This is exactly what I was alluding to, when I wrote, “Kidnapped? Made into slaves for criminal gangs, for purposes that one flinches from considering?”
Dame Sara Thornton is a former UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner, and was previously Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police. She reckons asylum-seeking children, spirited away from hotels, may have been set to work on drug farms or in the sex industry.
She also said that 440 children were reported missing, of which the 200 mentioned in earlier reports were merely those who remained unaccounted-for.
But the bombshell was that the government has known about the problem for a considerable amount of time, but simply couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it.
Watch:
The clip also covers the death of Zara Aleena and the failings of the Probation Service. Dame Sara said the service needed to be properly staffed, funded and resourced.
And on the subject of recent convictions of Metropolitan Police officers, she said, “You can’t keep on saying it’s just one bad apple; it’s another bad apple.”
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UK prime minister Rishi Sunak was under pressure over the murder of Zara Aleena in Ilford – so one of his mouthpieces rushed in to claim there was no political element to the case.
Ms Aleena was murdered by Jordan McSweeney, who had been wrongly assessed as a “medium risk” offender, when in fact the violent, woman-hating racist should have been classed “high risk” and recalled to prison after missing probation appointments.
A Ministry of Justice review has found that probation officers were under mounting pressure at the time of McSweeney’s assessment, with staffing shortages and an increasingly-heavy workload.
These are both symptoms of government funding cuts – and, indeed, during PMQs, Keir Starmer raised a “botched, then reversed” attempt to privatise the service, and a decade of underinvestment.
And Ms Aleena’s family’s spokeswoman, her aunt Faraz Naz, made it perfectly clear that “Government bears responsibility too, it is not just the probation service. They have blood on their hands.”
But Tory MP Andrew Bowie, discussing the case on the BBC’s Politics Live, falsely claimed this had not been said – after trying to say that the failings of the Probation Service were not political:
Of course they were.
They were the result of political decisions to starve the service of staff and resources.
A Conservative MP was responsible. But once again, it seems, we are not likely to see anybody take responsibility.
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Murdered by the police: This Site put out the infographic above after the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens. Now a damning report has confirmed that criminals and sexual predators are being allowed into police services across England and Wales. But are we seeing a change in attitude that means these creatures will no longer be protected?
Criminals and sexual predators who should never have been allowed through the vetting process are now acting as police officers in England and Wales, according to a damning report.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) announced the finding after a review of eight police services in the wake of the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a Metropolitan Police officer.
Of 725 sample cases closely examined in the review, there were concerns about 131 officers cleared to serve in police forces – but the watchdog said the true total could be much higher.
The authors questioned 11,000 officers and staff – and of the women who responded, “an alarming number alleged appalling behaviour by male colleagues”, raising concerns about risks to people outside the police.
“Almost without exception, they’d been on the receiving end of behaviour which absolutely has no place in the modern workplace,” [Inspector of Constabulary and report author Matt Parr] added.
The report adds: “We found a culture where misogyny, sexism and predatory behaviour towards female police officers and staff and members of the public still exists.”
In the first part of this interview, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said every police force must review their recruitment and disciplinary process:
But the government is currently trying to recruit 20,000 new police officers – and has been since late 2019. Considering the difficulty it is having, can there be any faith that corners aren’t being cut and more “bad apples” are being allowed in?
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Brace yourself, because this won’t be easy to watch or read.
Last night (September 29), on Late Night Mash, comedian Shaparak (Shappi) Khorsandi delivered an impassioned attack on the so-called morality police in her homeland of Iran.
These are people who murder women for failing to cover their hair completely. Watch:
For more context on this, here’s another comedian from Iran, Omid Djalili:
2/. Ghazale Chelavi, a 32 year old mountaineer shot in the head in Amol city after chanting “we are all Masha Amini” pic.twitter.com/mIQB6bnAn5
6/. Use hashtag #Mahsa_Amini not #Masha her name was MAHSA. A real chance to get awareness out about this urgent issue. Tho it’s Iran 🇮🇷 it’s not just a Middle Eastern issue it’s a global human rights issue so like @yungblud & @DUALIPA feel free to share your own posts & thoughts
Bear in mind that he said 41 people had died four days ago. By yesterday that death toll had more than doubled:
Protests continue in a number of cities across Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the so-called ‘morality’ police. 83 people including children have been killed. ‘Morality’ seems to mean what clothes you wear, not how you treat kids and young women.
