wellbeing of its pupils “very seriously”.
“The School fully recognises the contribution it makes to the safeguarding of children and the responsibility it has to have arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of children,” it adds.
Earlier this week, a teacher at Christ’s Hospital School was convicted of assaulting eight of his pupils.
Five teachers from the school, which charges £35,000-a-year for boarders, have now been prosecuted after police investigated complaints made by 22 former students.
On Thursday the school apologised to victims and praised their courage in reporting the abuse. In a statement it said: “The actions of these men were not only criminal but also an utter betrayal of the trust placed in them and of the values of Christ’s Hospital.”
While the school is “worlds apart” from that described in court, with a range of safeguarding measures now in place, the cases served as a “brutal reminder” there is no room for “complacency”, it said.
Staff member at top private school arrested for ‘hoarding child abuse photographs’
The worker at £19,000-a-year Hampton School is also said to have posed as a teenage girl in a fake social media profile
8th July 2018
A STAFF member at a top private school has been arrested for allegedly hoarding child abuse images.
The worker at £19,000-a-year Hampton School is also said to have posed as a teenage girl in a fake social media profile.
Cops were called in after a complaint from a pupil. They interviewed staff and students then raided the worker’s home.
Laptops were seized and the person was held for alleged possession of indecent images.
The arrested member of staff was immediately sacked after an internal investigation at the all-boys school in Richmond Upon Thames, South West London.
A source said: “There were complaints about the fake profile and the behaviour.
“The school acted very quickly in speaking to people and calling in police. It is an extremely shocking situation and, not surprisingly, everyone at the school is talking about it.”
Ex-students at the 1,200-pupil school include Queen guitarist Brian May and Olympic gold medal rowers Greg and Jonny Searle.
“As soon as we became aware of concerns, we immediately informed all relevant authorities. We have been working closely with them ever since.
“The member of staff was dismissed with immediate effect following an internal disciplinary investigation.
Through the Form Charity programme the whole school community helps raise money and awareness for good causes locally (e.g.Princess Alice Hospice, Barnardos, Home-Start and the Shooting Star Trust), nationally (e.g. Jeans for Genes Day and Breakthrough Breast Cancer), and internationally (e.g. Opportunity International, the African Medical and Research Foundation, Pahamune House).
Freemason links to school:
The School
Hampton School, (formerly Hampton Grammar School) is an independent boys school with a history dating back to the sixteenth century, when it was founded at St. Mary’s Church in Hampton, Middlesex on the bank of the River Thames. It is now located on Hanworth Road in Hampton, between Hampton Community College (formerly Rectory School) and Lady Eleanor Holles School, within playing fields bounded by the Longford River.
Though there are no formal ties between the lodge and the school, many of the lodge members have connections with the school and the lodge sponsors the school’s Old Hamptonians’ Masonic Lodge Prize for Social Service.
https://oldhamptonian.org/history/the-school/
Karma Police@capeannsky
This is a good thread on Epstein: history, charges and where things are now. Very interesting.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1010553470011822081.html
Two former teachers at Christ’s Hospital school guilty of abusing pupils
Gary Dobbie and James Husband face jail as number of ex-staff convicted reaches five
5 July 2018
Two more teachers who worked at a top private school are facing jail after being found guilty of sexually abusing pupils.
Five teachers from Christ’s Hospital school have now been convicted after police investigated complaints made by 22 former students.
A jury of seven women and five men at Hove crown court deliberated for 25 hours and 43 minutes before returning their verdicts on the 21 counts against James Husband and Gary Dobbie on Thursday.
The two men, who were friends, would laugh together about their crimes, which took place over the course of 13 years while they lived and worked at the school in Horsham, West Sussex, the court was told.
Dobbie and Husband looked straight ahead from the dock and did not react as the verdicts were read out. The NSPCC described them as “predatory and calculated”
Peter Webb and Peter Burr were both jailed in the last year after admitting committing offences at the school between the 1960s and 1980s. Ajaz Karim was found guilty in April of assaulting six girls between 1985 and 1993 and is due to be sentenced in August.
Husband, 68, of Wigginton in York, was convicted of one count of rape and five of indecently assaulting a girl as young as 14 between 1990 and 1994. He had claimed they had “consensual sex” once when she was 16.
He told a 15-year-old pupil: “It’s OK, I’ve had a vasectomy,” before raping her, the court heard.
Afterwards, he confided in Dobbie about the encounter, who later joked with the girl that she had “beard rash”, indicating that he knew what had happened, the court heard. He also indecently assaulted the same pupil later on.
Husband’s victim described being “disgusted with herself” and said she felt suicidal. She reported him to the school’s chaplain but no action was taken. She said her mother did not believe her story.
Husband left the school after it emerged he was having a consensual affair with a 17-year-old pupil who was not underage and not a complainant in the case.
The married father, whose children were attending the school at the time, “deceived” senior staff by embarking on the affair, jurors heard. The former tutor and head of department talked about the “spur-of-the-moment” encounter which involved several instances leading from holding hands and kissing to sex.
Giving evidence in his defence, he spoke of his desire to kiss her during a period when he felt disgruntled with how the school was being run.
In a diary entry read to the court, the girl said: “Told too many people at school then decided to go for it. The fling. So got off with him on Saturday night. The most amazing thing. Happy.”
Dobbie, 66, of Albi in France and formerly of Hereford, was found guilty of 15 counts involving multiple offences against six boys and two girls as young as 12 between 1998 and 2001.
He was teaching at independent Shrewsbury school in Shropshire at the time of his arrest in 2016.
Dobbie groomed pupils by hosting dinner parties with favourite students at his house in the school grounds, the court heard. He would ply them with whisky and wine while encouraging them to talk about their sexual encounters.
He took a boy as young as 12 to a bedroom, telling him to take off his breeches and underwear while Dobbie performed a sex act on himself, the court heard. Another boy recalls falling asleep on his sofa and waking up to find him kneeling beside him with his hand in his shirt.
Dobbie also helped to raise money for another pupil, who was abused over a period of six years, to take a gap year after leaving school and assaulted him when he returned for a visit.
Sussex police began investigating teachers at the school in 2016 after allegations were made about Husband.
Publicity around the prosecutions prompted several more former pupils to come forward with complaints.
Christ’s Hospital teacher faces further sexual abuse allegations
Prosecutor Eloise Marshall then told the court there were “outstanding matters” against Dobbie as “two other complainants had come forward during the course of the trial”.
Gary Dobbie was found guilty was found guilty of 15 counts involving multiple offences against six boys and two girls as young as 12 between 1998 and 2001
Investigations are ongoing and no charges have so far been brought. Police have confirmed they are both former school pupils
Husband will be sentenced on July 13. A date is yet to be set for Dobbie
Kevin Spacey Is Being Investigated for 3 New Sexual Assault Allegations in London
3 July 2018
Three more accusers have reportedly come forward accusing former House of Cards star Kevin Spacey of sexual assault.
London’s Metropolitan Police are investigating the actor after men separately reported him for separate attacks that respectively occurred Westminster in 1996, in Lambeth in 2008 and in Gloucester in 2013, according to TMZ.
The Met does not identify people who are subject to investigations until charges have been filed and would not confirm Spacey is being investigated. However, a spokesperson confirmed that officers from the Child Abuse and Sexual Offenses Command are investigating six separate, male-on-male alleged sexual assaults that match the three dates published by TMZ, as well as three dates previously connected to Spacey.
Spacey’s attorney did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
In October 2017, actor Anthony Rapp claimed Spacey had previously made inappropriate sexual advances toward him when he was just 14 years old.
In response, Spacey, now 58, issued a statement on Twitter addressing the allegations and coming out as gay.
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. I’m beyond horrified to hear his story,” he said. “I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”
Several more people accused the actor of sexual harassment or assault since, and in April, one sexual assault case against the star reported to have taken place in October of 1992 in West Hollywood involving a male adult was turned over to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for further review.
In November, the actor entered a treatment facility. He has not been out in public since and has been written off the finale season of House of Cards.
On Tuesday, actor Guy Pearce hinted at an unpleasant experience while working with Spacey.
“Yeah… Tough one to talk about at the moment,” he said on Australian talk show host Andrew Denton’s Interview, according to Independent. “Amazing actor; incredible actor. Slightly difficult time with Kevin, yeah. He’s a handsy guy.”
https://people.com/tv/kevin-spacey-investigated-new-sexual-assault-allegations-london/
Prince Charles presents honorary knighthood to Kevin Spacey
Kevin, who is also an ambassador for the Prince of Wales’ charity The Prince’s Trust, looked delighted as he showed off his medal to photographers. Unlike formal knights like Paul McCartney and Elton John, Kevin does not carry the title “Sir” because he was born outside of the Commonwealth. Still, the honour carries a heavy weight of significance as it is only awarded to people who have made an incredible impact in their given fields. Other honorary knights include U2’s Bono and Bob Geldof while Angelina Jolie has been made an honorary dame.
Kevin Spacey in paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s black book
Westminster ‘paedophile ring’ accuser charged
July 2018
A man who alleged there was a paedophile ring at the heart of Westminster has been charged with perverting the course of justice.
The man, known as Nick, whose real name is being withheld for legal reasons, is also accused of fraud.
Nick’s claims sparked an 18-month Scotland Yard inquiry into allegations public figures sexually assaulted children and three boys were murdered.
The inquiry was dropped and Northumbria Police was asked to investigate Nick.
Nick had claimed he was systematically abused and tortured by senior politicians and members of the armed forces during the 1970s and 1980s.
Those he accused included former Conservative politicians Lord Brittan and Harvey Proctor, and Field Marshal Lord Bramall.
Mr Proctor has welcomed the decision to prosecute Nick.
High-profile raids
After the Met launched Operation Midland in 2014 to investigate Nick’s claims, they held a press conference where a senior detective described the allegations as “credible and true”.
In 2015, the Met carried out a series of high-profile dawn raids on the homes of those Nick had accused.
All of them denied his allegations and the investigation was closed without anyone facing charges, having cost £2.5m.
Last September, Northumbria Police passed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider possible charges against Nick.
Thirteen charges
On Tuesday, the CPS head of special crime said there was “sufficient evidence” to bring 12 charges of perverting the court of justice and one of fraud.
Nick is due to appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court “in due course”.
In a statement, Mr Proctor “congratulated” Northumbria Police for a “thorough and robust” investigation and said there must be no delays in arranging the trial.
“The torture that was and is Operation Midland should end as soon as is possible,” he said, adding: “Justice must now be allowed to take its course.”
Daniel Janner, the son of the late peer Lord Janner, said in the light of the CPS charging decision he would no longer be attempting to bring a private prosecution against Nick over allegations he made against his father.
Police apology
The Met apologised for the way they had conducted Operation Midland and paid compensation to Lord Bramall and the family of Lord Brittan, who died in 2015.
Mr Proctor is suing the Met for compensation.
A report into Operation Midland, carried out by a retired High Court judge, said the force had made a series of errors in the investigation and made 25 recommendations on how police should handle similar allegations in the future.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44700764
Man charged with perverting the course of justice
Frank Ferguson, CPS Head of Special Crime, said: “The CPS has considered a file of evidence from Northumbria Police relating to allegations of perverting the course of justice and fraud by a 50-year-old man.
“The police investigation provided evidence that the man had made a number of false allegations alleging multiple homicides and sexual abuse said to have been carried out in the 1970s and 1980s.
“Following careful consideration we have concluded there is sufficient evidence to bring a number of criminal charges.
“He has today been charged with 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one count of fraud and will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court in due course.
“Criminal proceedings in relation to this matter are now active and it is extremely important there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
Notes to editors
- The CPS is unable to publish the name of the man who has been charged due to a risk of prejudicing unrelated, ongoing proceedings involving the defendant
- Details of the charges:
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he made a false allegation of witnessing the child homicide of an unnamed boy committed by Mr Harvey Proctor
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he made a false allegation of witnessing the child homicide of a boy called Scott
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he made a false allegation of witnessing the child homicide of an unnamed boy, other than the unnamed boy in charge 1
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he falsely alleged that he had been sexually and physically abused by a paedophile ring, with senior ranking officers within the military, military intelligence, a TV presenter and other unidentified men accused as members
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he falsely alleged that he had been sexually and physically abused by a paedophile ring, with politicians, a TV presenter, and other unidentified men accused as members
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he provided a list of sexual abusers and locations falsely alleging that he had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse by the said sexual abusers at the said locations
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he provided sketches of locations at which he had been physically and sexually abused, falsely claiming that he had produced them from memory
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he provided and repeated the name of Aubrey, falsely alleging that Aubrey had been present and subjected to physical and sexual abuse when with him
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he provided a pen knife and two military epaulettes falsely alleging that he had retained them from when he was abused as a child
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he falsely claimed that he had suffered serious injuries as a result of having been sexually and physically abused as a child
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he falsified a ‘Proton’ email account, and provided false information purportedly sent from ‘Fred’, an individual who he had named as present when he was abused by a paedophile ring
- Doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, in that he went together with investigators on site visits and falsely alleged that it was at locations identified by him during those visits that he had been subjected to physical and sexual abuse by a paedophile ring
- Fraud, contrary to the Fraud Act 2006, section 1, in that on or about the day of day of 26 September 2013, dishonestly made representations to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, namely that he was subjected to abuse by a paedophile ring, knowing this to be untrue and intending thereby to make a gain for himself.
https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/man-charged-perverting-course-justice
Anthony Daly @Anthony Daly01
I note that the charges against “Nick” do not appear to include possession of indecent images of children; something which was widely reported in the media.
The Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has been sentenced to 12 months – but not jail.
He has been given six months home detention followed by six months on parole
Magistrate Robert Stone adjourned the matter to August 14 while Wilson is assessed for home detention.
In May, the 67-year-old was found guilty of concealing the sexual abuse of children between 2004 and 2006 at the hands of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher in the 1970s.
In sentencing, Mr Stone said “there is no remorse or contrition showed by the offender”.
Peter Fox 🦊🇦🇺 @Peter_Fox59
A lot of disappoinment outside Archbishop Wilson’s sentencing today. One witness said Wilson will sit in his sister’s backyard, near the beach, in the sun, sip his tea & read his newspaper. ‘What sort of punishment is that?’
Sad day4victims of sexual abuse -who to are frail sick damaged & have not had the luxury his life allowed-ARCHBISHOP IS GUILTY Of CAUSING rape & sexual abuse for children entrusted into his care he walks free 2the comfort of his home – this is not a proper sentence
Carolyn Gilholme @CarolynGilholme
Not only that, but the fact that he hasn’t resigned indicates that to him this is not serious, just a blip in his continuity. If the Catholic Church had an ounce of contrition he would be sacked and disowned by them.
What am I missing? If an employer has duty of care as part of its job description, and a staff member has been convicted of a breach, why are we waiting for a resignation? Why is that person not dismissed by its employer???
Marc de Cazanove @TchhhTchhhh
“Wilson handed 12 months’ imprisonment but may be allowed to serve time in home detention.” Would someone with a low public profile, with the same health problems and of the same age have been handed the same sentence?
dot goulding@dottigee
Former DPP Stephen Pallaras says Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson’s lenient sentence is a ‘disgrace’
5 July 2018
SENTENCING remorseless Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson to a year on home detention is a disgrace and prosecutors must appeal its leniency, former South Australian Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Pallaras, QC, says.
Mr Pallaras has lashed out at the home detention sentence handed down to Wilson in the Newcastle Local Court this week after he was found guilty of covering up a paedophile colleague’s abuse of altar boys.
Mr Pallaras’s criticism comes as the Catholic Church in Australia has emphasised it has no power to sack the state’s highest ranking Catholic Church leader, because only the Pope can compel Wilson to resign.
He said the sentence — which is likely to result in Wilson serving a six-month non-parole period on home detention at his sister’s NSW Central Coast home — demonstrated “just how wrong the Newcastle Local Court got this sentence”.
“While many might find spending six months living with their sister an unbearable proposition, as a sentence for this man — who totally betrayed his position of trust and authority, one who shows absolutely no remorse or any understanding of the harm his behaviour has done to so many once young and defenceless people, at a time when it has become painfully obvious that a strong deterrent sentence is desperately needed — a six moth sleepover at his sister’s home is for this arch hypocrite, a disgrace,” he says.
Mr Pallaras says certain features of a case can have a mitigatory effect on the punishment of a court, including a guilty plea and demonstration of remorse while other factors such as refusing to admit criminality, the need for deterrence and need to protect the young and vulnerable may result in a harsher sentence.
Wilson, 67, has confirmed he will appeal his conviction for concealing Father James “Jim” Patrick Fletcher’s crimes and has refused to resign unless he is unsuccessful in that appeal.
Mr Pallaras says the Catholic Church must immediately sack Wilson and the NSW DPP should immediately appeal the leniency of Wilson’s sentence.
“Wilson’s congregation or what is left of it, should tell him very loudly and clearly that a protector and apologist of paedophiles is no longer wanted or welcome in their midst.
“As for Wilson, the fact that he still clings to his uniform and office tells you all that you need to know about his character.”
In a statement, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Archbishop Mark Coleridge said the bishops had closely followed Wilson’s court case and respected his right to lodge an appeal against his conviction.
“We also recognise the ongoing pain this has caused survivors, especially those who were abused by Jim Fletcher,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“A number of survivors, prominent Australians and other members of the community have publicly called on Archbishop Wilson to resign.
“Although we have no authority to compel him to do so, a number of Australian bishops have also offered their advice privately. Only the Pope can compel a bishop to resign.”
The Vatican has refused to respond to requests for comment.
Child sex abuse inquiry lawyer resigns over concerns
1 November 2016
A key lawyer for the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has resigned, BBC Newsnight has learned.
Toby Fisher, one of the first three barristers appointed to the inquiry, said he wanted to stand down in August.
It is understood he was concerned by the inquiry’s “progress and direction” and was not otherwise planning on leaving.
A spokesman for the inquiry would not comment on specifics and Mr Fisher declined to comment.
Mr Fisher had served as first junior counsel – the joint-second most senior barrister on the inquiry – and previously worked on two of the inquiry’s most high profile investigations – into Lord Janner and alleged abuse in Westminster.
Mr Fisher’s decision to leave came about a fortnight after the departure of the inquiry’s third chair, Dame Lowell Goddard and days after Newsnight disclosed the inquiry had been told of an alleged sexual assault by the inquiry’s lead counsel, Ben Emmerson QC.
Asked about Mr Fisher’s departure, a spokesman for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said the inquiry had “a large legal team comprising a number of junior counsel, senior counsel and solicitors”.
“They come and go subject to their professional obligations and we are not commenting on specifics,” he added.
The spokesman for the inquiry added that Toby Fisher remains instructed by the inquiry. However, the BBC understands that this is to allow Mr Fisher to answer any queries that arise related to his previous work.
FIVE MOST SENIOR LAWYERS TO QUIT THE ABUSE INQUIRY
Hugh Davies QC – December 2015
Toby Fisher – August 2015
Elizabeth Prochaska – September 2016
Ben Emmerson QC – September 2016
Aileen McColgan – November 2016
Clarke and her three young children are now settled in at Homewood, the grand official residence in Karori, and will soon be joined by Fisher, who’s been winding up his barrister’s chambers in London. He will join the Crown Law Office in Wellington.
Wellington, once regarded as a pre-retirement posting, is now attracting younger high flyers. Clarke’s predecessor, Jonathan Sinclair, who returned to London to become the principal private secretary to British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, was also a parent of young children at Homewood.
https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/profiles/laura-clarke-diplomat-nz-special-reason/
http://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/toby_fisher
Archbishop of Melbourne quits – he said he would rather got to jail than tell the authorities about any sex abuse of children heard in the confessional. His replacement – Peter Comensoli – his cousin was jailed for abusing children.
Cardinal Pell and Peter Comensoli. He was consecrated as a bishop by Cardinal George Pell at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on 8 June 2011.
Cardinal George Pell to face trial on historical abuse charges
May 1 2018
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/30/asia/cardinal-george-pell-trial-may-intl/index.html
Archbishops and Bishops statement supporting George Pell – Peter Comensoli signed:
…stating he is a man of integrity who is committed to the truth and to helping others, particularly those who have been hurt or who are struggling.
http://www.bathurst.catholic.org.au/?i=4599&archbishops-and-bishops-statement-supporting-george-pell
Bishop Peter Comensoli to be the next Archbishop of Melbourne
29 June 2018
Archbishop-elect Comensoli, currently the Bishop of the Broken Bay Diocese in NSW, was appointed as Melbourne’s ninth Archbishop on Friday evening by Pope Francis to replace Archbishop Hart who has held the position since 2001.
“Sometimes people erroneously think references to my cousin are references to me,” Archbishop-elect Comensoli said in a 2014 witness statement tendered to the Child Abuse Royal Commission.
“This is why I have always refered to myself as Peter A Comensoli, to distinguish myself from Peter L Comensoli.”
Fr Peter Lewis Comensoli was jailed for child-sex crimes.
His cousin, Father Peter L. Comensoli, was jailed but was allowed to remain “Reverend”
In 1989, the Wollongong Catholic diocese (south of Sydney) was warned that Father Peter Lewis Comensoli was sexually abusing boys in his parish, but the church authorities allowed him to continue in parish work. In 1993, a newspaper exposed this church scandal. Police then charged Comsensoli and he was jailed in 1994. But the church failed to laicize him and he was listed as “Reverend” for the next 16 years, until his name finally vanished from church directories in 2010 — 16 years after his conviction. As explained at the end of this article, this Father Peter Lewis Comensoli should not be mistaken for another Catholic clergyman — his cousin, Bishop Peter Andrew Comensoli who has been appointed (in June 2018) to become the next Archbishop of Melbourne.
In the Sydney District Court on 18 October 1994, Father Peter Lewis Comensoli (then aged 55, of the Wollongong diocese, south of Sydney) was sentenced to 24 months jail (18 months minimum) after pleading guilty to the indecent assault of altar boys. His conviction was reported in Sydney and Wollongong newspapers.
Despite this conviction, the annual edition of the Directory of Australian Catholic Clergy (published by the National Council of Priests) continued to include the “Reverend” Peter Lewis Comensoli, describing him as a “supplementary priest” of the Wollongong diocese. His name was not dropped from the annual Australian Catholic directories until 2010 — sixteen years after his conviction.
In 1989, a number of high school students told another Wollongong priest, Fr Maurie Crocker, that they had been sexually abused by Father Peter Lewis Comensoli and by Christian Brother Michael Evans. Father Crocker alerted the church authorities but (he said later) the church authorities did not seem surprised or alarmed. The church allowed Comensoli to continue in parish work — that is, still dealing with young people.
In 1993, Wollongong’s Illawarra Mercury daily newspaper decided to expose Father Comensoli and Brother Evans. These articles led to a police investigation of Peter Lewis Comensoli and Michael Evans.
Two of Peter Lewis Comensoli’s victims agreed to make a signed, sworn police statement. These two victims were aged 10 and 17, when they were altar boys at one of Comensoli’s earlier parishes — St Mary’s parish in Berkeley, in urban Wollongong.
Peter Lewis Comsensoli then resigned from his current parish (St Brigid’s at Gwynneville, in urban Wollongong). The Wollongong diocese leadership accepted the resignation. A diocesan spokesman was quoted in the Mercury (9 November 1993, page 1) as saying: “He [Fr Comensoli] will always be a priest of the diocese but he is not working in the diocese at the moment.”
http://www.brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/194
Paedophile priest pleads guilty again
The court heard the charges stem from sexual assaults that occurred on teenage boys between 1966 and 1968 at Shellharbour in the Illawarra, and Ingleburn in Sydney.
The crimes involved three separate boys, who can’t be named.
It’s not the first time the paedophile priest has pleaded guilty to such crimes.
He was jailed for two years in 1994 after pleading guilty to the indecent assault of teenage altar boys.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-24/paedophile-priest-pleads-guilty-again/7440956
Medomsley detention centre: Former officers deny abuse
29 June 2018
Clockwise from top left: Kevin Blakey, Alan Bramley, Johnson Brian Greenwell, David McClure, John McGee, Christopher Onslow, Neil Sowerby
Seven former officers have denied abusing teenagers at a youth detention centre during the 1970s and 1980s.
The men, who are in their 60s and 70s, worked at the former centre in Medomsley, County Durham.
All are charged with physical abuse and misconduct in a public office, and four are also accused of sex offences.
Appearing at Teesside Crown Court, they pleaded not guilty and were bailed to return for three trials, with the first due to start on 3 September.
They are:
- Kevin Blakey, 65, two counts of misconduct, two counts of wounding, and two of assault
- Alan Bramley, 69, misconduct, wounding, and two counts of assault
- Johnson Brian Greenwell, 70, misconduct, serious sexual assault, false imprisonment, and two counts of assault
- David McClure, 62, misconduct, wounding, and four counts of assault
- John McGee, 73, misconduct, four counts of assault, two counts of indecent assault, serious sexual assault, and wounding
- Christopher Onslow, 71, two counts of misconduct, two of serious sexual assault, two counts of wounding, two counts of wounding with intent, three counts of assault, and one of indecent assault
- Neil Sowerby, 60, misconduct, three counts of serious sexual assault, two counts of assault and four counts of indecent assault
Nearly 1,400 men have claimed they were abused at Medomsley, which prior to its closure in 1988 held teenage offenders who had committed relatively minor crimes.
The seven defendants deny all the charges against them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-44661220
What happens if the cover-up is itself covered up? This is the question that the Church of England must face with the publication of an extraordinary report into the occasion, eight years ago, when it gave itself a pass mark on the issue of sexual abuse. A report then published, prompted by scandals earlier in the decade, was meant to measure the extent of historic sexual abuse known to the church. Instead it produced the frankly incredible claim that there were only 13 cases in 30 years that had not been dealt with properly.
Now that Peter Ball, a former bishop of Lewes and of Gloucester, has been convicted of indecent assault and been sentenced to 32 months in jail, while Lord Carey, who as archbishop of Canterbury attempted to rehabilitate him and suppressed some of the evidence against him, has been barred from working as a priest in retirement, it is time to review the church’s earlier self-examination. The Ball case is only the most visible of what is now obviously a considerable load of past cases. The archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, along with two of his bishops, has been formally reported to the police for alleged inaction over the case of one of their priests who was as a young man raped by an older priest.
So it is disappointing to see that the church has managed to produce another report that appears to argue that the original clean bill of health was the product of perfectly innocent misunderstandings. Sir Roger Singleton is a distinguished social worker and at the same time a charter member of the great and good. So his report is full of damning evidence of incompetence and obstruction within the original review, but it is written in a tone that suggests unflagging zeal hindered only by quite unforeseeable circumstances. It must be read with attention to the rotten steak and not the sizzle.
When the house of bishops first discussed the matter, in 2007, one bishop objected that “the real victims could include those clergy and church officials about whom unfounded allegations had been made”. On the other hand, something would have to be seen to be done: “It was noted … that a failure to proceed might be taken as evidence of a church culture which colluded with child abuse.” Perish the thought. In the event, those parts of the church that wanted to collude continued to do so. Seven bishops sent in no reports whatsoever: none are named in the report, although the church has since named their dioceses. All have now retired.
In keeping with this general aversion to reality, a decision was made early on to examine only files of cases, and not to talk to any survivors, on the grounds that to do so might be traumatic for them. None were asked if they would feel better for being ignored. The files were much easier to deal with, in part because they were haphazardly stored, in some cases in garages, and of varying age and completeness. Some records, says the report, referred merely to “an unfortunate saga” or “past difficulties”. “The state of many files does generate a risk that safeguarding concerns were not recognised as such,” writes Sir Roger in a magnificent understatement.
In the end, despite these hazards, nearly 50 lost cases were sent in for consideration from the diocese of Chichester alone (and there are 43 more dioceses). The compilers of the original report whittled these down to 13 for the whole country. It is difficult to understand how Sir Roger could be confident that there was no massaging of the figures.
cathyfoxblog@CathyCathyFox
Jack Straw – whats wrong with him? Extraordinary rendition and trying to stop abused chidlren speaking out
UK tolerated ‘inexcusable’ treatment of detainees by US after 9/11, damning official report finds
28 June 2018
British intelligence officers witnessed prisoners being tortured and played active parts in the rendition of terrorist suspects into the hands of the secret police of brutal regimes knowing that they faced inhuman treatment, a scathing report has said.
The British authorities, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) concluded, turned a blind eye to routine mistreatment by US authorities although the UK intelligence agencies became aware from an early stage that this was going on.
The ISC noted that the official US policy remains that prisoners should not be mistreated, in spite of President Donald Trump’s previous assertion that “torture works’.
But the committee called on the government to conduct a review of “consolidated guidance”, the rules under which intelligence officers do not become complicit in torture by the British state or allied countries.
Tony Blair’s government, in power during the period of the investigation, could have done more to influence the policies of George W Bush’s administration, the committee said.
Jack Straw, the then-foreign secretary, said after the report’s publication that although he was in charge of MI6 and GCHQ, he was unaware of some of the collusion in abuse. “I have today learnt much about the activities and the approach of these agencies of which I was not aware before,” he said.
Although the report, “Detainee Mistreatment and Rendition”, gives goes into detail about UK collusion in abuse by the US and other foreign governments, the ISC said it was stopped from talking to several key witnesses by Downing Street. As a result the intelligence and security services are held to account in the document, but the politicians escape relatively unscathed.
The committee was prevented from questioning Mr Straw and David Blunkett, the then-home secretary in charge of MI5, even though cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood assured the ISC when the report was commissioned in December 2013 that it could summon “relevant former ministers and officials”.
The report says: “Had the further witness statement we sought been made available to us and had we therefore continued the inquiry beyond this point, we may have differently categorised some of the cases of concern, and taken a different viewpoint.”
One of the questions Mr Straw would have faced is in a passage in the report which noted that MI6 “sought and obtained authorisation from the foreign secretary” for paying for a plane in which rendition was carried out.
