As many of you will be aware the Government has set up a Your Freedom website (here) so that the general public can makes requests for unnecessary and harmful laws to be repealed
As part of this initiative e FACT is calling on the Government to repeal Section 115 of the Police Act which allows Chief Constables to inform prospective employers of matters relating to allegations which have been made against individuals even though they may have been cleared of any wrong doing by authorising the Criminal Records Bureau to providing them with an Enhanced Certificate of Disclosure
If you have been affected by CRB disclosures add you support to this initiative
To add your support click here
Should children’s social work be a touch free zone?
By · CommentsThe following article appeared in Community Care on the 20th August
physical contact is a human need, children’s social workers are starting to take a hands-off approach in order to reduce the risk of misunderstandings and false accusations. Camilla Pemberton reports
It was only a hug but it cost Stephen Daniels*, 48, his job and nearly ruined his marriage. In 2003, the former residential care worker was falsely accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old in his care. The truth: Daniels had put his arm around the teenager to comfort him after a relationship breakdown. Eventually, the boy admitted to fabricating the story, for attention, and because he believed social workers “were never meant to touch children
In fact, there is no such prescriptive rule on initiating or responding to natural physical contact with children in social care settings. “There is no simple formula,” says Nushra Mansuri, joint manager of the British Association of Social Workers in England. “Each context is different and each person is different, but healthy physical contact is an important method of communication.”
Daniel’s case illustrates the minefield that social care workers and managers have to navigate when it comes to touch. False accusations seem to come with the territory. There are no official figures, but the organisation FACT (Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers) estimates thousands of professionals are falsely accused in the UK every year. This doesn’t surprise Mansuri. “We are working with vulnerable children with extremely complex backgrounds. Inevitably they may sometimes misconstrue things or lash out at those caring for them,” she says.
Largs man waiting to hear the outcome of his appeal
By · CommentsJailed Largs man Matt George will have to endure many weeks of waiting to hear the outcome of his appeal.
Following two weeks of evidence last month, proceedings were concluded at the High Court in Edinburgh – but it could be September before the former art teacher discovers if he has been successful in his appeal.
However, Mr George – who in 2006 was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for abuse charges against pupils of Kerelaw Residential School, Stevenston – believes he finally received a “fair hearing” after years of protesting his innocence.
He and close family members were left drained after giving evidence in the dock at the High Court but maintained their conviction that the grandfather-of-four must be allowed to return home permanently to Rosebank Gardens, Largs.
However, while Mr George has been freed on interim liberation since December 2007, he still potentially faces another four years and 11 months behind bars after serving some of his sentence at Saughton Prison in Edinburgh.
A former manager at Kerelaw told the ‘News’ of his belief that on trial now were not only those involved in the Largs man’s original court proceedings, but the Scottish justice system as well.
Matt George, wife Yvonne, daughters Lisa and Mida, sons-in-law Robert and Chris are all to be congratulated for “staying the course”, since Matt’s trial and sentence in June 2006, and remaining united in fighting this gross injustice.
The tide is now turning in Matt’s favour, slowly but surely … but at a considerable cost to Matt and his family. Whilst not wishing to prejudice the outcome of the appeal hearing in any way, I witnessed some of the evidence being presented before the three Law Lords (2nd week of appeal hearing), and I can only come to one conclusion:
The operation initiated by Glasgow City Council and Strathclyde Police against Matt and former Kerelaw staff was so biassed and “loaded” to be, quite frankly, unbelievable, in this day and age. Matt’s original defence team let him down badly – this has been thoroughly and comprehensively exposed by Matt’s present QC Simon Di Rollo.
Getting access to key documents at the time of the original trial was referred to as a process characterised by “obstructiveness” – or as was admitted, the document holders presenting with an attitude that was described as both “sinister” and “unhealthy”. Other sources of important background information which would have been helpful to Matt’s cause, were not pursued by his original defence team. This is inexcusable – a gross dereliction of duty of care to their client.
In my opinion the original conviction (abuse charges at Kerelaw) against Matt cannot remain. A significant element of doubt has now been introduced at this appeal hearing: this conviction must now be considered “unsafe”, as the original evidence as presented by the Crown does not meet the legal criteria of meeting the key test of being proved “beyond all reasonable doubt”.
Matt has been on interim liberation since December 2007, having already served one year and nine months in penal custody. Matt’s many supporters now wish to help him and his family draw a line under this nightmarish experience, and sincerely hope that he will soon have an outcome from the Law Lords which will permit of this to happen. Waiting another few weeks will prolong the agony, but will in my view be well worthwhile. Not only has Matt been on trial … the process of criminal justice and fairness in our Scottish Courts is on trial.
