This is such unusual behaviour in the Third Sector, isn’t it?
The founder of Britain’s leading charity for survivors of child sexual abuse had a sexual encounter with a woman he knew had allegedly been abused, it emerged yesterday.
Peter Saunders stepped down from the Independent Inquiry into Childhood Sexual Abuse, the investigation into sexual abuse in schools, churches and other institutions, after failing to declare the incident, The Mail on Sunday reported.
The former teacher, who founded the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, first saw the woman in 2008 after she gave an interview talking about the abuse she endured as a child.
Mr Saunders, 61, joined her and her female friend for lunch at a restaurant later that year. After drinking three bottles of wine between them, he went upstairs to use the lavatory where he admitted a “sex act” took place.
After the encounter, which he insists was entirely consensual, the woman complained to police that Mr Saunders had forced her to carry out the act. He was questioned by officers and denied the allegation. The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to proceed due to “insufficient evidence”.
Mr Saunders, who is married with five children between him and his wife, told the newspaper that he was “deeply sorry” and would carry the shame of the incident for the rest of his life. He also expressed regret for paying the restaurant bill on the charity’s credit card.
That last line rather grates, doesn’t it.
“Third sector”, “Charities”, they’ve all turned to shite. So sad.
Not all, just find a very small, unknown worthy cause being run on a shoestring. They are worth your time.
Actually, paid for with your taxes. Total Income of around £395K. Grant from the Home Office of £267K.
“Not all, just find a very small, unknown worthy cause being run on a shoestring. They are worth your time.”
One of the biggest giveaways is how much volunteer time goes into a charity. Will people man a lottery stall for free, hold a tin, design Christmas cards for them?
Jesus. The ‘charity’ sector must rank well behind Wall Street and private military contractors in terms of personal morality.
All charities should have all government funding withdrawn.
They are the welfare state in disguise. And I don’t mean welfare for people who were abused as a child, I mean welfare for worthless pervy cunts like Saunders.
Aged 61 and has learned FA.
@JuliaM – yes very small, very local and ideally staffed only by volunteers.
A friend of mine worked part-time for a little while at a smallish charity in Hong Kong. She found that HK fundraising was just enough to cover the costs of the HK office, so it kept a couple of middle class expats whose only job was to organise fund-raising events ie parties for their chums. No-one outside the organisation benefitted.
Overall, the main cost of this charity was the salary and swanning around costs of the CEO, who inherited the position.
Why would this surprise anybody? There’s a reason that there are 1,000 tasteless jokes about scout-masters – because a concentrated population of vulnerable or exploitable individuals is always, always, always going to attract a small but non-zero group of people who are looking to take advantage of that particular vulnerability/exploitability. It’s like when the infamous US bank robber Willie Sutton was asked ‘why do you rob banks?’ and he replied ‘because that’s where the money is.’
Charities and others who work with/for vulnerable/exploitable people need to be always-vigilant for these kinds of personalities. I’m sure some are. I’m equally-sure that some are not. As we see here. This guy didn’t wake up one morning and suddenly decide to behave this way.
And – incidentally – it cuts both ways. Such organizations can also attract phoney victims, who are looking to exploit charitable impulses.
llater,
llamas
he went upstairs to use the lavatory where he admitted a “sex act” took place.
Did he drag her upstairs? Is she in the habit of wandering into the gents? Or did she regret the incident and take her angst out on him?
If the latter, perhaps someone should examine her earlier claims.
Or maybe she was disgusted by his use of the charity’s credit card.
“He also expressed regret for having been caught paying the restaurant bill on the charity’s credit card.”
FIFY
Surprised he hasn’t been promoted to chair the enquiry. He has now shown he has personal experience in the field.
Worked for Margaret Hodge, didn’t it?
Pat wrote:
‘Did he drag her upstairs? Is she in the habit of wandering into the gents? Or did she regret the incident and take her angst out on him?
If the latter, perhaps someone should examine her earlier claims.’
What are you trying to suggest here? (and bear in mind that he fully-admitted what took place). Does the question of whether or not she consented to the activity (whatever it was) somehow make it less of a horribly-improper thing for him to have done, regardless?
llater,
llamas
Mr Saunders, who is married with five children between him and his wife…
“Good heavens, Holmes, that’s why he had sex with that woman… there were five kids between him and his wife!”
“Exactly, Watson!”
(Surprised you didn’t catch that one yourself, Timmy!)
Ummmm
If she fully consented, what’s the problem?
Chad Prather applies to replace Mr Saunders
At the end of his excellent and moving book, We Were Warriors, Jonny Mercer talks about why he went in to politics. I’m paraphrasing and working from memory because I don’t have access to it for the next few days but he was pissed off at the way the MoD was dealing with the mental health of former servicemen and their families after Iraq and Afghanistan.
IIRC he claimed that £1bn had been thrown at small and sometimes large charities without any real supervision and most of it was wasted. He goes within an inch of claiming that a significant amount was fraudulent.
It was a classic case of the MSM claiming something should be done and politicians doing something.