Mr Straw insisted in response that he would have been happy to give evidence. He said: “These are extremely important reports which need to be taken very seriously and their conclusions followed through. As the report makes clear, I was not invited to give evidence to the committee, though I would have been pleased to do so, had I been asked.
“Although I was formally responsible for both SIS and GCHQ during my period as foreign secretary (June 2001 to May 2006), I have today learnt much about the activities and the approach of these agencies of which I was not aware before.”
The investigation by the committee found that British spies witnessed detainees being mistreated at least 13 times, were told by prisoners on 25 other occasions that they were being mistreated, and were told of mistreatment by foreign agencies on 128 other occasions.
But despite knowing of the abuse, the UK agencies continued to supply questions for interrogations, the committee said. It found there were 232 cases this took place despite the knowledge or strong suspicion that the information was being obtained by torture or other abuse. The damning statistics charted show that there were 198 cases where there was definite knowledge of mistreatment.
There is no evidence, said the report, that British officers themselves took part in torture, and there was “no smoking gun” suggesting otherwise.
The UK agencies played a major role in the rendition of suspects, the committee said. MI6 and MI5 financially subsidised, or offered to subsidise, the rendition of suspects on three cases and provided information enabling arrests and transportation in 28 cases as well proposing or agreeing to rendition on 22 others. They failed to stop rendition in 23 cases, including those of British nationals or residents. Two renditions took place through Diego Garcia, the British owned island on the Indian Ocean whose population had been deported to make way for an American base.
British intelligence and security services responded that the inquiry found its officers did not take part in any mistreatment. But a senior Whitehall security official said: “We are used to being held to account by the ISC and oversight bodies, and it is right that we as a service are subject to a robust system of independent oversight and accountability.
“We have engaged transparently and fully with many parliamentary processes, civil cases and police investigations that have taken place since post-9/11. The ISC’s reports are frank and clear. We were simply not prepared for the work we became involved in following 9/11. There were deficiencies in capability and understanding; and therefore in the guidance and training that we gave to staff.
The ISC report says: “We have considered the actions of those in the agencies’ head offices. Immediately after 9/11, the agency heads and deputies were briefed by the CIA: these briefings clearly showed US intent but were not taken seriously.
“It is difficult to comprehend how those at the top of the office did not recognise the pattern of mistreatment by the US. That the US, and others, were mistreating detainees is beyond doubt, as is the fact that the agencies and defence intelligence were aware of this at an early point. The same is true of rendition: there was no attempt to identify the risks involved and formulate the UK’s response. There was no understanding [within the UK government] of rendition and no clear policy – or even recognition of the need for one.
Theresa May issued a statement saying the lessons of what happened in the aftermath of 9/11 “are to be found in improved operational policy and practice, better guidance and training, and an enhanced oversight and legal framework”.
She added: “We should be proud of the work done by our intelligence and service personnel, often in the most difficult circumstances, but it is only right that they should be held to the highest possible standards in protecting our national security.”
Sonya Sceats, Freedom from Torture chief executive, said: “At this time when President Trump openly endorses torture and has placed a suspected perpetrator in charge of the CIA, it is more important than ever that Theresa May delivers on her predecessor’s promise of a judge-led inquiry to show in deeds, not just words, that Britain stands firm in its support for the absolute torture ban.”
What did Jack Straw know about the UK’s role in torture and rendition?
Key questions the former foreign secretary should answer in light of damning parliamentary reports
28 June 2019
After the release of damning reports on British involvement in the torture and kidnap of terrorism suspects after 9/11, the former foreign secretary Jack Straw said he had learned for the first time about much of the security services’ activity from the reports – and painted some aspects of them as a vindication.
He said the reports showed “that where I was involved in decisions I consistently sought to ensure that the United Kingdom did act in accordance with its long-stated policies and international norms”.
Nonetheless, the details in the parliamentary reports pose a number of difficult questions for Straw, who did not face the intelligence and security committee:
Why did you authorise the financing of a rendition operation in October 2004?
The reports explain that the British government and its intelligence agencies helped to finance three rendition operations. On one occasion, at least, Straw authorised the payment of “a large share” of the costs. He is certain to be asked to answer this if he gives any media interviews.
Who were the two victims of that operation, where were they sent and what happened to them on arrival?
The identities of the victims are hidden behind codenames in the reports, as are the place where they were kidnapped and the country to which they were taken. The committee says they were taken to a place where there was a “real risk of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”. He is highly unlikely to answer this question.
Why did you tell the foreign affairs committee the following year that anyone who believed the UK had been involved in rendition was a conspiracy theorist?
In December 2005 Straw told the Commons foreign affairs committee: “Unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories and that the officials are lying, that I am lying, that behind this there is some kind of secret state which is in league with some dark forces in the United States … there simply is no truth in the claims that the United Kingdom has been involved in rendition.”
Straw has never explained why he made this statement.
When Scotland Yard was questioning you about the rendition operations in which two families were flown to Libya in early 2004, did you tell the detectives about this later matter?
Straw was questioned – as a witness, not a suspect – by detectives investigating the Libyan renditions. It seems unlikely that he would have volunteered that he had authorised the financing of a subsequent rendition operation.
Did you tell the then prime minister, Tony Blair, what you were doing?
For some, this is the key question. It has never been answered.
Straw was Deputy to Hodge at Islington Council. A major driving force behind Child brides in the UK. Straw is the Politician behind the phrase “cultural sexual diversity”. In 2009 Straw made it illegal for any Child to complain about abuse while in the care system ( The Times and Independent Feb.15th 2009 ). Placed all the Thomas Hamilton ( Dunblane massacre ) papers under a 100 year secrecy law by claiming it was to protect the families‘ feelings. Jack Straw’s brother William has a conviction for a sex attack on a schoolgirl.
“I’d like to see Jack Straw face a criminal court” says @CraigMurrayOrg who saysreveals he was the only civil servant who wrote an objection against obtaining intelligence through torture.
BBC’s Lizzi Watson is now Deputy Editor for BBC News at six and ten. She was previously Head of News, BBC Asian Network and Executive Producer, BBC Newsnight.
Lizzi Watson @islingtonlizzi
on #newsnight
how did so many institutions allow vulnerable children to be abused by jimmy saville? latest on arrest of 7 royal marines
My Sweet Landlord @MySweetLandlord 16 Oct 2014
Replying to @islingtonlizzi
@islingtonlizzi Good question. Over to you #Croslandite
In 2004, Margaret Hodge, Harriet Harman and Elizabeth Butler Sloss were involved with the review of civil cases in which children had been taken into care, along with those cases that had resulted in criminal prosecution.
All three have links with paedophiles
alun:
What a trio…what a coincidence. All three have links with paedophiles: Butler-Sloss, Harriet Harman and Margaret Hodge! https://m.independent.ie/world-news/europe/5000-care-cases-may-be-reopened-in-cot-death-probe-26021201.html …
Margaret Hodge and her best mate Harriet Harman: two peas in a pod:
Harriet Harman tells ‘revolting’ anti-Semitic joke on live TV
Northern Irish civil group infiltrated by UK police
Another British police spy infiltrated a Northern Irish civil society group during the Troubles, it has been confirmed.
An officer with the code name Alan Nixon was working undercover in the Irish Solidarity Campaign between 1969 and 1972. It is the third time that Scotland Yard has admitted that officers were targeting grassroots groups campaigning for British troops to leave Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles.
The disclosures of officers’ code names and the groups that they infiltrated have been made as part of their Pitchford inquiry, which is investigating undercover operations by police forces in England and Wales since 1968.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/northern-irish-civil-group-infiltrated-by-uk-police-089f8jnv9
Former DJ Jonathan King’s sex assault trial COLLAPSES meaning he may have to wait until next year for case to be heard amid claims he ‘assaulted nine teenage boys in the 1970s and 80s’
- Former DJ and TV presenter, 73, has been on trial for a series of sex charges
- But the court case collapsed today and may be re-tried at the later date
- King is accused of molesting boys he picked up in his Rolls Royce
The trial of former DJ Jonathan King for historical sex offences collapsed today and he may have to wait until next year to find out if he faces a retrial.
The 73-year-old is accused of sexually assaulting 11 boys after allegedly picking them up in his Rolls Royce and plying them with drink.
But two weeks into the trial, Judge Deborah Taylor discharged the jury at Southwark Crown Court for legal reasons that cannot be reported.
Judge Taylor said: ‘Members of the jury, I am going to discharge you from this case because of reasons I am not going to go into at this stage.
‘Thank you for your careful consideration in this case which I have noticed over the past few weeks.’
King now faces a possible retrial in June next year.
The charges date back to the the 1970s and 80s, when King was well-known for his performances on TV and radio.
He insists he had only ever had consensual sex and did not have sexual contact with some of the alleged victims.
King, pictured in 1975, became famous for his pop music before appearing on TV and radio
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5891621/Jonathan-King-sex-case-trial-COLLAPSES-tried.html
James Torbett: Glasgow pensioner on trial accused of sexually abusing boys at football ground
26 June 2018
A pensioner has gone on trial accused of sexually abusing boys at a football ground and training facility.
James Torbett, known as Jim, faces 12 charges of abusing six boys, aged from four to 17 on the dates in question, one of whom has since died.
The alleged abuse spans from 1970 to 1994 and is said to have taken place at various locations including Barrowfield Football Ground in London Road and Scotstoun Football Training Facility, both Glasgow.
Abuse is also alleged to have occured at a a further football training facility in Bristol, school premises in Scotland, at a dormitories in France and Belgium, at factory premises in Shawbridge Street in Glasgow, at locations in Blackpool and London and in motor vehicles.
The 71-year-old from Glasgow denies all the charges against him, which include inducing boys to perform sexual acts and placing money in the mouth of one alleged victim.
Torbett is also accused of grabbing hold of the private parts of a boy aged between four and six and threatening him, and on another occasion making him perform oral sex.
He is further accused of removing the clothes and underwear of a boy aged 11 or 12 at Barrowfield Football Ground and watching him and two other boys enter the showers.
He has lodged a defence of abili for one charge, of sexually abusing the same boy in a vehicle on the M8 motorway in Glasgow between dates in 1985 and 1986, claiming to have been in New York on that occasion.
The trial at the High Court in Glasgow heard agreed evidence that the police seized mobile phones from Torbett and one alleged victim in May last year, which have now been forensically examined.
The court also heard the alleged victim who has since died provided six statements to the police.
The trial, before Judge Tom Hughes, continues today.
Depraved child rapist, Ian Knight aka Ian Murray, was allowed into Buckingham Palace to watch wife receive honour from Prince William
His wife, Pauline Murray-Knight, works for Childline
Child rapist visited Buckingham Palace to see wife receive MBE before starting 12-year sentence
24 Jun 2018
A child rapist visited Buckingham Palace with his wife to watch her receive an MBE – before he was later jailed for his crimes.
Jailed Ian Knight, 55, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire watched on as Major Pauline Murray-Knight was honoured by Prince William in December.
She received the honour for her work in mental health. She also counselled male and female rape victims.
The abuser appeared at the palace on the same day Ed Sheeran and JK Rowling were honoured – and a victim has hit out at authorities for allowing him the day out.
The victim told the Sunday People that Knight had ‘ruined my life.’
And added: ‘I can’t believe he was at the palace while police were aware he was accused of such serious offences. My blood ran cold.’
‘To find out the man responsible for my trauma has been to such a worthy occasion fills me with fury.
‘His victims deserve recognition and not him. I hope we can all find peace and he rots in prison where he belongs.’
Major Pauline Murray-Knight is made an MBE by Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge
Knight, a former soldier, was jailed for 12 years in March after being found guilty of 10 sex offences at Warwickshire Crown Court.
Two offences included repeatedly raping one of four victims, three girls and a boy, from when she was only eight.
The court heard Knight continually raped a girl, 8, when he was in his early teens and took every opportunity he could to abuse her.
He also assaulted a young boy during a game of hide and seek and was only brought to justice when his victims came forward.
Buckingham Palace told Metro.co.uk they had no comment.
MBE for Selfless Army Officer and Advocate of Mental Health Support
Nottingham-based Major Pauline Murray-Knight, of the Adjutant General’s Corps (AGC) was the Regimental Admin Officer (RAO) for 170 (Infrastructure Support) Engineer Group, Royal Engineers, when she was cited for recognition.
“It’s really nice that someone has recognised me in this way. It will give me more opportunity to promote mental health and awareness,” said Glasgow-born Major Murray-Knight (50), who is currently Personnel Admin Officer in the AGC Staff and Personnel Support (SPS) Specialist Pool (Worthy Down).
“I get immense job satisfaction. Helping others is the best part of my job,” she said, reflecting on her job as a mediator and mental health first aid teacher in the SPS. She also works for children’s charity ChildLine.
Major Murray-Knight’s citation states: “She has selflessly supported Mental Health initiatives and shown endless capacity to provide welfare support to those in need. She self-funds her training, library, yearly registration and insurance fees for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Hypnotherapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Life Coaching.
“She volunteers as a counsellor for the National Male and Female Rape and Abuse Helpline. Her work has benefitted many Forces’ families, including those of soldiers killed, injured or traumatised on operations.”
The citation covers 1998 to Jun 16.
http://www.warfare.today/2017/06/23/mbe-for-british-army-lgbt-advocate/
Ian A Murray Knight
Ex Nuneaton soldier jailed for sexually abusing children in the 1970s
Ian Knight was jailed for 12 years after a jury at Warwick Crown Court took less than five hours to convict him
12 MAR 2018
A former soldier is finally paying the price for his repeated sexual abuse of young children in Nuneaton when he was a teenager.
Ian Knight was jailed for 12 years after a jury at Warwick Crown Court took less than five hours to convict him of offences against three girls and a boy in the 1970s.
Knight, 55, also known as Ian Murray, of Roxburgh Road, Nuneaton, both now and at the time of his offences, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
He had been found guilty of ten charges, including two of repeatedly raping one of his victims from when she was just eight years old and he was in his early teens.
So what happened exactly?
Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard told the jury the offences involved Knight’s repeated sexual abuse of children living in the Attleborough area of Nuneaton from the mid-70s.
His victims were alleged to have been four girls and a boy, although Knight was cleared of a further seven charges he had faced, including those in relation to one of the girls.
He had carried out his abuse in a number of locations “whenever and wherever he had the opportunity of being alone with one of those children”, said Miss Orchard.
But matters were not reported to the police until 2016, which was “a long time since the alleged abuse”, but she stressed: “The essential question of ‘did it happen?’ doesn’t depend on the subtle recollection of detail.
“Ian Knight will know perfectly well whether he sexually abused these children, and he says he didn’t.”
The jury heard Knight’s victims are now mainly in their late 40s – and the first to go to the police described in a video-recorded interview what she had been subjected to.
She said Knight’s abuse of her had begun when she was about five – although the court heard the charges only related to matters from when she was eight, because at the time he would have been deemed too young to commit such offences.
It had started when she was playing on a swing, and when it stopped Knight had approached her and touched her breast area, and from then on he took every opportunity he could to abuse her.
After he began raping her, Knight, who also made her act out scenes in pornographic magazines he had, told her that if she told anyone, they would not believe her, but would believe him and send her away.
Over the years that followed the abuse, which the court heard ended when Knight joined the Army, she confided in another woman, which led to her being put in touch with someone else who had been abused by Knight.
That victim was contacted by the police and revealed that Knight’s abuse of her had begun when she was six or seven.
Another woman told how Knight had touched her over her clothing.
His final victim was a boy, now a man in his 40s, who described playing hide-and-seek with friends near a railway embankment.
He said he had ended up hiding with Knight, who he said was eight or nine years older than him and he was forced to perform a sex act – but they were disturbed and Knight ran off.
Knight denied all the offences, saying he was never alone with any of his victims, and that he was “sickened” by their allegations.
This is what the judge said
Jailing Knight, Judge Antony Potter told him: “You have been convicted following trial of ten offences reflecting the sexual abuse by you of four young children.
“You clearly knew what you were doing was wrong.
“The abuse continued after your return from a short spell in the Army as a junior leader in 1979.
“It only finally stopped after you rejoined the Army just over a year later. Your abuse has had profound and far-reaching consequences.”
Judge Potter said that if Knight had been an adult at the time, the sentence would have been 20 years – but that guidelines indicate sentences should be reduced by up to 50 per cent of the adult figure for a young offender, as he was at the time.
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/ex-nuneaton-soldier-jailed-sexually-14399233
WALKING up to the doorstep, Captain Pauline Murray-Knight’s palms are sticky with sweat, but nothing else belies the dreadful task awaiting her.
As the door opens, the woman on the other side clearly knows this is not a social call, her face frozen with the painful knowledge that the next few seconds will shatter her world forever.
For it is Captain Murray-Knight’s job to be the bearer of bad news to the relatives of men and women fighting in Afghanistan. In this case a cherished husband, but it could just as easily have been a son, mother or daughter whose death she has come to pass on.
As an official notification officer, loss of life and injury are core aspects of the job description for the 43-year-old, who grew up on a Glasgow council estate but is now one of only a handful of female captains in Scotland. Now she is starring in a STV show – Scots at War – which demonstrates the bravery of modern soldiers and their families and gives a revealing insight into how the services cope with loss. …
Pauline Murray-Knight
United Kingdom
HR Manager and Auditor at Nottingham
Military
Education
St Ambrose Coatbridge 1977 — 1984
Experience
Nottingham March 2015 – Present
BRITISH GURKHAS NEPAL June 2013 – February 2015
UK Ministry of Defence September 2012 – April 2013
UK Ministry of Defence July 2007 – September 2012
Motivation Training 2008 – 2010
Skills
Security Clearance, Army, Financial Accounting, Team Building, Financial Audits, Leadership, Financial Reporting, Counterterrorism, Security, Intelligence, Invoicing, IT Security Best…, Military Experience, Office Management, Command, NATO, Quality Assurance, Bookkeeping, Fitness, Close Protection, Change Management, IT Security Policies, Defence, NLP, Aerobics, Customer Service, IT Security Assessments, Postal Regulations, CBT, Operational Planning, Hypnotherapy, Mediation, Financial Risk, Physical Security, Embassies, Ministry Of Defence, Coordination, Equality & Diversity, Quality Auditing, Problem Solving, Contingency Planning, General Ledger, Military Liaison, Military, Strategic HR, Resettlement, Intelligence Analysis, Bahasa Indonesia, Military Operations, Conflict Management
https://graduates.name/country-uk-12566#id63688509
19/06/2017
Armed Forces Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) instructor Major Pauline Murray-Knight, of the Adjutant General’s Corps (AGC), has been recognised in the Queen’s birthday honours list.
Nottingham-based Major Pauline Murray-Knight received an MBE in recognition of her selfless work as an advocate for mental health support in the military community, and her work as a Mental Health First Aid instructor.
Reflecting on the prestigious recognition, Major Murray-Knight said: “It’s really nice that someone has recognised me in this way. It will give me more opportunity to promote mental health and awareness. I get immense job satisfaction. Helping others is the best part of my job.”
(AGE 50 IN 2017)
http://nottinghamlocalnews.com/pdf/Beeston_August_2017.pdf
Her citation states: “She has selflessly supported mental health initiatives and shown endless capacity to provide welfare support to those in need. (…) Her work has benefitted many Forces’ families, including those of soldiers killed, injured or traumatised on operations.”
Long periods of time away from family during service, exposure to high stress situations and trauma, and the difficulty of adjusting between military and civilian life – all can impact on the mental health of military personnel, veterans and their families. The most common ways these stressors impact on members of the Armed Forces are depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol misuse.
MHFA training courses teach people to spot the signs and symptoms of mental health issues, offer initial help and guide a person towards support. Developed in collaboration with the UK’s leading military support charities, Armed Forces MHFA is tailored to the unique culture and mental health needs of the military community.
https://mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/news/8b4627a5-f954-e711-8107-e0071b668081/
I have been promoting Mental Health for many years. I enlisted in 1984 and have a wide range of experience including operational tours and extreme trauma. I was the liaison officer for the families of soldiers injured and killed whilst is service. I have been involved in CNO duties and have a desire to support the service community.
I am also a MOD and civilian mediator, clinical hypnotherapist, male and female rape and abuse support worker, child line counsellor, Master of NLP, CBT and EFT and a TRIM Coordinator. I am trained in Trauma Incident Reduction (TIR).
I hope that the stigma of mental health ends soon. With education and understanding we can create a better understading of Mental Health and wellbeing as a whole.
I promote equality, diversity and inclusion and I believe we all have the right to live life in our own way as long as it does not have a detrimental impact on others.
I am an Armed Forces MHFA and adult instructor (2 day, 1 day and hald day). In 2017 I was awarded an MBE due to my selfless commitment and work towards improving Mental Health in the military and civilian community..
https://mhfaengland.org/public-profile/?id=9a37190c-70aa-e611-80ef-c4346baccf2c
Kavre Court postpones Peter Dalglish’s hearing for witness examination
22 June 2018
DHULIKHEL — Judge Arjun Adhikari has postponed Canadian Peter Dalglish’s hearing for witness examination on Thursday at Kavre Court.
Talking to Kathmandu Tribune, Adhikari said, “We want to know further about the witnesses and the hearing is now postponed possibly for two weeks or more.” Dalglish was arrested for pedophilia charges and although he was supposed to appear at the Kave Court on Thursday he didn’t.
Judge Adhikari too seem perplexed as of why he wasn’t brought to the court. “He is supposed to be here but I don’t know why he hasn’t be brought forth.”
Peter Dalglish’s lawyer had gone to meet him at the Kavre jail after the hearing on Thursday was postponed.
A government lawyer told Kathmandu Tribune that the hearing has been postponed since the court wants to properly examine the witnesses’ statements. According to Nepal’s law, there would be a minimum of five witnesses for the next hearing.
Dalglish faces a possible 11 years jail term or more if convicted for the rape charges. Nepal’s law will be updated on August where ‘pedophilia’ will be included as a severe crime.
https://kathmandutribune.com/kavre-court-postpones-peter-dalglishs-hearing-for-witness-examination/
Vatican ex-diplomat sentenced to five years on child pornography charges
23 June 2018
A former Vatican diplomat has been sentenced to five years in prison for child pornography offences.
Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella pleaded guilty at a Vatican court, which heard that dozens of pornographic photos and videos were found on his mobile phone.
He said he had suffered a personal crisis while working at the Vatican embassy in Washington DC.
The priest was recalled from the US last year after authorities notified the Vatican of their suspicions.
The US had asked that Capella’s diplomatic immunity be lifted so he could face charges there. Canadian police later issued an arrest warrant for Capella, an Italian.
The former diplomat will serve his sentence in the Vatican’s small prison, and pay a fine of €5,000 (£4,400; $5,800).
The case is the latest allegation involving child sexual abuse to hit the Catholic Church.
All of Chile’s 34 bishops offered to resign in May following a child sex scandal and a cover up. Pope Francis has since accepted three of their resignations.
Also in May, Australia convicted the archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, of concealing historic child sexual abuse in the 1970s. He has stepped aside from his duties but not resigned as archbishop.
In 2013, the Holy See recalled and defrocked its envoy to the Dominican Republic, Jozef Wesolowski, and ordered he be tried for child sex offences.
Wesolowski was found dead in 2015 before he could stand trial.
A man considered the Church’s third-ranked official, Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell, is due to go on trial in Australia on charges of historical sexual offences, which he denies.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44590887
Vatican diplomat admits he possessed child abuse images
Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella tells court he developed ‘morbid’ desire
22 June 2018
A Catholic priest who worked as a diplomat at the Vatican’s embassy in Washington has admitted at the start of his trial that he had possessed images of child sexual abuse while based in the US.
Monsignor Carlo Alberto Capella, who was arrested in the Vatican in April after he had been recalled, told the court in the Vatican that he had developed a “morbid” desire after he arrived in the US to take up the diplomatic post in 2016. “It was never part of my priestly life before,” he told the court, adding that he was unhappy at the embassy in Washington.
In August 2017, the US state department notified the Holy See of a possible violation of laws relating to images of sexual abuse of children by a member of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See accredited to Washington.
A few weeks later, the US requested that Capella’s diplomatic immunity be waived to open the way for possible prosecution there, but the Vatican refused.
After Capella was recalled to Rome, police in Windsor, Canada, said they had issued an arrest warrant for him on suspicion of possessing and distributing child abuse images on the internet while visiting a church in Canada.
The trial was adjourned until Saturday.
Church of England downplayed extent of child abuse allegations to protect its reputation, report finds
22 June 2018
The Church of England disregarded dozens of allegations in its inquiry into child sexual abuse and then downplayed the issue to protect its reputation, a critical report has found.
A report by former Barnardo’s chief executive Sir Roger Singleton found that close to 100 cases were whittled down to just a handful for a review released in 2010.
Inconsistent and overly specific criteria reduced the number of cases they reported for the Past Cases Review, leading it to conclude after examining 40,000 files that just 13 cases of alleged child sexual abuse merited formal action.
Sir Roger, who was commissioned to complete an inquiry into the review, said he believed the Church “downplayed” the issue in public statements to avoid reputational damage.
However, he also said he found “no evidence whatsoever of a deliberate attempt to mislead” or that anyone broke the law.
“In the public statement that it issued reporting on the review, [the Church] rather failed to give a comprehensive picture of the concerns that existed,” he said.
“It narrowed down the definitions of who had actually been responsible for abuse by limiting it to just new cases and cases where the Church took formal action. This had the impact of reducing the numbers from probably nearer 100 to just two which appeared in the public statements.”
Asked whether he found that Church officials were avoiding reputational damage, Sir Roger told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that is one of the factors that led those who prepared the press statement to emphasise the positive points for the Church and rather to downplay the negative aspects.”
The report criticises the church for failing to involve victims and survivors in the process, and recommends that seven dioceses needed to repeat it.
It also said cathedrals which were not involved in the original report should undertake their own reviews and old files which were not reviewed during the original process should be examined.
In written evidence given to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in March, Sir Roger detailed the reasons that dioceses ruled out individual cases, which included that clergy had died, retired or that allegations related to a bellringer or choir member, who were deemed to be outside the scope of the report.
In a case in Exeter Diocese, there was “concern about obsessional interest in satanic ritual abuse and conduct generally” by a retired priest, which it was decided would be dealt with by the Archdeacon.
Another excluded individual had been accused of abusing an adoptive daughter and accessing child pornography, in allegations that were investigated in 2001 with no further action being taken.
Bishop Peter Hancock, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop said: “These criticisms have been taken very seriously and acted upon and the House of Bishops have offered full support to implementing the recommendations in the report and any subsequent actions.
“We are committed to making sure that any known individuals who have not been dealt with appropriately in the past are assessed and any current potential risks to children and others are rigorously managed, including by reporting these individuals to the statutory authorities for investigation.”
Abuse survivors said the new report was not critical enough. In a joint statement a survivor known as Gilo and his lawyer David Greenwood of Switalskis said the past cases review had been a “whitewash”.
“It left vast numbers of clergy un-investigated, unreported to the police, free to continue abusing and effectively protected by the church,” they said.
Charles Howeson is jailed for sex attacks
The prominent city businessman was found guilty of indecently assaulting eight young men
22 June 2018
Plymouth businessman Charles Howeson has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for sexually abusing young men.
Last year the 69-year-old was convicted of 10 indecent assaults against eight young men in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was acquitted of attempted buggery and indecent assault against a ninth complainant last week, following a retrial at Bristol Crown Court.
Today in the same court, the judge ordered him to pay £50,000 in costs.
He will also be on the Sex Offender’s Register for life.
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/charles-howeson-jailed-sex-attacks-1705301
Ex-DJ Jonathan King, 73, ‘twice raped 14-year-old he picked up outside luxury London hotel Claridge’s, after plying him with brandy and boasting of threesomes with teenagers’
A former DJ raped a teenager waiter after plying him with brandy, a court heard.
Jonathan King, 73, picked up the 14-year-old boy from outside luxury London hotel Claridge’s where the young teen worked, a jury was told.
The victim was introduced to the pop personality through a friend in the 1970s but did not come forward until he heard of King’s arrest for a separate charge in 2001.
The disgraced pop personality is accused of using his fame to lure youngsters for rides in his Rolls Royce where he would take them for dinner, drinks and tours of his luxury London flat.
The victim told jurors: ‘I started working at Claridge’s hotel at 14, part-time as a commis waiter. This was 1977 or 78.
He said the other waiter asked if he wanted to go out after work and said a friend was picking them up.
‘We met Jonathan and we were taken to Chinese restaurant in Piccadilly above the McDonald’s,’ he said.
‘They all new Jonathan because when we walked in they said hello and invited him in as if he was a friend.’
He asked his friend who he was and he explained he was a famous DJ.
Christ’s Hospital School: Rape accused tells of affair with 17-year-old
A former private school teacher accused of raping a 15-year-old girl has told of an affair with another student.
James Husband, 68, recalled the consensual liaison with a 17-year-old girl at Christ’s Hospital School while giving evidence in his trial.
Hove Crown Court heard he was married and his children attended the school during the “spur of the moment” affair.
He and co-defendant Gary Dobbie, ex-head of house at the Horsham school, both deny sexually abusing pupils.
Mr Husband, of Wigginton in York, denies four counts of rape and five of indecently assaulting a different pupil when she was as young as 14 between 1990 and 1994 while he taught at the prestigious school.
Mr Dobbie, 68, of Albi in France and formerly of Hereford, faces a string of allegations against six boys and two girls as young as 12 between 1998 and 2001.
He denies 12 counts of indecently assaulting four boys and two girls, attempting to indecently assault a boy and two counts of indecency with a child.
He was teaching at independent Shrewsbury School, Shropshire, at the time of his arrest in 2016.
Mr Husband left his job as a history teacher when it emerged he was having a consensual affair with the 17-year-old pupil who was not underage and is not a complainant in the case, jurors were told.