Source: Largs & Millport Weekly News
Barring Regulation in Wales Revoked (SI 2010/1724)
By · CommentsSafeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Prescribed Period and Appropriate Officer) (Wales) (Revocation) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/1724)
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (the 2006 Act) provides the legislative framework for a new vetting and barring scheme for people who work with children and vulnerable adults. Section 13 of the 2006 Act requires that a check be made in relation to any person appointed to the governing body of an educational establishment. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Prescribed Period and Appropriate Officer) (Wales) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/1291) prescribe, for the purposes of s.13, the period within which that check must be carried out and the appropriate officer responsible for carrying it out. The Secretary of State is conducting a review of the vetting and barring scheme. As a consequence of that review s.13 of the 2006 Act will not be fully commenced on July 26, 2010. Consequently, these Regulations revoke the 2010 regulations before they come into force on July 26, 2010.
Our attention has been drawn to some new research by David Wolchover and Anthony Heaton-Armstrong into rape convictions. The question posed by their research is whether or not ask should juries in rape cases be told about the relative prevalence of false complaints?
The research is too detailed and complex to summarise but is well worth reading not least of which because it highlights the difficulties the researchers found in statistics.
For further information go to the Criminal Justice and Law Weekly website here
Parents in Norfolk and Suffolk were last night reassured that incidents remain “extremely rare” after new figures showed more than 250 complaints were made against school staff in the two counties during the last year.
The alleged incidents – 139 in Norfolk and 109 in Suffolk – are among more than 1,700 across England unearthed by a request under the freedom of information act.
Of the 248 complaints against teachers, support staff and those driving school transport in Norfolk and Suffolk between April 1 2009 and March 31 2010, 134 alleged physical abuse, 78 sexual abuse and 14 emotional abuse.
Fifty of the cases are still being investigated, but 61 have been dismissed as “unsubstantiated”, 91 have been proven, 27 decided to be unfounded and two ruled to be malicious.
Teaching unions have long been campaigning against the career-wrecking danger of malicious accusations against staff – but the two case recorded in Norfolk were among only 50 across England during the year.
The government has promised that teachers who face allegations will be given anonymity until the point when charges are pressed.
Figures were not available in Cambridgeshire.
But in Norfolk, 22 of 139 complaints led to a criminal investigation, with six staff members receiving a caution and three a criminal conviction. Thirty-five members of staff were suspended, six sacked and seven resigned.
Of the complaints, 77 were against teachers, 52 against support staff and 10 against school transport workers.
Fred Corbett, Norfolk’s assistant director of children’s services, said: “Cases of this kind are referred to specialist officers who work alongside the police and other relevant agencies, where necessary, to establish the circumstances and outcome. They are also referred to Ofsted and the Independent Safeguarding Authority, when required.
“Allegations against school staff remain extremely rare – we have 17,700 staff working in our schools, supporting 109,000 children and there were three convictions and six cautions against staff in the last year.
“However, any case of this kind is one too many and part of the training and support available to schools is aimed at helping them to identify and prevent potential risks, wherever possible to ensure safer working practice.”
Of the more than 1,700 accusations across England, more than half alleged physical assault or “inappropriate restraint”. And 143 of those accused were dismissed or resigned.
The numbers are set against a context of more than 800,000 classroom staff, plus hundreds of thousands of other employees and volunteers who work for schools or with school children.
These figures were drawn from the responses of more than half of the local authorities in England.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers(ATL) said the survey failed to show the “vast majority” of false allegations, as they would have been dismissed immediately and would not have reached the local authority. The union has claimed that as many as one in four teachers have faced a false allegation.
A spokesman said: “We want anonymity for staff, no automatic bar on staff keeping in contact with colleagues (who are quite frequently friends) and investigations to be speeded up.”
A Department for Education spokesman said: “The government believes teachers should be protected from the damage that malicious allegations can cause. Last month, ministers announced the intention to give anonymity to teachers accused by pupils and take other measures to protect against false accusations.”
Source and Acknowledgement: EDP24
Parents win legal battle to name doctor who accused them of child abuse
A couple cleared of injuring their baby son have won a legal battle to identify the doctor who gave evidence against them.When Victoria and Jake Ward saw their baby son crying and refusing to feed, they took him to their doctor. When the cause of his pain could not be found, they took him back twice more.
The professional couple were shocked to be told eventually that William had a broken leg. But the drama turned into a nightmare when they were accused of having deliberately harmed their little boy
Arrested, charged by police and threatened with having their child taken away by Cambridgeshire county council’s social workers, it took two years for the Wards to clear their name.
Yet even after the criminal case collapsed for lack of evidence and a family court finally decided that the parents posed no threat to their son, the couple were astonished to find that the names of the doctors who had given evidence against them were kept secret.
Only now, three years later, have the Wards managed to draw a line under the affair by forcing the name of the key expert witness to be made public
Full Story: Daily Telegraph
A man who has been in prison for 14 years for attempted rape may have the conviction overturned after it emerged that crucial forensic evidence had never been tested.
Further doubt has been cast on the conviction of postman Victor Nealon by a neurosurgeon, who says that the prisoner could not have had the distinctive facial features identified by witnesses.