Thousands of Iranians are protesting – and risking their lives to do so – but people across the world are taking action as well.
Here in the UK, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was imprisoned in Iran for six years, cut her hair in a gesture of solidarity with women in and from Iran who have thrown away their hijabs to do the same:
"For my mother, for my daughter, for the fear of solitary confinement, for the women of my country, for freedom." https://t.co/NKittaZeLL
What a remarkable image. The daughter of Minoo Majidi–a mother of two who was killed by the Iranian regime while protesting for #MahsaAmini–stands at her mother's gravesite. She is defiantly unveiled, and in her left hand she holds the hair she cut from her head. pic.twitter.com/QPqHGk4MDy
n memory of Mahsa Amini 🖤 I wrote her name with my Fixie bike in Farsi using Persian Script. Her death, on September 16, 2022, at the hands of Iran's "morality" police, has sparked nationwide anti-government protest. #MahsaAmini#مهسا_امینی#FixieGPSArtByKubapic.twitter.com/TaJEBq3Drh
Iranian National Football(soccer) team wears all black to cover their country's colors in protest of the death of Mahsa Amini. pic.twitter.com/eicXK2pcJU
If people in Iran are risking their lives to make a stand against this, then people elsewhere can certainly do something in solidarity.
Will you? Or do you think it’s all right because it isn’t happening to you?
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Justifying the unacceptable: as always, Priti Patel has shown herself to be callous, immoral and possibly homicidal.
Priti Patel has announced a “cruel and inhumane” deal to transport asylum seekers crossing the English Channel to Rwanda – a country where her own government has expressed concern about “extrajudicial killings, deaths in custody, enforced disappearances and torture”.
Patel praised the record of the east African country on human rights. It was the site of the genocide of 800,000 people, exactly 28 years ago in 1994, in which members of the minority Tutsi group were murdered by the majority Hutus.
The genocide was carried out with shocking efficiency. Lists of Hutu government opponents were handed out to militias who killed them, along with all of their families. ID cards bored details of people’s ethnic group, so militias set up roadblocks where Tutsis were slaughtered. Thousands of Tutsi women were forced to become sex slaves.
The slaughter ended after 100 days, when the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front when a military victory against the Hutu government. The country is currently a dictatorship run by the RPF.
Critics of current president Paul Kagame have been murdered – or suffered assassination attempts – and concerns have been raised about the conviction on terrorism charges of Paul Rusesabagina, subject of Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda about his role saving more than 1,000 people during the genocide.
Only last year, the UK government – of which Priti Patel is Home Secretary – expressed serious concerns to the United Nations over “continued restrictions to civil and political rights and media freedom” in Rwanda, and called for independent investigations into those “allegations of extrajudicial killings, deaths in custody, enforced disappearances and torture”.
And now Patel wants to send vulnerable refugees, who may have been victims of atrocity and torture, to this country. Perhaps she considers Rwanda’s record to be mild in comparison with her own views on what should happen to asylum-seekers.
It is – and always has been – a bizarre pose from the daughter of economic migrants from Uganda (originally of Indian origin). If she thinks the current wave of asylum seekers should not be allowed to stay in the UK, why haven’t she and all her family packed themselves off back to Uganda?
And is this really about solving the UK’s illegal immigration problem – or about saving ‘Big Dog’ Boris Johnson’s bacon?
He has been named by the Metropolitan Police as a criminal for attending illegal parties in Downing Street during Covid-19 lockdown.
According to the Telegraph, he’s facing a second fine over former communication chief Lee Cain’s leaving party, where he is understood to have made a speech and remained in attendance for a considerable amount of time.
🔴 EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson facing second ‘partygate’ fine over aide’s leaving eventhttps://t.co/tlfucezRv5
The knock-on effect is that he has lied to Parliament – an offence for which there is only one penalty: He must resign as prime minister.
But the overprivileged, entitled criminal and liar doesn’t want to go, so it seems he is looking for a way to distract us from his crimes.
