The Power of the Paedos - another high profile case hits the 'never happened' wall?

[Magda Hassan]

Will the people who are not friends of the defendant please stand up.

[David Guyatt]

This is becoming like the Diana Inquiry where a succession of appointees had to resign before one could be found who ended up doing the same job they would've done anyway. If at first you don't succeed...

Victims threaten to boycott Woolf inquiry into child abuse

Survivors of child abuse say they have no confidence in Lady Woolf as relationship with Lord and Lady Brittan is revealed

• Jamie Doward
  
• The Observer, Saturday 25 October 2014 19.20 BST
  

Lady Woolf in the Lord Mayor of London's office in Mansion House. Photograph: Jonathan Goldberg/REX

Pressure on Lady Woolf to step down as the new head of the government inquiry into child abuse has intensified after a lawyer representing almost 50 victims said a number would not participate because of their concern about how it was going to be run.
The claims, by Alison Millar, a partner at Leigh Day solicitors, came as the leading organisation representing abuse survivors said many feared that it would be "a whitewash" and questioned Woolf's credentials to lead the inquiry.
Woolf has been under scrutiny after it emerged that she had attended a number of social gatherings with Lord and Lady Brittan.
Lord Brittan's role as home secretary in the 1980s is considered by abuse survivors to be crucial to the inquiry. They want to know what happened to a dossier about alleged Westminster paedophiles that went missing from his department. "As Leon Brittan is potentially such an important figure in this investigation, to appoint somebody who has demonstrably had more than a passing connection to the Brittans renders her unsuitable for the post," said Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood.
"We've heard from many survivors who are extremely distressed. They are saying it's going to be a whitewash, that it doesn't want to speak to the victims and that's just a paper exercise. They are worried it's not going to get to the truth of what happened."
Victims are dismayed that Woolf, who is to stand down as Lord Mayor of London next month, will be taking up another demanding job, separate from her role heading up the inquiry.
"Some of my clients question her capability in terms of her diary commitments to do this very complex and lengthy inquiry," Millar said. "She's due to take on a prestigious appointment with the University of Law, which will involve promoting it to international students. We want to know: does she have a lot of international trips booked, is she going to be able to come to the meetings? You cannot do this remotely."
Saunders also questioned Woolf's expertise. "She's a corporate lawyer; she has no experience in investigating serious criminal cases," he said.
Woolf is under pressure to release the draft of her letter sent to the Home Office outlining the social contacts she had with the Brittans. It is unclear whether the letter was then subject to revisions.
Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, has asked Woolf to clarify a number of points regarding her appointment by next week.
One law firm has already drawn up plans to seek a judicial review of Woolf's appointment. Millar suggested that that remained a possibility for her clients too. She said many had been upset by Woolf's recent appearance before Vaz's committee.
"One of the things that angered our clients was when Fiona Woolf started talking about the victim community," Millar said. "There is no victim community; they are survivors of child abuse. They do not live in a communal state. They are a disparate range of people whose interests are not homogenous. Quite often they are isolated from other people, including each other, and they're not all talking and saying we want this we want that'. However, all the clients I've spoken with are unanimous that they don't want Fiona Woolf to chair this inquiry because the perception of her is someone too close to the establishment.
"A number of my more vocal clients have said they're not going to participate in the inquiry as it's currently set up," Millar said. "Whether they feel as strongly when the inquiry gets going I don't know. But you've got a pretty sceptical group of people. If you set an inquiry up from day one that looks like it's not going to listen to them, they are going to turn their back on it."

[David Guyatt]

Exam story on Church of rampant England paedophilia HERE.

[Magda Hassan]

Child sex exploitation 'social norm' in Greater Manchester

Jump media player
Media player help
Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.


