Crime

Labour MP rejected calls for local grooming inquiry that identified more than 1,000 victims
Council in about-turn after journalist’s investigation

That’s identified. Of one gang. And there were how many gangs?

Now, erm, it doesn’t, in fact, matter what the numbers are. Not for this next point.

Which brings me to the two questions. What is that number which, when known, leads to actual riots? And no, I don’t mean 15 meatheads lobbing half bricks at the police. Actual real and sustained loss of civilian authority control. The second, obviously, is are we going to reach that number?

In short, what is the level of betrayal of these girls that leaves the mob triumphant over law and order?

What really worries me is that I have a horrible – even if still slight at this point – suspicion that there was enough vileness done to enough young girls that we’re going to find out.

Politics isn’t about truth it’s about beliefs. So, what number?

He says he has repeatedly tried to raise the alarm over the extent of sexual exploitation of children in Tameside, only for his warnings to be ignored and shut down by council officials.

Mr Billington says that a members development session was held by the council in 2020 to give reassurance that Tameside did not have the same grooming problems as Oldham.

However, he claims that figures presented to the council in 2020, showing that around 120 children were falling victim to child sexual exploitation in the borough every year, suggested that Tameside may have had an even worse problem than next-door Oldham.

Has he been pursuing what might have been happening – OK, probably was – for these years and was turned down/held back?

Or have we got an ambitious local politician on the make here? Because, of course, this is very much the story du jour.

That my tendency is to think the second gives a good taste of my attitude towards the political classes these days….

Musk accused of ‘politicising’ rape of young girls in UK to attack Starmer

But it is a political matter all the same, no?

Labour has blocked a national public inquiry into the grooming scandal in which thousands of vulnerable girls were raped and sexually abused by gangs of mainly British Pakistani men.

Any rise on thousands yet? Anyone willing to claim tens of thousands?

Denial about the extent of the problem is rooted deep in Britain’s political system. At times, it appears that the government’s approach to multiculturalism is not to uphold the law, but instead to minimise the risk of unrest between communities. Confronted with gangs of predominantly Pakistani men targeting predominantly white children, the state knew exactly what to do. For the good of community relations, it had to bury the story.

So, err, yes….

And above all, there was the concern over community relations: senior council staff were terrified that the abuse of children “had the potential to start a ‘race riot’”. The result was stasis, despite officials acknowledging in at least one case that abuse by Asian men had gone on for “years and years”.

It had: at least 1,000 girls were abused in the town between 1980 and 2009. Yet even this conservative estimate was disputed by authority figures, with West Mercia police superintendent Tom Harding insisting in 2018 the figure was “sensationalised”. The independent review later found it entirely plausible.

Yer Wha?

Since 1980? And at least a thousand in the one town? Meaing, likely, tens of thousands across the country?

Umm. How does this not end in lynchings?

Labour has blocked an inquiry into Sir Keir Starmer’s conduct as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service while investigating the Oldham child grooming scandal.

Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, refused to launch a public inquiry into historical sexual abuse by gangs in Oldham, saying it was for the council to decide whether one was necessary.

The scandal was one of several across the country in which dozens of girls were abused by British Pakistani gangs.

Police forces and prosecutors often did not take action for fear of being called racist or Islamophobic, a failing Sir Keir addressed in 2012 when he was running the CPS as the director of public prosecutions.

People are seeing this as an opportunity to get 2K.

At which point tribalism kicks in and no one gets anywhere.

Sigh.

There’s a whole layer of the British state that should be in jail over this. And it’s not the DPP. It’s lower than that. The police sergeants CPS lawyers, local councillors, it’s at that level. And trying to get the DPP means we’ll never be able to get those others.

Give up the political ambitions in order to be able to cut out the cancer.

So, that Nick Griffin lad. On Question Time. I’ve a memory that he talked about the grooming gangs and everyone laughed, shouted at thim, said that was just racism. Have I actually got that right? Did he mention it back in 2008 or whenever it was? And was it all shouted down?

A wealthy gay couple who repeatedly molested their adopted sons have been sentenced to 100 years in prison.

Zachary and William Zulock will spend the rest of their lives behind bars after pleading guilty to multiple charges including aggravated sodomy and child molestation. They are believed to have abused the boys since they were three and five years old.

One of the charges was that they pimped the kids out as well.

A suggestion might be not allowing adoption by paedos. Quite how to work out who is is of course a problem. There doesn’t appear to be any correlation with anything also as to who is and who is not. No, Teh Gayers doesn’t correlate with it. Well, only in the sense that if a man has a predeliction for boys then we’d call him gay paedo. But a taste for either male or female adults doesn’t raise – or lower – the chances of the paedo bit.