Nealon, from Redditch, Worcestershire, was convicted in January 1997 for an attack on a young woman leaving a nightclub in 1996. He is serving a discretionary life sentence in Wakefield prison. He would have been considered for parole seven years ago had he not consistently denied the offence.
The victim was walking home with a friend when she was grabbed from behind. The assailant forced her to the floor and tried to remove her clothing. Her friend tried to get help before the woman escaped. Both women said the attacker was an older man they had seen watching the victim at the club earlier that evening. A series of witnesses remembered seeing the man, who was distinguished by an egg-sized lump on his forehead.
Nealon, an Irish national with a record of sexual offences, was invited by police to join an identification parade, where only two of the seven witnesses – and not the victim or her friend – picked him out as the man at the bar. The absence of any lump on Nealon’s forehead was put down to the simple passage of time when the case came to trial. The prosecution said no forensic evidence was available.
On both these counts, lawyers now believe Nealon’s conviction is unsafe. Mark Newby, of Jordans Solicitors, Doncaster, specialists in appeals, describes it as an unusually concerning case: “While he may have had a history, no one’s ever looked at the forensics properly until now. It’s a pretty poor miscarriage – all the evidence points to the fact that he wasn’t the likely person.”
Items of the woman’s clothing were retained by police and the trial judge said forensic tests had revealed no traces. However, there are no records of the clothing ever having been tested – an oversight compounded when two substantive case reviews, in 1998 and 2002, by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), dismissed Nealon’s appeal for DNA tests on the grounds that no material was available.
Independent tests this year found matching traces of saliva and other DNA samples on the victim’s blouse and bra from an unknown male – a DNA profile that would exclude Nealon.
“No-one had done the independent forensic tests,” says Newby. “Clearly if a jury were aware that someone else’s DNA was on the clothing, it could potentially change the verdict. At the very least, the court would have to say this would seriously undermine the conviction.”
Forensic scientists recommended that the DNA database should be searched to identify the samples on the clothing. Newby is strongly critical of the police’s refusal to do so, and of the CCRC for repeating the assertion that no such evidence was available in its reviews of Nealon’s case. “He’d have been out years ago if the CCRC had done a better review in the first place. .”
Expert medical opinion now suggests Nealon could not have been the suspect with the lump on his forehead. James Kellerman, an independent consultant neurosurgeon, dismissed the supposition that any such lump could have disappeared by the next day, when Nealon met his probation officer.
Nealon claimed he was at home watching videos with his family at the time of the offence – an alibi undermined late in his trial after the prosecution showed that his wife had not rented the film she said she had that night.
Friends of Nealon say he is in a catch-22 situation: as he has always protested his innocence, he has not been eligible for the rehabilitation courses that lead to parole. By this autumn, he will have served double the sentence for a crime he claims he did not commit.
Newby believes the CCRC must act urgently to review this case and press for an appeal. “He had a number of previous convictions and he was an obvious target for the police.”
The CCRC said it is unable to comment on any individual case, but would look very carefully at any case presenting substantial new forensic evidence.
Full story: Guardian
Bar Pro Bono Award 2010 – nominations now invited
By · CommentsPress Release from Bar Council: 24 August 2010
Pro bono has never been more important or more appreciated than in current times.
The selflessness shown by individuals who give up their time for free to assist others in need deserves recognition.
The Bar Pro Bono Award 2010 is the ideal way to recognise those contributions. The award was created by Lord Goldsmith QC in memory of his late father and will be presented at the 25th Annual Bar Conference on 6 November.
Do you know someone who makes you proud to be a member of the Bar?
To nominate a barrister or team :
i. fill in the nomination form (which can be found at www.barprobono.org.uk/award.html )
ii. explain why they deserve to win the award
iii. provide at least 2 supporting letters from other individuals
There is no fee to enter
Individuals may enter themselves
The closing deadline is 30 September 2010
For further information and to see details of previous winners please see the link above or the upcoming article in the September edition of Counsel.
Questions? contact Natalia or on 0207 092 3961
Teachers sexually abused by pupils
By · CommentsAccording to the Christian Institute Teachers in Britain have faced sexual groping, touching and leering from school children, with one teacher even being subjected to a threat of rape by a child.
A total of 305 incidents were included a disturbing report with one involving an eight-year-old boy who licked a teacher’s leg and touched her breast.In another case a six-year-old child made sexual remarks to a 49-year-old teacher in the West Midlands.
Sexual
A 16-year-old boy told his class in Scotland that he was going to rape his teacher, in another incident disclosed in the information.
And a case of a girl who displayed her underwear to a male teacher and proceeded to “massage herself in a sexual manner” is also included.
The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, include data on primary and secondary school aged children.
Hundreds of staff say they have been propositioned or touched inappropriately, according to the information, and a newspaper reports that some of the instances passed unpunished.