Giving evidence, he told the court there were several instances with the girl – from holding hands and kissing to sex – but said he did not consider it a relationship.
During cross-examination, the court heard him describe the moment he kissed the student on the lips after a disco at night in the school grounds.
He said: “I can see her in my mind’s eye looking up at me. I can remember the kiss.
“The look on her face suggested that she wanted me to.
“I wanted to kiss her.”
In a diary entry read to the court, the girl said: “Told too many people at school then decided to go for it. The fling.
“So got off with him on Saturday night. The most amazing thing. Happy.”
Mr Husband later conceded to the court that he had had sex with two 17-year-olds.
Addressing the charges involving the other girl which he denies, claiming they had consensual sex once when she was 16, he said: “I don’t know why [the alleged victim] has brought these allegations against me.”
Jurors previously heard he had told the girl when she was 15: “It’s OK, I’ve had a vasectomy,” before raping her.
The trial continues.
Former DJ Jonathan King, 73, ‘raped a 15-year-old boy then slapped an imaginary sticker on his shoulder while praising him for ‘”being brave”‘
- Ex-DJ abused youngsters in 1970s and 1980s after giving them alcohol, jury told
- Man spoke out when King bragged he was ‘guilty of being good at seduction’
- He told his trial today alleged attack at King’s flat ‘wasn’t seduction – I was raped’
- Claims he was told: ‘You’ve won the Jonathan King order of merit for being brave’
He asked if the boy was hungry and he took him to a Chinese restaurant he claimed he went to with his ‘best friend’ Kenny Everett and got him drunk on beer, it is alleged.
Cranky Pants Noely @YaThinkN
How dare they! The Catholic Church should not be above the law. Hell, with 4,444 CATHOLIC VICTIMS revealed by #CARoyalCommission they should already be de-registered as a Criminal Organisation with all those who aided & abetted abusers jailed.
‘It doesn’t affect us’: Priests to defy child sex abuse confession law
CATHOLIC priests in South Australia won’t obey a law requiring them to report child sex abuse to police because the confessional is ‘sacred’.
Nathan Lee @NathanLee
So how has the George Pell trial been going? Oh – that’s right – the Catholic Church lawyers got a gag order on the media disclosing anything: secrecy & special protection. Exactly why the mountain of child abuse happens in the first place.
Former DJ Jonathan King ‘infiltrated one of Britain’s top public schools to prey on boys as young as 14 before luring them to his flat for sex in the 1970s and 80s’
- Former DJ is said to have plied youngsters with alcohol in the 1970s and 80s
- He often showed them pornography before sexually assaulting them, jury told
- The 73-year-old denies 24 serious sexual assaults on boys aged 14 to 16
- Child claims he went to collect Springsteen tickets and star grabbed his penis
- Public schoolboys say they gave tours and he lured them home with free gifts
Pop personality Jonathan King infiltrated a top public school to prey on young boys before plying one with alcohol and showing him porn while touching his penis, a court heard today.
The former broadcaster, now 73, was shown around by a 15-year-old boy before luring him and his friends to London with the promise of free records and gig tickets, Southwark Crown Court heard today.
When King’s first school guide came to his home he was asked to compile a ‘weird’ list of things including family, friends and sex and put them in order of importance.
‘He thought it was odd, but he completed the list putting family first,’ said prosecutor Rosina Cottage, QC.
On another visit to the same school, King then offered one of the boy’s friends tickets to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ tour date at Wembley.
The boy found his insistence ‘a bit weird’ but travelled to London to collect the tickets.
King picked him up from Waterloo in his Rolls Royce and took him to his west London flat.
King gave the boy a beer – then showed him a porn film and touched his penis. The victim said he was ‘petrified’ by this, the jury heard.
Miss Cottage told how King tried to reassure him ‘saying that he could telephone a girlfriend to arrange for her to come over and relieve him of his virginity.’
The boy said he wanted to leave, King gave him the tickets and let him go.
Later he dedicated the song ‘Illegal Alien’ by Genesis to both schoolboys on his Christmas Day radio show.
Asked in police interview if he had touched the boy, King quipped: ‘I don’t think I would have done unless he’d asked me very politely.’
King, who had a series of top ten hits and hosted TV shows like ‘Entertainment USA’ is accused of sexual offences against 11 victims at Southwark Crown Court.
On another occasion King took one of his victims to visit a ‘friend’ at school – a sixth form border.
When police raided his home they found a picture pinned up of a blonde boy, signed on the back: ‘To Jonathan, Love X, Nov ‘78.’
Police also found a diary detailing sexual exploits with young boys on a trip to Mexico.
He speaks of ‘trolling’ and ‘cruising’ to pick up 15 and 16-year-old boys in his car for sex.
One night King took a family out for dinner and visited their home to spend time with their 16-year-old son.
He writes: ‘After the oldsters went up to bed, telling John not to be too long I bought him a drink and then we strolled up to my room to exchange addresses.
‘Well. Of course the books came out and were utilised. From small beginnings to great progress!
‘I played it very much on the – goodness me huge for 16 lines. Soon I was measuring with tonsils. Some pangs of guilt dispelled by goodness how did that happen?’
He speaks of landing in Acapulco and after dropping his bags immediately goes out cruising.
‘A fabulous boy, 15, ran across the road in a tiny pair of shorts and nothing else.’
Ms Cottage said: ‘He gets in the car and he pays him five dollars. I don’t think really the rest needs much explaining – “Jets everywhere.”
‘We say this is exactly what he’s doing in London and by this time he’s very expert at picking those who are just the right age for him.
‘He wants them young – older boys gets “bristly” and that’s not what he wants.’
These were the ‘trophies’ in his sick ‘game of power and manipulation over boys.’
Most of the charges against King, 73, involve pickups in the car outside venues where he knew he could find young boys – cinemas and record shops.
Many of the victims describe the lasting impact of mental health issues, drink dependency and suicide attempts as a result of the abuse.
While some were one-off encounters, others were preyed on repeatedly.
The charges relate to exposure, to touching both over and under clothes, sex acts and the most extreme sexual abuse.
The defendant said that he had only ever had consensual sex and did not have sexual contact with some of the alleged victims.
Cambridge graduate King had hits with ‘Everyone’s Gone to the Moon’ and ‘Una Paloma Blanca.’
He discovered Genesis and wrote and produced hits for teen idols the Bay City Rollers.
In court he wore a black suit with bright blue and red Nike high-tops.
King, of Bayswater, denies 17 charges of indecent assault and seven counts of buggery on males aged between 16 and 21.
The trial continues.
Hove Court listings 14 June 2018
MSM seems to have stopped reporting on the Christ’s Hopsital School’s abuse trial re: Gary Dobbie. Last news report was on 1 June 2018, but case is ongoing (Dobbie being tried with James Husband)
http://www.thelawpages.com/court-hearings-lists/crown-court-lists-hearing-results.php
Four former teachers at Sussex school charged with sexual offences
Men who taught at Christ’s Hospital boarding school face total of 36 counts over alleged offences between 1980 and 1996
Four former teachers at a West Sussex boarding school have been charged with a range of sexual offences including rape against 15 male and female alleged victims across a 16-year period.
The accused, all men in their 60s and 70s who taught at Christ’s Hospital school near Horsham, face a combined total of 36 counts relating to alleged offences between 1980 and 1996. They were arrested last November.
Gary Dobbie, 66, is charged with seven counts of indecent assault on a male, one count of attempted indecent assault on a male and three counts of indecent assault on a female.
James Husband, 67, is charged with five counts of indecent assault on a female and four of rape,
and Ajaz Karim, 62, is charged with nine counts of indecent assault on a female and one of attempted indecent assault on a female. (found guilty)
Peter Webb, 74 -charged with six counts of indecent assault on a male found (guilty)
more here
Plymouth businessman Charles Howeson will return to court next week to be sentenced for indecently assaulting eight men.
June 14 2108
The former Royal Navy Commander was convicted by a jury back in December of ten counts of indecent assault against young men in the 1980s and 1990s.
During the original trial, the jury failed to reach a verdict on two alternative charges, attempted buggery of a boy and indecent assault.
Today, a jury found Howeson not guilty of both those counts.
The court was told Howeson, of Craigie Drive in Stonehouse, intends to appeal his convictions.
He is due to be sentenced on Friday at Bristol Crown Court for his convictions last year.
Howeson is due to be sentenced at Brstol Crown Court next Friday – June 22.
Following the initial trial, Judge Horton told Howeson that he would be sent to prison.
He offered the defendant the chance to speak to a probation officer and face up to his guilt.
Daniel Janner, QC for Howeson, replied: “The defendant’s position remains the same. He didn’t commit these offences and he has been wrongly convicted.”
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/charles-howeson-what-happens-next-1676847
Jury told dark past had ‘caught up with’ businessman accused of attempt rape of boy
Prosecution and defence barristers give closing speeches in Charles Howeson case as jury prepare to be sent out by judge to consider verdict
13 June 2018
A jury heard how the dark past had “caught up with” a leading city businessman who stood accused of attempting to rape a boy 30 years ago.
Prosecutor Paul Dunkels QC summed up the Crown’s case against 68-year-old Charles Howeson, noting how the former Royal Navy commander had been convicted of ten counts of indecent assault against eight young men last December following a lengthy trial.
In his closing speech to the jury of nine men and three women at Bristol Crown Court, Mr Dunkels noted how victims of sexual abuse were frequently unable to talk openly about their suffering for many years.
He noted how the partner of Howeson’s accuser had told the court how the man was left sobbing as he finally recounted the sexual assault in a field near the businessman’s home in Crownhill in the late 1980s.
Mr Dunkels, recalling the words of defence barrister Daniel Janner QC, asked the jury if they thought these were “crocodile tears”, adding there was “no reason to put on an act for her, surely?”
Judge Horton said he would conclude his summation on Thursday morning before sending the jury out to consider their verdict.
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/jury-told-dark-past-caught-1673946
Former DJ Jonathan King, 73, ‘claimed Page 3 glamour model Samantha Fox was his girlfriend to lure boys as young as 14 into his Rolls-Royce to take them to his flat for sex in the 1970s and 80s’
- Former DJ is said to have plied youngsters with alcohol in the 1970s and 80s
- He then showed them pornography before sexually assaulting them, jury told
- Court told he still had letters and photos of ‘victims’ at his home 30 years later
- The 73-year-old denies 24 serious sexual assaults on boys aged 14 to 16
Former DJ Jonathan King claimed glamour model Samantha Fox was his girlfriend as he lured young boys into his Rolls-Royce and sexually assaulted them, a court has heard.
The convicted sex offender, 73, allegedly exploited his position in the record industry to carry out attacks on 11 teenagers as young as 14 in the 1970s and 1980s.
King, an ex-pop star and producer for acts including Genesis, is said to have lured youngsters into his Daimler or Rolls-Royce cars before driving them home, where they were plied with alcohol.
He told some of his ‘star-struck’ targets that Samantha Fox was his girlfriend and he could introduce them to famous comedian Kenny Everett, the jury were told.
He also gave them presents, including records and concert tickets, showed them pornography and made false promises of sex with teenage girls, said prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC.
‘When they were in his power and in no position to repel his advances he would assault them. It appears that it was a game of manipulation and power over boys aged about 13 to 16,’ she said. ‘He would play the same routine again and again, honed for success.’
King, of Bayswater, central London, is standing trial at Southwark Crown Court where he denies 24 serious sexual assault charges against boys aged between 14 and 16, alleged to have taken place between 1970 and 1988.
Dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, blue tie and colourful trainers, he appeared in court under his real name, Kenneth George King.
Wearing round glasses and a bum bag, he sat expressionless in the dock as the case against him was opened.
A jury was told King denies he would ever have sex with anyone under age or force himself on someone without consent.
But the prosecutor said his denials are ‘hollow’ and revealed he was convicted in 2001 of sexual offences against five teenage boys in the 1980s.
Referring to the current allegations, she added: ‘He claims not to know or remember most of the boys, despite their photographs or letters or addresses and details still being in his home up to 30 years later, like trophies kept for his own private perusal.’
The court heard King would target straight, immature boys, securing sex by showering them with gifts of records, concert tickets, meals and alcohol, as well as paying insincere compliments and making false promises.
Almost all the encounters involved pickups in the car outside venues where he knew he could find young boys – cinemas and record shops.
Ms Cottage said: ‘This case concerns sexual assaults by this defendant upon 11 teenage boys in the 1970s and 1980s.
‘The defendant used his position in the music industry and his fame to lure boys into his Daimler or Rolls-Royce, where he would flatter them and pretend that they could help him with research or promotion.
‘He would then drive them to his home where he would give them alcohol and promise them sex with teenage girls and show them pornography.’
One alleged victim did not report the incident out of embarrassment, but decided to come forward after an article about King in The Independent newspaper angered him.
In the 2012 interview, King bragged: ‘The only apology I have is to say that I was good at seduction.’
One of the alleged victims said King told him on his 21st birthday that he ‘was too old and ugly for him now.’
The trial, which could last until August, continues.
The court heard King name-dropped stars like comedian Kenny Everett and model Samantha Fox in a bid to impress alleged victims.
In April 1970, he pulled up alongside a 15-year-old on Tottenham Court Road in his white Daimler Sovereign Saloon and asked whether he wanted to help him promote some records.
The car was fitted with tinted windows, a TV, a stereo and cocktail cabinet.
King name-dropped stars from the time like comedian Kenny Everett (left) and model Samantha Fox (right), the court was told
He took the boy to a Chinese restaurant and got him drunk while name dropping Kenny Everett before and then took him back to his home.
The prosecutor described how the victim was shown King’s music room and ‘his next memory was of waking, naked, in the defendant’s bed which had black shiny sheets.
After carrying out a sex attack on him, King gave him £5 for a taxi home and he never saw him again.
The prosecutor showed jurors a video of King’s home, pointing out a topless picture of 1980s page three model and singer Samantha Fox.
‘Samantha Fox is someone who the defendant occasionally described as his girlfriend to one or two of these young men,’ she added.
One said he was ‘star struck’ when King pulled up in his car and started speaking to him.
Cambridge graduate Jonathan King rose to fame as a singer, songwriter and music producer in the 60s and 70s.
He had hits with ‘Everyone’s Gone to the Moon’ in 1965 and ‘Una Paloma Blanca’ in 1975.
He discovered Genesis and wrote and produced hits for teen idols the Bay City Rollers.
During time in New York in the 1980s, he hosted the BBC TV show ‘Entertainment USA’.
KING RAN CHILD SEX FOR STARS News of the World 25-11-01
Prince Charles to give evidence about former Bishop of Gloucester to child sex abuse inquiry
The inquiry will examine how Bishop Peter Ball evaded justice
12 JUN 2018
Prince Charles has been called to give evidence to a sex abuse inquiry when it looks into the case of a former Bishop of Gloucester who was jailed for abusing young men.
A confirmed witness statement has been requested from Prince Charles and his private secretary by the inquiry which will be examining how Peter Ball escaped justice for so long.
The pair prayed together at Highgrove and Charles supported Ball when the allegations of sex abuse first surfaced in 1992, soon after he was made Bishop of Gloucester.
It was over 20 years until Ball was brought to justice. In 2015 he was jailed for 32 months for indecently assaulting two men in their late teens in the 1980s and 1990s and a charge of misconduct in a public office.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is now expected to examine accusations that Ball abused his powerful friendships to evade being caught for decades.
Aides say the Prince is willing to answer any questions the enquiry has about his dealings with the former Bishop who was a guest at his wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005.
Ball established a monastery in Gloucestershire with twin brother Michael, also a bishop.
It is said he actively courted the powerful and dined at the Savoy with Margaret Thatcher on a regular basis.
His friendship with Prince Charles began in 1992 when he was made Bishop of Gloucester, a short time before Ball was arrested for gross indecency after one of his trainees claimed he was made to rehearse “penitential psalms” naked in the middle of the night.
The October 2015 trial heard that he abused boys as young as 15 between the late Seventies and early nineties.
At the 2015 trial it was alleged that back in 1992 when the allegations originally surfaced he had the backing of “Cabinet ministers, the Royal Family, MPs, JPs and a lord”.
He was jailed but freed after serving half of his 32-month sentence and now lives in Somerset.
At a hearing last week, counsel to the inquiry Fiona Scolding QC revealed that witness statements had been requested from the prince and his principal private secretary.
She said the Prince had expressed his willingness to assist and this had led to “lengthy and complex discussions” .
Lawyer Richard Scorer, who is representing complainants at the inquiry, told Sky News: “It is imperative that the inquiry leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to establish how Peter Ball was able to evade justice for two decades.
“If this means calling Prince Charles and other prominent establishment figures as witnesses then the inquiry should do so without fear or favour.”
Jimmy Savile was bishop Ball’s principal entree into the Waleses’ household.
Peter Ball was propelled into the royal circle by two people… One was prebendary Willie Booth, a former chaplain at Westminster School, the other was Jimmy Savile.
After his appointment to Gloucester was announced, Ball became a regular visitor to Highgrove and was held in such high regard that Charles attended his enthronement.
Jimmy Savile committed a number of sex offences in Sussex at the time when Ball was bishop
Charles sent Savile a box of cigars and a pair of gold cufflinks on his 80th birthday with a note that read: “Nobody will ever know what you have done for this country Jimmy. This is to go some way in thanking you for that.”
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/29/jimmy-savile-behaviour-prince-charles
Bishop Ball with Prince Charles and Camilla. Ball gave the homily at the funeral of Camilla Parker Bowles’s father, Major Bruce Shand, in 2006
He attended the couples wedding and was invited to address mourners at the funeral of Major Bruce Shand, the Duchess of Cornwall’s father, in 2006.
Prince Charles Provided Free House To Bishop Ball Arrested in UK Child Abuse Probe
Charles’ dozens of letters to ‘calculating’ paedophile bishop as victims demand they are made public
- Prince Charles is believed to have written to paedophile bishop Peter Ball
- Ball was jailed two years ago for using his position to groom 18 young men
- The former Bishop of Gloucester exchanged letters with Prince Charles
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4162372/Prince-Charles-wrote-padeophile-bishop.html
Jimmy Savile victim says compensation is a ‘joke’ after years of abuse
10 Jun 2018
A woman who was repeatedly abused by Jimmy Savile has revealed she has been offered just £3,250 in compensation.
Leisha Brookes was one of up to 1,000 victims abused on BBC premises by the disgraced DJ.
The 50-year-old has bravely spoken out about the abuse, which happened every other weekend for more than two years.
But after waiting almost five years for a payout from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), she was devastated by the final settlement fee.
Leisha said: ‘It’s disgusting to be honest, a joke.
‘No amount can take the pain away or change what they did.
‘You go for decades not being listened to, and then this.’
Leisha was given £18,750 from the BBC years ago but expected her compensation to be boosted through the CICA, a government agency that administers payouts to victims of serious and violent crime.
But they told her she had been awarded £22,000, including the original sum she was given by the BBC.
Leisha said she was abused by up to 30 men at the BBC Television Centre when she was aged between eight and 11.
She was initially invited to the building by a family friend, but would return as a guest every other weekend.
The abuse has led to her attempting suicide more than 20 times and causing all her relationships to break down, while all five of her children have been taken away.
She used the BBC award to pay off debts and now lives as a recluse on £155 a week in disability benefits in a tiny council house in Colchester, Essex.
Leisha added: ‘I can’t be touched by men, I can’t go in crowded places near men.
‘If a man phones me up I’ll put the phone down. If there are men either side of me in a supermarket queue I have to put my shopping down and leave.
‘My life has been destroyed by everything that happened to me as a child.
‘I am severely psychologically damaged, even now. My story has been proven, and yet here I am, still fighting.’
A spokeswoman for CICA said they did not comment on individual cases.
A spokesman for the BBC added: ‘The terms of the Savile compensation scheme were agreed with lawyers for the victims, as well as the NHS and the Savile estate.
‘It is not for the BBC to comment on the criminal injuries compensation scheme run by the Government.’
https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/10/jimmy-savile-victim-says-compensation-joke-years-abuse-7619709/
Gilo @seaofcomplicity
IICSA comes under fire from group of survivors. Not enough consultation. Too much ££ spent on ill-conceived PR. Victims & Survivors Forum has not met in past 14 months. @InquiryCSA
Peter Dalglish’s hearing postponed for next week
June 10 2018
Canadian Peter Dalglish’s hearing scheduled for this Thursday has been postponed for next week. Dalglish is currently put behind Dhulikhel jail.
Although the hearing was dated for Thursday the government lawyer is on leave so the hearing for Thursday has been canceled.
Dalglish has been spending time behind the jail while waiting for his final hearing for the rape case.
https://kathmandutribune.com/peter-dalglishs-hearing-postponed-for-next-week/
Charles Howeson to appeal sex abuse convictions, court told
11 JUN 2018
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/charles-howeson-appeal-sex-abuse-1664979
Former DJ Jonathan King arrives at court to stand trial accused of a string of historical sex assaults on nine teenage boys in the 1970s and 80s
- DJ is famous for his appearances on radio and TV in 1960s, 70s and 80s
- He is due to court today to face charges of sex attacks on teenage boys
- The alleged offences are said to have taken place between 1970 and 1988
Former DJ Jonathan King has arrived at court ahead of his trial for multiple historical sex offences.
The ex-singer and Genesis producer is accused of assaults on nine teenagers aged between 14 and 16, between 1970 and 1988.
The 73-year-old, of Bayswater, West London, is appearing at Southwark Crown Court under the name Kenneth King.
His trial, which is due to begin today, is expected to last up six weeks.
King was famed for songs including Everyone’s Gone to the Moon and Hooked on a Feeling and discovered the band Genesis as a music producer.
He appeared many times on television on both sides of the Atlantic including on shows like Top of the Pops and Entertainment USA.
Australian celebrity paedophile ring revealed
A PAEDOPHILE ring in Australia’s arts community included literary figures and famous artists for whom prepubescent sisters were “jailbait”.
June 10, 2018
STUNNING revelations of an Australian paedophile ring involving celebrity arts figures have been laid bare by the daughters of a prominent playwright.
Rozanna and Kate Lilley, the daughters of playwright and poet Dorothy Hewett, say they were forced into sex aged 15 by men including the late Bob Ellis and Martin Sharp, The Australian reports.
Sharp, Australia’s foremost pop artist, designed record covers and posters for Bob Dylan, Donovan and Eric Clapton and wrote songs for Clapton’s band, Cream.
Ellis was a political commentator, write and film maker who penned 22 television and screenplays.
The Lilley sisters, who each have written new books, say their mother encouraged underage sex between her daughters and famous men she entertained at her Sydney house.
The sisters say the men enjoyed having young girls around and their mother, considered a left wing radical and admired feminist, encouraged their joining in the libertine sex scene of the times.
“We were these nubile girls … jailbait,” Kate Lilley said, describing her mother’s house as “a brothel without payment”.
Rozanna and Kate Lilley (left, as teenagers) claim they were molested by author Bob Ellis (top right), and (bottom right) painter Martin Sharp and photographer David Hamilton.Source:Supplied
Poet Dorothy Hewett, above with daughters Kate and Rozanna Lilley in about 1976, encouraged her underage daughters having sex with older men.Source:Supplied
Dorothy Hewett’s Sydney house was like an ‘unpaid brothel’ for the underage sisters who were ‘jailbait’ for prominent arts figures.Source:Supplied
Other men included a local film producer who is still alive and a poet who raped Kate Lilley when she was underage, plus renowned British erotic photographer, David Hamilton.
Known for his soft-lit images of prepubescent young girls, 83-year-old Hamilton took his own life in 2016 after a former model accused him of raping her in 1987 when she was 13 years old.
In the Woollahra terrace Hewett shared with her husband, writer Merv Lilley, a queue of famous men attended parties in the salon-like atmosphere where the sisters spent their early teens.
Sex was facilitated by Hewett who also slept with some of the men, while her husband had sex with other women.
When she turned 16 years old, Kate Lilley had already slept with six men and her younger sister Rozanna had slept with a dozen men by the time she reached the age of consent.
The men were older artists and writers, including Bob Ellis and Martin Sharp, and Hamilton who photographed pornographic images of Rozanna.
Rozanna said she had sex once, when she was 15, with Martin Sharp, who decades later apologised to her.
Decades later, artist Martin Sharp called Rozanna Lilley to apologise for taking advantage of her sexually.Source:News Corp Australia
Writer Bob Ellis would have sex with Kate ‘whenever he turned up’ and with her younger sister.Source:News Corp Australia
Kate (left) and Rozanna Lilley who say their famous mother failed to protect them from sexual predators on the arts scene. Picture: John Feder.Source:News Corp Australia
Kate Lilley’s new book, Tilt. Source:Supplied
David Hamilton took close photographs of her genitals after showing her pornographic images of girls to prove others had consented.
“It was unbearable at home,” Kate Lilley said, “I used to have sex with men to prevent them having sex with Rosie.
“But then I would find out they did have sex with Rosie.”
Kate Lilley’s teenage years are referred to in poems in her new book, Tilt, which the 57-year-old poet and university English professor has published.
Rozanna, 55, an anthropologist and autism researcher also writes poems about sexual abuse by (unnamed) older men in her book, Do Oysters Get Bored? A Curious Life.
Kate Lilley told The Australian she had sex four times with Bob Ellis when she was aged 15 and 16, “whenever he turned up”.
Rozanna has written a poem about her sexual encounter with Ellis as a child.
At the age of 13, Rozanna Lilley was cast in the lesbian-themed film Journey Among Women about female convicts living in the bush.
Her mother, Dorothy Hewett, wrote the script.
The film is still available on DVD.
Rozanna Lilley on the set of Journey Among Women. Source:Supplied
The Lilley sisters’ parents Merv Lilley and Dorothy Hewett at their Blue Mountains home shortly before Hewett’s death.Source:News Limited
Andreas Baader@stop1984
“plus renowned British erotic photographer, David Hamilton”
Photographer, David Hamilton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hamilton_(photographer)
Ellis, a supporter of the Australian Labor Party, wrote speeches for a number of Labor leaders (such as Bob Carr, Paul Keating and Kim Beazley) and wrote extensively on Labor history.
Writer Bob Ellis – His university life put him in contact with Clive James, Bob Hughes, Germaine Greer and Les Murray, who were also studying there at that time.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-04/tributes-flow-for-writer-journalist-bob-ellis/7295744
Bob Ellis funeral
Mourners included feminist Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer calls for punishment for rape to be reduced
May 31 2018
Germaine Greer has called for the lowering of punishment for rape and said society should not see it as a “spectacularly violent crime” but instead view it more as “lazy, careless and insensitive”.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/europe/rape-crime-greer-intl/index.html
Cindy Wooden@Cindy_Wooden
Vatican announces Msgr Carlo Capella, former official at Vatican nunciature in Washington, will go on trial June 22 on charges of possession and exchange of child pornography, aggravated by the enormous quantity of material he is accused of having.
Former Vatican diplomat indicted on child pornography charges
June 9, 2018
Rome (CNN)A former diplomat at the Vatican Embassy in Washington has been indicted by a Vatican court on allegations he possessed child pornography, the Vatican said Saturday.
Alison Wright @alisonmawright
“Mountbatten’s connection to the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring also merits a thorough investigation by IICSA.” @InquiryCSA It is essential that the whole truth is disclosed. It only makes sense that these abuses have gone unpunished for so long if you consider the Royal connections.
Fieldmouse@Lone_Horse
Savile and Mountbatten were in the same cult. Savile boasted about brokering the Irish peace talks (presumably through the same network), the report into his activities at Broadmoor revealed. @InquiryCSA won’t touch it with a barge-pole.
“…we were told, that he (Savile) had been the driving force behind the Major–Clinton Northern Ireland peace negotiations.”
Truthseeker1@thewakeupcall09:
Lord Louis Mountbatten former chauffeur Norman Nield exposed him
Paedophile Lord Louis Mountbatten
Who Is Uncle Dickie on ‘The Crown’? Prince Charles’ Protector and Confidant
As depicted in The Crown, Mounbatten is uncommonly close with Charles, taking him shopping for the Eton uniforms he never gets to wear, and urging him to open up emotionally. It’s historically accurate that the two maintained a close relationship, but Mountbatten was also friends with British DJ Jimmy Savile, a man suspected of enabling pedophilia in Britain.
http://www.newsweek.com/uncle-dickie-crown-philip-nazi-753135
Are gardaí investigating Savile’s activities in Ireland? They’re staying tight-lipped
A solicitor who represented a number of Savile’s victims said that Ireland needs to “dig deeper” with its investigations.
13 July 2014
GARDAÍ HAVE REMAINED tight-lipped on whether any any lines of inquiry relating to Jimmy Savile’s visits to Ireland between the 1960s and 1980s are being followed.
Savile led charity walks for the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) on a number of occasions throughout these decades, and reportedly visited the organisation’s centre in the 1970s.
http://www.thejournal.ie/savile-ireland-operation-yewtree-investigation-1563962-Jul2014/
Savile, Dublin & Belfast: Time to re-evaluate his role in The Troubles?
https://bitsofbooksblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/savile-the-ira-dublin-belfast/
How Jim fixed it in Ireland
Jimmy Savile abuse claims are disgusting, says Northern Ireland friend Rosemary Craig (Lecturer in Law at Ulster University Belfast, United Kingdom)
Her husband, an ex-RUC officer, was severely injured after being shot by the IRA. She has done a lot of work with the DPOA.
She added: “Jimmy was a great friend and helped with the disabled police officers’ charity.
“I wrote a letter to Jimmy Savile and he immediately responded. He sent me the money to fly over with a disabled officer and got him a new lightweight wheelchair. He put me on to Richard Branson who brought a Virgin aeroplane into Northern Ireland and took 375 disabled officers, their helpers and families to Florida for a holiday. All down to Jimmy Savile.”
