Paedophiles are the craftiest, sneakiest, slimiest and most incurably persistent of offenders - `incurably` is my opinion and therefore not empirically sound. Anyone who has worked in this area of law enforcement will not have raised one eyebrow over the revelations contained in the report about Savile, released today. Nothing has changed, in that these people are among us, always were, always will be.
Of the child sex offender cases I knew of, the worst by far committed his most recent offences less than 3 weeks after being released on licence from prison. He was less than half way through a seven year sentence for acts of gross indecency committed against young boys. Local police suspected he was at it again and without any evidence other than his loitering near places frequented by young teens and the photographs they found in his home, which were `suspcious but not illegal` they put him before the courts. Magistrates made an order forbidding him from approaching any youngsters, closer that 30 feet. Well it must have worked for a while because it was several months before the police managed to make a case against him. Within weeks several more young boys had been enticed and abused and their lives blighted. By the time the victims were identified (they were keeping it to themselves and it was investigative work that found them) it was way too late. He got `life` on that occasion and, as that was about ten years ago, there's a chance he may still be inside, but one day he'll be back home.
11 comments:
Someone, somewhere, will no doubt insist that said nonce has a Human Right to not have his balls removed.
And they'd be wrong.
How can you stop or prevent such a sickness when one suspect I interviewed had no remorse whatsoever and began quoting passages from the Bible (King George version probably) stating it was and always had been perfectly natural and not wrong to 'love' a child - his euphemism for having sex. No remorse at all. I was left speechless and had to leave the interview room to compose myself. Not surprisingly, when I was asked to consider working in Vice Squad I couldn't say, 'Not in a million years' fast enough.
Doesn't it worry you - at least a little - that the condemnation of Savile as a 'paedophile' has occurred after he's dead?
And based on nothing more than accusations, many of which would never be selected to proceed to court under modern CPS guidelines?
He is something of a Peter Pan but surely Cliff's demise will come to pass this century; finally imbuing us with 'true knowledge' with respect to all those suspicions and concerns.
JM I have worried about that, and the speed with which a final "dossier" has been compiled. HOWEVER given today's arse-covering mentality I would hope that a bit more than a cursory investigation of the circs would have been done.
E.g. that Tory Lord who was accused could prove from his diary that he was nowhere near the institution concerned during the period of allegation.
But given that Savile is dead and his reputation is trashed beyond the point of no return, does it really matter if some of the allegations are spurious? What difference would it make to whom?
Back to HD's main point: surely there must be a way to separate unreformable characters (of all criminal bents, not just kiddy-fiddlers) from those who can learn and deal with each appropriately?
JuliaM: It did worry me at the outset - see my comment on Hog Day's first post on the Savile allegations. But, it is hard to reconcile the possibility no offences took place, against the attitude of society in that era affording almost God like status of the celebrities at the time. Its understandable alleged victims did not make complaints out of fear they would either be ignored or not believed - or worse, considered troublemakers.
It is regretful Savile is not alive to defend himself but looking to the future, I would hope nothing like this could ever occur again and that is, perhaps, the best that can be said about the matter.
I wonder if these revelations will count as `detections`?
Hog Day: Detections? Ah the voice of a true cynic.. we both know what the answer to that question is. Points do mean prizes or at least in this case, a bigger slice of next year's budget.
I have a dream. A dream where ALL managers realize bean counting isn't their greatest goal. And while I'm on the subject, they also realize health and safety is about minimizing risk. Its not about seeing risk and cancelling the activity.
Tad': To appreciate what constitutes a risk one has to have experienced a risk. I frequently found myself being led by, and then in the same peer group as, people who had cleverly avoided 'risk', yet they were in positions of considerable seniority. I resented them and was not very diplomatic about it either.
Julia: The legal system seems to be coming out of this unscathed thus far, I agree.
"But given that Savile is dead and his reputation is trashed beyond the point of no return, does it really matter if some of the allegations are spurious? What difference would it make to whom?"
Well, it'll make a hell of a lot of difference to those pushing this for all they are worth to advance their own agendas...
"... I would hope nothing like this could ever occur again ..."
Isn't it already happening in Rochdale and other places? With a slightly different type of 'celebrity'?
Oh, how quickly we forget.
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