Problem
Only 45 local authorities, out of over 200 authorities that have educational responsibilities, kept records of such incidents.
Earlier this week two feminist authors warned that even primary school children are being affected by Britain’s hypersexualised society, and it is a problem that is not being tackled.
And earlier this month top music producer Mike Stock criticised the music industry over provocative pop videos which resemble soft pornography.
Desired
He said such videos were sexualising young children, and that the industry had “gone too far”.
In February a Home Office report was released which said children are being harmed by exposure to sexual and violent images in the media.
Psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos, who wrote the report, has commented: “We are hypersexualising girls, telling them that their desirability relies on being desired. They want to please at any cost.
“And we are hypermasculinising boys — many feel that they can’t live up to the porn ideal, sleeping with lots of women.”
Value
“Unless sexualisation is accepted as harmful”, Dr Papadopoulos wrote in the report, “we will miss an important opportunity here: an opportunity to broaden young people’s beliefs about where their value lies”.
Over the past year there have been multiple stories of stores selling products which could sexualise young children.
In June it emerged that Asda, Tesco, Next and Gap Kids were selling high heels for girls.
Outcry
In May it was revealed a padded bra aimed at seven-year-olds was on sale at Sports Direct.
And in April padded bikinis for young girls on sale in Primark were dropped by the chain following an outcry.
SAFARI suggest a way to virtually eliminate child pornography on the Internet.
You can see the suggestion here or here:
We came up with the idea originally as so many people are falsely accused of downloading indecent images when it was actually someone else who was responsible, but the idea has been dramatically changed and improved since then.
Could you please read the suggestion, register with the Government site (see here if not already done, or http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/join_form?came_from=http%3A//yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/repealing-unnecessary-laws/%2B%2Badd%2B%2Bopsuite.discussion.idea ), and vote positively for the idea so the average vote is high making the Government more likely to consider it. If you wish to add your own comments afterwards, that would be great too.
If you’ve already contributed other ideas to the Government web site and feel they might benefit from us letting SAFARI readers know about, please tell us.
A teacher sacked for wearing trainers and tracksuit bottoms by a headteacher he accused of “bullying” has been cleared of unacceptable professional conduct.
Adrian Swain, whose dismissal sparked a ballot for industrial action at his school, said he felt “vindicated” after the General Teaching Council for England (GTC) said he had “no case to answer” and that punishing him was not in the public interest.
Mr Swain has also received an apology from his local authority after it reported his case to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) five months after he left St Paul’s Way Community School in Tower Hamlets, east London.
Mr Swain had worn similar clothing throughout his career, and at the time of his dismissal last year when he was running regular PE lessons. He said he lost his job because of heavy-handed management and the “arbitrary decision” of the then head, Lorraine Page, to impose new rules. Colleagues concerned by his treatment were balloted for potential strike action.
A GTC investigating committee said there was no “realistic prospect” of Mr Swain being found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct although it said it was concerned by his “disobedience of a management instruction”.
“Taking into account your role in the school, i.e. you undertook physical activity with pupils and the fact that PE teachers within the school were able to wear suitable attire for this purpose, the committee did not feel your actions amounted to unacceptable professional conduct,” the GTC said.
Mr Swain taught at St Paul’s for 17 years of his 35-year teaching career. He said the dress code, which required him to wear more “professional” clothes, had been used as a “bully’s charter”.
At the time he was working in the school’s deaf unit, but has now taken early retirement.
“I feel vindicated by the GTC decision and still feel the new rules were something the school decided to do on a whim,” he told The TES. “I believe I was targeted because I was a union representative.”
At the time of the incident, Mr Swain complained that there had been no consultation before the dress code was changed and that he had been accused of not being a good role model for pupils.
After leaving the school he received a letter from the ISA, saying he had been reported to them.
“I thought this situation was over and it was a shock to get the letter,” he said. “I still can’t understand why this happened.”
Tower Hamlets Council has now written to Mr Swain to reassure him that his referral to the ISA was not a “malicious or vindictive act”.
“Unfortunately, the information and advice and guidance coming out to local authorities about the ISA has been sometimes unclear and seemingly contradictory,” a letter from the council to Mr Swain said.
“I do apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused you … but want to assure you that this referral was made in good faith.”
The council said that it does not believe that Mr Swain’s dismissal was related “in any way” to the safety of children and that its procedures have now been updated.
TEACHER BROWSED WHILE PUPILS BRAWLED
A teacher surfed the internet instead of working with children during lessons, leaving them to fight and overturn desks, a General Teaching Council for England panel has found.
Alison Harrison looked at websites that were not related to her work while employed at Selby High School in North Yorkshire between September 2007 and May 2008. This created an “unsafe environment” for pupils, according to the GTC.
A teaching assistant who worked with Ms Harrison said the lack of discipline gave “rise to unacceptable and sometimes dangerous behaviour”.