Ann Coffey MP: ''We should be judging the people who prey on these children, not the children themselves''

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• Some 650 missing children 'at risk'
  
• Targets blamed for grooming failures
  
• Police 'get 2,000 grooming tip-offs'
  

Child sexual exploitation has become a "social norm" within some areas of Greater Manchester, according to the author of a report ordered after the Rochdale grooming case.
It said girls in uniform were regularly stopped by men outside schools.
Inquiry chairwoman Ann Coffey MP said the "prevailing public attitude" blamed children, leading to 1,000 convictions from 13,000 cases over six years.
Home Secretary Theresa May has described the report as "alarming".
Ms Coffey has called for exploitation to be "declared a public health priority".
In her report - Real Voices - Ms Coffey said explicit music videos, sexting and selfies could be "fuelling the increased sexualisation of children".
'Children are children' The "normalisation of quasi-pornographic images... has given rise to new social norms and changed expectations of sexual entitlement," she said.
The report was commissioned after the Rochdale grooming case in 2012
"We need to get across the key message that whatever young people wear and however sexualised they appear, they are still children and need our protection."
During the inquiry, Stockport MP Ms Coffey spoke to young people who had been approached by men.
One told her: "I said: 'Can you not see I am a little girl? I am in my uniform'."
Ms Coffey said: "It is an everyday occurrence for [some young girls], something they find deeply upsetting, that older men are approaching them on the street inviting them into cars and in some instances touching them."
The girls told her: "Well it happens so often, so many men, what can the police do?"
"That indicates they are living in an environment where it is felt to be ok to go and touch, and harass, and pester girls in uniforms," added Ms Coffey. "That is what I mean by it being a new social norm.
"It completely horrified me, so unexpected."

Report's main recommendations:

• Investigate why, out of 12,879 recorded sexual offences, only 2,341 were taken to court and why, of those, just 1,078 led to convictions
  
• A review into questioning and tone of cross examinations by defence barristers in child abuse cases
  
• Appoint a child sexual exploitation "champion" to work with police, councils and young people
  
• Develop a strategic approach to tackle the issue, like those in place for smoking, obesity, alcohol and drug abuse
  
• All police officers to receive child sexual exploitation training - currently 21% have been trained
  
• Train members of the community, including pharmacists, park attendants, bus drivers and hoteliers, to spot signs of abuse
  
• Spot checks at children's homes
  

The report raises concerns about the number of children reported missing, with 14,712 recorded from January until 17 September and highlights worries child exploitation is being under-reported.
Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

For too long their voices were ignored or, worse, dismissed by the system"

Tony Lloyd Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner
It was commissioned by Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Tony Lloyd to assess the improvements in protecting youngsters after nine men were jailed in 2012 for running a child sex ring in Heywood and Rochdale.
It found changes had been made, including a specialist team being set up by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
"Progress has been made and changes are taking place... but the biggest changes needed are in culture and attitudes of us all," Ms Coffey said.
She was "alarmed" the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) highlighted one girl who wore cropped tops and another being described as a "slag" by her father in cases that were declared No Further Action.
Police, social workers, prosecutors and juries all carry attitudes around with them, Ms Coffey said in the report.
Multiple investigations The report has recommended a review of all such cases in the past year to examine the reasons no action was taken and find "areas for learning and training".
"This may reflect the difficulties of prosecuting these cases in court when prevailing public attitudes often still blame children and young people for their own sexual exploitation."
Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Hundreds if not thousands of children have not been listened to for years or haven't been believed"