So suddenly he’s on our TV’s appealing to NIMBYs (people who say Not In My Back Yard to particular events or plans) across the UK to support what he called a “shared humanitarian impulse” with a nation whose human rights record is, let’s be honest – terrifying.
This Writer hopes it’s a grave miscalculation.
People don’t want to be overcome by waves of refugees seeking to settle in the UK in response to the foreign adventures of Tory (and other) governments who have merrily bombed their own countries into rubble, but there is an obvious answer to that: stop bombing their countries.
The excuse that asylum seekers are encouraging and enriching people smugglers is a lie. In fact, Johnson’s government – and especially Patel herself – is encouraging people smugglers by closing off all legal routes into the UK.
He says they should only take such legal routes, but that is impossible when they don’t exist!
So I hope the people of the UK see through this transparent attempt to whitewash a dirty, corrupt politician by scapegoating people who only want to be able to live in peace, in a peaceful country.
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Keir Starmer: like Priti Patel, he seems to support terrorism rather than condemn it.
It didn’t take long, after Priti Patel announced that the UK was to proscribe the political organisation that forms the government of Palestine, for the attacks on Jeremy Corbyn to start landing.
Here’s some ‘Mercan called Jackson Wolf Pincus demonstrating the kind of ignorance we have come to expect from people of – shall we say – a certain persuasion:
Hey man, as someone from Tacoma who lives in the UK I beg you to simply shut up about stuff you have no idea about, because you are making the side look bad.
Rather than shut up, though, Jackson doubled down – prompting a well-deserved put-down as follows:
Has anyone else noticed that Jews who support apartheid and ethnic-cleansing invariably hate Jeremy Corbyn, and Jews who oppose apartheid and ethnic-cleansing like him?
It's almost as if Corbyn appeals to Jews who aren't massive racists. https://t.co/PpMFoSoyeM
— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush 🟨🟥🥀🇵🇸 (@WarmongerHodges) November 21, 2021
Yes indeed, it does seem the case that Jeremy Corbyn’s pacifist, anti-terror stance appeals both to supporters of Palestinian self-determination and to non-racist Jews (and you should bear in mind that many people are both).
The Hamas story also led to debate about whether Patel’s decision was justified, or if other organisations or governments might deserve similar treatment.
The government of Israel, perhaps?
Can't seem to find the Hamas equivalent for the funding that goes to many of our MPs by the Apartheid States supporters in the UK?
It’s an accurate criticism. There’s a very clear paper trail that leads from MPs – on all sides of Parliament – to the Israeli Embassy and that nation’s government. Many of our MPs appear to be in that government’s pocket.
Among them is Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader who persecutes both Muslims and left-wing Jews, sparing his sympathy only for those who echo his wholehearted support for apartheid Israel and its violence to the Palestinians it holds captive.
So it should be no surprise that Starmer has whipped Labour MPs to support Patel’s proscription of Hamas. He wants to make sure Palestinians know that the UK supports Israel against them, no matter which party is in power, never mind the fact that Labour is supposed to support self-determination for both Israel and Palestine, and never mind the fact that Labour’s sovereign decision-maker – the party conference – voted to condemn Israel in September.
Many people, it seems, believe Starmer is right to support Israeli atrocities. Perhaps they don’t understand what is really going on.
If you know such people, show them this:
Gaza:
4 hours of electricity per day. 97% of water is contaminated. 50% of children express no will to live. 70% of children suffer from PTSD. 70% of children experience regular nightmares. 70% of young people are unemployed. 60% of babies are anaemic.
Let’s focus down onto Palestinian children. Many of us have kids, right?
How would we feel if our children were treated in the same way as those in the thread below – bearing in mind that Keir Starmer supports, to the hilt, everything that has happened to them?
Thread: 2021 is already the deadliest year for Palestinian children since 2014. @DCIPalestine had documented the killings of 78 Palestinian children at the hands of Israeli forces and civilians. This #ChildrensDay, we’re sharing their names, faces, and stories.