The GTC ruling said: “Her conduct during the lessons in question meant that little or no learning was occurring.”
Ms Harrison, who admitted the charge against her and apologised for her actions, received a reprimand that will remain on her file for two years.
NUT comment on Teacher Allegations
By · CommentsCommenting on today’s reporting of FOI data relating to allegations against teachers during the past year, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said;
“Most allegations against school staff are false or even malicious allegations, made when teachers intervene to restore good behaviour at school. Only a small percentage result in a police investigation and a tiny number conclude with a conviction.
“Teachers must be allowed reasonable powers of intervention for those rare occasions where dangerous situations escalate, without being at risk of accusations. It continues to be the case that teachers and other school staff are sometimes uncertain of school procedures and we would therefore like to see a renewed focus on school level training, to ensure that procedures keep pupils safe but are also fair to staff.
“We welcome the Government’s review of the Independent Safeguarding Authority’s role. It is right to have robust systems but the net must catch those who could be a real danger, without dragging innocent staff into months or even years of fighting to prove their innocence.”
For further details contact Caroline Cowie, NUT Press Officer, on 0207 380 4706 or 07879480061
The following clip relating to Canada appears on the Ontario Globe and Mail website
The Ontario government has announced long-awaited compensation for victims of the province’s forensic pathology scandal.
People who were charged or convicted in 19 cases based on erroneous evidence from disgraced pathologist Charles Smith will be eligible for “recognition” payments of up to $250,000, Attorney General Chris Bentley announced Tuesday.
“We are undertaking this approach because it’s the right thing to do,” Mr. Bentley told reporters.
Children who were removed from the homes of their accused parents will get up to $25,000. Family members affected by their relatives’ involvement in the criminal justice system will receive up to $12,500. Legal costs may also be reimbursed.
Mr. Bentley said the compensation does not affect victims’ rights to pursue civil claims. But if victims receive other government awards, the province will deduct the amount of their “recognition” payments.
Chester Misener, a retired Superior Court justice, will assess the cases in the next three months to determine each individual’s payment. He will consider the following factors: loss of liberty; mental harshness and indignity; loss of reputation; effect on family and other relationships; and effect on earning and income.
In 2008, Mr. Justice Stephen Goudge concluded that Dr. Smith was an arrogant, unqualified pathologist whose biased, inconsistent and unprofessional testimony precipitated a string of wrongful murder charges and convictions.
In his report, Judge Goudge also singled out the province for blame, saying that top officials in the Office of the Chief Coroner developed a “symbiotic relationship” with Dr. Smith that led them to shield him for years from the scrutiny he so desperately required.
Judge Goudge recommended that Ontario look into providing swift redress for people who, “through no fault of their own … suffered tragic and devastating consequences.”
In October, 2008, Mr. Bentley raised the victims’ hopes when he announced that a three-person committee headed by former associate chief justice of Ontario, Coulter Osborne, would recommend a fair compensation system “as expeditiously as they can.”
ThisIsMoney website clarifies vetting procedure
By · CommentsI start work later this month as a care assistant in a nearby care home. My understanding was that in addition to the usual Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks, I would have to register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) under the Vetting and Barring Scheme.
I have now been told that it is no longer necessary. Is this true?
Caroline Noblet, partner and International Head of Employment at Hammonds, replies: Yes. It was previously intended under the Vetting and Barring Scheme that new employees and job-movers working or volunteering with children or vulnerable adults would register voluntarily with the ISA from July 26 this year with compulsory registration following in November.
However, on June 15 the new Government declared a halt to registration while a review was undertaken after criticism that the current system was disproportionate and burdensome.
In the meantime, the usual CRB checks remain, as do the employer obligations under the scheme.
It is still an offence for employers to allow a person to engage in a regulated activity if they know or have reason to believe that the individual is barred.
A regulated activity is one that involves contact with children or vulnerable adults that is frequent (once a week or more); intensive (four days or more in a single month) or overnight (any time between 2am and 6am).
The position of a care assistant in a care home is considered to be a regulated activity.
The care home should apply to the CRB for enhanced disclosure with an ISA check that will reveal whether you have a criminal record and any relevant non-conviction information from local police records.
Employers and voluntary organisations will continue to face fines of up to £5,000 for failure to refer to the ISA an employee who harms or poses a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults, so that he can be placed on the barred lists.
Source: This Is Money. Read more job clinic columns, here.
Blog: A modern day witch hunt.
By · Comments[My] blog has covered how American sex laws have expanded to such a degree that hundreds of teens per year are incarcerated for what was once considered fairly normal behavior. The great irony of all this is that the laws in question found their genesis in a hysteria from a couple of decades ago, which used the mantra “its for the children” as its slogan.The mid-to-late 1980s saw a hysteria literally sweep America. The claims were that thousands of children were being attacked sexually by secret satanic cells scattered across the United States. The news media actually bought into this B.S. and reported it with suitably horrified looks on their faces and a tinge of panic in their voice. Certain politicians flocked to the hysteria, as politicians are prone to do, demanding immediate action.