Nazir Afzal CPS North West chief prosecutor
GMP is investigating 260 cases of suspected child sexual exploitation. Of those, 174 have been recorded as crimes and 18 involve multiple suspects.
The report says young people are key to helping to tackle exploitation because police, the justice system and children's services "alone cannot succeed in protecting children".
It suggests there should be a show on a youth radio station to discuss issues surrounding exploitation.
PCC Mr Lloyd said: "For too long their voices were ignored or, worse, dismissed by the system. This report starts to redress that balance."
Chief constable of GMP Sir Peter Fahy said tackling the sexual exploitation of children and young people was "an absolute priority".
He said specialist training was being rolled out across the force but protecting youngsters was "the responsibility of us all".
"It is crucial that we work together to identify individuals who prey on vulnerable children and empower young people to speak up."
'Focussing on stereotypes' Nazir Afzal, chief prosecutor for the CPS in the north west said the "conviction rates for child sex exploitation are the highest ever" but there was still more work to do.
"Hundreds if not thousands of children have not been listened to for years or haven't been believed.
"Therefore, our duty is to build strong cases and bring these people to justice," he said.
A lawyer who represented some of the victims of Rochdale grooming case said many youngsters who are assaulted never report it.
Molly Whittal said there was a problem with the way some vulnerable youngsters are perceived.
She said even though there are lessons to be learnt from the Rochdale case, prosecutors still seem to be "focussing on stereotypes" when deciding not to take further action in some cases - a situation she described as "unacceptable".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-man...r-29803799

[David Guyatt]

Woolf is screwed. Theresa May should be too. Seven versions of one letter with Home Office editors assisting in production of the final draft. Some people might call this manipulating the truth in the full knowledge of its real impact? But either way her credibility is shot to pieces.

Two down - who will the government choose next to protect their boy and keep a lid on this sewer?

Head of child abuse inquiry Fiona Woolf under fresh pressure to resign



PAUL PEACHEY

CRIME CORRESPONDENT

Thursday 30 October 2014

The head of the Government's child abuse inquiry was under new pressure to quit tonight, after being accused of playing down her links with Lord Brittan in a letter disclosing their contacts which was re-drafted seven times with the help of the Home Office.

[B][B]In her letter accepting her role chairing the inquiry, Fiona Woolf had outlined the extent of her relationship with the peer, who has denied being part of a paedophilia cover-up in the 1980s and is expected to be a central part of her inquiry.[/B][/B]
[B][B]The letter was published last week, but yesterday the six previous versions of the document were also released and critics of the appointment of Ms Woolf, the current Lord Mayor of London, said they added weight to their demands that she should step down amid accusations of an establishment cover-up.[/B][/B]
[B][B]Keith Vaz, the head of a committee of MPs who questioned Ms Woolf last week, said the seventh draft of her letter gave a "sense of greater detachment" between Lord and Lady Brittan and Ms Woolf than was suggested by her previous attempts.[/B][/B]
[B][B]The role of Lord Brittan, a former Home Secretary, is likely to come under scrutiny as he received a "dossier" from an MP in the 1980s that reputedly detailed evidence of VIP sex rings. He said he passed on the file to be dealt with, but it has since been lost and nobody has been prosecuted as a result of its contents.[/B][/B]
[B][B]Ms Woolf had been asked to hand over the early versions of her letter after she told MPs that officials at the Home Office had a role in drafting them. They revealed that she had hosted dinner parties for the Brittans, met Lady Brittan for coffee and sponsored her £50 for a fun run.[/B][/B]
[B][B]Her initial meeting with Lady Brittan, initially said to be through a "mutual acquaintance", had been changed to a "third party" by the time the last version was produced.[/B][/B]
[B][B]And while the first version spoke of an "another exchange of dinner parties", the final one stressed the business nature of a meeting at which other City figures were present. The final version said she had had no social contact with the Brittans in 2013 two years later than in original drafts of the letter.[/B][/B]
[B][B]"Mrs Woolf's letter to the committee raises more questions than it answers about an appointment process that has been chaotic, and [about] a series of exchanges with the Home Office and others, where words, and sometimes even facts, have been amended," said Mr Vaz.[/B][/B]
[B][B]"It is extraordinary that Mrs Woolf did not even write the first draft of her letter, which was supposed to detail her own personal experiences. The letter then underwent seven drafts with a multiplicity of editors. The final version gave a sense of greater detachment between Lord and Lady Brittan and Mrs Woolf than her previous attempts."[/B][/B]
[B][B]Since last week, details of further events have emerged where she might have met the couple. But she insisted she could do the job and would "show no favours".[/B][/B]
[B][B][B]Lest we forget: Woolf's recollections[/B][/B][/B]