On May 5, Israeli forces shot and killed Said Yousef Mohammad Odeh, 16, in Odala. He was struck with live ammunition in the back near his right shoulder and pelvis and both bullets exited from the front. Said was a rising soccer star. https://t.co/1YayjWQoqTpic.twitter.com/46d4WuAj9v
An Israeli airstrike in Beit Hanoun on May 10 killed Hussein Muneer Hussein Hamad, 11; Ibrahim Abdullah Mohammad Hassanain, 16; Ibrahim Yousef Attalla al-Masri, 11; Marwan Yousef Attalla al-Masri, 6; Rahaf Mohammad Attalla al-Masri, 10; and Yazan Sultan Mohammad al-Masri, 2. pic.twitter.com/nqNK1vkjtw
Israeli forces shot and killed Rashid Mohammad Rashid Abu Arra, 16, with live ammunition in the northern occupied West Bank on May 12. https://t.co/yv5rIPiTAw
Israeli forces shot and killed Bashar Ahmad Ibrahim Samour, 17, in Abasan Al-Jadida in the southern Gaza Strip. He worked as a farmer near the perimeter fence and was connecting irrigation piping when he was shot with live ammunition by Israeli forces. pic.twitter.com/DmqNkMh0UA
On May 13, an Israeli drone-fired missile killed 17-year-old Khaled Imad Khaled Qanou in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. https://t.co/YdFb4LL4yf
Israeli forces targeted residential areas in Al-Bureij refugee camp on May 13, killing Ahmad Rami Mahmoud al-Hawajri, 13, (pictured) with a drone-fired missile and 13-year-old Lina Mohammad Mahmoud Issa with an airstrike from an Israeli warplane. pic.twitter.com/Zqf6gV0Mzu
Israeli warplanes fired at least 20 missiles at a densely populated neighborhood in Beit Lahiya on May 13. The Israeli attack killed 4 brothers: Ismail, 7; Amir, 6; Adham, 4; and Mohammad Rafat Mohammad Tanani, 2, as well as the boys’ parents. https://t.co/YdFb4LL4yf
On May 14, two Israeli missiles hit Mahmoud al-Attar’s home in Beit Lahia, killing Amira Mohammad Mahmoud al-Attar, 6, and her two brothers, Islam Mohammad Mahmoud al-Attar, 8, and nine-month-old Mohammad Zain Mohammad Mahmoud al-Attar & their mother. https://t.co/YdFb4LL4yf
An Israeli airstrike killed 4 of Alaa Abu Hatab's children, Yamen Alaa Mohammad Abu Hatab, 5; Bilal Alaa Mohammad Abu Hatab, 9; Yousef Alaa Mohammad Abu Hatab, 10; and their sister, Miriam Alaa Mohammad Abu Hatab, 7. Their mother, Yasmeen, was killed alongside her children. pic.twitter.com/0jmxlfLXEy
Israeli warplanes launched dozens of airstrikes around 1 a.m. on May 16 on Al-Wehda street in Gaza City, targeting residential buildings and civilian infrastructure. DCIP documented 18 Palestinian children killed in the Israeli aerial attacks. https://t.co/09C6y8XfJH
Brothers Adam, 3, and Zaid Izzat Mu’in al-Qawlaq, 8, were also killed in the May 16 Israeli attack on Al-Wehda street, alongside Hana, 14, and her brother, Ahmad Shukri Ameen al-Qawlaq, 15; Dima Rami Riad al-Ifranji, 15, and six-month-old Qusai Sameh Fawwaz al-Qawlaq. pic.twitter.com/hRACO5ioGe
Mohammad Khalil Younis Mohammad Freijat, 14, was struck in the head with Israeli-fired live ammunition on May 12, in Hebron’s Bab Al-Zawya neighborhood while shopping with his friends. He died from his injuries in Hebron 4 days later on May 16. https://t.co/93dC4wqFLS
On May 17, an Israeli drone-fired missile strike killed Yousef Rafeeq Ismail al-Baz, 13, on the spot, around noon, and critically injured the boy’s 16-year-old brother, Ramadan. The al-Baz family home was directly struck by the missile. pic.twitter.com/yrw8YNZamy
Israeli forces shot Islam Wael Fahmi Dar Nasser, 16, in the head with live ammunition on May 18 in the village of Bil'in. He was killed during a demonstration as Israeli forces confronted Palestinian protestors in the village near. https://t.co/ITiAfHKT4p
On May 17, Israeli forces shot and killed 17-year-old Zuhdi Muhannad Zuhdi al-Tawil in occupied East Jerusalem after he allegedly committed a stabbing attack at a light rail station. https://t.co/RnllcmMJMQ
A few days later in Beita, on June 16, Israeli forces shot Ahmad Zahi Ibrahim Bani-Shamsa, 15, in the head with live ammunition. Ahmad, left, and Mohammad, right, who was killed five days earlier, were friends. https://t.co/nPzs7GiINzpic.twitter.com/Xh86QdRaXR
Mohammad Mo’ayyad Bahjat Abu Sara, 11, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 3 p.m. as he sat in his father’s car near the entrance to the town of Beit Ummar located north of Hebron. https://t.co/idZAWWHRaW