The most famous case was that of the McMartin Preschool. A woman with mental, as well as alcohol, problems claimed that her young son had been sodomized by her ex husband and by Ray Buckey, an employee of the school, run by his grandmother and mother. The woman also made claims that her dog was being sodomized, was diagnosed and hospitalized for acute paranoid schizophrenia and died from her drinking problems, all before the actual trial. None of this stopped the police who sent out a panicky letter to all McMartin parents telling them that molestation took place at the school. Horrified parents began questioning children, spreading the claims of the woman far and wide.
Hundreds of children were sent to an organization run by Kee McFarlane. Using techniques that have been criticized by professions, McFarlane was able to diagnose hundreds of children as victims. Therapeutic techniques were used that didn’t treat children for abuse, as much as convince them of it. Children, who had shown no symptoms of abuse prior to therapy, showed symptoms only after McFarlane and her team got their hands on them and subjected them to her form of therapy. The stories of the children were as bizarre as they were coerced. Kids told of sex orgies at a public car wash, Satanists running the local Episcopal Church, and secret tunnels beneath the school. Prosecutors even dug up the property to substantiate the stories but no such tunnels were ever found. In one incident, children claimed that actor Chuck Norris was a Satanist involved in abusing them.
ABC news local reporter Wayne Satz started the media hysteria on the case and continued reporting the “facts” even after he was sleeping with McFarlane. For seven years the trial dragged out costing taxpayers $15 million. In this case there were no convictions. Meanwhile agencies created to discover abuse saw their budgets increase ten-fold almost instantly.
But in other parts of the country the accused were not a lucky as the defendants in the McMartin case—if you can call what happened to them lucky. Not far from the McMartin case another hysteria was created in Bakersfield, California. A power-hungry, moralistic politician named Ed Jagels was the local prosecutor who got it in his thick skull that dozens of parents were involved in covens molesting children.
And that brings me to a new documentary that was recently released on DVD, entitled Witch Hunt. Dana Nachman and Don Hardy, Jr produced this documentary that looked at the Bakersfield cases. Under interrogation by the police and social workers various children began pointing their fingers at adults in court, often against their own parents. Many of those adults were then convicted and given sentences for hundreds of years.
But almost immediately the children were trying to convince authority figures that they didn’t tell the truth. This documentary doesn’t just tell the story of the convicted, but of their accusers as well. These children, now adults, say they spent their entire life tormented by the guilt of having sent innocent people to prison; even though they were just children, coerced into lying in court by a zealous team of prosecutors and police. Those convictions ruined their lives as well. Yes, there was abuse. But, it wasn’t sexual; it wasn’t committed by the defendants. It was an abuse of children conducted by the U.S. justice system at the behest of one politician wanting to make a name for himself as “tough on crime” in order to win over conservative voters.
Nachman and Hardy got a call from the Innocence Project, an important private effort to exonerate individuals falsely convicted of crimes by our legal systems. The Project was working on the case of John Stoll. Stoll remembers the night of his arrest. He awoke to find police officers standing in his room. From that moment, for the next couple of decades, Stoll was a prisoner of the justice system. When Stoll was eventually exonerated he told Hardy and Nachman of dozens of other people who had been convicted in the same witch hunt.
The story told in this documentary is a frightening one. Innocent people are caught up in a politically induced hysteria, fed by an immoral new media. They are convicted and have their lives ripped apart. Over the next few decades the facts, swept under the rug because of the panic, come to light. More and more of the children demand to be heard and the way the authorities coerced false testimony from them comes to light. But the justice system is reluctant to admit error and some of the falsely convicted languished in prison long after it was known they were innocent.
Witch Hunt is a chilling look at the dangers of big government. Individuals like Ed Jagels are given immense power and power corrupts in every sense of the word. When it does it is the innocent who suffer the most. Witch Hunt exposes the suffering of the innocent. In this case the innocent are not just the men and women sentences to inhumane prison terms for crimes that didn’t even happen, it is also the children who were subjected to legal manipulation and coercion to falsely testify, and then left to live with the guilt of their actions.
I highly recommend Witch Hunt. It is 91 minutes and one of the best new films for libertarians that I have found.
A teacher was arrested and held in a Greek jail after being falsely accused of rape by a woman his lawyer alleged preyed on tourists to claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation.
Ross Mitchell, 34, met his Swedish accuser when she worked alongside him in a bar on the holiday isle of Kos 2008.
He has told friends their relationship went no further than a ‘mild flirtation’.
But he was arrested after the woman told police she woke to find him in her bed after he forced entry to her apartment.
Mr Mitchell, who was born in Derbyshire but now lives in London, was arrested and spent four days behind bars before his family paid £2,000 bail to secure his release.