[B][B][B]Version one[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B]I was introduced to Lady Brittan by a mutual acquaintance in (insert date). I first met with Lord Brittan in a personal capacity when I was invited by Lady Brittan to a dinner hosted at their residence in 2008. From recollection there were approximately eight people… [there].[/B][/B]
[B][B][B]
Version seven[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B]I was first introduced to Lady Brittan through a third party. I subsequently met Lord Brittan in a personal capacity when I invited Lord and Lady Brittan to a dinner party at my residence on 9 January 2008. From recollection there were at least four other people present. I hosted two further dinner parties at my residence, where Lord and Lady Brittan were invited and attended along with other guests. These took place on 27 October 2008 and 9 February 2009… City matters were a significant focus of the occasions.[/B][/B]

[David Guyatt]

ChildLine refuses four times to back Fiona Woolf as head of sex abuse inquiry

It comes as victims representatives say that she has 'no qualifications' to lead inquiry and survivors do not have confidence in her leadership

Fiona Woolf is under increased pressure to resign as the head of the inquiry into child sex abuse Photo: Clara Molden









By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent

9:17AM GMT 31 Oct 2014



Fiona Woolf is under increased pressure to resign as the head of the inquiry into child sex abuse, as ChildLine refuses to back her leadership and representatives of victims say she has "no qualifications whatsoever" to lead the investigation.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is preparing for the first meeting of officials, Mrs Woolf and representatives of victims of child abuse to discuss the terms of the inquiry.

Peter Saunders, the chief executive of the National Association of People Abused in Childhood, who will be attending the meeting said that he was yet to meet a single survivor of child sex abuse who has "any confidence" in the leadership of Mrs Woolf.

Mrs Woolf is under pressure over her personal links to Leon Brittan, the former Home Secretary, who is likely to be called to give evidence to the inquiry over his handling of allegations of abuse during his time in office.

The Home Office has been helping to "cover up" links between the head of the child sex abuse inquiry as it emerged that a draft letter to prove Fiona Woolf had limited contacts with the Conservative grandee was re-written seven times.