Disgraced Jimmy Savile was ‘sex mad’ during 1970s Irish trip
Jimmy Savile: BBC Northern Ireland checking visits
Mountbatten death – Savile BBQ at Balmoral cancelled
Peter Ball abuse inquiry requests statement from Prince Charles
By Press Association
The Prince of Wales has been asked to give a witness statement to a public inquiry about a paedophile bishop who was jailed after abusing young men.
Peter Ball was sentenced to 32 months in 2015 for a string of offences between the 1970s and 1990s, and the handling of allegations against him is now being examined by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).
At a hearing on Wednesday, counsel to the inquiry Fiona Scolding QC said that statements had been requested from the prince and his principal private secretary.
According to a transcript posted on the inquiry website, she said: “We have also requested a witness statement from both His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and his principal private secretary.
“The Prince’s solicitors have indicated their client’s willingness to assist us and have raised a number of important issues for us to consider.
“This has led to lengthy and complex discussions and we are currently considering the latest points they have raised. We hope to be able to provide an update to core participants on this in the next couple of weeks.”
Charles had exchanged a series of letters with Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, whose diocese covers Highgrove, the prince’s country home.
A spokesman for the prince told the Daily Mail last year that the correspondence contained nothing of relevance to the clergyman’s offending.
Lawyer Richard Scorer from Slater and Gordon, who is representing complainants at the IICSA, said: “It is imperative that the inquiry leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to establish how Peter Ball was able to evade justice for two decades.
“If this means calling Prince Charles and other prominent establishment figures as witnesses then the inquiry should do so without fear or favour.”
https://www.premier.org.uk/News/UK/Peter-Ball-abuse-inquiry-requests-statement-from-Prince-Charles
Highgrove His Kingdom of Eccentricities
Highgrove – where paedophiles Sir Jimmy Savile and Bishop Peter Ball use to spend time with Prince Charles….
“…during his time in Lewes, (Bishop ) Ball got to know Savile well and he was the bishop’s principal entree into the Waleses’ household.
After his appointment to Gloucester was announced, paedophile Bishop Ball became a regular visitor to Highgrove and was held in such high regard that Charles attended his enthronement.
‘They would pray together in the Sanctuary,’ recalls one former aide.
The Sanctuary is a Harry Potter-esque temple built by Charles deep in a glade in Highgrove’s grounds to mark the Millennium, and where he retreats for quiet contemplation.
Two stained glass windows are dedicated to the memory ofTed Hughes, the late Poet Laureate, and the writer Sir Laurens van der Post, Charles’s philosopher guru.
One former member of the Highgrove staff told me that Ball himself had consecrated the building, although it was later reported that the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, had been invited to perform a blessing.
Suffer little children
Eric Witchell, Williamson House and Enoch Powell’s wretched old volcanic shafts
7 June, 2018
Eric Witchell is a serial paedophile. In the 1970s he ran Williamson House where he preyed on pre-pubescent boys and young teenagers. He and his accomplices drove at least three of them to commit suicide; and another two to attempt it. One of his charges was supplied to Enoch Powell MP, for abuse. A select few were transferred to the notorious Kincora Boys Home when they reached 14 years of age. At Kincora they became fodder for MI5 ‘honey trap’ blackmail operations.
THE ENOCH POWELL STORY IS CONTAINED IN PART 2 OF THIS ARTICLE.
Part One: Williamson House
A WOLF IN A MONK’S HABIT
Eric Witchell, a serial paedophile, was a key figure in the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring about which Village has been writing for the last two years. He is currently living in London aged 70, safe in the knowledge that a succession of senior MI5 figures have gone to extraordinary lengths to cover-up what he and his associates did in Belfast, London, Manchester, Liverpool and elsewhere as they – MI5 – benefited from the existence of an Anglo-Irish paedophile network of which he was a key member. In Northern Ireland (NI) MI5 exploited the network to gain leverage over influential Loyalists, including members of the DUP.
Witchell, who hailed from England, was born in 1948. He became a Franciscan at the age of 19. Before his appointment to Williamson House, he had been a housefather in an English boys school attached to the Franciscans. He became the Officer-in-Charge (OiC) of Williamson House in May of 1975 at the age of 27.
The small boys Witchell abused were abandoned, vulnerable and powerless waifs. A select few were later sent to the notorious Kincora Boys Home where they were used as bait in MI5 ‘honey trap’ blackmail operations. Sir Michael Hanley was Director-General of MI5 at the time. Ian Cameron ran MI5 operations on the ground in NI for Hanley from his office in Lisburn.
Witchell betrayed the trust bestowed upon him by Belfast’s child welfare authorities but also by the Anglican Franciscan Order of which he was a member. He was, however, a godsend to Hanley and Cameron.
The Williamson House scandal is worse than the outrage at Kincora insofar as younger children were abused at it.
Witchell’s sordid branch of the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring supplied very young children to VIPs including Enoch Powell MP. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up to investigate allegations of child abuse by VIPs including Westminster MPs. There is no indication yet that Witchell will be questioned by IICSA which is based in London despite the fact that Witchell is one of the most important living witness to the existence of a VIP vice ring and lives in London.
Witchell did not appear before the Hart Inquiry. Had he done so – and told, or been made to tell, the truth – Judge Hart would have reached a wholly different conclusion to the one he published in 2017. Hart denied the existence of any sort of vice ring beyond the walls of Kincora Boys Home.
WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR WITCHELL TO TAKE OVER WILIAMSON HOUSE?
Witchell secured the post at Williamson House despite the fact his tutor at the National Children’s Home Training College in England had advised the appointment panel of Belfast‘s Welfare Department that at “this stage I would have some doubt in commending him to be the Officer- in-Charge… I would commend him to you for employment, but I would not commend him to you for employment as Officer-in-Charge”. It was fortuitous for MI5 that Witchell became OiC despite this because he was the vilest sort of paedophile, someone who was prepared to farm out the children in his care to a wider network of child molesters.
This suited MI5 because it enabled them to manufacture blackmail opportunities and ensnare Loyalist politicians, paramilitaries and Orangemen and force them to do their bidding.
After Witchell became OiC at the home, he moved into an apartment in the attic. It had a TV, sofa, sleeping quarters and a drinks cabinet. This was where he abused the young boys. He would usher his chosen victim upstairs and lock the door behind them. Physically, he was tall, thin and imposing. He wore glasses and had black longish hair. He was an exceptionally cruel and violent man with an insatiable sexual appetite. His preference was for prepubescent boys but he assaulted teenage boys too. His taste ranged from masturbation to anal rape. At least three of his victims would never recover from the assaults he and his associates perpetrated, and committed suicide; another two attempted to kill themselves.
Officially, he held the post of OiC at Williamson House until 1 March 1980 but he actually left before then as the RUC and MI5 were losing control of the secrecy surrounding the scandal.
WITCHELL’S ACCOMPLICES
By the early 1970s MI5 had probably gained control over all of the key figures in the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring including Councillor Joshua (Joss) Cardwell, a Unionist politician and paedophile, who was also Chairman of Belfast Corporation Welfare Committee. The Committee was responsible for both WH, Kincora and other homes in Belfast where sexual violence was commonplace.
Cardwell was also a friend of Joe Mains, the Warden of Kincora. Together Cardwell and Mains supplied boys from Kincora to England and Scotland. As Village reported last February, it was Cardwell who instructed Joe Mains to send Richard Kerr, who had been at Williamson House but was now residing at Kincora, to London in the mid-1970s. He was abused by a high-profile TV star there: a man still well known to the public, so much so that his photograph recently appeared in an Irish national daily newspaper.
On another occasion, while still at Kincora, Kerr was sent to be abused by a Tory MP in London. Another Kincora boy, Stephen Waring, was also sent to the UK from Kincora. He committed suicide in 1977 by jumping into the sea at night from the Belfast-Liverpool ferry rather than face any more torment.
Another key figure who aided Cardwell and Mains in running the Ulster branch of the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring was the Town Solicitor, John A Young. He was involved in deliberately losing some of the complaints about abuse that were sent to his office in August of 1971.
‘THERE WERE OTHER HOMES INVOLVED’
The author and journalist Robin Bryans, who died in 2005, amassed a wealth of information about the child rapists who were involved in the Ulster branch of the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring of which Eric Witchell was a key member. (See Village October 2017) Bryans provided a patchy and fragmented outline of the network in a series of books which have always been difficult to acquire. Strangely, some of Bryan’s books are not now available in Britain’s copyright libraries. He also made similar allegations in a series of ‘open’ letters that were suppressed with gagging writs.
In February 1990, Bryans told this author that: “The Kincora thing will be covered up. I would love to go on talking if I thought it was going to come out, but it’s not, because I know how the Establishment works. Be careful of the word Kincora, because you are going to limit it. There were other homes involved. There were three homes. There was one for boys from 12 to 16, and then there was one for younger ones”.
Williamson House looks suspiciously like it was the ‘one for younger ones’.
Williamson House is now long gone. It was closed in October 1983 and knocked to the ground in the mid-1980s. It had consisted of two buildings, numbers 446 and 448 on the Antrim Road. It was originally opened by the Belfast Welfare Authority in 1957. Until 10 March 1976, it was run as two separate units. Thereafter the two houses were managed as a single home, catering for up to 18 boys and girls usually aged between 4 and 18. It was not unusual, however, for the older teenagers to leave before they reached 18.
Some of the boys went to Bawnmore where abuse also took place; some of the girls to boarding schools, one of which was located in Derry. Other unfortunates were consigned to the hell of Kincora where Witchell’s close friends and fellow paedophiles, Joe Mains and William McGrath, were in charge and abuse and bullying was incessant, violent and terrifying.
TRAPPED WITH NO WAY OUT
According to Bryans, children at a home in Portadown were also abused. The list of care homes in NI where it is known abuse took place includes:
- Nazareth Lodge Children’s Home in South Belfast;
- Bawnmore Boys Home, Newtownabbey, which was opened by Belfast Welfare Authority;
- Palmerstown Reception and Assessment Centre, Belfast;
- De La Salle Boys’ Home, Rubane House Kircubbin, Co Down (where one of Jean McConville’s sons was abused after the IRA had murdered her);
- Barnardo’s Sharonmore Project;
- Manor House Home, Co Antrim.
Robin Bryans also revealed that boys from Portora Royal, NI’s elite public school, located in Enniskillen, were abused by members of the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring. The Portora boys were in demand by abusers such as Lord Louis Mountbatten whose appetite extended to working class children too. Mountbatten’s connection to the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring also merits a thorough investigation by IICSA. Meanwhile, Mountbatten’s reputation remains intact, enhanced by the most recent arrival in the British Royal Family, Prince Louis, being named in his honour.
THE FACELESS CHILD RAPIST
Richard Kerr about whom Village has been writing for the past year, was a resident at Williamson House where he was abused by Witchell and many others. Kerr entered the care of the Belfast Welfare Department when he was enrolled at Brefne Residential Nursery for a short while. He was transferred to Williamson House in 1969 and remained there until 1975 when he was 14 and was transferred to Kincora. His brother Alan and a sister also resided at Williamson House and other homes. Alan Kerr’s story will be told in a forthcoming edition of Village.
Kerr reveals that the abuse at Williamson House had begun before Witchell’s appointment as OiC. This implies that the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring already had some sort of access to it, and Witchell’s appointment was designed to open the doors further.
Kerr recalls that as a very young child, perhaps when he was only 8 or 9, he was abused late one night in the dark by a man whose face he never saw. He slept in a room on the first floor with other small boys. His bed was closest to the door and next to a wall. The abuser appeared as if from nowhere and violated him before disappearing. The figure materialised out of the darkness again on a number of occasions, never once revealing his face. Kerr had a small teddy bear which he gripped and bit while he was being raped. During these assaults, his face was pressed up against the wall. The experience was not only excruciatingly painful but psychologically devastating.
The intruder may or may not have been Witchell who was a visitor at Williamson House before he became its OiC. Kerr’s belief, however, is that the faceless night-time intruder was not Witchell. He has been haunted by the experience ever since.
THE BOY WITH BLOOD STAINS AND BRUISES
Witchell is the first individual Kerr can positively identify as one of his abusers. He has informed Village that before Witchell took up his post at Williamson House “he was visiting it and from my memory he was working part-time. He was living in Liverpool at a church but had his own place in Belfast that he would go to when he would visit Williamson House”.
When Witchell visited Belfast in the days before he became OiC, he stayed at a premises owned by the Anglican Franciscans. He may also have had access to a flat in the city.
There were plenty of opportunities to save Kerr and his fellow victims but none were availed of. In Kerr’s case, a gym master at his school once noticed that there was blood on his shorts and a bruise on his groin; yet even that didn’t bring his nightmare to an end.
“My school records from Mt. Vernon”, Kerr has told Village, “were destroyed because they contained information indicating that I was being abused at Williamson House. The staff at the school suspected I was being abused but when asked, I would not answer their questions because I was afraid of my abusers”.
On another occasion, a member of staff at Williamson House also noted bruising to his groin which had been inflicted by one of his rapists.
One of Kerr’s relative’s – still alive – can confirm that he sustained bruises at this time.
Kerr’s childhood was extinguished by the abuse that engulfed him and would drive him to attempt suicide on a number of occasions.
A very short and incomplete list of those Witchell abused includes Richard Kerr, his brother Alan Kerr, ‘Charles’ and three boys who went on to commit suicide. Village is not naming the boys who killed themselves lest it upset their families. ‘Charles’ has spoken to Village and his revelations about Witchell and his life at Williamson House will be reported in a forthcoming edition.
THE MEN WHO SPIRITED BOYS OUT OF WILLIAMSON HOUSE FOR ABUSE
Another abuser was Dr Morris Fraser, a child psychiatrist. He abused boys in Ireland, the UK and the US. He now lives in Holland. Thus far, IICSA has displayed no interest in questioning him either. He did not assist the Hart Inquiry, yet another reason for its failure to establish the truth.
Kerr was taken out of Williamson House and supplied to paedophiles at various venues in NI and later, when a resident at Kincora, to some locations in the Republic. A few gave him cheap presents including ‘large pennies’ and chocolates. It was common for him to receive boxes of Black Magic. Another boy at the home ‘E’ was also taken out of it and delivered to child rapists. He later committed suicide. On one occasion both of these boys were taken away together on an appalling abuse marathon which lasted two or three days. A story was later concocted to cover their absence that they had run away from the home.
Kerr recalls that two men, one of whom used the name “David” took him out of Williamson House and ferried him to his abusers. They were in their late 20s or early 30s. Both had NI accents. They would usually arrive at about 2 o’clock and return him by 10 o’clock when the other children were asleep. They were very cautious about the manner in which they approached the home. As indicated earlier, Williamson House consisted of two buildings. There were two separate driveways that led up to them with an area of green grass in the middle. When the kidnappers came to remove their victims, they would proceed up the driveway on the right-hand side and park at the side of the house. This would conceal them from the rest of the complex. In this way they could spirit their victims away and return them without unduly alerting the rest of the staff who might otherwise have begun to ask awkward questions. It was they who ferried Kerr to Enoch Powell.
Part Two: Enoch Powell
ENOCH POWELL AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND REVIEW INTO HISTORICAL CHILD SEX ABUSE
In 2015, Powell was named in a Church of England review into historical child sex abuse concerning the 1980s. One of its spokespersons told the press that: “The name Enoch Powell was passed to Operation Fernbridge on the instruction of Bishop Paul Butler”. The information originally came from a cleric who has counselled child abuse victims in the 1980s. Last April Village gave Powell the benefit of the doubt insofar as these claims were concerned. In light of Kerr’s account of his encounters with Powell – revealed here for the first time – that benefit must now be replaced with outright condemnation.
Powell’s sexual interest in younger men was a long-standing trait. In 1937, having graduated with a double first from Cambridge, Powell had become a classics professor at the University of Sydney. He was only 25 and held the post for two years during which he wrote to his parents describing his infatuation with his male students. He told them how he was repelled by his female students, while feeling “an instant and instinctive affection” for Australian males between the ages of 17 and 23. This, he added, might be
“deplored, but it cannot be altered”, and therefore had to be “endured – and (alas!) camouflaged”. Somewhere along the line Powell developed an interest in much younger boys.
After serving as an intelligence officer during WW2, Powell went into politics and in 1950 became a Tory MP and later served in Cabinet. In 1966 he ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Conservative Party against Ted Heath, another paedophile with a taste for young boys. His career went into decline after his infamous 1968 ‘rivers of blood’ anti-immigration speech. Eventually, Powell relocated to NI where he became a UUP MP in 1974.
After he died in 1998, his friend Canon Eric James, a former chaplain at Trinity College, Cambridge, and Extra Preacher to the Queen, revealed that Powell had confided in him ten years earlier that he had engaged in a homosexual relationship as a young man. Powell gave him a copy of a collection of his poems called ‘First Poems’ (1937). He highlighted some verses where he had “tried to put into words what a homosexual relationship had meant to him”. It had been assumed by many that they had described Powell’s feelings for Barbara Kennedy whom he had taken on his first date with a woman to a music hall in 1948 when he was 35 or 36 years old. Canon James explained that Powell did not identify his male lover but said the relationship was “the most painful thing in my early life’. The individual in question was probably Edward Curtis, a fellow male undergraduate at Cambridge. The Canon revealed he had promised Powell he “would not disclose what he had said to me about the homosexual basis of certain of his poems until after his death. Then it would be a matter of literary history”.
One of the lines read as follows, “I love the fire/ In youthful limbs that wakes desire…”.
Another of his poems leaves little to the imagination: It described how he, as an “unknowing boy” was “led to sin”.
‘I did not speak, but when I saw you turn
And cross your right leg on your left, and fold
Your hands around your knee, I felt a flow
Of white-hot lava seething up the old
Volcano shaft. That self-same attitude,
Though not of yours, it was which long ago
Fired me, an innocent, unknowing boy,
And led me on to sin and on to learn
and onwards to the very font of woe’
BELT AND BUCKLE, ENOCH POWELL’S APPETITE FOR SADOMASOCHISM
By 1968 Powell was making visits to NI where he was active in the support of the Unionist cause. His interest was intense, so much so that by 1972 – if not long before – he was giving speeches at meetings of the British Army in England. Fred Holroyd, the military intelligence officer and whistleblower who worked for MI6 in NI, recalls being at one in England where Powell advocated taking a “robust” approach to defeating the “enemies” of the British Empire. Holroyd came across Powell again at the Seagoa Hotel in Portadown where he found him personally amiable but his wife to be openly racist. He claims she referred to black people as “n***ers”. Powell was elected as the Westminster MP for South Down in October 1974.
Kerr recalls that ‘David’ and his accomplice came to take him away to be abused by Powell on a summer’s day in either 1973 or 1974 when Powell was 61 or 62. By this stage of his life, sexual abuse by adult males had become “normal” for him.
Kerr was taken to Barry’s Amusements in the seaside resort of Portrush, Co Antrim. It was opened in 1926 and became – and remains – the largest theme park in NI. Located in the centre of Portrush, it is a 50-mile drive from Belfast. Kerr was either 12 or 13 at the time of the trip. The group went unnoticed as they mingled with the crowds of children who were laughing and shouting all around them. He vividly recalls being taken on bumper cars. “Maybe I am just having a fun day today”, he allowed himself to think for a spell. However, the visit to the arcade was a cynical ploy. The children at Barry’s provided the perfect cover for what was about to happen: the handover to Powell. If the kidnappers had waited at a cross-roads or outside a hotel for such a high-profile politician, it might have attracted unwanted attention.
When Powell made his rendez-vous with the group, he was in the company of another two men. Powell spirited Kerr away on his own to a guest house near Portrush where he had booked a bedroom. Inside it, he sat him on a chair and then lifted him onto the bed and placed his head on the pillow. Next, he undid his shorts. After this he threw him on top of his chest and started to abuse him. Kerr wasn’t shocked at what was happening since he had been violated by countless men by this stage; nor was he unduly surprised when Powell began to beat him with a leather belt and buckle. The abuse involved a variety of other acts of degradation including oral sex and masturbation but no penetration. Powell smiled a lot during the encounter, he recalls.
ENOCH POWELL AT THE WHIP AND SADDLE BAR
Long before the Kincora scandal erupted, the Whip and Saddle Bar at the Europa Hotel had become notorious as a meeting place for older men who were sexually interested in younger men. The bar was the object of ribald jokes among the international array of journalists who stayed there, including some from the Republic. Joseph Mains, the Warden of Kincora, supplied Kerr to abusers at the hotel and, in 1977, asked his friend Harper Brown, the then manager of it, to arrange a job for Kerr as a bellhop. As it transpired, Kerr’s real function would be to provide sexual services to men who drank at the Whip and Saddle. Enoch Powell was one of them.
One night at around 10:45 pm, a man approached Kerr while he was behind the concierge’s desk. Powell was with a group of men inside the bar. The man who approached him was a friend of Powell. He “definitely did not have a Northern Ireland accident”, Kerr recalls. He told him that he had a ‘gentleman’ he wanted him to meet upstairs. “Can you go up to see him”, the man asked, but it was more an order than a request. He gave him the room number and told him to go up half an hour after the bar had closed. Meanwhile, Powell remained in the bar with his associates.
At the designated time, Kerr went upstairs to the room and found Powell waiting for him in it. He recognised him as the individual who had abused him in Portrush. He says he had the same distinctive accent and smiled a lot. On this occasion he wanted masturbation and oral sex.
Kerr recalls that after Powell had finished with him, he went into the bathroom to wash the towels that had been soiled “to hide evidence”. Powell stayed behind while Kerr returned to the bellhops’ station downstairs. Powell’s friend came up to him not long afterwards saying, “Here’s a tip for you”, and gave him a half crown.
Powell was playing a dangerous game. Homosexuality was outlawed in NI and many of his constituents would have condemned him for any hint of it. Only heterosexual sex between consenting adults was legal. Powell was acutely aware of these facts. In May 1965 he had co-sponsored an unsuccessful bill on homosexual law reform at Westminster. In 1967 he had voted for the Sexual Offences Act which had succeeded in decriminalising homosexuality but only in England and Wales. On 13 March 1982 he would give a speech in Ilford calling for the law to be reformed in NI (and allowing parents the right to forbid school-teachers to administer corporal punishment to their children, a mercy he had not afforded Kerr in Portrush when he had beaten him).
Kerr went to live in London in the early 1980s. One night while he was watching television he recognised on the screen Powell who was at a political rally with Ian Paisley.
THE KINCORA THREAT AND THE HILLSBOROUGH AGREEMENT
The Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough was signed on 15 November, 1985.
In early November 1985, Lobby Correspondents in London received an unattributable briefing from Margaret Thatcher’s press office claiming she had ordered the Ministry of Defence to open a fresh inquiry into Kincora. This can only have had a chilling effect on the then Unionist leadership in NI.
First, James Molyneaux, the Leader of the then dominant Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), had an interest in concealing his friendship with William McGrath, the ‘Beast’ of Kincora.
Second, Ian Paisley of the DUP faced a drubbing if he was ever to be hauled before any sort of a tribunal. He would have had to explain under oath why he had done nothing about Kincora after his secretary, Valerie Shaw, had informed him about it. Moreover, Paisley had once been very close to McGrath and had officiated at the marriage of one of McGrath’s children. See Village December 2017 for further details of Paisley’s involvement in the cover-up of the abuse at Kincora. Now, Powell must be added to this list of senior Unionists vulnerable to severe embarrassment over Kincora. Suffice it to say, the threatened Ministry of Defence inquiry never took place.
ENOCH POWELL VISITS COLIN WALLACE’S SOLICITOR
Village has described how Colin Wallace, a psychological operations (PSYOPS) officer, working for the British Army at Lisburn tried to expose the Kincora scandal in the 1970s. In return for his efforts, Ian Cameron of MI5 sabotaged his career – something for which Wallace was later compensated. Later still, Wallace was framed for manslaughter, and spent years in prison only to be acquitted on appeal. By the early 1980s, Wallace was beginning to reveal some of what he knew about Kincora. As the decade proceeded, more information began to emerge including the fact MI5 had compiled information on the sex lives of MPs such as Cyril Smith, Ted Heathand William van Straubenzee.
boys from Williamstown House
On 29 October 1986 Powell wrote to Wallace’s solicitor, James Morgan-Harris, on headed House of Commons notepaper, with a request to see him. Wallace was still in prison at this time. Powell could have spoken to the solicitor on the phone if he had wanted to. Instead, he journeyed all the way to West Sussex a while later for a face-to-face meeting. At it, Powell sought general information about Wallace and his case. He appeared most interested in learning about Operation Clockwork Orange which had been run in various phases during the early and mid-1970s by both MI5 and MI6. Part of Clockwork Orange had concerned the gathering of information about the private sexual activities of MPs. Wallace was not released until 5 December 1986 after the meeting between Powell and Morgan-Harris.
Was Powell trying to find out what Wallace might have learnt about him and might yet pass to the press? As it transpired, Wallace new nothing about his private life.
Powell was defeated in the June 1987 British general election. He died in 1998.
ENOCH POWELL’S DERANGED VIEWS ABOUT WOMEN
Powell had bizarre views about women. Whenasked by broadcaster Michael Cockerell about his time as an undergraduate at Cambridge for a documentary about his life entitled Odd Man Out, he stated, “I had no social life as an undergraduate”. When asked about women, he responded, “They didn’t exist”. While he was aware of their presence, “I wondered what they were doing there because I didn’t think they would approach advanced learning in the same mood or manner as a man would”.
And the reason for this? “Because the analytical faculty is underdeveloped in women”.
Powell’s wife Pamela told Cockerell how hopeless he was at remembering women’s faces, even her own. He married her at the age of 39 and the couple went on to have two daughters. “We married. We had a three-week honeymoon and then within four weeks’ she found herself going to meet him in the Central Lobby of the House of Commons where a number of women had gathered and ‘watched him go all the way around wondering which one he had married and been on a honeymoon with”.
Powell had a number of female admirers including Margaret Thatcher who said of him, “Enoch was the best parliamentarian I ever knew”.
IICSA MUST DEMAND MI5 AND MI6’S RECORDS ON ENOCH POWELL
Presumably, the London branch of the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring kept Powell supplied with boys while he was in England too. It is unclear how many victims he beat, abused and raped during his lifetime. It would be in the public interest to establish what is in the Church of England counselling notes referred to by Bishop Paul Butler.
These are questions that IICSA must investigate if it is to unearth the truth about VIP abuses by Westminster MPs. At the very least, it must demand of MI5 (which is attached to the Home Office) that it hand over every memo, telex, page, file and dossier it possesses about Powell and anyone associated with him.
MI6 (which is attached to the Foreign Office) admitted at the Hart Inquiry into Kincora that it monitored the sex lives of important individuals. At paragraph 237 of Chapter 28 of the Hart Report, an anonymous representative of MI6, ‘Officer A’ was quoted as having acknowledged that since “homosexuality would make others vulnerable to blackmail it would be of interest” to it.
This appears to be the only sliver of truth that MI6 presented to Hart. Hence, IICSA should also demand the production of all its records on Powell to see what they knew about him.
NEXT MONTH:
• The experiences suffered by ‘Charles’ and Alan Kerr at Williamson House and other homes;
• How another paedophile was infiltrated into Williamson House;
• Richard Kerr’s account of the abuse he sufferedat the hands of a refined Englishman who he is certain was Sir Anthony Blunt, the infamous MI5 traitor and Keeper of the Queen’s Pictures.
https://villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2018/06/suffer-little-children/
Portora Royal pupil Paul Maxwell was killed when the IRA bombed a boat owned by Lord Mountbatten
The Portora Royal pupil had taken a summer job as a crew member on Mountbatten’s boat Shadow V and was saving his pay to buy a bicycle.
Robin Bryans also revealed that boys from Portora Royal, NI’s elite public school, located in Enniskillen, were abused by members of the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring.
The Portora boys were in demand by abusers such as Lord Louis Mountbatten whose appetite extended to working class children too.
Mountbatten’s connection to the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring also merits a thorough investigation by IICSA. Meanwhile, Mountbatten’s reputation remains intact, enhanced by the most recent arrival in the British Royal Family, Prince Louis, being named in his honour.
https://villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2018/06/suffer-little-children/
cardiff.news@newsincardiff
Did you know Sir Anthony Hart was on the Board of Governors? Staff Handbook 2007 (June).doc – was he carefully selected like Sloss
Alun:
Like the Sloshed Butler, (Butler Slosss) judge Anthony Hart was far too close to the action at his own school to sit in judgement over Kincora. He should have swept his own doorstep first. He was a safe pair of hands …
Past President Sir Anthony Hart of the eponymous inquiry. A safe pair of hands who must have known a fair bit about the goings-on at his school.
Barbara Hewson’s idol Oscar Wilde and Portora. Interesting how Babsy rushed to the defence of Anthony Hart …
Why all this secrecy around the paedophile Morris Fraser? Why did he not appear before the Hart inquiry? Who would he have brought down with him? Will @InquiryCSA be questioning him?
Small kids supplied to Enoch Powell? Would his SPADs and associates have known what was going on? If anyone knew but didn’t speak up, they were/are complicit imo.
Harvey Proctor idolised Enoch Powell, so much so he fashioned his speaking style on Powell too. Powell also liked to beat boys, apparently – the very thing Proctor pleaded guilty to in 1987. So much in common. No wonder they were such good acquaintances.
Who was ‘David’ the pimp, who was the MP who abused Richard in London, and was the Europa Hotel the most bombed building in NI because it was known young kids were trafficked there to be brutalised by VIP nonces? Witchell should appear in front of @InquiryCSA
Charles Howeson Trial Update:
7 June 2018
A man who claimed a leading city businessman tried to rape him when he was a boy told a jury that making the complaint to police destroyed his life.
The man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – responded angrily to suggestions by Daniel Janner QC, that he only accused Charles Howeson of attempted buggery for a “compensation claim”.