So, umm, how do we tell?

Both will almost certainly die in prison, having been sentenced to 100 years behind bars without the possibility of parole.

They’ll not last long, not unless entirely segregated from the rest of the prison population. Good honest murderers and drug dealers tend to have a low opinion of nonces.

A minister has been interviewed by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team over allegations that she helped her family to embezzle up to £3.9 billion from a nuclear energy project in Bangladesh.

Tulip Siddiq, the economic secretary to the Treasury, is accused of helping her aunt, the recently deposed former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, to broker a corrupt deal with Russia for the power plant.

From observing Bangladeshi politics as a columnist in that country – sure, corruption all around. But my impression – and it is only an impression based upon mild observation – is that the politics wasn’t about peculation. Rather, allowing to peculate was a function of politics. Folk might get a loan – not, really, repayable, or little demand that it be, say and for example – as a manner of gainingh political support. Or an import licence or……but the function of the moneyflows was to retain the political power which was the goal.

On the other hand I’ve direct experience with the Russian nuclear industry and that’s a rats’ nest of thievery. For the benefit of those doing is and nowt else.

It would surprise, at all, to find that a Russian reactor was, erm, not market priced. That billions were lifted off for the ruling family would. That’s just not my – and I emphasise again, this is an outsider’s perception – feeling for it.

Take that with the amount of importance it has, that view – not much.

We have an example of Bangladeshi politics closer to home in a certain borough. And a rats’ nest that is too – but no one’s been saying that the moneyflows are to directly enrich, they’re about retaining power……

New York City police took a man into custody who they believe is connected to the early morning death of a woman who was intentionally lit on fire on a stationary subway train.

Fall asleep on the tube and someone sets you on fire. That’ll aid in stopping you falling asleep on the tube, no?

The Manchester-based business fraudulently claimed to have been authorised and regulated by the FCA. It did this by manipulating the FCA’s register, a public record of regulated companies. Peter Currie, one Collateral’s directors, changed the name of Regal Pawn, a business that did have an FCA “interim permission”, to Collateral in December 2015. This allowed Collateral to encourage consumers to invest based on a bogus FCA authorisation.

The regulator did not spot this until November 2017 and did not correct the register until more than two months later in January 2018.

Not that I’d want to recommend illegality but that is clever, got to admit.

Lady Owen, 31, the second youngest member of the House of Lords, is spearheading efforts to make the creation or solicitation of deep fake porn – in which explicit photographs or videos of a person are created using AI – illegal.

While it is illegal to share or threaten to share deep fake porn, it is not illegal to create or ask for it to be created. And that is one of many loopholes that Baroness Owen describes as “gaping omissions in our legislation where women are being failed”.

Asked if the threat of this kind of technology was putting off young women from taking on public roles, such as going into politics, Lady Owen said: “I think there’s no doubt that this does have a silencing effect.

Given the technological capability deep fake porn is going to be a commonplace. Just because that’s what folk will do. The only possible reaction from those in public life is going to have to be “Well?”.

Anyway, Lady Owen? Ah, yes, the Spad…..

A woman who lied about being raped by three lacrosse players when she attended Duke University has admitted making up the story for the first time.

Crystal Mangum’s claim that she was raped at a 2006 fraternity party sparked a national media storm after Rolling Stone, the New York Times and other major US publications covered the case.

On Friday, almost 20 years after the allegation was proven to be false, she said she had “made up a story that wasn’t true” in an interview with the podcast Let’s Talk with Kat.

Mangum, who is black, originally said she was raped by three white lacrosse players at a party where she had been hired to perform as a stripper. The allegations sparked widespread debate on ‘frat boy’ culture, racism and sexual violence on Amercian university campuses.

“I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t and that was wrong,” the 46-year-old said in the interview.

Umm, no, perhaps not. A woman’s unsuppoorted word is just that, unsupported word. We should always listen, yes, but believe?

The inmate, a British professional and entrepreneur on the outside, is on remand awaiting trial charged with non-violent crimes, which he denies.

OK.

though I am rather proud that I have been up before the governors on three charges in eight months.

8 months on remand? That’s getting close to what would be likely time served for a white collar case, no?

A “five minutes to pay” parking rule has left a woman facing a £1,906 bill.

Rosey Hudson is being taken to court by the operator of a car park in Derby for not paying her tickets within five minutes of arrival.

She said poor signal on her mobile phone meant she had to use Wi-Fi at her place of work to purchase tickets on an app, paying £3.30 each day starting in February 2023.

But she has since been sent 10 penalty charge notices (PCNs) worth £100 each for not paying for parking within five minutes.