Related Articles

• 
  
  
• Fiona Woolf faces renewed calls to step down
  30 Oct 2014
  
• Fiona Woolf letter: how it changed over seven re-writes
  30 Oct 2014
  
• Fiona Woolf letter went through seven re-writes
  30 Oct 2014
  
• Labour MP is condemned for linking Leon Brittan to child abuse
  28 Oct 2014
  
• Pick the perfect boarding school for your child
  Sponsored by FedEx
  

Sue Minto, the head of ChildLine, refused four times to back Mrs Woolf as the head of the inquiry and said that the victims need to be reassured that the individuals who will be doing the ground work are "the people who know what they are talking about".
Mr Saunders said: "What I am tempted to say to Fiona and to the Home Secretary who appointed Fiona Woolf, child abuse is like a cancer. We know that it is widespread, we know that it has the most devastating effect on the victims. Everyday we hear from hundreds of people who are still suffering from the effects of abuse.
"So if you are going to put together an inquiry, an investigation into this massive problem like a cancer then surely you would appoint a group of specialists who know something about the subject and will have the confidence of the people who are suffering from that particular problem.
Mr Saunders told Radio 4's Today Programme: "No one is having a pop at Fiona Woolf as a person, I am sure that she is a person of high integrity, but she has no qualification whatsoever to lead an inquiry into such a deeply, deeply disturbing issue as child abuse. She has no qualification to do that, she has no experience, she said as much."
"I am just one representation from one organisation but I have yet to meet anyone from the survivor organisations or individual survivors who have any faith in Fiona Woolf's chairship, or indeed many people on the panel."
Sue Minto, head of ChildLine, refuses to back Fiona Woolf four times on Radio 4's Today Programme
Mishal Husain: The NSPCC has not explicitly given its backing. Do you, as head of ChildLine, do you give her your full backing as the head of this inquiry?
Sue Minto: I think the most important thing is to ensure that whoever chairs the inquiry also has an excellent team, the team that has the experience and the ability, the expertise to make sure this is a full and thorough...
Mishal Husain: Yes but the main person, the chair, is obviously really important. Does she have your backing in that role?
Sue Minto: I think that the NSPCC and Childline are both saying that whilst the chair is a very important person actually it is much more important that the people who are really doing the delving and digging have the experience and expertise.
Mishal Husain: Right because many victims clearly think that she is not the right person. Does this mean you are not prepared to do that?
Sue Minto: No that's not what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that the focus on who is leading the inquiry does take away from the fact that what you absolutely need is a team of experienced, expert people.
Mishal Husain: So the victims are wrong to focus on that?
Sue Minto: No I don't think the victims are wrong. I think we have to listen to the victims. I think that it is broader than just who it is who is heading up the team and I think the victims need to be reassured that the individuals who will be doing the ground work if you like are the people who know what they are talking about.
Mishal Husain: It is striking because the victims are meeting the officials who are looking after the inquiry today and it is striking that on this you are not prepared to say that she is the right person to lead this inquiry.
Sue Minto: I have come on here obviously today to talk about victims, to talk about children and young people who are having huge difficulties and of course the NSPCC and ChildLine care deeply about what they say and it is one of the key things to listen to.

.

[Magda Hassan]

[B][B][B]Version one[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B]I was introduced to Lady Brittan by a mutual acquaintance in (insert date). I first met with Lord Brittan in a personal capacity when I was invited by Lady Brittan to a dinner hosted at their residence in 2008. From recollection there were approximately eight people… [there].[/B][/B]
[B][B][B]
Version seven[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B]I was first introduced to Lady Brittan through a third party. I subsequently met Lord Brittan in a personal capacity when I invited Lord and Lady Brittan to a dinner party at my residence on 9 January 2008. From recollection there were at least four other people present. I hosted two further dinner parties at my residence, where Lord and Lady Brittan were invited and attended along with other guests. These took place on 27 October 2008 and 9 February 2009… City matters were a significant focus of the occasions.[/B][/B]

If she can't work out in which house she went for dinner with them and who organised it then she is quite unsuitable to run a chook raffle on that basis alone. She is either clueless to the point of being well played by others or can't remember her lies.

[David Guyatt]

From the linked story in above post "Labour MP is condemned for linking Leon Brittan to child abuse", about Brittan's alleged past involvement in the Elm Guest House paedophile activity.

Labour MP is condemned for linking Leon Brittan to child abuse

Jim Hood MP is accused of misusing parliamentary privilege after making 'serious accusations against a noble lord'

Leon Brittan Photo: Alamy








By Peter Dominiczak, Political Editor

10:11PM GMT 28 Oct 2014


A Labour MP was last night embroiled in a row over the use of parliamentary privilege after he told the Commons that Lord Brittan, the former home secretary, had been accused of "improper conduct with children".

Jim Hood, the Labour MP for Lanark and Hamilton East, was denounced by Conservatives after he used a debate about coal miners to discuss reports about Lord Brittan.

Under a British constitutional convention, comments made in parliament are protected from libel action.

Lord Brittan has been accused of failing to act on a dossier about alleged VIP paedophile rings given to him by MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983. The peer has denied the claims.

During a Commons debate on coalfield communities last night, Mr Hood said: "By the way, the current exposé of Sir Leon Brittan [sic], the then home secretary, with accusations of improper conduct with children will not come as a surprise to striking miners of 1984."