The man turned to the jury at Bristol Crown Court and said: “Do me a favour – find him [Howeson] not guilty”. Turning back to Mr Janner he suggested the barrister stick his suggestion “up your a***.
“I didn’t do this for compensation. I never did this for me.”
Howeson, a former Royal Navy commander, faces one count of attempted buggery of a boy aged between 14 and 15 during a summer in the mid 1980s.
Howeson, aged 68, also faces an alternative count of indecent assault of the boy in the area of Crownhill.
On the first day of the trial the jury was told that Howeson had been convicted last December of 10 counts of indecent assault on eight young men following a six-week trial.
The offences took place when Howeson was a senior officer in the Royal Navy in the mid 1980s, while running the Groundworks charity in early 1990s and at his home address also in the early 1990s.
When Mr Janner suggested the man had made the entire sexual assault allegation up merely “for compo” because he knew Howeson was wealthy, the man replied the assertion was “utter b*******.”
He said: “I had no idea who he was. No idea whether he was alive.”
He told the court that when investigating officers told him about the application deadline for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board he told them: “I don’t want to apply – because I don’t want any scumbag lawyer saying I was doing this for money.”
In response to questions from prosecutor Paul Dunkels QC, the man said he only came forward after his partner revealed she had been victim to sexual abuse when younger. The man told the jury he only related the alleged incident to his partner “to let her know I understood… I wish I hadn’t.”
He told the jury he did not want to go to the police and took months of arguments between the couple before he finally did after his partner “insisted” he do so in an effort to save their relationship.
The alleged victim told the jury he had no idea who his attacker was, merely a number of details he could still recall from 30 years ago.
When he was later shown 10 photographs as part of an identification parade, he immediately picked out Howeson, but said he still did not know who he was.
The jury later heard from an identification officer who noted how the man appeared distressed after seeing the picture of Howeson which he had picked out immediately. Following the identification process, a video of which was played to the jury, the officer noted how the man had wiped his face and nose because “he’s wiping his tears away”.
The man had told the jury that after seeing the picture of Howeson: “I went into shock. I couldn’t control myself.” He said that even then he did not know the name of the man, nor that he had committed indecent assaults on other men in 1985, 1992, 1993 and 1994.
During an exchange between the man and Howeson’s defence barrister Daniel Janner QC, the man repeatedly denied he had “waited” 30 years before coming forward in 2015, saying: “I was never going to tell anyone. It was my business. I didn’t want to tell anyone. I’ve never been tempted to tell anyone other than my partner.
“It’s not ‘waiting’ to tell anyone. I wish I hadn’t told anyone. It’s affected lots of my life. The last three years it has destroyed my life”.
He admitted he had been jailed previously for a number of offences and was currently imprisoned for smashing up and setting fire to a large truck.
He said: “I’ve paid and am paying my debt to society and fully accept my behaviour was not right and I’m paying for it right now.”
He accepted that in his victim impact statement he had said that “certain aspects” of his behaviour “directly resulted to what he [Howeson] did to me”.
He accepted he had got “into trouble” in the years following the alleged incident and said he was “ashamed” and “embarrassed” that he had been violent towards his partner and a previous partner.
At one stage he angrily insisted “I’m not on trial”, saying he was paying for his past crimes.
His hands, clenched being him, began to shake as he replied to Mr Janner’s questions as to why he had assaulted his partner, why he had tried to take his own life in the past, why he had admitted specifically taking jobs that were “dangerous”.
He said: “When you… you wouldn’t understand. You do not know what it’s like to be a victim of this. What it does to your head.
“Do you know how hard it was to tell the woman I loved, the mother of my son?”
Noting the man had previous convictions for violence, he asked the man had not sought out Howeson to physically punish him, the man replied: “I want him to face justice”.
The man told the court he buried the incident, saying he told no one, not even his best friends, his brother or mother, adding: “I was deeply ashamed about it and didn’t want to tell anyone. I felt naïve.”
He admitted he was currently in prison for wielding an axe and covering a truck in petrol before setting it alight, saying “I lost my mind… I had a psychotic episode”, insisting it was his own truck.
When Mr Janner suggested the man knew Howeson, that Howeson had been the chair of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, the man snorted: “Do I look like I know anything about the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce?”
The man revealed that the day the Plymouth Herald and Western Morning News published reports of Howeson’s arrest on suspicion of indecently assaulting a number of young men, alongside photographs him, he had been in Woking with his brother.
He said that he rarely read newspapers and TV news and for a number of years worked “off shore on oil rigs”.
Suggesting the man had seen pictures of his alleged attacker in the Plymouth Herald, Mr Janner claimed Howeson was “probably the highest-profile person in Plymouth. He was Mr Plymouth.”
The man replied “I don’t move in those circles”.
He was repeatedly questioned about the date he gave of the alleged attack, and repeatedly admitted he had got the date wrong by two years, saying “I’m sorry about that – I’ve tried to blank it out”.
The man claimed that every time the man who lived at Smallack House “approached us as teenagers [in the field] he made up some reason to talk to us.
“We thought he was weird and I should’ve known better than to go with him [shooting] and he ended up doing what he did.”
He man said he had resented his partner “making me come forward” adding that everyone who had tried to help him “I’ve pushed them away… people have tried to help me but they can’t.”
However, he added that while his behaviour since coming forward had “been horrific” and resenting his partner at “other times I’m thankful to her… for everyone else, not for me.”
The man’s partner took the witness stand saying she had known him for around 15 years. She said that he had mentioned something had happened to him in the early stages of their relationship but nothing more. She told the jury she spotted small signals in his behaviour as their relationship continued, noting that as they walked along, if she put her hand by his bottom as he had his arm around her shoulder “he would flinch – I knew something had happened but I never asked.”
She said he would leave the room during conversations, TV programmes or news items which discussed paedophiles, rape, and sexual assaults.
She said: “All I can say is his behaviour after he told me in detail, he changed and he felt emasculated and he was just different. He drank more, he was going missing more and I couldn’t take it any more so I told him to go to the police.
“He was different, angry, defensive. I felt closer to him and I think he sensed that I wanted to protect him and he didn’t like that because he had always protected me.”
She said that when he had revealed the alleged abuse to her: “He was shaking and sobbing and this was like a child. I had never seen him like that. Not ever.”
She said he had refused to go to police, but after she gave him an ultimatum of going to police or ending their relationship, he did make a statement.
She told the jury: “I’m the reason he is here. He didn’t want any of this. If I had known it would’ve been this big I wouldn’t have made him go to police. I wouldn’t have.”
She was asked why had she insisted he go to police, she replied she hoped: “he would get specialist help, he would get counselling – instead of self-destructing around people who love him. He couldn’t cope with it, with any of it.”
The jury were told the alleged victim had a number of convictions against him including theft, assault, burglary, disorderly behaviour, shoplifting, threatening behaviour, battery, arson and breach of a restraining order and criminal damage.
They were told that he had pleaded guilty to every single matter except that of criminal damage.
Howeson’s police interview with the lead investigating officer Det Con Paul Enticknap was read out in court and the jury heard him admit he had lent a motorbike to youngsters who visited the field nearby his then home in Smallack House.
Howeson revealed he had run the local Neighbourhood Watch and was himself allowed to ride his motorbike around the Ministry of Defence-owned field, but he denied it was the one described by the alleged victim. He also denied having an air rifle, saying that at the time of the alleged incident he owned a single-barrel shotgun.
He described the allegations made against him as “a complete work of fiction” adding “it’s disgusting, it isn’t me”. He also denied he had any interest in young men, nor any homosexual tendencies.
Howeson denies both charges.
The trial continues.
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/tempers-flare-man-tells-how-1652306
InquiryCSA (IICSA)Verified account@InquiryCSA
6 June 2018
Peter Ball Case Study has now finished. Transcript will be available online later today.
Buckingham Palace tour guide JAILED for child abuse pic stash including BABIES
A BUCKINGHAM Palace former tour guide has been jailed for downloading 15,000 child abuse images including babies as young as 18 months old.
5th June 2018
Tony Aslett, 52, was locked up for nine months yesterday after cops unearthed his appalling stash of indecent images.
Vile Aslett worked as a visitor services warden at the Palace, showing hundreds of thousands of tourists around the State Room, Picture Gallery and Gardens on the grounds.
Established in 1987, Royal Collection Trust incorporates a registered charity* and its trading company, Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd*.
The Trustee Board
Chairman
HRH The Prince of Wales
Deputy Chairman
The Earl Peel, Lord Chamberlain
The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry
Mr Marc Bolland
Vice Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt
Dr Anna Keay
The Hon. James Leigh-Pemberton
Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse
Mr Edward Young, Private Secretary
https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/about/royal-collection-trust/governance/trustees
Plymouth businessman ‘tried to rape me’, man tells sex assault trial
Jury was told the former Naval officer and leading Plymouth businessman was convicted last year of a string of indecent assaults on young men
June 4 2018
A prominent Plymouth businessman – found guilty last year of indecently assaulting eight young men – also attempted to sexually abuse a boy in a field, a jury has been told.
Former Royal Navy commander Charles Howeson appeared at Bristol Crown Court today where he faced one count of attempted buggery of a boy aged between 14 and 15 during a summer in the mid 1980s.
Howeson, aged 68, also faces an alternative count of indecent assault of the boy in Plymouth.
Howeson, of Craigie Drive, Stonehouse, denies all charges.
Paul Dunkels QC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the jury of seven men and five women that Howeson stood accused of pushing himself up against the naked buttocks of the boy in a field in Crownhill in the late 1980s.
Mr Dunkels said the man only disclosed this information to his own partner in 2015, who urged him to go to police.
While not able to give the name of his alleged abuser, the information he provided enabled police to identify and arrest Howeson.
Mr Dunkels told the jury the arrest “attracted local publicity” and because of this police learned that a number of other men had made previous claims of being indecently assaulted by Howeson.
The jury were told the men alleged the offences took place when Howeson was a senior officer in the Royal Navy in the mid 1980s, while running the Groundwork Trust charity in early 1990s and at his home address also in the early 1990s.
Mr Dunkels told the jury Howeson was convicted last December of 10 counts of indecent assault on eight men following a six week trial.
He added this witness “couldn’t have known that the person he was describing to police in 2015 was the man who had indecently assaulted others in the 1980s and 1990s.
“[The witness] did not know that this man [Howeson] had a propensity to abuse men in this fashion,” he told the court.
He said the witness gave a video interview to police in which he had a “clear memory” of what was done to him although his recollections “was inaccurate” as to his age at the time and year it is alleged to have taken place.
Mr Dunkels said Howeson did not buy the property the alleged victim believed belonged to the Royal Navy officer until 1987, which suggested the alleged incident could only have happened after this year and not in 1985 as the man recalled.
The prosecutor also noted that while the alleged victim did not know the name of the man, he was able to identify him “without hesitation” during a photo identification parade which took place in April 2016, nearly 30 years later.
Mr Dunkels explained the incident was alleged to have happened while Howeson was teaching the boy how to shoot.
According to the alleged victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – Howeson offered to teach him how to shoot an air rifle, although Howeson later told police he only ever previously owned a .22 air rifle but at the time of the alleged incident he owned a single-barrel 12 bore shotgun.
Mr Dunkels emphasised that the young man “could not have known that the man he described and identified was in fact a man with a history of sexually assaulting young men”.
The jury were then shown the video interview, where the complainant explained how the man in question “started being friendly” with young lads from the nearby naval estate, allowing them to ride motorbikes in the field near his home.
He alleged Howeson offered to teach him how to shoot and took him into the field after retrieving his rifle from his home. He said the gun was “old” and was “wooden… everything apart from the barrel was wood, dark brown wood.”
The pair laid down on the grass and began to shoot the rifle with no indication of anything to follow. However, after several minutes of shooting he claimed Howeson rolled onto his side up against him before rolling on top of the boy’s back.
Speaking to the detective about Howeson laying closer to him on his side he admitted: “I thought it was a bit odd but I didn’t think anything of it. Then he laid on top of me and put all his weight on me and I couldn’t move.
“He pulled down my trousers and tried to rape me and I couldn’t even move, he was so heavy.
“The second he took his weight off me I squirmed out and took off. I was so naive. I didn’t shout or cry out. I didn’t move. He tried to put his […] in me.
“I didn’t say anything, I didn’t even make a noise when he climbed onto me. It was just a shock. I didn’t expect it in any way. I thought this was not right but I still didn’t think this was going to happen.”
The man said he did not tell anyone until he told his partner two weeks before going to the police in 2015.
He told the officer: “If it was three weeks ago I would never have said anything. I hate talking about it. It’s hard enough talking to my partner who I’ve known since I was 14. It’s only because I’ve spoken to my partner a lot that I can even speak about it [now].
“In the years [immediately] afterwards I thought about it a lot and I was really really angry and dealt with it by drink and drugs and violence.
“I don’t remember thinking about it for years and years and years until this last year. In the last year, everything that’s happened in the news, all about paedophiles has made me think about it. About a month ago my partner told me something that happened to her when she was 13. Not similar but close enough to make me really think about it.”
He said the revelation made him think more about this incident which left him “feeling really angry about it”.
He told the detective that for a while afterwards he believed he knew the name of the man, but as time passed by he could not recall. However, he was adamant about the naval property and that it happened during the summer of 1985. He also recalled the man had dark hair and was “overweight”.
He said he also recalled the man had let him and a friend ride his the man’s motorbike which he claimed had been a 250cc Honda Superdream in blue and silver.
He said they were amazed they were allowed to ride this powerful bike around the field by comparison to their own small 50cc scooters, noting “we were all little kids… it was odd that someone was being friendly to us”.
Howeson denies the charges and the trial, which is expected to take around two weeks, continues.
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/plymouth-businessman-tried-rape-me-1639681
| Bristol | 9 | T20177199 | charles arthur howeson | ||||
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The trial is expected to last one to two weeks.
2 FEB 2018
Plymouth businessman Charles Howeson is set to face a trial in June on charges of sexually abusing a teenager.
The cover-up continues…Gwent Police unable or unwilling to locate Hann Redhill, even though his information (including his address) is easily found on the internet.
No mention in the recent Thorpe docudrama and related news regarding Jeremy Thorpe’s links to establishment paedophiles.
Thorpe and Savile were both friends of paedophile, PIE member, GCHQ freemason Keith Harding.
Thorpe case closed again as jive-loving witness falls flat
June 5, 2018
The police have closed their investigation into the conspiracy to murder Norman Scott despite the embarrassing and unexpected discovery that a key witness is alive.
Gwent police said in a statement yesterday evening that officers had spoken to Andrew Newton, who shot dead Mr Scott’s dog, Rinka, as part of an alleged murder plot to prevent Scott from revealing his affair with the Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe. Officers said that no further action would be taken against others said to be involved in the conspiracy.
Newton, 71, who has changed his name to Hann Redwin, was convicted of shooting the dog in 1976. Yesterday, those who knew him through his hobbies of jive dancing and flying described him as eccentric.
Anthony John Wixted@TrojanManifesto
Briefly, Jeremy Thorpe was a man of great ability who revitalised the Liberal Party. He was also bi-sexual, ruthless, a fraudster and a paedophile .
Hindley studied classics and philosophy at Oxford, then theology at Cambridge. Following this, he worked for a period as a minister in England, and also as a New Testament scholar, taking a position as Professor New Testament Studies at Serampore College, West Bengal, from 1959 (also serving as Deputy Librarian there, as well as literary editor for the Indian Journal of Theology) as well as being active in the church union movement in North India and publishing several articles (listed in the bibliography at the end). In 1964 he was a joint leader of the Protestant wing of joint Catholic-Protestant meeting on Christian social action problems at St Mary’s College, Kureseong, organised by Jesuit fathers (‘Joint Action’,The Anchor, Vol.8, No. 29, July 16th, 1964, p. 16). He finished his term at Serampore in 1968 (Katherine Smith Diehl, Carey Library Pamphlets: Secular Series; A Catalogue (Serampore, India: The Council of Serampore College, 1968), p. xi).
Some time after this (it is not clear whether he left India straight away), Hindley joined the civil service (and appears to have abandoned his theological activities from this point onwards), whilst maintaining a strong interest in music as an amateur pianist and choral singer (see biographies of Hindley in The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 89, No. 1 (Spring 1994), p. 175 and Mervyn Cooke (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. vii, and here, here, and here).
He was friendly with former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe(born 1929), who famously was tried (and acquitted) in 1979 on charges of attempted murder of and conspiracy to murder his lover Norman Scott; Thorpe and Hindley dined together at the Reform Club in London (Mudie and Dorman, ‘Huge sums of TAXPAYER’S cash ‘handed to vile child pervert group’’).
Clifford Hindley HO/PIE HO/ Jeremy Thorpe/ Amnesty International/Marie Staunton/CSA Inquiry Heads/Fiona Woolf/Charities
Woolf’s connections to Lord and Lady Brittan, the CityUK organisation, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, former Legal Officer NCCL, and Harman’s successor Marie Staunton (who openly defended the organisation’s affiliation to the Paedophile Information Exchange
(‘The Left’s web of shame: It’s not just Harman, Dromey and Hewitt.)
Marie Staunton/NCCL/PIE
Marie Staunton CBE
Harman and Staunton
Harriet Harman’s successor as legal officer, Marie Staunton, openly defended the affiliation in an astonishingly frank statement of September 1983, which reflected the continued hold of the sexual rights agenda.
‘The NCCL is campaigning to lower the age of consent to 14. An affiliate group like the Paedophile Information Exchange would agree with our policy.’
Like so many others in NCCL/PIE saga, Ms Staunton — now a CBE — has gone on to have an elevated public career…
enjoying spells as the British director of Amnesty International and deputy director of Unicef in the UK, and head of the international charity Plan International.
She is now chair of the overseas charity Raleigh International.
Dame Fiona Woolf DBE is a trustee of Raleigh International
Another of her Raleigh trustees is Former Unilever Vice President Patty O’Hayer
Leon Brittan had been a non-executive director of Unilever 2004 – 2010
raleighinternational.org/about-us/trustees-and-governance/
Raleigh International and Save the Children (Patron Princess Anne) work together
a UK-originated youth and sustainable development not-for-profit organisation
Revealed: who is getting the most money at Britain’s biggest aid charities
2012 £90,001 to 100,000 Marie Staunton, chief executive
Marie Staunton, a trained human rights lawyer, was chief executive of Plan UK for a decade until late 2012. She had previously worked for as a deputy director at Unicef, a director at Amnesty International as as acting general secretary at Liberty.
Ms Staunton writes a blog on the Huffington Post and is also the British independent member on the management board of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, which monitors racism and xenophobia across Europe.
Our history
Prince Charles 1978
1978 – Operation Drake
Colonel John Blashford-Snell and HRH Prince Charles launched Operation Drake, running youth projects from ships circumnavigating the globe
http://raleighinternational.org/about-raleigh/our-history
August 2014
The Freemasons’ Grand Charity donate £50,000 to Raleigh International, in support of disadvantaged young people
http://raleighinternational.org/news-centre/press-releases
Raleigh International chosen as beneficiary of Lord Mayor’s Appeal
November 9th 2013
Raleigh International today announced that it is one of four charities which will benefit from funds raised during the 2013-2014 Lord Mayor’s Appeal. Alderman Fiona Woolf, CBE, elected today as Lord Mayor of London, is a Trustee of Raleigh International and has chosen Raleigh as one of the beneficiaries in the official role’s annual charity appeal.
http://raleighinternational.org/images/Raleigh International chosen as beneficiary of Lord Mayors Appeal.pdf
In February 1982 it was announced that Thorpe was to become director of the British section of Amnesty International,[198] but the appointment was opposed by many of the organisation’s membership,[199] and after a month of controversy Thorpe withdrew from the post.[200][n 12] He kept his position as chairman of the political committee of the United Nations Association
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Thorpe
A FORMER high ranking cleric caught downloading indecent images of children for the third time was jailed for 20 months.
Paul C Battersby National Youth Officer General Synod Board of Education Church House, Great Smith Street 1992
The university educated curate was an active member of Amnesty International. After working as a youth officer in the Carlisle diocese he was elevated to Church House in London as the national youth officer working with the General Synod Board on education.
Vicar turned in by wife after stepson discovers horrific child porn on vicarage computer
Paedophile ex-vicar was housed in luxury apartment paid for by the Church of England
Former reverend Paul Battersby downloaded sick photos while living in Liverpool’s Beetham Tower
27 AUG 2017
A paedophile ex-vicar was housed in a luxury city centre apartment paid for by the Church of England, the ECHO can reveal.Former reverend Paul Battersby repeatedly downloaded sick photographs of young children being molested by fellow perverts.
But for the last three years he has lived in Beetham Tower – one of Liverpool’s most desirable developments in Old Hall Street.
Yet the ex-Church of England national youth officer had the audacity to MOAN about his home and compare his circumstances to prison.
Battersby, 68, was jailed for 20 months after a court heard he spent his time in the flat amassing a disturbing collection of illegal files.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/paedophile-ex-vicar-housed-luxury-13533349
Hindley retired from the Home Office in June 1982 (‘People’, Community Care, May 20th, 1982), though three years later published a paper on the ‘The Age of Consent for Male Homosexuals’, (Criminal Law Review 595-603 (1986)), arguing against the recommendations of the Policy Advisory Committee on Sexual Offences (P.A.C.) who in a 1981 report had recommended reducing the male homosexual age of consent to 18; Hindley drew upon various other evidence to argue for equalisation of heterosexual and homosexual ages of consent.
Otherwise, following his retirement until his death in 2006, Hindley lived at least some of the time in Brent Way in Finchley (which address is given at the bottom of the first of his articles on Xenophon) and turned to writing academic articles on musical subjects, predominantly the operas of Benjamin Britten, and also on aspects of sexuality in Ancient Greece, before his death in 2006 (it is not clear if he knew Britten personally, as has been claimed; Hindley’s name does not appear in any of the Britten biographies). One biography cited him as in retirement as having specifically made a study ‘of aspects of ancient Greek pederasty’ (‘Notes on Contributors’, History Workshop Journal, No. 40 (Autumn, 1995), p. 295).
The uncomfortable nature of some of these writings may provide a clue to understanding Hindley’s attitudes and inclinations.
Westminster whistleblower told to ‘back off’ over paedophiles
Former Home Office employee Tim Hulbert reveals that he was told to back off after raising concerns over Government grants to paedophiles
10 Jul 2014
Fresh claims have been made that taxpayers’ money was used to fund a notorious group that campaigned to legalise sex with children, with a whistleblower claiming the payments were made at the request of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Branch.
Former civil servant Tim Hulbert said he raised concerns about the grant to the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) with his manager because it seemed “crazy” to be giving the group money.
A Whitehall investigation into the claims grants were given to PIE, which was published earlier this week, found that there was no evidence that the group was funded “directly or indirectly” by the taxpayer.
But Mr Hulbert, who worked at the Home Office unit charged with allocating money to voluntary groups, told ITV News he become aware of the grant to PIE during the first year of the Thatcher administration.
Speaking publicly for the first time he said he raised the issue with his superior at the Voluntary Services Unit (VSU): “I have a very clear recollection, not of who tipped me off, but of being sufficiently aware of it to go to my then boss, the head of the unit Clifford Hindley and to say ‘look Clifford what the hell are we doing funding an organisation like PIE?’ and the reason for that was firstly I had young children at that time and PIE were openly campaigning for the reduction of the age of consent to four.
“Secondly we were also responsible for funding across government departments including the Department of Health and it seemed crazy that we should be funding an organisation that was advocating, certainly a lessening of the constraints around child abuse, when one of our constituent organisations was the Department of Health, which was spending a lot of money trying to prevent child abuse.”
But he claimed his boss told him that the money was going to a “legitimate” organisation and that the funding was “at the request of Special Branch”.
He told ITV News: “The meeting was in his office. I remember having a frank exchange with him about this and his arguments (for continuing payments) were one, it was an organisation which was recognised as a legitimate if not necessarily appropriate campaigning organisation and secondly, I have a very clear recollection that he told me it was being funded at the request of Special Branch and thirdly, he told me it was a renewal of a grant, which I already knew, and therefore it didn’t require a consultant’s input and the significance of that is that all new grants were normally accompanied in the submission to the minister by a consultant’s report.
“On renewal that didn’t necessarily happen.”
A Whitehall investigation into VSU’s activities between 1973 and 1985 found “no evidence” of direct funding being provided to PIE.
More than £475,000 was provided to two groups with connections to PIE, but the review concluded: “It is impossible to determine whether VSU funding provided to either of these organisations was indirectly used to support the work of PIE, but no evidence was found to conclude that it did.”
The Government has appointed National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children chief executive Peter Wanless to lead a review into the Home Office’s handling of abuse claims and how 114 files deemed potentially relevant went missing.
This 1977 newspaper cutting corroborates the claim that the Home Office may have funded the Paedophile Information Exchange. The funding came from a branch of the Home Office called the Voluntary Services Unit, and was channeled through the Princedale Trust and the Albany Trust. The concerns were raised by a backbench Conservative MP called Bernard Braine.
This means that two successive Labour governments funded an organisation that wanted the age of consent lowered to 4 years old. It’s still unknown whether this funding carried on into the Thatcher years.
https://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/tag/princedale-trust/
A former employee accused the Home Office of giving tens of thousands of pounds to PIE through its Voluntary Services Unit, which provided annual grants for charities.
Civil servants launched a trawl through 35,000 documents to investigate the claims, focusing on the VSU’s activities between 1973 and 1985.
Their findings were finally published yesterday, prompting concerns that it had been timed so it would be overshadowed by Mrs May’s announcement of an over-arching inquiry.
It found that two groups associated with the child sex-supporting lobbyists did receive hundreds of thousands of pounds from the VSU.
The Albany Trust, which was founded to support ‘sexual minorities’, received £65,750 between 1974 and 1980.
The trust invited representatives from PIE and a group called Paedophile Action for Liberation to a series of meetings in 1975 to discuss setting up a paedophile support group and publishing an information pamphlet about paedophilia …
A second charity, Release, which offered advice on issues including drugs, medical and housing problems, was given £410,500 by the VSU between 1974 and 1984 via the Princedale Trust. In 1975 Release moved to 1 Elgin Avenue in London.
The same year Release allowed PIE to begin using the same address for correspondence.
The whistleblower said civil servant Clifford Hindley was the man who rubber-stamped the PIE grants around 1980.
Hindley, who unusually for the time was openly gay, was well known in Whitehall as a pal of Jeremy Thorpe, the ex-Liberal leader who was acquitted in a sensational murder trial.
The two often dined together at London’s Reform Club and Hindley took Thorpe out for lunch on the day the politician learnt he was going to be tried
PIE and the Home Office: Three+ members/supporters on inside, funded, magazine printed and phone line
The extent to which the Paedophile Information Exchange established a thorough presence at the Home Office in the late 1970s and early 1980s is now becoming clear as more information becomes available. What transpires is alarming:
a) Senior civil servant (Assistant Secretary) Clifford Hindley dismissed the objections of another member of staff to government money going to PIE, who received a total of £70 000 between 1977 and 1980. After early retirement in 1983, Hindley published a series of pro-pederastic articles on music and classical Greece in scholarly journals. whose arguments were scarcely-disguised PIE propaganda.
b) PIE chair Steven Adrian Smith (who replaced Tom O’Carroll), also known as Steven Freeman, used a telephone number at the Home Office as the contact point for PIE, whilst he was working there as an electrical contractor, on behalf of firm Complete Maintenance Ltd. According to his own account, Smith stored file material in cabinets at the Home Office and received full security clearance from Scotland Yard, (Keith Dovkants, ‘Child sex ring’s ‘Home Office Link’, Standard, November 7th, 1984; Alex Marunchak, ‘Child-Sex Boss in Whitehall Shock’, The Sun, August 15th, 1982; Steven A. Smith, ‘PIE, from 1980 Until its Demise in 1985′, in The Betrayal of Youth: Radical Perspectives on Childhood Sexuality, Intergenerational Sex, and the Social Oppression of Children and Young People, edited Warren Middleton (London: CL Publications, 1986), pp. 215-245). Smith claims he was provided with a furnished office as part of his contract, from which he could use the phone line, but another source connected to the Home Office informs me that it was unthinkable that such a contractor would be given access to a Home Office phone line. Smith was later said in court probably to have actually published the PIE magazine (which would then have been Minor Problems) in the Home Office itself
PIE Secretary and Treasurer Barry Cutler was also employed in the Home Office in the early 1980s
A civil servant at the Home Office received a series of slides with images of abuse of young boys and obscene letters delivered to his departmental address.
(e) Adrian Fulford (now Lord Justice Fulford), who was named last week in the Mail on Sunday as a key organiser of the so-called Conspiracy Against Public Morals to support key PIE figures, and wrote an article defending PIE (Martin Beckford, ‘High Court judge and the child sex ring: Adviser to Queen was founder of paedophile support group to keep offenders out of jail’, Mail on Sunday, March 9th, 2014), also acted as Smith’s defence barrister in a court case concerning publishing obscene material featuring children in 1991.
Michael H. Murrin@michaelmurrin
THE CESSPIT THAT IS BRITISH POLITICS??? ALL ATTEMPTS TO OPEN UP THE PAEDOPHILE INFORMATION EXCHANGE TO PUBLIC SCRUTINY HAVE BEEN SCUPPERED BY GOVERNMENT. MI5 ARE ALL OVER THE INDEPENDENT…
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
Jeremy Thorpe’s boyfriend also a paedophile …
Henry Upton: Thorpe’s first murder plot?
Henry Upton was a paedophile and also Thorpe’s lover. He had convictions for indecency with boys and was jailed in Australia. It has been alleged that Upton was blackmailing Thorpe and that Thorpe arranged for him to be killed. He disappeared mysteriously from a boat off the Sussex Coast in 1957. Full story from Daily Mail here.