The supply teacher’s Greek lawyer, Alcybiades Hajantonis, yesterday claimed the woman disappeared after making the allegation. But he alleged she had previously pocketed nearly £500,000 (600,000 euros) by cashing in insurance policies on up to three previous alleged rapes.
He said the policies were apparently taken out to cover victims of attack.
He said the information came from the Kos prosecutor’s office, which he believes had been passed to the information from Swedish authorities.
Last night the woman involved categorically denied receiving any money from the Mitchell case or any other.
Mark Ellwood will be able to work with children again following false accusations against him.
Mark Ellwood, already found not guilty of the assault in court, has now also been cleared by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).
He has been exonerated and will now be able to work with children again.
It ends an 18-month period which followed an accusation that he assaulted a pupil with a kickboxing move while working at David Lister School in Rustenburg Street, east Hull.
Mr Ellwood told the Mail: “I was over the moon when I got the letter.
“It is one more box ticked which goes towards clearing my name – which is all I have wanted since beginning of the whole ugly affair.”
Mr Ellwood, a former professional kickboxer and veteran of more than 200 bouts, retired in October 2008 and started worked at the school – which is still fighting to get out of special measures.
But after three months working in a unit for poorly behaving pupils, Mr Ellwood was kicked as he removed an unruly boy from a classroom. He “swept” him to the floor to restrain him.
The boy’s parents then reported the incident to the police, and Mr Ellwood was charged with common assault.
At the conclusion of a two-day trial at Hull Magistrates’ Court in October last year, Mr Ellwood was released unconditionally.
However, Leap Education – the agency he was working for on placement at the school – reported the matter to the ISA.
Now, a letter has been sent to him that states: “We have concluded our enquiries about your case and we have carefully considered all the information available to us.
“On the basis of this information ,we have decided it is not appropriate to include you on the Children’s or Adults’ Barred List.”
Despite the letter, Mr Ellwood said he remains frustrated that there is still a cloud hanging over him.
“I have been treated as guilty from the very beginning, this now shows I have not done a thing wrong at any point, but I have been treated poorly,” he said.
“Every time I get some more confirmation of my innocence, it helps. It just takes so long.
“If someone had said to me in the hours after the incident at the school that 18 months later I would still be talking about it I would have had them down as mad.
“The next thing is to continue with my complaint against Humberside Police as to why I was charged in the first place.”
Source and Acknowledgement: This is Hull
The government has announced it switched off the controversial children’s database ContactPoint today.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, children’s minister Tim Loughton said: “We don’t think that spreading very thinly a resource which contains details of all 11 million children in the entire country, more than 90% of which will never come into contact with children’s services, is the best way of safeguarding genuinely vulnerable children.”
The £235m database would have given an estimated 400,000 people access to personal information of all children under 18 as well as information about their parents, schools and medical records. Last November, the previous government rolled out ContactPoint to local authorities and frontline practitioners nationally.
However in his first official speech as Deputy Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg announced the Government’s plans to scrap the scheme in line with in the Coalition Agreement.
As of midday today users are no longer able to access the system and the database will be destroyed using government-approved security standards and processes.
The government is exploring an alternative to the database in the form of a “national signposting approach”, which would focus on helping a smaller group of practitioners to find out whether a colleague elsewhere is working, or has previously worked, with the same vulnerable child.
ContactPoint suffered numerous set backs in its development including serious security breaches and long delays to its launch. A report in 2007 by auditors Deloitte said the database could never be totally secure.
Lord Carlile has been asked to lead an inquiry into child protection at a Roman Catholic private school.
Governors at St Benedict’s School called in the Liberal Democrat peer to review “past mistakes” that allowed a paedophile priest to abuse five pupils.
The move comes after independent inspectors said there were shortcomings in the school’s child safety policy.
Last year, former St Benedict’s head Father David Pearce was jailed for eight years for abusing five students.
He had admitted 10 indecent assaults and one sexual assault on five boys between 1972 and 2007.
He was head of St Benedict’s in the London borough of Ealing until he retired in 1993 and continued to live in the associated abbey. He was arrested and prosecuted after the school alerted police to allegations from an ex-pupil.
The school said Lord Carlile of Berriew QC – best known as the government’s independent reviewer of counter-terrorism laws – would conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into events at the school and current child protection provision.
The following article by David Derbyshire appeared in the Daily Mail on the 2nd August 2010
From the thrill of a perfect childhood Christmas to the excitement of a holiday romance, memories can sustain and support us through life’s more difficult times.
But according to scientists, many of our most treasured memories may never have actually happened.
In an astonishing study, psychologists discovered that one in five people vividly recalls incidents that they know did not take place.
The finding highlights once again the fallibility of memory – and explains why two people can have such different recollections of the same conversations and events.
University of Hull researchers asked 1,600 students whether they had experienced a false memory.
A fifth said they had experienced ‘fictional’ memories, mostly dating back to when they were four to eight years old, reported the journal Psychological Science.