Related Articles

• 
  
  
• Fiona Woolf could face second grilling from MPs over links to Leon Brittan
  27 Oct 2014
  
• Fiona Woolf faces renewed calls to step down
  30 Oct 2014
  
• Second member of Fiona Woolf inquiry admits controversial links with Lord Brittan
  24 Oct 2014
  
• 'I was warned not to challenge Brittan over paedophile dossier'
  06 Jul 2014
  
• All you need to cook tonight's dinner
  Sponsored by FedEx
  

MPs immediately challenged Mr Hood over his comments.
Conor Burns, the Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, said: "He has just made very profound, serious accusations against a noble lord. Is that in order?"
Lindsay Hoyle, the Deputy Speaker, said that he had not heard Mr Hood's comments but added: "It's up to each member to decide what they said and they must make that decision."
However, Mr Hood continued: "The rumours that Sir Leon Brittan was involved with misconduct with children does not come as news to miners who were striking in 1984. When miners were going up into the dock in magistrates' courts we were aware and miners were declaring… the point is miners were saying in the dock in magistrates' courts throughout the strike that they objected to instructions coming from the home secretary when there was reports about child abuse being linked with that same home secretary."
Mr Hoyle interrupted the Labour MP and said: "I think it is up to each MP, we have to be very careful on what we said, and we must consider what we are saying and what the implications are."
Mr Hood continued: "I accept, obviously, what you say but I'm just repeating what I'm reading in the papers."
Matthew Hancock, a Conservative business minister, said: "At the end of this debate the Labour front bench should disassociate themselves from the disgusting remarks of the previous speaker."
Mr Burns later suggested that Mr Hood may have misused parliamentary privilege by making the comments.
He told The Daily Telegraph: "I was profoundly concerned that in an almost casual aside an MP made allegations of child abuse against a serving member of the House of Lords.
"I'm really concerned he did it in an almost flippant way."
The new chairman of the government inquiry into child sex abuse has recently been criticised for her links to Lord Brittan.
Fiona Woolf, the Lord Mayor of London, has faced calls to resign after she admitted that she entertained the former home secretary and his wife three times at dinner parties at her house, and twice went to his home in central London for dinner.

[David Guyatt]

[B][B][B]Version one[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B]I was introduced to Lady Brittan by a mutual acquaintance in (insert date). I first met with Lord Brittan in a personal capacity when I was invited by Lady Brittan to a dinner hosted at their residence in 2008. From recollection there were approximately eight people… [there].[/B][/B]
[B][B][B]
Version seven[/B][/B][/B]
[B][B]I was first introduced to Lady Brittan through a third party. I subsequently met Lord Brittan in a personal capacity when I invited Lord and Lady Brittan to a dinner party at my residence on 9 January 2008. From recollection there were at least four other people present. I hosted two further dinner parties at my residence, where Lord and Lady Brittan were invited and attended along with other guests. These took place on 27 October 2008 and 9 February 2009… City matters were a significant focus of the occasions.[/B][/B]

If she can't work out in which house she went for dinner with them and who organised it then she is quite unsuitable to run a chook raffle on that basis alone. She is either clueless to the point of being well played by others or can't remember her lies.

It's worse than even that. There was another version too, as recounted by The Needle blog, which was edited out of the final version:

Private Dinners With Lord And Lady Brittan Were Hidden.

"The Brittan's hosted two dinner parties at their residence, which I was invited to and attended on 10 November 2009 and 15 February 2012. From my recollection there were no other guests who attended" Fiona Woolf (Page 14, Draft)
.
No mention of this in the final Home Office Approved Letter.
.
Why ?

[David Guyatt]

And then, of course, there's this. Which is completely damning and alone should be sufficient for her immediate resignation.

From The Needle blog:

Colin Tucker: Lost In Home Office Revisions

This didn't make the final Home Office approved draft.

Why?

Maybe because Scotland is excluded from this Overarching' Independent' Inquiry ?
Or was there another reason ?



1 Comment

All drafts and final letter can be viewed HERE.