Andreas Baader@stop1984
Did Jeremy Thorpe have a gay lover thrown to his death from a yacht? Biographer casts new light ... http://dailym.ai/1CWOg7v via @MailOnline
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
North Yorkshire Enquirer requests @InquiryCSA (then under Goddard) to investigate allegations Jeremy Thorpe’s was a paedophile .
Wonder if Clement Freud used to visit Pie membership secretary, Keith Harding
https://www.xpress.co.uk/news/uk/576187/Keith-Harding-MPs-Leon-Brittan.-Cyril-Smith-Jeremy-Thorpe
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/579523/Paedophile-Mason-lodge-GCHQ
Jeremy Thorpe was a good friend of paedophile MP Clement Freud He was there at Thorpe’s trial to support him.
“…his close friend, Liberal member of Parliament Clement Freud, who were sitting together nearby.”
When he was eventually forced to stand down, it was Freud who helped him compose his letter of resignation at his St John’s Wood home.
No mention of Jeremy Thorpe’s visits with paedophile / PIE member and Freemason (Grandmaster of GCHQ) Keith Harding, who was also visited by members of royalty, MPs Cyril Smith and Leon Brittan.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/579523/Paedophile-Mason-lodge-GCHQ
1968 In Aid of the Albany Trust – Clement Freud will speak during the evening on the Trust’s work…
Albany Trust links to PIE, Peter Righton, Henniker-Major/Sir Harold Haywood etc
https://bitsofbooksblog.wordpress.com/tag/sir-john-henniker-major/
During the Second World War Freud joined the Royal Ulster Rifles and acted as an aide to Field Marshal Montgomery.
Freud acted as an aide to Field Marshal Montgomery.
http://alchetron.com/Clement-Freud-1024540-W
The “revelations” that Montgomery preferred the company of young staff officers to that of women have been around for a long time, and Hamilton himself referred to Monty’s “romantic friendships with young boys” in the original book, specifically the 12-year-old Swiss lad Lucien Trueb “who engaged Monty’s affectionate attention”.
The question Hamilton is really posing now is not whether Field Marshal Lord Montgomery of Alamein was gay, but whether he was a repressed paedophile.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4260024/The-third-sex-that-sustained-the-Empire.html
After the war Freud trained as a chef at London’s Dorchester (Bramall & McAlpine), before being made manager of the glamorous Martinez Hotel in Cannes.
The security services worked out of Alistair McAlpine family’s Dorchester hotel during the war
Lord Bramall 2004 consultant to Dorchester Hotel / Director of its pension fund )
Paedophile TV star Sir Clement Freud was nominated for his knighthood by David Steel – who also put Cyril Smith up for the same gong
- Ex-Lib Dem leader Lord Steel nominated Clement Freud for a knighthood
- Freud, a disgraced MP and former TV and radio star, became a Sir in 1987
- Also revealed Lord Steel backed child abuser Cyril Smith for knighthood
- Cabinet Office confirmed who proposed Freud to be a Sir after an appeal
The politician, now Lord Steel, was made aware of the reports that Smith had sexually abused young boys in his hometown of Rochdale, Lancashire, in 1979.
But dismissed the allegations – claiming: ‘All he seems to have done is spanked a few bare bottoms’.
David Steel correspondence on Kincora, Wallace and sexual abuse – closed:
Record
| Level | File |
| Ref_No | STEEL/B/13/4 |
| Title | Colin Wallace |
| Date | 1990 |
| Description | Correspondence and statements regarding disciplinary action taken against Colin Wallace in the 1970s for allegations he made regarding the Clockwork Orange project and sexual abuse at the Kincora boys home. Includes references to the BBC Two Programme ‘Private Eye’ and discussions in the House of Commons. Includes correspondence from Colin Wallace Margaret Thatcher Kevin McNamara Paddy Ashdown |
| Access Status | Closed; for further information on closed files see http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/usingTheLibrary/accessingMaterials/readingRoomAccess/freedomOfInformation.aspx |
| Extent | 1 file |
https://archives.lse.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=STEEL%2fB%2f13%2f4&pos=2
justme@zante03
Clement Freud the paedophile
Jeremy Thorpe the paedophile
Cyril Smith the paedophile
all #riffraff and protected
Paedophile Roddam Twiss knew Jeremy Thorpe… says he met scandal-hit Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe ‘in passing’ and was ‘always suspicious’ about him, and adds that ‘everyone knew’ Cyril Smith was picking up young rent boys in Soho.
The Thorpe cover-up must continue…
Viscount Tonypandy aka George Thomas MP (centre) covered up for Jeremy Thorpe.
Dame Alun Roberts @ciabaudo
Atkinson was linked to Tonypandy who adored Enoch who received correspondence from him, Carthew (Proctor’s mate), Morrison & BishBollocks (Bishop Peter Ball)!
In 2015 the British tabloid press published articles saying thatWalker had reported Leo Abse, George Thomas and Enoch Powell to the police as suspected paedophiles.[14] He said that “A number of survivors independently gave the name of a particular MP being involved … I don’t believe there was any collusion in their stories.”[15] Walker went on to tell senior clerics that Abse was named by three abuse survivors whom he had counselled when a vicar in Brighton in the 1980s.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Walker_%28bishop%29
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Edward William Murray “Dominic” Walker OGS DL (born 28 June 1948) is a retired Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Reading, an area bishop, from 1997 to 2002 and Bishop of Monmouth from 2003 to 2013.
en.wikipedia.org
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Jeremy Thorpe’s links to PIE member, paedophile, Freemason Keith Harding…
Jeremy Thorpe MP / Keith Harding/ PIE /Freemasons/ GCHQ/Jimmy Savile / Royal Family / Cyril Smith MP / Leon Brittan MP /Clement Freud MP / George Thomas MP Viscount Tonypandy
Paedophiles Jimmy Savile and Keith Harding
Paedophiles Jeremy Thorpe, Jimmy Savile, Leon Brittan and Adrian Smith from the Home Office would visit Freemason and paedophile Keith Harding (PIE membership secretaty)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/576187/Keith-Harding-MPs-Leon-Brittan-Cyril-Smith-Jeremy-Thorpe
Telegram from Savile to Thorpe 1:35
An extraordinary election broadcast from 1974 – Jimmy Savile telegram to Thorpe, followed by Cyril Smith in support of Jeremy Thorpe’s Liberal party
(Like Jimmy Savile) George Thomas was a personal friend of senior members of the Royal Family, including Prince Charles, Princess Diana, Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother. He read the lesson at the wedding of Charles and Diana in St Paul’s Cathedral in 1981.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/sex-crimes-allegations-against-former-12742517
George Thomas/Tonypandy MP with David Atkinson
In 2015 the British tabloid press published articles saying that Walker had reported Leo Abse, George Thomas and Enoch Powell to the police as suspected paedophiles.[14] He said that “A number of survivors independently gave the name of a particular MP being involved … I don’t believe there was any collusion in their stories.”[15] Walker went on to tell senior clerics that Abse was named by three abuse survivors whom he had counselled when a vicar in Brighton in the 1980s.
Upon retirement, Walker became a “humble monk”.[16] He has since settled in Monmouth and continues to deliver conference papers and lectures. He lectured in July 2015 at the University of Warwick.[17]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Walker_%28bishop%29
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/leo-abse-being-investigated-police-8897463
http://www.anglican.ink/article/abuse-allegations-leveled-against-former-labour-mp
George Thomas’s other close friends included Greville Janner, Cyril Smith and Jeremy Thorpe. His pal Leo Abse has also been the subject of an investigation into historical child abuse. George Thomas was a friend of Enoch Powell as well – Powell too was the subject of a complaint of child abuse.
When Enoch Powell was Health Minister in 1960 he visited the North Wales Hospital and was so shocked at what he saw that he told them that he would not allow them to do this to people and returned to London promising to shut the institution down. For some reason he dropped that plan very quickly and it was never mentioned again – neither are there any references to it in the archive of his papers. George Thomas was on good enough terms with Jonathan Aitken to dispense advice to him and act as a character witness when Aitken launched his libel action against the Guardian, which eventually led to Aitken’s imprisonment for perjury.
George Thomas became President of the NCH (National Children’s Home) in approx 1984 – he stood down at the end of 1994, by which time it was known as NCH/Action for Children. Many people associated with the NCH are now known to have concealed or colluded with child abuse (see post ‘Always On The Side Of The Children’). Glanville Owen, the senior manager in Gwynedd Social Services with responsibility for children’s homes whilst the paedophile gang operated within them, had previously worked for the NCH
http://www.drsallybaker.com/tag/jeremy-thorpe/
Dame Alun Roberts@ciabaudo
‘Scurrilous hearsay’! Is this man hard of hearing, in complete denial or spearheading a LibDem coverup?
Sue Crocombe@shinybluedress
I AM SO ANGRY AT THIS: @InquiryCSA concluded there was an “unwillingness of those at the highest level” to recognise that #CyrilSmith was capable of perpetrating CSA David Steel on #Newsnight said it was just “tittle tattle”
Anthony Daly@anthonydaly01
Good old David Steel. Sir Norman Skelhorn would be proud of him. Ignore the evidence, downplay the abuse and deny until the last Establishment protecting breath in his body. God! What loyalty to party and country.
Grainia LongVerified account@GrainiaLong
How appalling to hear Lord Steel – a peer in the House of Lords- describe allegations of child sexual abuse against Cyril Smith as ‘tittle tattle’ on #Newsnight
Paddington Pat@paddington_pa
In that one phrase, Lord Steel managed to say so much about politics and the British establishment. What a disgrace!
P J@Pamper48
Both Sir Clement Freud and Cyril Smith were nominated for knighthoods by David Steel.
Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister at the time, was made aware of allegations of abuse against Sir Cyril before he was knighted in 1988.
“Be careful what you say about Cyril Smith because nothing has been proved against him at all, it’s all been scurrilous hearsay and so far we are waiting for the final outcome of the inquiry” – former Liberal leader David Steel on the allegations against Cyril Smith
csusanclarke@csusanclarke
David Steel was disingenuous in the interview he gave on last night’s#Newsnight. He certainly knew about Norman Scott in 1971 because he met Scott in the “Commons” and saw the letters Scott had kept. He also knew about misappropriation of Liberal Party funds by #jeremythorpe
David Steel MP put paedophile MP Cyril Smith forward for knighthood ‘even after he was told of abuse allegations’
- Lord Steel put Rochdale MP Cyril Smith forward for his knighthood in 1988
- Former Lib Dem leader had already been made aware of abuse allegations
- Smith, who died aged 82 in 2010, allegedly assaulted young boys in 1960s
- Follows reports that the MI5 and Special Branch helped to cover up abuse
David Steel put Sir Cyril Smith forward for a knighthood – despite being told of the abuse allegations against him, it has been revealed.
The politician, now Lord Steel, was made aware of the reports that Smith had sexually abused young boys in his hometown of Rochdale, Lancashire, in 1979.
But his office dismissed the allegations – claiming: ‘All he seems to have done is spanked a few bare bottoms’.
Vicount Ian Kerr CGC@IanKerr
Go back to your constituencies, and prepare to deny everything about paedophilia in UK politics.
“Be careful what you say about Cyril Smith because nothing has been proved against him at all, it’s all been scurrilous hearsay and so far we are waiting for the final outcome of the inquiry” – former Liberal leader David Steel on the allegations against Cyril Smith
A man is known by the company he keeps.
It was just ‘tittle-tattle’ and the #mccann are very nice people.
P J@Pamper48
Both Sir Clement Freud and Cyril Smith were nominated for knighthoods by David Steel.
Prince Charles, The Barclay Brothers and Madeleine McCann
The first ever mainstream news story about Madeleine being abducted was the article in the Daily Telegraph on May 4, 2007 and timed at one minute past midnight. In other words, less than 2 hours after Kate and Gerry had raised the alarm, a top British newspaper was already sowing the seeds of the abduction story.
It is inconceivable that such a story could have been published so soon after the first call to Portuguese police yet it is there for all to see, set in the proverbial stone of the Internet archives.
In fact, the Telegraph have never removed the story (link).
Here is the original 4-paragraph story:
Three Year-old Feared Abducted in Portugal
By staff and agencies, Last Updated: 12:01am BST 04/05/2007
http://truthformadeleine.com/2014/02/prince-charles-the-barclay-brothers-and-madeleine-mccann/
Martin Walkerdine@mwalkerdine
David Steel hairdresser Stephen August is director of company that Colin Peters is also director off Mr August other clients are Michael Heseltine and Julian Fellowes
Gordon Brown joins mourners at funeral of Clement Freud
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, joined U2 frontman Bono and comedian Stephen Fry and David Steel for the funeral of Sir Clement Freud, the writer, broadcaster and former Liberal MP .
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Court hears of ex-Shrewsbury School teacher’s 13 years of alleged child sex abuse
A former Shrewsbury School teacher accused of child sexual offences joked with a girl who had been raped by one of his colleagues, a court heard.
Gary Dobbie told the 15-year-old girl that she had “beard rash”, indicating he knew what had happened, jurors were told on Thursday.
Dobbie, head of house at Christ’s Hospital School in the 1990s, was allegedly told about the encounter by history teacher James Husband,
Husband told the pupil “It’s OK, I’ve had a vasectomy” before raping her, the court heard.
The victim reported Husband to the Horsham school’s chaplain but no action was taken. Even her mother did not believe her story, Hove Crown Court heard.
Years of alleged abuse
The pair, who both worked at the prestigious West Sussex school and lived in the grounds, are standing trial after denying sexually abusing eight pupils over the course of 13 years.
Dobbie, aged 66, was teaching at Shrewsbury School at the time of his arrest in 2016.
Eloise Marshall, prosecuting, told the court victims believed the teachers would “laugh” together about their exploits.
Husband, 68, of Wigginton in York, denies four counts of rape and five of indecently assaulting a girl as young as 14 between 1990 and 1994. He claims they had “consensual sex” once when she was 16.
He left the school after it emerged he was having a consensual affair with a different pupil who was not underage and not a complainant in the case, Ms Marshall said.
The girl’s diary entries suggested they had sex in Husband’s study – which is where he is accused of abusing his alleged victim, the court heard.
Eight victims
Dobbie, of Albi in France and formerly of Hereford, faces a string of allegations against six boys and two girls as young as 12 between 1998 and 2001.
He denies 12 counts of indecently assaulting four boys and two girls, attempting to indecently assault a boy and two counts of indecency with a child.
Ms Marshall said: “Both the men knew each other and there is some evidence to suggest that they discussed what they were doing.”
Husband’s alleged victim “lay there like a rag doll” while he raped her and waited for it to be over, the court heard.
It became so frequent she began to “hate” what was happening, was “disgusted with herself” and was suicidal, Ms Marshall said.
‘Grooming’
Dobbie “groomed” pupils, by hosting dinner parties at his house in the school grounds with “favourite” students, jurors were told. He would allegedly ply them with whisky and wine while talk about their sexual encounters was “encouraged”.
At one of the gatherings an alleged victim recalls a man who also attended as a guest rating the boys in order of their attractiveness, to Dobbie’s “delight”, Ms Marshall said.
On another occasion after giving a girl alcohol, she came out of the bathroom to find Dobbie had undone his trousers and was “grinning at her”, the court heard. Fearing he wanted to have sex, she left the property.
She told her mother after she moved on from the school who phoned housemaster Neil Flemming but no action was taken, Ms Marshall said.
When questioned by police, Dobbie branded the claims “totally untrue”.
The trial heard how he took a boy as young as 12 to a bedroom and told him to take off his breeches and underwear while Dobbie performed a sex act on himself.
Another recalls falling asleep on Dobbie’s sofa and waking up to find him kneeling beside him with his hand in his shirt, Ms Marshall said.
The teacher even helped raise money for another pupil – allegedly abused over a period of six years – to take a gap year after leaving school but assaulted him when he returned for a visit, the court heard.
Founded in the 16th century, Christ’s Hospital charges boarders up to £31,500 a year and counts Sir Barnes Wallis, inventor of the bouncing bomb, and poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge as alumni.
Pupils still wear a Tudor-style uniform consisting of a long blue coat and high yellow socks.
The trial, expected to last six weeks, continues.
Author reveals shocking new claims of serious sexual assault at Prince Charles’s former boarding school
Miranda Doyle made public the allegations in her memoir about abuse in the 1980s.
3 JUN 2018
Shocking new claims of serious sexual assaults at Prince Charles’s former boarding school have been made to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
The allegations about staff at Gordonstoun in the 1980s were made public by author Miranda Doyle in a memoir published last year.
In it, she reveals she was attacked by a staff member at the school, in Elgin, when she was just 14.
She also tells how she witnessed other female pupils being ordered to strip naked before being thrown into cold baths by a male teacher.
Miranda, 49, decided to speak out after learning she wasn’t the only pupil targeted by her abuser.
She has waived her right to anonymity and given a statement about the abuse she suffered and other incidents she witnessed.
She said: “Gordonstoun wasn’t a safe place to be. It is time to speak out about what happened.”
Miranda still breaks down in tears almost 40 years on at the painful memories.
She included the harrowing experiences in The Book of Untruths, in which she set out to debunk lies she had been told throughout her life.
It details how she was just 11 when a male teacher told girls in her class not to bring bathing suits for their swimming lesson.
Three years later, after Miranda complained of stomach pains, a member of medical staff working at the school carried out an intimate examination he said was needed to check her appendix.
She finally found the strength to speak out after other former pupils shared memories of similar ordeals.
Now she hopes to encourage others who went to the school – once attended by Prince Philip and his sons Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward – to come forward.
Miranda said: “Gordonstoun was supposed to be such a wonderful school – even the Royal Family sent their children there. So many of the pupils feel a lot of shame that they didn’t have a better time. But I never felt safe there, and it didn’t feel safe for the other children.
“I’ve always been seen as a bit of a drama queen, so for a long time I didn’t trust my own memories.
“Speaking out makes me feel terrified but I know now I wasn’t the only pupil this happened to.”
Miranda started at the affiliated Aberlour House junior school in 1979 – when her family moved to Saudi Arabia for her father’s work – and spent two years there before moving to Gordonstoun senior school for the next five years.
Both were founded by Dr Kurt Hahn and shared the same school song, flag and motto. When Miranda was a pupil, they had separate staff, boards of governors and were 20 miles apart.
They merged in 2002 and now share the same campus.
She said: “In my first year at Aberlour House, before the Christmas holidays, one of the teachers announced the girls would have a swimming lesson but because we had already packed there would be no necessity for us to wear our costumes. They might get wet.
“Even at 11, the threat of a wet swimming costume seemed too bogus to be true.
“If wet costumes were an inconvenience, wasn’t it obvious that we do something else? The same teacher would also make appearances at what the girls called ‘birthday baths’.
“When it was someone’s birthday we tortured one another by throwing the birthday girl in a bath of cold water.
“On occasional mornings, he came into the girls’ dormitories before the bell. With his help we would strip the birthday girl down and drag her screaming to a waiting bath.
“Two of us took one arm apiece, his huge hands clamped hard to her spread ankles.”
Edinburgh-born Miranda breaks down in tears at memories of being sexually abused after complaining of a sore stomach.
She said: “I was 14 and I hadn’t thought anything was suspicious then. But some time afterwards I had gone to see one of the house tutors.
“She asked about the examination and how many times it had happened.
“When I said twice she wrote it down and said she had been doing an audit of this type of examination.She told me, ‘When I’ve reached enough of a number maybe I’ll report him.’”
Miranda doesn’t know if the abuse was ever reported.
When the author, who now lives in Cambridge, joined a private Facebook group for former Gordonstoun pupils, she discovered a younger girl had had the same ordeal at the hands of the same man six years later.
She said: “It’s sad to know others have gone through the same thing but to finally have corroboration felt like a relief. There was a forest of girls probably that this happened to.”
Miranda, who has not reported her claims to police and believes her abuser is still alive, said members of the Facebook group spoke of numerous incidents of inappropriate behaviour at the school.
She said: “My sense that those school years had been all wrong was confirmed.”
Ex-pupils gave her guidance and support and that helped her to have the confidence to report her experiences at Aberlour House and Gordonstoun to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, which is probing the treatment of kids in care – including at residential schools.
She was terrified at first when interviewed. Miranda said: “I howled for the first 10 minutes without even taking my coat off.
“I saw two people from the inquiry team and I felt worried that I was wasting their time and ashamed that I might be disbelieved.
“It was the most amazing experience to be believed. I know I am not the only former pupil from the school to have given a statement to the inquiry.”
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/author-reveals-shocking-new-claims-12639249
Jeremy Thorpe scandal: attempted murder case to reopen
Police say man allegedly hired to kill former Liberal leader’s ex-lover may still be alive
2 June 2018
An investigation into the Jeremy Thorpe scandal is to be reopened after police admitted they may have wrongly assumed one of the suspects was dead.
An inquiry launched in 2015 into the alleged attempted murder of the former Liberal leader’s ex-lover Norman Scott was closed last year.
Gwent police had thought Andrew Newton, the man allegedly hired to kill Scott, was dead. However the force has told a BBC Four documentary that new information has come to light, suggesting he may be alive.
Gwent police told the makers of The Jeremy Thorpe Scandal: “Inquiries were completed which indicated Mr Newton was deceased. We have now revisited these inquiries and have identified information, which indicates that Mr Newton may still be alive. As a result, further inquiries will be conducted to trace Mr Newton to assess if he is able to assist the investigation.”
Scott, 78, told the programme he didn’t believe anyone had tried hard enough to find Newton.
“There must be people who knew him and there would surely be a record of him dying,” he said. “I thought [Gwent police] were doing something at last and soon found out that absolutely they weren’t, they were continuing the cover-up as far as I can see.”
The documentary, to be broadcast at 10pm on Sunday, investigates the alleged plot to murder Scott, who was involved in a relationship with Thorpe in the early 1960s, when homosexuality was illegal.
Thorpe, who died in 2014, was acquitted of conspiracy to murder after an Old Bailey trial in 1979.
A fresh investigation was launched by Gwent police in 2015 after new claims emerged.
But Scott was told the investigation had closed after the force concluded Newton, who was jailed for firearms offences over the shooting of Scott’s dog on Exmoor in 1975, was no longer alive.
Edward Pinnegar@Pindog
This stuff takes 10mins to discover on Google. It isn’t firm proof but it suggests that Newton may still be alive. Where did @gwentpolice & the CPS go wrong? What investigation led them to ‘conclude’ that he was dead despite publicly available evidence which suggested he was not?
By the 1990s, Andrew “Gino” Newton has changed his name, bizarrely, to Hann Redwin
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4705221/Murder-most-Liberal.html
June 2015
While I’m waiting I get into conversation with Hann Redwin whose Pipistrel motorised glider I spotted in a small hangar near the Tower. He’s here with his companion Patsy Frankham to conduct some tests on the Pipistrel. Hann used to fly for the airlines and is a serial homebuilder with what sounds like a superbly-equipped workshop (a lathe is mentioned) in Newgate. After completing two homebuilds and almost finishing a third, a Zenair, if I understood him correctly, he’s abandoning aircraft building to concentrate on sailing, which I gather is more Patsy’s thing.
http://www.pilotweb.aero/airfields/review-redhill-airfield-1-4109013
September 18, 2013
FAA recognizes Hann Redwin Jr
London-based pilot sets positive example
http://aviation-business-gazette.com/A15/B71/Pilot-Hann-Redwin-Jr-London-.html
https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/Main.aspx
Detectives in Gwent had not sought to interview Andrew Newton after new evidence relating to the alleged attempted murder of Norman Scott emerged in 2014. Although he had changed his name to Hann Redwin, his true identity as Andrew Newton was an open secret locally. Ironically, he was often seen walking his dog in local parks. He freely admitted to his involvement in the case often unprompted. Mr Redwin had lived on Abinger Road until around two years ago when he sold his house and is now believed to be residing in Dorking although he has been seen in the area more recently.
Chief Constable Julian Williams
Julian Williams joined Gwent Police on a secondment from South Wales Police in 2014 as Temporary Assistant Chief Constable and was permanently appointed to the role in 2015. He has sHe is the Welsh policing lead for Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking and is part of the National Counter Terrorism Cadre, having been a Firearms Commander for 15 years. erved as Deputy Chief Constable and after being selected as the preferred candidate by the PCC, started as the Acting Chief Constable on 1st July 2017. On 1st August 2017 Mr Williams was made substantive Chief Constable at Gwent.
He has 28 years policing service, having spent 25 years with South Wales Police. Whilst with South Wales Police he served in Barry, Penarth, Cardiff, Neath, Port Talbot, Swansea and Bridgend Headquarters. His background is operational policing and as a Chief Superintendent he was the Divisional Commander for the Western Division, covering Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot.
Prior to leaving South Wales Police he was the Temporary Assistant Chief Constable for specialist operations.
He is fortunate to have had the experience of being the Commander for the Olympic football matches in the Millennium stadium in 2012. He has also commanded a number of high profile events in the force, including 2 Swansea vs Cardiff City football matches.
He is the Welsh policing lead for Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking and is part of the National Counter Terrorism Cadre, having been a Firearms Commander for 15 years.
https://www.gwent.police.uk/about-us/gwent-police/our-chief-officers/the-chief-constable/?L=0
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-24434353
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/gwent-chief-constable-jeff-farrar-7609545
Back from the dead: Police are set to quiz Jeremy Thorpe’s ‘hitman’ despite officials thinking him dead for years, as photos capture the former pilot very much alive
- The man accused of trying to kill Jeremy Thorpe’s ex-gay lover is in Surrey
- Andrew Newton, a former airline pilot, has been living under an assumed name
- Police are planning to interview Mr Newton about his role in the attempted plot
- The Mail on Sunday has tracked the man who is now called Hann Redwin
The Jeremy Thorpe affair, one of the last century’s greatest political scandals, was dramatically reignited last night after a key witness who police assumed was dead was found by The Mail on Sunday.
This newspaper discovered Andrew Newton – the man who allegedly tried to kill Liberal leader Thorpe’s gay ex-lover – living under an alias in Surrey.
Detectives are now planning to interview the former airline pilot over claims he hired a former school friend to murder Norman Scott, but stepped in himself when his friend changed his mind.
Here is how Andrew Newton, posing as Hann Redwin, was photographed in 2004 at the Skin Two Rubber Ball in 2004 at the Hammersmith Palais in London
LONDON – OCTOBER 4: Guest Hann Redwin poses in a studio at the annual ‘Skin Two Rubber Ball 2004’ at the Hammersmithh Palais on October 4, 2004 in London. The event is the biggest fetish event of its kind in the world for lovers of rubber, PVC, and glamour gear, and features a Medical Fantasy theme this year for the 2,500 fetishists who attend.
Four years ago, Dennis Meighan, now 71, admitted to The Mail on Sunday that in 1975 he was offered £13,500 – the equivalent of £140,000 today – by Newton and a ‘representative’ of Thorpe to silence Scott. They feared he was threatening to publicly reveal details of their affair, which took place at a time when homosexuality was still illegal.
Meighan agreed to the plan but later changed his mind and went on to confess to police, making clear Thorpe’s involvement. But he says his role was covered up by detectives to protect the politician, possibly at the behest of elements within the British Establishment.
Incredibly, even though he says he ‘tried to do the right thing’ more than four decades ago, Meighan now faces possible prosecution himself for conspiring to murder Scott.
Our interview with Meighan prompted, in 2016, the launch of an investigation into his claims. Operation Velum, as it was called, was conducted by Gwent Police, a force not involved in the initial inquiries.
But the case was dropped a year later after the Crown Prosecution Service announced that Newton, the only person who could corroborate Meighan’s story, was dead.
However Gwent Police yesterday conceded that Newton might still be alive, and reopened Velum.
And in what will cause further embarrassment, The Mail on Sunday yesterday tracked Newton down to a large detached house in Dorking, where he is living with his partner. Dressed casually in a blue shirt and jeans, Newton, who now calls himself Hann Redwin, was photographed returning home from a shopping trip.
After he bolted inside the house, his partner answered the door saying that ‘he’s not interested’ in talking about the latest development.
Newton is said to have taken on the role of would-be assassin after Meighan turned the job down. Newton was convicted of shooting Scott’s dog Rinka in 1976.
Scott said Newton turned the gun on him, but it jammed.
Three years later Thorpe and three alleged co-conspirators – David Holmes, one-time deputy treasurer of the Liberal party, and South Wales businessmen George Deakin and John Le Mesurier (not to be confused with the Dad’s Army actor) – went on trial at the Old Bailey for conspiracy to murder.
All were acquitted. Yet if Meighan’s involvement in the affair had not been expunged, the outcome may well have been different.
Newton struck a deal to give evidence against Thorpe, and that arrangement may mean he still has immunity from prosecution today.
Millions of TV viewers have been enthralled by the BBC1 dramatisation of the affair, A Very English Scandal, starring Hugh Grant as Thorpe, which concludes tonight.
Police now want to prosecute Meighan even though he says his confession was ripped up by West London detectives more than 30 years ago. He said yesterday: ‘It’s crazy. I told the truth at the time and they wouldn’t listen – why is this all coming out again?
‘They [the police] have got all the details, it’s all been said.’
Deakin could now face a new investigation, too, as the only one of Thorpe’s co-defendants who is still alive. At their home in Port Talbot, Deakin’s wife said: ‘He doesn’t want to talk about it – and he’s never met Andrew Newton in his life.’
Senior CPS prosecutor Nicola Rees told Norman Scott in a letter in February 2017 and seen by The Mail on Sunday: ‘Various key witnesses are now deceased, including Andrew Newton, who according to Mr Meighan was in the meeting during which the contract was agreed.’
Gwent Police said yesterday: ‘We have now revisited these enquiries and have identified information which indicates that Mr Newton may still be alive. As a result, further enquiries will be conducted to trace Mr Newton to assess if he is able to assist the investigation.’ Asked about the decision to re-open the inquiry, Meighan said: ‘This is all I need. They covered it all up at the time – what’s the point of doing this all again now? All I can say is sod ’em. I’m not saying any more.’