Imad Khaled Saleh Hashash, 15, was shot and killed by Israeli forces on August 24 as he stood on the roof of his home watching as Israeli forces conducted a raid in the Balata refugee camp located southeast of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. https://t.co/9QaEtDrKAz
Amjad Osama Jalal Abu Sultan, 14, was shot and killed by Israeli forces around 10 p.m. on October 14 after he allegedly lit a Molotov cocktail in Beit Jala, west of Bethlehem near Route 60, a main north-to-south route in the occupied West Bank. https://t.co/h7JdoLAeUT
On November 18, an armed Israeli civilian shot and killed 16-year-old Omar Ibrahim Ayoub Abu Assab after he allegedly attacked two Israeli paramilitary border police officers in occupied East Jerusalem. https://t.co/7k2akcRV79
It’s a catalogue of terror – and one that is incomplete because I am sure there are many murders that are hushed up by the Israeli authorities.
Keir Starmer supports this terror, and so does Priti Patel. Remember that she was forced to resign from Theresa May’s cabinet after trying to run her own policy on Israel, using public money, during and after a visit to that country to meet top politicians there, while claiming to be on holiday.
Nobody should excuse deaths and other harm that Hamas or other Palestinians have caused. Blame for the Israel-Palestine conflict lies on both sides.
But when one starts bandying around words like “terrorist”, one should apply it fairly.
Looking at the way Israel forces Palestinian people to live, and the disproportionate number of deaths and injuries suffered by Palestinians in comparison to Israeli, it is clear that Palestine is not the only country run by terrorists.
What does that say about its supporters like Starmer and Patel – and all those UK politicians who have taken money in return for their support?
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Shot dead: Scamp’s reward for being a playful puppy who acted according to her nature.
There’s a big push to end the ban on hunting with dogs at the moment, because we have a Conservative government with a huge majority and Tories love cruelty to animal.
Today we found that this cruelty extends even to the dogs, with the filmed murder of a young hound – apparently for being too much trouble for her handlers.
It seems they got tired of having to chase her back in, after being allowed out into the exercise field with the rest of her pack.
So they shot her in the head.
The revelation comes after secret filming showed hounds at the Duke of Beaufort’s Hunt in Gloucestershire being shot dead at kennels (be warned: if you visit the site you will see footage of this happening).
It seems hounds can be killed, legally, if they are too old to hunt, or are ill or injured. The Hunt told ITV that hounds are humanely euthanised if they cannot be rehomed – and most can’t because they are not house-trained and are used to a pack environment.
But the footage appears to show one hound being shot simply for being playful and enjoying life.
Here’s the story:
*PLEASE READ* The truth behind the poor hound that appeared to be ill in the hound shooting footage. Poor Scamp was killed for being too lively and wanting to play. Her punishment was a bullet to the head for having too much fun. Please RT pic.twitter.com/ki8qEPHNgh
The RSPCA has responded to the footage (after being challenged on it, on Twitter) – but only to say that it has handed Hunt-related prosecutions to the police and would appreciate an investigation:
This footage is extremely distressing and we want to see as many hounds as possible rehomed and given a second chance at life. The RSPCA agreed to hand over any hunting prosecutions to the police in 2016 and so we would welcome a full police investigation into this incident.
There was no indication that the RSPCA had bothered to bring the incident to the attention of the police – an act that would have had greater weight than if any ordinary member of the public did so. Asked if it would take such action…
Are you going to insist the police investigate and prosecute? A yes/no answer is all that's needed, no other commentary. thanks.