One volunteer claimed to have had vivid memories of being a hockey player – even though her parents confirmed she had never played hockey in her life.
Another claimed to have remembered seeing a living dinosaur. In many cases, people continued to have memories of events after their parents or siblings had told them they could not have happened.
‘Autobiographical memory provides us with a sense of identity and it is usually accurate enough to help us negotiate our lives,’ said researcher Giuliana Mazzoni.
‘But as our study shows, not all that we remember about our past is true. Our research also shows that this phenomenon of non-believed memories is much more frequent than people had imagined.
‘Crucially, if these memories are not challenged by some form of evidence, they would still be considered part of the individual’s autobiographical experience.’
Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget vividly remembered being kidnapped in a park at the age of two, while out with his nurse.
He even had memories of the scratches on his nurse’s face, caused by the attacker.
But 13 years later the nurse confessed-that she had fabricated the story. Even after Mr Piaget no longer believed he was kidnapped, he was unable to stop remembering the traumatic event.
In one famous experiment, University of Washington scientists successfully implanted false memories into the minds of volunteers.
They were shown a doctored advert for Disneyland featuring Bugs Bunny.
A few weeks later when the volunteers were asked to recall their childhood trips to the theme park, a third remembered meeting the stuffed rabbit – despite the fact that the character is owned by Disney’s rival Warner Brothers and has never appeared at the park.
The work raised concerns about the way therapists ‘recover’ lost memories of child abuse in adults.
New forum for CRB issues established
By · CommentsA new forum has been set up for sharing information and discussing issues relating to CRB issues. Although the site is totally independent of FACT it contains a lot of useful information. You can access the site here
SAFARI: Issue 75 now out
By · CommentsIssue 75 of the SAFARI newsletter has just been published and can be viewed here
In this issue:
- Government wants your help to formulate policy;
- Prime Minister confirms false allegations are a serious problem;
- virtually all MPs now on SAFARI’s eMailing list;
- Bernadett Kore jailed for 18 months after admitting attempting to pervert the course of justice by making a false rape allegation;
- Melissa Anne-Marie Carter jailed for two years after falsely accusing a police officer;
- Leyla Ibrahim jailed for three years after she falsely claimed she had been raped by her friends;
- Temitopay Adenugba sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting lying about being raped to get a student deadline extended;
- Danielle Robinson handed an eight month suspended prison sentence for texting lies to a fellow juror involved in a separate trial;
- Judge blasts prosecutors after a false rape allegation should never have been brought to court;
- Aso Mohammed is awarded £500 damaged and has had his caution for taking pictures of his girlfriend’s naked child quashed;
- ‘Letter a week campaign’ keeps MPs in the picture;
- Government drops plans to introduce legislation to allow rape defendants anonymity;
- The Parole Board writes for SAFARI; Keith Vaz MP confirms “that those who are falsely accused are also victims”;
- Two reader tasks this time involving the sex offenders’ register and introducing anonymity for all those accused of any offence; and more!
Boy wins Lidl defamation case after being accused of theft
A five-year-old boy has won a defamation case against Lidl and been awarded £6,000 in damages after being falsely accused of stealing a packet of crisps.
Tadhg Mooney was accused by a shop assistant at the supermarket chain of stealing in June 2009.
Mooney, of Balbriggan, County Dublin, was shopping with his mother Rachel, when an assistant grabbed the boy’s arm, before imprisoning him in the store.
During the defamation proceedings against Lidl Ireland Ltd, the Circuit Civil Court heard that Mooney had suffered distress and inconvenience, and that his reputation had also been discredited by the accusation.
Lidl Ireland Ltd offered Mooney a settlement offer of 7,500 euros and costs.
The boy’s barrister, Alison McIntyre, told the court she was recommending acceptance of the offer, which was approved by Mr Justice Matthew Deery.
Acknowledgement: Metro
The Scottish Government has announced that its Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG Scheme) will begin on 30 November 2010.
The PVG Scheme will:
- help to ensure that those who have regular contact with children and protected adults through paid and unpaid work do not have a known history of harmful behaviour;
- be quick and easy to use, reducing the need for PVG Scheme members to complete a detailed application form every time a disclosure check is required;
- strike a balance between proportionate protection and robust regulation and make it easier for employers to determine who they should check to protect their client group.
The PVG Scheme is Scotland’s response to the principal recommendation of the Bichard Inquiry Report which was undertaken following the Soham murders in 2002. This recommendation called for a registration system for all those who work with children and vulnerable adults in the UK.
Within the meaning of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) (Scotland) Act 2007 the delivery of dental care is a ‘regulated activity’ and therefore all dental professionals will need to register.
The Scottish Government says it’s built upon what it’s learned from current disclosure and disqualification services in Scotland to develop an efficient membership scheme that will strengthen protection for vulnerable groups and reduce bureaucracy.
It will be phased in over a four year period and more information can be found here.