But the decision was welcomed by Scott, who said last night he hoped the truth would come out. ‘The whole affair was covered up by the Establishment at the time and, until now, it seemed that Gwent Police was covering it up again,’ he said.
Meighan told this newspaper in 2014 that, after he confessed his role to police in 1975, he was shocked when they gave him a prepared statement to sign in which ‘all references to Thorpe had been removed’. He said: ‘It also cleared me completely. It was a cover-up, no question, but it suited me fine.’ It meant Meighan never had to give evidence at Thorpe’s 1979 trial.
Thorpe, who died in 2014, always denied Scott’s claims of an affair. But the scandal ended his career.
Some time after Meighan signed his statement, he was contacted by a reporter who arranged to meet him. ‘I put the phone down, then it rang again,’ recalled Meighan
‘A Welsh voice said, “You can still be nicked, boyo.” It was clear my phone was bugged.’
They were two school friends from West London: one a former airline pilot, the other a petty crook with a ‘hard man’ reputation.
Andrew Newton and Dennis Meighan hold the key to the cover- up of the most sensational political scandal in a generation – and yet it is they, rather than the British Establishment, now facing investigation.
Both men were allegedly hired to kill Norman Scott – Jeremy Thorpe’s former lover – more than 30 years ago. Out of the blue, Newton contacted his old pal in 1975. Meighan recalls that Newton asked if he could supply him with a gun. ‘He knew I had a collection of antique firearms and knew I could get hold of a working gun.’
They arranged to meet at an Italian restaurant in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, and Newton brought along a man who ‘introduced himself as a representative of Jeremy Thorpe’.
Meighan said: ‘They spoke about Scott, said he was a horrible piece of work, and how he was squealing and being a nuisance and had to be silenced.
‘I didn’t believe it at first, but eventually they convinced me. They wanted me to get rid of him and offered me £13,500.
‘That was a lot of money then and I agreed. I don’t know why I said yes and I really don’t know if I’d have gone through with it.’
At the time Meighan was in his late 20s. He said: ‘I got in fights and did a bit of thieving, but nothing heavy. I’d never killed anyone before.’
A few days later he went to the pub where Scott was living near Barnstaple, Devon. ‘I went to have a look more than anything, but the gun was in the car. As soon as I opened my mouth and everyone heard my London accent they turned and looked at me. Scott had been saying London gangsters were after him. I knew then I wouldn’t be able to get away with it so I drove back to London.
‘I told Newton I was pulling out and he panicked because he was going to have to do it himself.’
On October 23, 1975, Newton lured Scott out to Exmoor by pretending to be a minder hired to protect him from a hitman. After shooting Scott’s dog Rinka, Newton then allegedly tried to shoot Scott, only for the gun to jam. ‘Newton was arrested and I was visited by three policemen – at least that’s what they said they were,’ said Meighan.
‘They knew about me from Newton so I admitted it all in a statement, mentioning Jeremy Thorpe and how I was hired by his representative. I thought they’d nick me, but they just said they’d be in touch.
‘Then I got a call saying I needed to go to Brentford police station where I would be given an envelope containing a statement. He said if I liked it I should sign it and go. I couldn’t believe it.’
The false statement, half as long as his original confession, exonerated Meighan – and this time made no mention of Thorpe.
Yesterday Meighan said of the BBC dramatisation of the scandal: ‘It is a load of cobblers. They make Andrew out to be an idiot. He wasn’t an idiot, he was just greedy. He is a clever boy, actually.
‘The last time I saw him was a few years ago when I popped down to Chiswick where he was living. He was building a plane in his house. He was a bit odd and had been brought up on his own by an Italian mum – he wasn’t like the rest of the boys.’
After the Thorpe trial, Newton melted away – but resurfaced in 1994 when he was caught up in another court hearing. This time an inquest into the death of his then girlfriend in a mysterious Swiss climbing accident. Newton was alone on the Eiger with Caroline Mayorcas when she fell to her death. Police ruled out foul play, however.
With the announcement that Gwent Police are now reopening their investigation into the conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, Newton and Meighan must revisit a chapter of their lives they thought had long been buried.
‘It has caused me so much grief,’ said Meighan. ‘And it won’t stop haunting me.’
West London hard man Dennis Meighan claims he was contacted by Andrew Newton who was looking for a gun
OCTOBER 23, 1975: Newton lures Scott to Exmoor, and shoots dead his Great Dane, Rinka. He allegedly tries to shoot Scott, but the gun jams. Newton arrested.
OCTOBER, 1975: Meighan visited by three policemen and he tells them about the involvement of Thorpe’s representative. Meighan is later summoned to Brentford police station and asked to sign a statement, which has no mention of Thorpe.
NOVEMBER 1975: Newton charged with possessing firearm with intent to endanger life.
MARCH 1976: Newton goes on trial in Exeter. Scott alleges Thorpe was behind the plot, but is steered off the subject by prosecution counsel. Newton found guilty, jailed for two years.
AUGUST 1978: Thorpe and three other men charged with conspiracy to murder.
1979: Old Bailey ‘Trial of the Century’. All four men acquitted.
1994: Newton, under his alias Hann Redwin, features in the inquest of his girlfriend Caroline Mayorcas, who died in a climbing accident with him in the Alps. Foul play ruled out.
2014: Thorpe dies. The Mail on Sunday publishes Meighan’s account of the conspiracy and cover-up for the first time.
2016: We reveal Gwent Police have launched Operation Velum to investigate Meighan’s claims.
2017: Police and CPS say they believe Newton had died and the investigation into Meighan’s claims is closed.
George Thomas, Lord Tonypandy, MP on his 80th birthday in 1989 with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Friends: Lord Greville Janner (left) ,when he was an MP, and George Thomas, Speaker of the House, middle, with a party of schoolboys at the House of Commons in 1976
Last night, a British Transport Police spokesman said: ‘BTP was made aware of an allegation of inappropriate touching involving the late George Thomas on board a train from London Paddington to Aberystwyth in 1959.
‘I can confirm that a second report has been received, from Gwent Police, involving allegations of a sexual assault during a train journey from Newport to London Paddington between 1964 and 1966.
‘The complainant, who was aged 16 or 17 at the time, did not wish to make a formal statement to police. The information has since been passed to the Operation Hydrant investigating team.
…Abse claimed he had also seen Speaker Thomas ‘grey-faced and trembling’ after being asked by investigative journalists about his role in saving Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe from being prosecuted for a homosexual offence with a minor.
It’s alleged that George Thomas may have been involved in the sex scandal now surrounding veteran politician Lord Janner
Leo Abse MP on how George Thomas MP helped Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe escape prosecution for ‘a homosexual offence against a minor’:
“Yet the slightest tremor of scandal, however faintly reverberating into his private domain, reduced him to jelly. One such ocasion was in 1976 when, summoned to his sitting-room in the Speaker’s house, I found him grey-faced and trembling. Investigative journalists, some from the BBC, were pursuing inquiries into the then Liberal leader, Jeremy Thorpe.
They had evidently reached the conclusion that, some 16 years earlier, under a Conservative government, political intervention had saved Thorpe from being prosecuted for a homosexual offence against a minor. They also believed that, when Thorpe became embroiled in another scandal in 1964, he feared that the records in the Home Office of his earlier misbehaviour would wreck his efforts to free himself of his new dilemma.
The journalists had discovered that Thorpe – using his friend, the fraudulent Liberal MP Peter Bessell, as an intermediary – had turned to George, who was then a parliamentary under-secretary at the Home Office, for help. Yielding to Bessell’s importuning, George had set up a private meeting between Bessell and the home secretary.”
Police are currently investigating allegations that George Thomas MP raped a nine-year-old boy. BBC News
Sunday Times, 18th March 2001
In 1973, Jeremy Thopre married Marion Stein, a noted concert pianist and divorced wife of the Queen’s first cousin, the Earl of Harewood.
Alun:
Tonypandy was a close friend of the paedophile David Atkinson MP. Atkinson in turn was a Janner associate and was also in possession of Jeremy Thorpe’s possessions after his death.
George Thomas MP and David Atkinson
Atkinson shared a flat with Stephen Govier after his return from the US, where he shot his lover through the head at point-blank range. Govier was credited as a source in Bloch’s biography on Jeremy Thorpe.
https://books.google.de/books?id=fujSBQAAQBAJ&pg=PP13&lpg=PP13&dq=thorpe+bloch+govier&source=bl&ots=s2UTdLRaNE&sig=6y7oG6LpGM9WknH8NE5TznOykTs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8q4_767XbAhXBF5oKHV3gC5AQ6AEwAnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=thorpe%20bloch%20govier&f=false… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353588/Labours-Stephen-Govier-urged-quit-emerges-shot-man-head-US.html…
‘My father was a sexual predator like Jimmy Savile’ says son of former Tory MP
The son of a former Conservative MP has told The Telegraph he believes his father was a “prolific sexual predator” who he fears might have been linked to an alleged Westminster paedophile ring.
Anthony Atkinson suspects his father David Atkinson’s name may also have been included in a notorious dossier compiled by his fellow Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens. The dossier, handed to the then Home Secretary Leon Brittan in the 1980s, has subsequently been lost or destroyed.
David Atkinson, according to his son, had a string of young lovers, among them a number of parliamentary assistants, with whom he conducted affairs behind the back of his wife and two children.
Justin Fashanu, the former professional footballer, who had grown up in a children’s home and subsequently committed suicide, had claimed to have had an affair with a married Conservative MP.
The MP is now thought to be Mr Atkinson. Letters from Mr Fashanu to Mr Atkinson, now in possession of his son, suggest the two men, although close, did not consummate their relationship.
There is evidence that the MP had been blackmailed by a member of staff within the Palace of Westminster who had threatened to sell details of his private life to a newspaper. In the letter, sent in 2003, the former friend of Mr Atkinson’s threatened to sell his story to the News of the World and added: “I want NO FURTHER CONTACT WITH YOU. SO DO NOT APPROACH ME PHYSICALLY or VERBALLY, now or in the future.”
On one occasion Anthony Atkinson was told by the relative of a teacher his father was a “paedophile” who had had an affair with a school pupil.
Mr Atkinson told The Telegraph: “What we have found shows my father to be a sad, lonely man but there is something more sinister there as well. I just want to try and work out what happened to my father.
“At the very least he is guilty of prolific predatory sexual behaviour. My father was predatory and prolific and we [my mother, my sister and I] all thought that the behaviour attributed to Jimmy Savile of being predatory and prolific also applied to him.”
When Tom Watson, the Labour MP, claimed in the House of Commons in October 2012 that ‘a paedophile network’ may have existed in the past at a high level, protected by connections to Parliament, Anthony Atkinson and his mother Susan got in touch with the MP, suggesting their father might have been at the very least on the fringes of the group.
On one occasion Anthony Atkinson was told by a school friend that a teacher had claimed that the MP was a “paedophile”.
Mr Atkinson also discovered on the internet a claim made by a former American intern of improper conduct by the MP.
In the internet posting, the intern, a university student, wrote of being taken to dinner by Mr Atkinson on his last day working in the Commons as a thank you. “After dinner at a restaurant he insisted showing me his apartment,” wrote the intern, “As soon as I entered I got a suspicious feeling from all the little Greek statues around. Either he was a scholar in the classics (he wasn’t) or he had a real fascination with statues of Greek boys. Or he had a fascination with Greek. And boys.”
Once in the flat, the intern wrote: “It became apparent he was trying to get me drunk… I went to use the bathroom and when I came out he was standing is a short, girly, silk bathrobe. I looked past him and saw he had the lights low and the sheets of his double bed pulled back.”
The intern concluded: “It goes to show that politicians are politicians no matter what their nationality. In his case I’d keep children away from him though – I am not anti-gay at all, just anti pervert. And that, based on my experience and in my opinion, describes David Atkinson, MP.”
Other suspicions, which fuel Mr Atkinson’s concerns about his father, cannot be repeated in The Telegraph for legal reasons. There is nothing in the evidence so far gathered by Mr Atkinson that offers any clear proof that his father had had sex with under-age children.
Mr Atkinson did however take his concerns to the police on Mr Watson’s recommendations. Police interviewed his ex-wife as well but decided there was nothing further to investigate.
Mr Atkinson said: “Detectives spoke to us but they made it clear they were short-staffed and really because of the lack of resources they were only really interested in people still alive who they could prevent committing more crimes and that my dad was just somebody who was gay and was not comfortable with that and got himself into some scrapes.
“But I think my father got mixed up with the wrong people. I think he didn’t want anybody to find out he was gay and used that to influence him. He liked young men.”
He said his father kept ‘meticulous’ notes of his every day activities in House of commons pocket diaries. Mr Atkinson does not have access to his father’s diaries.
“It is almost like my father became two people,” said Mr Atkinson, “There are times when I am upset when I think about my father but there are times when we just want to find out what happened. It’s a dual thing. On the one hand he is my father and on the other I want to know what he did. If I don’t ever find out, I will always be asking.
“I can’t help but think everything going on is linked. I suspect my father is named in the Dickens’ dossier. Only the other day I found a photograph of my father with Geoffrey Dickens. Dickens once came to stay and he famously said that one of his friends is named in the dossier and that could be my dad. It is hard to reconcile all this with the father I grew up with.”
Mr Atkinson only discovered his father was gay when his parents got divorced. He was staying at his father’s flat and discovered gay pornography and sex toys hidden in a cupboard. “I remember asking him; ‘are you gay?’ and he said: ‘yes.’
“I said: ‘how long have you known?’ and he said: ‘I have always known, stupid.’ The he went back to reading his newspaper and that was the end of the discussion. I didn’t expect tears and hugs because that was not his way.”
alun
Another doting and fawning follower of Enoch Powell was Fergus Montgomery, PPS to Thatcher and closet gay.
Laud, Govier, Atkinson and Fergus Montgomery, PPS to Maggie, are all implicated in Strategic Network International.
A must-read on the links between Atkinson, Laud, Govier, Cameron and Thatcher PPS Fergus Montgomery!
Councillor Stephen Govier was sentenced to six years for the crime in Los Angeles in 1997 during an argument over drugs.
Mr Govier, 52, who hid the offence from the party when he joined in 2006, worked closely with Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman during last year’s general election.
He also teamed up with the Met police as a co-ordinator for an anti-crime organisation and campaigned to have replica guns banned.
According to US court records, he had been charged with cocaine possession and attempted murder. But after a plea agreement he admitted assault with a deadly weapon.
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/labour-councillor-suspended-after-party-108401
In 1987 Jimmy Saville, Chris Denning, Greville Janner and David Atkinson all had homes in Bournemouth.
m.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/11106758.UPDATE__Bournemouth_children_s_home_investigated_as_part_of_latest_Jimmy_Savile_abuse_claims/ …
One of several parliamentary trips to South Africa organised by Atkinson and Laud – all expenses paid, of course – took place in 1989 and included David Cameron, then an employee of Conservative Central Office, now Prime Minster. When Cameron’s participation in this apartheid freebie was first publicised in 2009, Alistair Cooke (now Lord Lexden), Cameron’s boss at Central Office at the time, defended it as “simply a jolly. It was all terribly relaxed, just a little treat, a perk of the job. The Botha regime was attempting to make itself look less horrible, but I don’t regard it as having been of the faintest political consequence.”Lord Lexden might regard apartheid South Africa’s intelligence operations as “jolly”, but in the light of revelations about the sordid private life of Atkinson, who ran much of this propaganda network, those investigating the Westminster paedophile scandal might take a different view.
The relationships between the British far right, London’s security and intelligence services, and the apartheid state (not forgetting their long-time Rhodesian allies) have never been exposed by a “Truth Commission” style inquiry. One such mystery was a conspiracy in 1987 to kidnap several exiled members of the ANC – a conspiracy that was only foiled when a South African agent using the name Frank Larsen was arrested for importuning in the lavatory of the Regent Palace Hotel near Piccadilly Circus. (Due to their notoriety as a gay pick-up spot, the lavatories were being monitored by police.) On his arrest Larsen produced a Ministry of Defence police ID.
David Atkinson, former MP, apartheid apologist and keen employer of young male PAs
The late Conservative MP David Atkinson was a key player in South African intelligence operations seeking to enlist British politicians and media figures in a last ditch defence of the apartheid regime during the late 1980s. Some of these operations had the blessing of the British and American intelligence establishments.
As part of the ongoing media focus on paedophilia, national newspapers recently published interviews with Atkinson’s ex-wife and son. They described the Thatcherite MP as a predatory homosexual interested in very young men, and suggested that he might have featured in secret dossiers on Westminster paedophiles.
Two other trustees were prominent right-wing Conservative MPs and longstanding defenders of the apartheid regime. They also happened to be secret homosexuals.
One was Sir Fergus Montgomery, chairman of the “charity”, who had been Parliamentary Private Secretary to Thatcher and was the organiser of her campaign for the Conservative leadership in its early months. He never received promotion during the Thatcher governments, partly because during the early 1960s he had been named in security investigations of gay Tories associated with the convicted Admiralty spy John Vassall.
John Vassall was born William John Christopher Vassall on September 20, 1924 in the City of London. His father was a clergyman and his mothers maiden name was Sellicks. Vassall worked as a photographer for the Royal Air Force during World War II and afterward became a clerk for the Admiralty.
William John Vassall
How, it was asked, could a $28-a-week clerk (Vassall) have acquired a $1,000 antique cabinet, 100 silk ties and 19 suits, let alone an apartment at one of London’s most fashionable addresses, without arousing suspicion?
The other was Atkinson, the MP for Bournemouth East. Shortly before his death in 2012, Atkinson (long since divorced) came out as gay and entered a civil partnership, but during his political career, beginning as national chairman of the Young Conservatives in 1970, he presented himself as a happily married family man. Atkinson’s son told The Sunday Telegraph in July 2014: “I think my father got mixed up with the wrong people. I think he didn’t want anybody to find out he was gay and [they] used that to influence him. He liked young men.”
The Atkinson family has supplied information to the Labour MP Tom Watson, who alleges that a paedophile ring operated at the highest level of Thatcher’s Conservative Party. Atkinson’s ex-wife Sue told the Daily Mail that after discovering her husband’s secret life: “I remember thinking about all the young, male PAs he’d had – he employed lots of Americans – and his biggest offence was to bring them home. I’d welcome them and look after them and I now know he’d been having sex with some of them.”
One of the young Americans employed in Atkinson’s Westminster office from 1984 to 1986 was Byron Russell, who joined him as a trustee of the Namibia Charitable Trust. Russell’s service to apartheid’s propaganda machine had begun via the “USA Foundation” set up by the notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff and staffed by his fellow Reagan-era College Republicans.
Atkinson’s right-hand man, Russell, was especially useful for South African propagandists because he is African-American. Another important asset quickly recruited to the staff of Strategy Network International was Derek Laud, London’s best-known black, gay Conservative. Laud recommended that SNI bring several of his Westminster friends onto the payroll as parliamentary consultants, including Neil Hamilton and Michael Colvin
One of several parliamentary trips to South Africa organised by Atkinson and Laud – all expenses paid, of course – took place in 1989 and included David Cameron, then an employee of Conservative Central Office, now Prime Minster. When Cameron’s participation in this apartheid freebie was first publicised in 2009, Alistair Cooke (now Lord Lexden), Cameron’s boss at Central Office at the time, defended it as “simply a jolly. It was all terribly relaxed, just a little treat, a perk of the job. The Botha regime was attempting to make itself look less horrible, but I don’t regard it as having been of the faintest political consequence.”
In 1990, Brown’s protege, Derek Laud became active on behalf of the apartheid regime’s puppet administration of Namibia (South West Africa) in a lobbying company called Strategy Network International, founded by Stephen Govier.[5] Strategy Network International “lobbied for the apartheid regime’s causes, including their puppets in Namibia and the UNITA rebels in Angola. Their representative was a bizarre figure in the circumstances, a good looking protege of Michael Brown, who referred to him as ‘little Derek.'” Brown recommended Hamilton to Laud who became a lobbyist for the company.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brown_%28British_politician%29
The son of a Conservative MP has built up his own dossier on his father and a wider circle of friends
Family of former Bournemouth East MP David Atkinson express shock over ‘secret life’
THE family of former Bournemouth East MP David Atkinson have claimed he led a secret life which included a string of affairs with men.
David Atkinson represented the town for almost three decades until 2005, and was widely regarded as dedicated and hard-working MP.
But more than two years after his death, his wife has spoken about discovering his string of affairs, while his son has claimed he was “predatory and prolific” in his sexual life.
Sue Pilsworth, who was married to the MP for 25 years and lives in Bournemouth, claimed Mr Atkinson had an affair with footballer Justin Fashanu and was HIV positive when he died from cancer aged 71.
The couple divorced in 1992 – something Sue attributes to her discovery that he was leading a secret double life pursuing relationships with men.
Anthony, 37, an illustrator, told the Echo that while they knew of his father’s sexuality, he and his mother had only begun to uncover details of his private life after his death.
He said his father had been “predatory and prolific”, adding: “It was clear from the paperwork we found and the lifestyle he led that yes, those words applied to him.”
Mrs Pilsworth told the Daily Mail at the weekend that she had no inkling of her husband’s homosexuality until 1990, when the footballer Justin Fashanu came out as gay.
She read a newspaper story about the footballer in a dentist’s waiting room and came across the reference to an unnamed, married Conservative MP whom Fashanu had met in a gay bar.
She said she rang her husband in Westminster, who returned home to talk to her and confirmed he was gay.
She said: “I felt utter grief, really. I sat and listened to this man in a suit who had just come from Westminster. I thought about his hypocrisy. I felt disbelief. My mind was in turmoil.”
She claimed Mr Atkinson persuaded her not to divorce him until after the 1992 general election.
Mr Atkinson stood down from Parliament in 2005 and entered into a civil partnership with a man in 2011. He died of bowel cancer in 2012.
At her Bournemouth home yesterday, Mrs Pilsworth said of her ex-husband: “He was probably one of the best constituency MPs Bournemouth East has ever had or will ever have. It’s not about attacking him and we’re very proud of what he did in the constituency.”
Anthony Atkinson spoke to the Daily Telegraph about his father’s sexual behaviour. He said the family had taken their findings about his personal life to the police and were interviewed but that the police did not pursue it.
But he added: “I want to be very clear my dad’s work as an MP was second to none. I would never want anyone to tarnish his reputation as an MP.”
Atkinson – a devoted and diligent politician
DAVID Atkinson represented the town for more than a quarter of a century during which time he built his reputation as a devoted and diligent MP who worked hard for the people of the borough.
Born in Southend, he began his working life working at his father’s car dealership and for a marketing company. He was national chairman of the Young Conservatives and an Essex Councillor before being selected to fight for Bournemouth in a 1977 by-election.
Within his political career he became special rapporteur for Russia as part of his work with the Council of Europe. He also established Christian Solidarity Worldwide, to campaign for the rights of those persecuted for their religious beliefs and was the first backbench British MP to address the United Nations General Assembly.
Among his most notable contributions to the Bournemouth community was securing a £4.5million grant for Hengistbury Head, helping AFC Bournemouth during its financial problems, and his 12-year campaign to restore the town’s railway station. He was also the first MP to raise the Millennium Bug in the House of Commons.
After he stood down from politics he organised a successful campaign for a memorial to those who died when an RAF Halifax bomber crashed in Bournemouth in 1944.
He married Sue Pilsworth in 1968 and they had two children Katie in 1972, and Anthony four years later. The couple divorced in 1992.
He was diagnosed with bowel cancer just before Christmas 2010 and spoke through the pages of the Echo urging others not to ignore the symptoms of the disease which went on to claim his life.
His sexuality was under wraps throughout his political career, though many of those close to him were aware of it, particularly after he entered into a civil partnership in 2011, the year before his death.
His partner Robert Reid spoke at his funeral in January 2012.
‘Joy to work with’
SUPPORTERS of David Atkinson have urged people not to rush to a judgement about the long-serving Bournemouth MP.
They were reacting to the suggestions by Anthony Atkinson that his father’s sexual behaviour had been “predatory and prolific”.
The former MP’s son also said he had contacted Labour MP Tom Watson, who has raised concerns about a paedophile ring around Westminster.
Tobias Ellwood, who succeeded Mr Atkinson as MP for Bournemouth East, said: “Having been made aware of the accusations I would firstly ask why it has taken so long for them to come forward. It should have been raised a long time ago.
“Until something is proved I will continue, as will many in Bournemouth, to view David Atkinson as an excellent, loyal and dedicated MP, who served Bournemouth extremely well.”
Conservative agent Judy Jamieson worked with David Atkinson from 1977. She said: “I have no negativity about David Atkinson at all.
“He was an excellent MP and someone of the highest calibre, It was always a joy and a pleasure to work with him.”
Former Bournemouth councillor and long-time party activist Yvonne Johnstone said: “I really didn’t have any idea and I knew him very well. I knew the family. He kept it hidden very cleverly. I would never have expected such a thing.
“I don’t understand why it’s coming out now two years after he died – I think that’s wrong. I’m suffering from shock, I really am.”
Cllr Sue Anderson said: “I knew David very well and he was a lovely man.
“I did know that he was gay, but he wasn’t breaking the law.
“He was a good MP and in so far as I knew him he was a good man. What he did in his private life really didn’t concern me.”
Cllr Bob Lawton, who didn’t know David Atkinson well, said: “He was a well-respected MP.
“Within the party people feel a little bit sad that this is being said about a man who has been dead a couple of years and has no right of reply.”
Father Denis Blackledge, priest at Corpus Christi Church, Boscombe, conducted Mr Atkinson’s funeral, although he did not know the MP.
He said: “Each of us has almost certainly got secrets in the cupboard and things in our past that we wouldn’t like anybody else to know.
“All persons first of all have a right to his or her good name and it’s our obligation as human beings that if we can’t say anything good, not to say anything at all.”
Paedophilia: Beck’s appalling crimes just the tip of child abuse scandal – Further scandals may be revealed as inquiries show widespread cases (8.1.01)
The Independent, January 8th 2001
Many of the inquiries are huge and involve substantial resources. In Greater Manchester, Operation Cleopatra is investigating more than 66 care homes. Operation Flight in Gwent is investigating 19 homes, including the former children’s home at Ty Mawr near Abergavenny in west Wales
The Observer (London, Greater London, England)
02 Jun 1991, Sun
Police officer resigns in rent-boy scandal
A police offi
cer has resigned after being named in a rent-boy scandal. Detectives were called in after a male prostitute, aged 15, gave social workers a list of clients and car registration numbers. The officers were stunned to discover one of their colleagues on the list. The 41-year-old bachelor denied any contact with the youth, who worked from Cardiff’s central bus station, a notorious haunt for male prostitutes.
Police officers searched the unnamed officer’s home in Newport, Gwent, and removed a quantity of material. The officer was suspended and offered his resignation. Detective Superintendent Iain Johnston, head of Gwent CID, said yesterday: “I am conducting an inquiry concerning a former Gwent police officer.The officer concerned has resigned but the investigation is continuing.”
Here’s another Jeremy Thorpe scandal – its chilling legacy in law
A veil of secrecy was drawn over the British jury system
2 June 2018
He was acquitted because of the dirtiest deal in media history, made by a rightwing newspaper. The significance of this deal was revealed by a jury member in the New Statesman, which was then itself prosecuted by the Thatcher government for contempt of court. The magazine’s victory for free speech was reversed when that government passed a law that today remains the only legacy of the Thorpe trial: creating the very British crime of refusing to cover up wrongdoing, at least when it takes place in the jury room. That, along with the verve and panache of the TV show, should now be central to our debate.
…At the time, the decision appeared a great victory for freedom of speech. But the government rushed through a new criminal law – section 8 of the 1981 Contempt of Court Act, still on the statute book – which threatens jurors and journalists with up to two years’ imprisonment should they disclose “any particulars of statements made, opinions expressed, arguments advanced or votes cast” in the course of jury deliberations. It was feared that the jury system would not survive if subject to rational investigation. Section 8 has in the years since prevented exposure of miscarriages of justice, and stopped research into (for example) whether complex fraud cases are suitable for jury trial.
Alun@ciabado:
Jeremy Thorpe’s was surrounded by paedophiles and perverts just like Julius Caesar wanted men about him who are fat. His close friend, Liberal member of Parliament Clement Freud, was sitting together nearby at the trial.
Clement Freud – Among his charity work he was president of the Down’s Children Association and also former secretary of the Refugee Children’s Fund.
“A former secretary of the Refugee Children’s Fund, he set up, with Jonathan Aitken, a Parliamentary Den of the Good Bears of the World, providing teddies to children in hospital, and was later president of the Down’s Children Association…
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Clement_Freud
With Thorpe forced to stand down, Freud backed David Steel to succeed him; Steel improbably made him spokesman on Northern Ireland
Yes, Jeremy Thorpe was surrounded by paedophiles! Did you know he paid visits to Keith Harding, a paedophile often visited by others of his ilk (Cyril Smith, Leon Brittan)?
Another paedophile in Thorpe’s entourage was Clifford Hindley, the Home Office civil servant who approved the transfer of £70,000 in the late 70s to the Paedophile Information Exchange.
Hulbert, the man who outed Thorpe friend Clifford Hindley, said Special Branch were behind these payments to grouping campaigning for the AoC to be lowered to 4!
Oh the irony: When journalist Don Hale contacted Thorpe for a statement about the names of Liberal politicians being on the PIE list, who should turn up on Hale’s doorstep but Thorpe’s paedophile mate Cyril Smith!
Govier moved in with Atkinson when he returned from jail in the US. Atkinson had quite a lot of stuff on Thorpe, papers, etc. When Atkinson died, Govier got hold of both Thorpe and Atkinson’s papers. He was even credited in Bloch’s biography.