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Why are the UK’s news media avoiding any mention of the Metropolitan Police Service’s collusion in the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard?
Commissioner Cressida Dick was well aware of concerns about Wayne Couzens, long before he planned and executed his crimes against Ms Everard.
He had been nicknamed ‘The Rapist’ by colleagues at the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, which he joined in 2011, because he made some female colleagues feel uncomfortable, according to the Evening Standard.
The paper also reported that Kent Police took no action in 2015 after it was alleged that he had been seen driving around Dover, naked from the waist down.
And the Met – which he joined in 2018 – received further accusations of indecent exposure by Couzens on two further occasions. Neither of them were investigated properly in the days before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Ms Everard.
The BBC reported in July that the Independent Office for Police Conduct said a total of 12 gross misconduct or misconduct notices had so far been served on police officers from multiple forces in relation to the Couzens case, including about the handling of two separate claims that Couzens had indecently exposed himself.
And other recent cases show that police turning a blind eye to the crimes of fellow officers is at epidemic levels.
In this context, the Met put out a statement that its members were “sickened, angered and devastated” by Couzens’s crimes. Maybe they are – but is it only because he was caught?
“They betray everything we stand for,” the statement continues. But Met police officers betray everything they stand for on a daily basis.
Look at the Daniel Morgan case, in which the Met was found to be “institutionally corrupt” and Commissioner Dick herself was found to have obstructed access to vital information without reason.
And what punishment did she receive for this corrupt behaviour?
None. Instead she was rewarded for it with a two-year extension of her job.
Real people are disgusted…
Not sickened enough to prevent you from attacking the Sarah Everard vigil, and trampling their flowers into the ground, were you?
… but does that really matter when the media – and the politicians – are backing these corrupt cops to the hilt?
Look at Labour leader Keir Starmer. In his speech at the party conference – on the day we learned Couzens had abused his police powers to arrest Ms Everard before abducting, raping and murdering her – he used rape victims as a tool of emotional blackmail to push for more police powers.
I’ll hand you back to Another Angry Voice for an opinion more succinct than any I could add:
It was only last year that Keir Starmer forced his Labour MPs to abstain on legislation designed to allow undercover cops to get away with raping women!
Yet today he's pretending that he cares about rape victims.
The Met’s comment says staff recognise the concerns raised by Couzens’s actions and will comment further after he has been sentenced for his crimes – but I have no hope that anything useful will be said.
We’ll probably hear that new measures will be put in place to prevent such crimes in the future – that will not be enforced.
They’re likely to say that lessons have been learned – but nobody will act upon them.
The end result is that women will be left in greater fear of violence against them than ever – not because of men, as some in politics and the media are signalling, but because of the police.
You can bet the Met won’t do anything to change that.
If you want proof, all you have to do is wait for the reports of the next crimes committed by officers of the Metropolitan Police.
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Cressida Dick: Platitudes outside a court must not save her from the consequences of her failure to root out corruption and crime among her officers.
How did a man who was nicknamed ‘The Rapist’ three years before joining the Metropolitan Police manage to pass its vetting process, let alone get into a position where he could kidnap, rape and murder Sarah Everard?
Those are the questions that should be forcing Met Commissioner Cressida Dick out of her job now, yet she seems secure in her post. For how long?
Wayne Couzens, who last week admitted raping and murdering Sarah Everard, was given the unsavoury nickname by colleagues at the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, which he joined in 2011, because he made some female colleagues feel uncomfortable, according to the Evening Standard.
The paper also reported that Kent Police took no action in 2015 after it was alleged that he had been seen driving around Dover, naked from the waist down.
And the Met – which he joined in 2018 – received further accusations of indecent exposure by Couzens on two further occasions. Neither of them were investigated properly in the days before he kidnapped, raped and murdered Ms Everard.
We’ve heard this story before: it isn’t such a long time since PC (yes, he’s still on the force) Oliver Banfield was convicted of assaulting a woman while she was walking home – just as Sarah Everard was when she was kidnapped, raped and murdered. His colleagues on the Warwickshire force had initially ignored the complaint and would have done nothing about it if the victim had not found CCTV footage that could be used as evidence.