Excel Parking, which runs the Copeland Street car park, is demanding Miss Hudson pay £1,905.76 to clear nine outstanding PCNs, which includes a £70 “debt recovery” charge for each one, eight per cent annual interest and £195 in court costs.

Now, so far as we’re told at least, the lady paid for her parking. Every day. She claims – claims – that WiFi at the parking lot was bad. So, she got to work then used the WiFi there to do so.

They’re now charging her all the penalties for not having paid within the 5 minutes.

There’s some cretinous jobsworth behind this:

In a statement, the spokesman said: “The signage at the car park made it clear that it was ‘Pay on Entry’ and that there was a maximum period of five minutes to purchase the parking tariff.

“This is one of the specific terms and conditions for use of the car park. It is the driver’s responsibility to read and understand the terms.

“It seems that Miss Hudson is the author of her own misfortune.”

Murder’s too good for that sort of person, no?

Saplings from the felled Sycamore Gap tree are to be planted across the UK, including next to one of London’s most famous roads, at a rural category C prison and at a motor neurone disease centre opening in the name of the late rugby league star Rob Burrow.

The National Trust on Friday announced the recipients of 49 saplings it has called “trees of hope”.

On the other hand from the point of view of the genes of the tree it getting sliced down was the best thing to ever happen.

Sky News reported two sources alleging that Haigh had made the report in order to gain a newer handset from her employer. A source close to the transport secretary said that was “absolute nonsense” and it was an honest mistake.

Haigh disclosed the conviction to Starmer when she was first appointed to his shadow cabinet and sources said he was supportive of her. As the conviction has now been spent it is no longer on her record.

In a statement, Haigh – who was a special constable in the Metropolitan police between 2009 and 2011 – said: “In 2013 I was mugged while on a night out. I was a young woman and the experience was terrifying.

“I reported it to the police and gave them a list of what I believed had been taken – including a work mobile phone that had been issued by my employer.

“Some time later I discovered that the mobile in question had not been taken. In the interim I had been issued with another work phone. The original work device being switched on triggered police attention and I was asked to come in for questioning.

“My solicitor advised me not to comment during that interview and I regret following that advice.

“The police referred the matter to the [Crown Prosecution Service] and I appeared before magistrates. Under the advice of my solicitor I pleaded guilty – despite the fact this was a genuine mistake from which I did not make any gain. The magistrates accepted all of these arguments and gave me the lowest possible outcome [a discharge] available.”

1) There’s something dodgy to the story.

2) You can get a criminal conviction for not recalling exactly what was in your handbag when it was stolen.

I’m aghast at either answer.

Cyclists, car passengers and pedestrians are being urged by police to help catch bad drivers by filming dangerous motorists.

They are being asked to submit footage of anyone committing driving offences such as dangerous driving, using a mobile phone at the wheel or even not wearing a seat belt.

The police promise that each piece of footage uploaded by the citizen detectives to a central national database, whether captured on a dashcam, CCTV or mobile phone held by a passenger, will be reviewed by specially-trained staff.

First observation is that “Be a Nark!” will be a very popular scheme. The Stasi would have had no recruitment problems here – as it didn’t there. People are like that.

But, erm, here’s the police insisting they will watch all video. So, what gets sent to them then? Obviously, there will be flashes and so on – just will be. But what if they get sent all hte CCTV etc of crimes that they won’t normally deal with? Shoplifting, bike theft, burglary (at least some Ring cameras must have that on tape) and so on?

And what if someone were keeping records of what was sent in and the results that came out? That would be fun, no?

A paedophile convicted of sexually assaulting his stepdaughter has been allowed to remain in the UK as deporting him would breach his right to a “family life”.

It’s possible to think that he’s already affected his family life, no?

The man, who is in his early 50s and is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was jailed for three years in 2020 for “appalling” offences including sexual penetration and sexual assault against his stepdaughter and two other young girls in the family.

Because of the severity of his offences, he was ordered to be deported back to his African homeland.

However, he successfully appealed against the sanction, with an immigration judge ruling deportation would “negatively impact” the “wellbeing” of his wife and three biological children, whom the sexual offences were not committed against.

An interesting example of one of those claims. Inhabiting a house with an unrelated male – a stepfather – is one of those dangerous things in life….

Domestic abusers could be freed from jail on electronic tags as little as a quarter of the way through their sentence under new legislation laid before Parliament.

Offenders convicted of crimes such as harassment, stalking, coercive control and non-fatal strangulation will normally be presumed unsuitable to be released early with a tag and an at-home curfew.

The new legislation, however, states that the governor at the domestic abuser’s prison can release them early if there are “exceptional circumstances justifying this”.

At a guess exceptional means “We’ve spent all hte money on train drivers wages so have no space in the jail”.