Atkinson shared a flat with Stephen Govier after his return from the US, where he shot his lover through the head at point-blank range. Govier was credited as a source in Bloch’s biography on Jeremy Thorpe
. https://books.google.de/books?id=fujSBQAAQBAJ&pg=PP13&lpg=PP13&dq=thorpe+bloch+govier&source=bl&ots=s2UTdLRaNE&sig=6y7oG6LpGM9WknH8NE5TznOykTs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8q4_767XbAhXBF5oKHV3gC5AQ6AEwAnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=thorpe%20bloch%20govier&f=false … http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353588/Labours-Stephen-Govier-urged-quit-emerges-shot-man-head-US.html …
alun:
You couldn’t make it up: Patrick Watson and the trigger-happy drug dealer and Derek Laud friend Stephen Govier ran pro-Apartheid ‘Strategy Network International’ (SNI) which had a charity called the Namibia Charitable Trust. Thread …
Patrick Watson’s brother Alistair was Private Secretary to the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, a close friend of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Watson_(British_Army_officer) …
The insinuations and innuendos that have been made in relation to the Duke are without foundation … for they are all honourable men:
Bear Stearns, US investment bank, was a client of Govier and Watson’s SNI. Epstein began his career at the investment bank Bear Stearns before forming his own firm, J. Epstein & Co. Epstein claims to have left Bear Stearns after being discovered executing illegal operations.
Jeffrey Epstein … for what he’s worth:
Keeping it in the family:
Stephen Govier associate at SNI Patrick Watson … ashamed of his dirty past?
YurahQunt @annienonymouss
This being the very same Bell Pottinger subsequently paid half a million by the McCann camp to place “favourable” coverage in the UK press …..
Oh, and then there’s Michael Colvin, a consultant to SNI, who ‘forgot’ to declare his interests to Parliament. His home was burnt to cinders. The last person known to have visited him was Derek Laud.
So we have 3 SNI links to Royalty: 1) Prince Andrew’s private secretary, Alastair Watson – brother Patrick Watson, ran Strategy Network International 2) Michael Colvin – one of a handful of Tory MPs close to Prince Charles 3) Stephen Govier sucking up to Princess Diana.
Raymond Govier was Vassall friend and father of the coke addict, criminal and flatmate of David Atkinson MP @StephenGovier KBR, which merged with B&R, has a long history of corruption and would have expected a return on investment on their donation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBR_(company) …
Prior to setting up Intermarine, Cloyd was VP of B&R. B&R UK’s VP until 1982 was Vassall friend Raymond Govier. Shortly after the ominous donation, both Raymond Govier and @WalkerWorcester brother Jonathan joined Intermarine as directors. Cosy!
Intermarine, like Denby, has a long association with Iran, even during trade embargo years @WalkerWorcester Jonathan Denby, lawyer and close friend of Harvey Proctor, had business interests just a few streets away from Intermarine.
@WalkerWorcester, son of Peter Walker. This donation came from Intermarine’s two Texan directors, one of them being Mr Cloyd:
Another club involved in ‘donation laudering’ is the Carlton Club, of which Robin Walker’s daddy Peter was Chairman: What a corrupt and cosy Tory microcosm, hardly bigger than a can of worms!
Funnily enough, Jonathan Denby was also involved in litigation against B&R UK, whose VP was Raymond Govier, Stephen Govier’s daddy: Oh, and the other donor to back @WalkerWorcester in 2010 was still at it in the 2015 elections: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/05/tory-donors-united-and-cecil-club-2015-war-chest…
Summary:
JONATHAN DENBY (2) On the night of Denby becoming a fugitive for his part in a police hold-up, he was due to dine with his bosom friend and paedophile Proctor. Instead, Harvey Proctor set off the same day on a visit to, err, Northern Ireland.
JONATHAN DENBY (4) The Kincora children’s home has been a running sore in the history of CSA in N Ireland. Despite knowing that the Hart inquiry failed by dint of omissions and reduced scope, Denby’s Irish cousin Barbara Hewson rushed to Hart’s defence.
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/this-is-how-to-inquire-into-child-abuse/19403…
HARVEY PROCTOR (2) Internet research shows extremely close ties between Proctor and James Molyneaux, leader of one of the two main Protestant parties in Northern Ireland. It appears Molyneaux was well ‘au fait’ with the buggery at Kincora:
HARVEY PROCTOR (3) Harvey Proctor’s close friend James Molyneaux was certainly well connected to the Orange Order and key players in the Kincora scandal:
https://villagemagazine.ie/index.php/2017/06/sex-abuse-musical-chairs/…
PETER BROOKE (1) Peter Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, was Northern Ireland Secretary in the late 80s. He hails from Tisbury, just a stone’s throw from the parental home of the Puddington Paedophile Peter Morrison, Thatcher’s PPS.
PETER BROOKE (3) It is rather intriguing that two of Peter Brooke’s Parliamentary Private Secretaries have both had allegations of child abuse levelled against them: 1) Peter Bottomley (also on EGH list). 2) Ken Hind, friend of Nigel Evans
Oh my darling Clementine!
When a man who featured on the Elm Guest House child brothel patron list says there will be no further investigation into Kincora, where boys were buggered by his peers! independent.co.uk/news/uk/when-a…
PETER MOND (2) Both the Albany Trust and the Princedale Trust gave encouragement and publicity to PIE. VSU, for which the Thorpe friend and paedophile Clifford Hindley worked, the man who made payments to PIE from the Home Office, funded the Albany and Princedale Trusts.
DAVID STEEL (1) In the recent debate sparked by documentaries about Jeremy Thorpe, David Steel has come out in defence of Cyril Smith, despite evidence tabled by IICSA and the police. He nominated two paedophiles, Smith and Freud, for knighthoods.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-44366081/lord-steel-cyril-smith-allegations-tittle-tattle …
DAVID STEEL (3) Of much greater value is David Steel’s own keen interest in abuse at Kincora boy’s home and its coverup. I wonder if this correspondence was made available to the Hart whitewash?
https://archives.lse.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=STEEL%2fB%2f13%2f4&pos=2 …
DAVID STEEL (4) One of the most vociferous supporters of the Hart Inquiry whitewash is Barbara Hewson, close relative of U2 front man Bono. It is interesting therefore to see Bono as one of the illustrious guests at the funeral of paedophile Freud.
It would appear Mayhew’s role at the Morris Fraser hearing was to keep the lid on the Fraser/Kincora affair. Was the gift of an easy-to-win and newly created constituency recompense for his efforts on behalf of the Establishment?
PATRICK MAYHEW (6) It was the same Patrick Mayhew who, later, thwarted attempts to ban paedophile groupings.
Michael Mates was leadership campaign manager for Michael Heseltine (shirt shop investor)
Michael Mates was campaign manager to paedophile Patrick Rock
Mates and Colin Wallace – Michael Mates is a former Army officer who served in Ulster at the time Mr Wallace worked as an information officer at Army headquarters there.
Michael Mates lives just a stone’s throw from where the body of murdered Mehrotra was found.
MICHAEL MATES (1) Michael Mates was a minister at the Northern Ireland Office from 1992 to 1993, resigning after his support Asil Nadir damaged his reputation. He lost the election for police commissioner in August 2012 after Nadir was convicted of stealing nearly $46 million.
MICHAEL MATES (2) Michael Mates was leadership campaign manager for Michael Heseltine, one of the biggest investors in Proctor’s shirt shop. Michael Mates was also campaign manager to paedophile Patrick Rock, Cameron’s mate and collector of lewd images. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/humiliation-isnt-why-ex-cameron-aide-patrick-rock-walked-free-af/amp/…
MICHAEL MATES (3) The body of the abducted Vishal Mehrotra was found only 200 m from the home of Michael Mates of Dolphin Square fame. Read up on Vishal’s case in this blog: https://scepticpeg.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/the-disappearance-of-vishal-mehrotra/…
MICHAEL MATES (4) Mate’s downfall was brought on by his support for Asil Nadir, who was close to the McAlpines, suspected of involvement in arms deals to Iraq and close to Scallywag. But why did he support Nadir?
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/leading-article-keeping-a-watch-on-michael-mates-1489092.html…
MICHAEL MATES (5) Mate’s served with the Royal Ulster Rifles during the time Colin Wallace worked as an intelligence officer there. Wallace was framed for exposing Kincora, and later demanded that Mates recuse himself. Was Mates involved in traducing Wallace?
ALLAN GREEN (2) Like Skelhorn and Hetherington, Green was known to cover up for paedophiles. As a safe pair of hands, he represented 10 British soldiers at the Bloody Sunday inquiry, earning £1.5m in the process. Scallywag even maintained Green had links to the IRA:
NORMAN SKELHORN (3)
MICHAEL MATES (1) Michael Mates was a minister at the Northern Ireland Office from 1992 to 1993, resigning after his support Asil Nadir damaged his reputation. He lost the election for police commissioner in August 2012 after Nadir was convicted of stealing nearly $46 million.
MICHAEL MATES (2) Michael Mates was leadership campaign manager for Michael Heseltine, one of the biggest investors in Proctor’s shirt shop. Michael Mates was also campaign manager to paedophile Patrick Rock, Cameron’s mate and collector of lewd images. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/humiliation-isnt-why-ex-cameron-aide-patrick-rock-walked-free-af/amp/…
MICHAEL MATES (3) The body of the abducted Vishal Mehrotra was found only 200 m from the home of Michael Mates of Dolphin Square fame. Read up on Vishal’s case in this blog: https://scepticpeg.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/the-disappearance-of-vishal-mehrotra/…
MICHAEL MATES (4) Mate’s downfall was brought on by his support for Asil Nadir, who was close to the McAlpines, suspected of involvement in arms deals to Iraq and close to Scallywag. But why did he support Nadir? https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/leading-article-keeping-a-watch-on-michael-mates-1489092.html…
MICHAEL MATES (5) Mate’s served with the Royal Ulster Rifles during the time Colin Wallace worked as an intelligence officer there. Wallace was framed for exposing Kincora, and later demanded that Mates recuse himself. Was Mates involved in traducing Wallace?
Watch out for those watches and who needs mates like Mates?
Oh, and ‘don’t let the buggers get you down’! independent.co.uk/voices/leading…
independent.co.uk/news/uk/second…
Frank Roddam Twiss was a Navy Admiral who later became Black Rod as Roddams do.
His son Roddam was well known in the London rent boy scene which involved several senior politicians. 
In 2004, ‘Roddam son of Roddam’ was convicted as a fraud and confidence trickster.
Roddam was known for his Proctoresque beating and spanking rituals. standard.co.uk/news/12m-fraud…
A decade earlier, Roddam Twiss gave the sum of £6000 to a David McWatt intended for Michael Mates in return for assistance with a disused MoD airfield for a leisure centre development.
Note the Northern Ireland and IRA references …
Roddam Twiss, involved in underhand business with Michael Mates, obviously knew the convicted paedophile and killer Lennie Smith. Did they live together?
Oh, and don’t forget, Vishal Mehothra’s body was found near Michael’s Mate’s home.
webbrain.com/brainpage/brai…
MICHAEL MATES (11) One of the Sussex police detectives at the time of the murder of Vishal Mehrotra, found close to Mate’s home, was Lord Bramall’s business partner, Nigel Godden.
http://www.kronusconsulting.co.uk/ https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/the-security-group-(national)… https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/lord-bramall-ex-army-chief-questioned-by-police-officers-investigating-historic-child-sex-abuse-10216972.html…
MICHAEL HAVERS (3) In fact, the murder of Rev Bradford, at a teen dance, occurred only hours after the bomb attack on Haver’s house. But why did RUC almost deliberately not protect Bradford, seeing the had precise intelligence days in advance? Well …
JOHN PATTEN (1) John Patten entered the Commons together with Heath and Powell in 1950. He was Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1981-1983) during the Troubles and was even offered the job of NI Secretary by Thatcher but declined.
JOHN PATTEN (2) In late 1981, three men were jailed for the abuse of boys at a Belfast care home. One was the notorious William McGrath who had also worked at Kincora. More recently, accounts of the involvement of Enoch Powell there have also emerged. https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/full-story-of-kincora-boys-home-in-east-belfast-yet-to-be-told-says-child-sex-abuse-victim-30434442.html…
JOHN PATTEN (3) In early 1982, a damage limitation meeting was held under the auspices of John Patten, then Under Secretary at the NI Office. Their main concern was quite obviously a fear of McGrath spilling the beans. This begs the question: ‘Which MPs would be named?’
JOHN PATTEN (4) Then, lo and behold, shortly afterwards, the inquiry into the goings-on at Kincora collapsed. Inter alia, this was to look into the murder of Belfast boy Brian McDermott in 1973 and the involvement of a former DUP secretary in early 70s. http://www.irishnews.com/news/2013/12/28/news/attorney-general-links-boy-s-murder-to-kincora-scandal-79399/…
JOHN PATTEN (5) Also in 1982, Richard Denby became Chairman of the Bradford and Bingley. Denby was uncle and associate of the convicted fraud and criminal Jonathan Denby. He was also the uncle of Barbara Hewson who lauded praise on Hart’s Kincora inquiry. http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/this-is-how-to-inquire-into-child-abuse/19403#.Wx0MmMvRayM…
JOHN PATTEN (6) Later on, Patten’s wife Louise was granted a cushy sinecure-like non-executive directorship at Denby’s Bradford & Bingley. She was still there when the company sank like her grandfather’s Belfast-built Titanic.
JOHN PATTEN (7) For good measure, John Patten was appointed PPS to the paedophile Leon Brittan with the consent of Big Willie Whitelaw. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/22/leon-brittan-westminster-child-abuse-files…
JOHN PATTEN (8) Another PPS to John Patten was Edward Leigh MP, elected to Richmond Council, later GLC, and serving as Councillor between 1974 and 1981. During that time abuse was perpetrated at Grafton Close children’s home. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3015229/Fat-Vicar-abused-vulnerable-teenager-children-s-home-claimed-size-meant-couldn-t-molested-boys-sat-lap-jailed-three-years.html…
JOHN PATTEN (9) This is what Scallywag wrote about Patten’s PPS Edward Leigh, the man who invited a paedophile to lunch at Westminster:
WILLIAM ROSS (1) William Ross was UUP MP for Londonderry from 1974 until 2001. He opposed: Good Friday Agreement, multi-party talks, David Trimble. Chairman of right-wing Monday Club’s NI policy committee. Spanker Proctor was Vice-Chairman.
TIM RAISON (1) Timothy Raison served as a Home Office minister from 1979 to 1983, under William Whitelaw. He was also PPS to Whitelaw in the Northern Ireland Office in 1972. He was also a Richmond councillor and worked closely with the paedophile Leon Brittan.
TIM SMITH (2) Smith was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Leon Brittan and, as was to be expected, had no memory of the Dickens Dossier. His downfall was ultimately his acceptance of Cash for Questions, along with Proctor friend Neil Hamilton.
TIM SMITH (3) Tim Smith was also well in with the Laud/Portillo Set which was often the subject of child abuse accusations. He was frequently in attendance at Portillo’s parties.
ALEX CARLILE (1) Alexander Carlile, or Baron Carlile of Berriew, was the Independent Reviewer of National Security policy in Northern Ireland, gaining a CBE for services to national security. https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/who-are-the-panel-members-behind-the-paramilitary-review-34124790.html…
ALEX CARLILE (6) Whilst footman to the Queen, Burrell was suspended from his job on the royal yacht for his part in a gay pornography ring.
ALEX CARLILE (8) Burrell’s mate Colin Tucker was heavily involved in Scotland’s Magic Circle scandal. Another central figure was child abuser Robert Henderson QC, a close friend of Esther Rantzen lover and EGH paedophile Fairbairn.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2724386/I-raped-aged-4-aide-Thatcher-Woman-claims-abused-senior-Conservative-MP-visited-notorious-guest-house-paedophile-Cyril-Smith.html… https://ianpace.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/colin-tucker-steward-to-fiona-woolf-fettesgate-and-the-scottish-magic-circle-affair-and-wider-networks-part-1/…
ALEX CARLILE (9) Like Vaz, Enoch Powell and Butler-Sloss, Carlile was a frequent visitor to the Manorial Society in Kennington Road. Alongside holding shindigs for the upper crust and right wing, the Manorial Society had a more sleazy, male side to it.
Lord Carlile Must be so proud of the prosecuting job he did on Bennell in 98 Paid thousands yet let him off half the Charges & did NOT use all Survivors who came forward ! BBC Sport – Barry Bennell: Crewe ‘brushed scandal under carpet’ says Lord Carlile
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38632026
ALEX CARLILE (11) Carlile, Ashby and Vaz closed ranks in Parliament to defend Janner. Both Vaz and Ashby have since had their comeuppance, and even Carlile knows it is futile to defend Janner.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/19/establishment-stopped-me-exposing-greville-janner-25-years-ago… https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/married-mp-keith-vaz-tells-8763805… https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/tories-in-turmoil-mp-denies-homosexual-affair-david-ashby-wife-blames-marital-problems-on-long-hours-1406050.html…
SHAUN WOODWARD (1) Shaun Woodward served in the cabinet from 2007 to 2010 as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Woodward teamed up with Esther Rantzen, a woman whose links to paedophiles were legion (Savile, Fairbairn …), on ‘That’s Life’.
SHAUN WOODWARD (5) The name Sainsbury plays a prominent role in the Derry Mainwaring-Knight scandal. Susan Sainsbury, wife of MP Tim Sainsbury was a victim and a witness at the court case with a focus on satanic worship. https://scepticpeg.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/satanic-worship-the-church/amp/…
SHAUN WOODWARD (6) In 2001, Woodward’s main residence was a country house in Oxfordshire complete with butler, where Peter Mandelson, the Prince of Darkness, was currently a guest while the former cabinet minister carried out refurbishments to his new London home.
SHAUN WOODWARD (7) Shaun Woodward, alongside Prince Andrew featured in Jeffrey Epstein black book.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1508273-jeffrey-epsteins-little-black-book-redacted.html… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364001/Peter-Mandelson-silent-contact-Prince-Andrew-friend-Jeffrey-Epstein.html…
Lord Mandelson yesterday maintained his silence over the extent of his contact with disgraced financier paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The former Business Secretary did not respond to questions about why the convicted paedophile’s ‘little black book’ featured ten entries for him and his partner Reinaldo da Silva.
The online contacts book had 16 numbers for Prince Andrew and home numbers for politicians including Lord Heseltine and former Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward
SHAUN WOODWARD (8) While the hoi polloi were suffering from the credit crunch, the Woodward’s were living the Epstein-like life of Riley:
Shaun Woodward defies credit crunch: £5 million island villa for Brown’s richest Minister
2008
His constituents may be struggling to pay the mortgages on their homes but it seems Britain’s richest MP, Shaun Woodward, has no such concerns about the credit crunch.
The Northern Ireland Secretary and his wife, Sainsbury’s heiress Camilla, have built a fabulous £5million retreat on Mustique, the private island in the Caribbean famed asa hedonistic playground for the super-rich.
The Woodwards really get into the spirit of things on Mustique.’
CHRIS PATTEN (4) There is a high probability that Chris Patten was also aware of a further deviant operating for years at his old school. Peter Allott was Deputy Head of Patten’s At. Benedict School:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/deputy-head-catholic-private-school-7905794
CHRIS PATTEN (5) The paedophile and Jesuit-schooled Patrick Rock, friend of David Cameron and touted for a peerage, worked for Chris Patten in Brussels, responsible for the western Balkans no less, the very place where Soper was in hiding for 6 year. https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/who-patrick-rock-camerons-porn-adviser-always-left-political-shade-1439047…
Ian How, MP for Eastbourne, was PPS to Thatcher and shared post of opposition spokesman on NI with Airey Neave.
Both were murdered independently in IRA car bomb attacks.
The paedophile Peter Ball came to public notice through his close friendship with Ian Gow. He officiated at Gow’s memorial and stood by his widow.
Shaun Woodward, alongside Prince Andrew featured in Jeffrey Epstein black book.
While the hoi polloi were suffering from the credit crunch, the Woodward’s were living the Epstein-like life of Riley: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…
Robert John ALSTON was a British diplomat who was High Commissioner of New Zealand and Governer of the Pitcairn Islands. He was also posted for a while to Northern Ireland.
Robert Alston’s brother was Richard Alston, the ‘live-in chum’ of the paedophile Peter Righton. Indeed the two ‘married’ in 1974.
Righton and Alston were both close friends of the convicted paedophile Charles Napier of PIE, half-brother of John Whittingdale.
Peter Righton was ‘a notorious paedophile who attempted to legitimise his obsession in a series of academic studies’. He was a founding member of PIE. In a raid on his home, stacks of correspondence with other paedophiles was found.
Letters from Charles Napier included references to his younger brother Johnny (Whittingdale) to whom material had been given for safekeeping. Although Whippo adopts a ‘Am I my brother’s keeper’ approach, I have good reason to believe he was PIE member No. 114.
During Alston’s governorship, Pitcairn was beset by massive child sexual abuse. During this time, Alston invited the Chief Constable of Kent, David Phillips, to train on social policing. On a personal note Phillips was a fellow Leather and went to my old school.
David Phillips appears to have been involved in a number of contentious cases. And seems to have very strong ties to Northern Ireland.
Was he another safe pair of hands?
Robert Alston served as British Ambassador to Oman between 1986 and 1990. In 2016, 2 files entitled ‘Cementation contract: Mark Thatcher and the Omanis’ covering the period from 1981-88 were sealed for 65 years until 2053.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/2…
Cement also seems to have played a central role in right-wing circles: On the night of his run-in with police, Hewson cousin Jonathan Denby was shadowing David Whitworth, a cement merchant. MP and Powell supporter Victor Goodhew was linked to the same company.
It will come as no surprise whatsoever that the decision to close the Mark Thatcher/Omani files was ultimately taken by John Whittingdale MP, half-brother of the convicted paedophile Charles Napier.
Robert Alston, educated at Ardingly College and New College, Oxford, is Chairman of Governors at Ardingly. Peter Righton attended Ardingly from 1940 to 1944. C4’s Jon Snow was also a pupil at Ardingly where his father was headmaster:
To round the Pitcairn story off, the new governor, Laura Clarke, is married to Toby Fisher, a human rights barrister and high-ranking member of IICSA. Another safe pair of hands?
Toby Fisher, who worked on the investigation into the paedophile Greville Janner, is set to join his wife in Wellington.
Alistair Basil Cooke, now Baron Lexden, has been official historian of the Tories since 2009 and historian/archivist of the Carlton Club since 2007. He was a lecturer at Belfast Uni in the 70s and served as political advisor to Airey Neave, NI Sec of State.
During the investigation into Edward Heath, Cooke wrote a letter to the Times, complaining about Police spending time on a ‘ludicrous enterprise’, sifting through papers at the Bod.
In the end, the report was devastating for Heath.
Allowing siblings to enter into civil partnerships for tax benefits, as proposed by Lord Lexden, is about as bonkers as reducing the age of consent to 13 to protect elderly paedophiles.
In 1994, Scallywag published an article which included the claim below.
As political advisor to Airey Neave until the latter’s death in 1979, Cooke, a very close friend of Ian Gow MP, was no doubt in the know about this ‘deal’ between Paedophile Powell and Airey Neave, mentioned in a memo from Whitelaw to Thatcher.
Cooke epitomises Tory duplicity re. CSA: He minimises allegations about Bishop Bell, citing a book he was involved with to confirm Bell’s innocence, whilst at the same time criticising the lack of due process in abuse investigations.
Like Establishment stooge and failed IICSA chair Butler Sloss, Cooke, member of George Bell Support Group, rushed to protect the Church, saying media should not be allowed to report on cases alluding to allegations involving the Church.
When, in 1989, Cameron’s freebies, all-expenses-paid trips to South Africa arranged by the shady Derek Laud and his mate Atkinson, were revealed, Cooke was quick to play down Apartheid’s PR exercise as a jolly, a treat and a perk!
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Lord Lexden (Cooke) and convicted paedophile Bishop Peter Ball had a mutual friend: Ian Gow. Both were Friends of the Union hardliners on the Northern Ireland question.
The disgraced IICSA chair Butler Sloss, like many Tory grandees, would love to see ‘historical child abuse’ buried deep and not highlighted by inquiries. Here she is in a Lords debate proposed by … Lord Lexden.
Again, without any regard for due process, Lord Lexden and his cronies pronounce Bramall, Brittan and Heath innocent whilst vilifying ‘Nick’.
hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2016-06-…
PETER MANDELSON (2) Like Hewson, Mandelson was a strong supporter of lowering the AoC. Mandelson is Chief Trustee of the NSPCC with his people in key positions there including Peter Watt at the NSPCC and Justin Forsyth at Save the Children.
PETER MANDELSON (4) If the number of entries in Jeffrey Epstein’s phone book is a indicator to the status of a politician, Mandelson, with no fewer than 10 numbers, Mandelson must have climbed to the very top of the greasy pole. Was he on speed dial?
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/418816/Jeffrey-Epstein-Prince-Andrew-sex-scandal…
PETER MANDELSON (5) Mandelson lobbied Blair to make the paedophile Greville Janner a peer AFTER serious allegations of abuse surfaced. Judge Henriques in his report on prosecution failures cited numerous cases which went unheeded.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12107660/Lord-Janner-CPS-and-police-were-wrong-not-to-prosecute-earlier-says-official-report.html… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3085573/Mandy-lobbied-Blair-Janner-peerage-sex-abuse-claims-Grandee-said-asked-Labour-leader-ennobling-ahead-1997-election.html…
PETER MANDELSON (6) Were Peter Mandelson and the Labour front bench aware of allegations against Peter Morrison, the Puddington Paedophile? Did Mandelson help cover up Morrison’s case? Decide for yourself:
PETER MANDELSON (7) Bishop Trevor Huddleston appears to have been something of a father figure to Mandy. Huddleston was accused of sexually abusing boys at his own home. He talked of ‘pinching bottoms’ but files allude to acts of gross indecency.
https://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/the-bishop-of-stepney-trevor-huddleston/…
PETER MANDELSON (8) Meanwhile, back on Little St. Jeff, Mandelson stays schtum, refusing to comment on the extent of his and Labour’s relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein:
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en-GB&ie=UTF-8&source=android-browser&q=mandelson+lolita+island…
PETER MANDELSON (9) Is there any credence to be attached to Mandy covering up abuse by Morrison? Well, his work with the Gulbenkian Centre which links to Bottomley’s Hull University must have brought him into very close contact with Sara Morrison, the paedophile’s sister-in-law.
PETER MANDELSON (11) Chelsea’s Matthew Harding, killed in a helicopter crash, was a donor to both New Labour and the NSPCC. Shortly after launching an investigation into Harding, Jill Dando was herself cruelly murdered.
PETER MANDELSON (12) In 2003, the News of the World reported on Operation Ore and images of sex abuse involving children as young as six. Porn sites had been accessed in the name of Peter Mandelson. Of course there was no evidence the Prince of Darkness was involved …
PETER MANDELSON (15) Peter Wanless was forced to distance the organisation from a regional branch member who gave Stuart Hall of Barbara Hewson fame a character reference during a court case at which he was convicted.
PETER MANDELSON (16) No children’s charity would be complete without Keith Vaz, and Mandy’s NSPCC is no exception! Here is Keith Vaz at the opening of a new outdoor play area for an NSPCC project. Vaz, washing machine salesman by trade, is at the centre of abuse allegations.
PETER MANDELSON (17) The links between Mandy and Vaz go back a long way. During the Hindujas scandal the two brothers were interviewed by Elizabeth Filkin who was investigating Keith Vaz, the King of Sleaze.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/feb/17/labour.observerpolitics …
PETER MANDELSON (18) James Purnell was a close friend of Mandelson. Purnell’s PPS Jonathan Reynolds associated with the convicted abuser Stuart Hall and his dodgy mate Pendry. Purnell was an Islington councillor. Abuse images were found on his PC.
http://google-law.blogspot.com/2014/08/ex-minister-james-purnell-bbc-executive.html?m=1…
PETER MANDELSON (19) Like a child’s tumbler, Mandelson, indispensable as he is, never stayed down for long:
PETER MANDELSON (20) Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book listed both Mandy and his boyfriend Reinaldo Avila da Silva who was previously the lover of Howell James, close advisor to John Major and Chief of Communications to Tony Blair.
PETER MANDELSON (21) Howell James owns the Riad El Fenn hotel in Marrakech, the place where Madeleine McCann was spotted. it was also Howell James who arranged for Clarence Mitchell to represent the McCanns.
http://themaddiecasefiles.com/being-clarence-gorkana-pr-11-05-12-t17840.html… https://el-fenn.com/about-us/
PETER MANDELSON (22) In his Thirties, Howell James did a brief stint doing PR for the Dorchester of Bramall, Freud and McAlpine fame. He ran his hotel with his wife, a Branson sister.
http://missingmadeleine.forumotion.net/t21192-clarence-mitchell-statement-at-lp-station-2008…
Peter Mandelson was very close to Matthew Freud, cousin of Clement and husband of Elizabeth Murdoch of Sky TV. Matthew of course featured in Epstein’s black book:
PETER MANDELSON (26) And, of course, the Mandelson/Freud link wouldn’t be complete if a Hewson didn’t creep out of the woodwork somewhere:
PETER MANDELSON (27) Seemingly, anyone who thought they deserved a peerage had to bend the Prince of Darkness’s ear like some forbidding secretary in the Blairite antechamber:
WILLIAM WHITELAW (1) When the Tories returned to power in 1970, William Whitelaw stepped into the post of Chief Whip. Years later he unashamedly admitted to the use of ‘Dirt Books’ to the BBC:
WILLIAM WHITELAW (9) It was Whitelaw who recommended Leon Britain to Thatcher as a minister. Of course, word of Brittan’s paedophilia had reached Thatcher, hence the ‘arranged’ marriage to a ‘beard’ to give him a semblance of