The BBC has reported that the Independent Office for Police Conduct said a total of 12 gross misconduct or misconduct notices had so far been served on police officers from multiple forces in relation to the Couzens case, including about the handling of two separate claims that Couzens had indecently exposed himself; the Banfield case wasn’t a single instance of police turning a blind eye to the crimes of fellow officers – it is an epidemic.
Ms Everard’s murder sparked a wave of protest across the UK that was put down mercilessly by police forces – most notably the Met and Avon and Somerset Constabulary. An independent Parliamentary committee has found that both forces breached the fundamental rights of protesters but neither has accepted the finding and nothing will be done to improve procedures.
Indeed, women across the UK have cause to be even more concerned that the Tory government is bringing in a law to reform criminal investigations and justice – that will put women like Sarah Everard in even more danger.
Two-faced Cressida Dick, who presided over the Met Police throughout, and who supported police in their despicable mishandling of the Sarah Everard vigil, hypocritically voiced platitudes of regret over the murder and anger over the crimes of her now-former officer after attending court.
She said she felt “sickened, angered and devastated” by the crimes: “They are dreadful and everyone in policing feels betrayed.
“Sarah was a fantastic, talented young woman with her whole life ahead of her and that has been snatched away.”
But that hasn’t saved her from the court of public opinion:
I think that if a serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens was known as 'The Rapist' by his colleagues, and then went on to commit the horrific murder of Sarah Everard, then Cressida Dick's position is now untenable. She's been far from faultless in other areas.
Since Sarah Everard was abducted 52 women have been killed where a man is the principal suspect, according to @K_IngalaSmith's Counting Dead Women. At least 83 women are suspected to have been killed by men since the start of 2021 https://t.co/sAPmDF2ZLT#femicide
It seems strange that Cressida Dick now expresses sadness, anger and regret at the sickening murder of Sarah Everard but only a few weeks ago when her officers behaved appallingly at the Vigil for Sarah Everard, she defended their behaviour unreservedly
This Writer is willing to suggest that public confidence in the Met – and in policing in general – has never fallen so low (although it will fall further if the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is allowed to become law in its current form).
Dick has presided over a quantum plunge in the reputation of the police, ignoring one scandal after another and allowing her force to become a cesspit of corruption and crime.
Meanwhile, the successful investigation of crimes against the public has suffered. How can it not? We can’t trust the police to do their job and we’re living in fear that they will commit crimes against us themselves.
It is a poisonous situation and Cressida Dick has done much to create it.
How long are we going to allow her to continue worsening it?
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
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Dictator Johnson: but will he learn a lesson from the death of Haitian president Jovenel Moise – or will he carry on attacking your freedoms in the belief that “it couldn’t happen here”?
On the day when Haitian president – and, some say, dictator – Jovenel Moise was shot dead in his own home, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was labelled a “tinpot dictator” in the House of Commons. Do you think the parallel will prompt a rethink?
I don’t.
Moise was accused of being a dictator because he did not hold elections when he was expected to – including legislative elections. As I understand it, this meant Haiti has been left without lawmakers since 2019 and he had been ruling by decree for the past two years.
In February this year he claimed an attempt to kill him and overthrow his government had been foiled, arresting 23 people including a top judge and a senior police officer and using police to put down political protests after they became violent.
Does that remind you of the Johnson regime?
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, referred to Johnson as a “tinpot dictator” during Prime Minister’s Questions, when he raised the Tory government’s plan for vote-rigging by introducing a system in which voters will have to provide a specific form of identification before being allowed to take part in elections.
Mr Blackford said, “It’s easier to get re-elected if the government can choose the voters rather than the voters choosing the government.”
(I note that Voter ID will not be introduced for elections here in Wales. The Labour-run government here rightly states that electoral fraud is practically nonexistent and could disenfranchise millions of voters in the UK.)
Looking at Haiti, it is easy to see where interference with elections can lead.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking:
“It couldn’t happen here.” Really?
I bet you can think of at least one person in the UK who has died under mysterious circumstances that may have been politically-motivated – and may have been covered up in subsequent inquiries. I can.
It could happen here, just as it could happen in Haiti – as soon as Johnson outlives his usefulness.
And he’s not doing very well with his plan to spread new variants of Covid-19 by lifting social distancing rules, is he?
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
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