Why do you believe her?
Last Tuesday a British soap actor, Michael “Le Vell” Turner, was found not guilty of multiple counts of rape and sexual assault on a child (now 17). There has been some suggestions that his...
Category: Crime
Ariel Castro’s suicide is no tragedy
Ohio captor 'needed suicide watch': http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23967581 Ariel Castro, the man who kept three young women captive in his house in Ohio for several years, was found hanged in his cell on Tuesday. According to...
Not quite Independence Day
Last week I read about two separate distressing incidents that underline the need for support for people with disabilities to remain living with their families if that is at all possible. The first happened...
Jeremy Forrest: what’s the meaning of abuse?
The week before last (I have only just had the opportunity to write about it due to work), a teacher from Kent called Jeremy Forrest was jailed for five and a half years for...
Alex Spourdalakis: an atrocity, not a tragedy
Last week I heard the news that a 14-year-old boy with severe autism, Alex Spourdalakis, had been murdered by his mother and another female carer in a suburban area near Chicago after they had...
Graffiti and the brutal conformity of the gang
Laurie Penny has an article in the latest New Statesman (not online yet) in which she bemoans the lack of graffiti on the trains and buses in London, which she says is ubiquitous on...
Let’s get the EDL banned
Proscribe English Defence League (EDL) – e-petitions This is a petition to proscribe the English Defence League. This will not force the EDL out of existence, of course, but it will mean no more...
London Bravanese mosque firebombed
Police probe mosque blaze amid fears 'firebomb attack' is Woolwich revenge – London Evening Standard Last night a mosque in Muswell Hill, north London, was firebombed and the letters "EDL" were spray-painted onto the...
No, Google can’t censor all the child porn
In the wake of the conviction of Mark Bridger yesterday for killing April Jones, a 5-year-old girl he kidnapped from a green on a housing estate in Machynlleth, mid Wales, last year, the focus...
What’s an imam to do?
Last Friday at 1pm, Jeremy Vine had a slot about Islam and Muslims on his talk show on BBC Radio 2 — nice timing. This was, of course, prompted by the brutal murder of...
Grooming: Loss of liberty does not equal safety
Letters: We need an inquiry into sex abuse cases | Society | The Guardian This letter from Anthony Stansfeld of Thames Valley police appeared in yesterday’s Guardian, and attributes the grooming and rape of...
Woolwich knife attack is not terrorism
Yesterday a British soldier was attacked by two men with butchers' knives on a street in Woolwich, south-east London, and killed in broad daylight in public view near to a primary school not long...
Taj Hargey is wrong on grooming
Last week seven men from Oxford were found guilty of various sexual offences, including rape, for ‘grooming’ young girls and ultimately raping and allowing other men to rape them. Many of them were in...
Jordan Sheard’s sentence will be appealed
I received a letter today from the Attorney General’s office, in response to an open letter I had sent (which many readers of this blog had signed) regarding the sentence of Jordan Sheard, who...
When will people realise the Bulger killers were children?
BBC News – Three men jailed for selling information to the Sun On Wednesday a former prison worker and two former policemen were jailed for selling information to the papers, and the information the...
Open letter on murder of disabled man — please sign
Open letter to Keir Starmer regarding Jordan Sheard (public) – Google Drive The above is an editable open letter — it is editable so that you can add your name to the bottom of...
Because nobody gets raped in England, do they?
BBC News – Barbados rapes: MP warns travellers island is 'unsafe' Stephen McPartland, Tory MP for Stevenage, has been putting pressure on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to declare that Barbados is “not a...
The rush to judgement on Oscar Pistorius
The story of Oscar Pistorius's shooting of his girlfriend has been going on for a week and a half now, and last Friday, after a four-day bail hearing, he was released on bail of...
Andrade tragedy is not unique
Sexual abuse victim’s suicide sparks call for review of court procedures | UK news | guardian.co.uk Last week it was revealed that Frances Andrade, the 48-year-old violinist and music teacher who had given evidence...
Jimmy Savile at Duncroft: who to believe?
The past week or so I've been following a series of posts by the blogger "Anna Raccoon", who I earlier came across in her articles about the Court of Protection and her championing of...