Prosecution failures in Scotland

[UK Column News 10 May 2019]

"This is the Times here: `..Child abuse inquiry to look at Crown Office `failings`. Is it really going to do that?" asks Mike Robinson, "Or ... is that just another throw away headline?"

"That`s an excellent question," is David Scott`s response.  "... Now there have certainly been Crown Office failings... `The Crown Office is organised crime` is a phrase that keeps coming up. The Crown Office... are the only means of any prosecution in Scotland. All prosecutions go through the Crown Office; therefore anything that`s not prosecuted, [that is] held up, [is the responsibility of] the Crown Office; it`s a completely obscure organisation."

"We don`t have any access. It`s all confidential. We don`t know what`s happening in there and of the cases that the police investigate, that are considered to have a good prospect of successful conviction, forty percent of those are decided by the Crown Office to not be cases they want to take forward, and never see the light of day in a court room. Forty percent is in this discard pile. So there are many things about the Crown Office that are very worrying."

"Now there are also many things about the official inquiry that are very worrying."

From the article: 

"The official inquiry into historical child abuse in Scotland is expected to investigate alleged failures by prosecutors to protect vulnerable children in care."

"The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service admitted that it was likely to be the focus of future investigation by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry."

"Officials conceded that the body may have been `deficient` in the past. `It is anticipated that future stages of the inquiry will require the institutions charged with the investigation and prosecution of crime to face up, candidly and critically, to the practices and policies of years gone by` a spokesman said."  

Remarking on the statement, `The officials conceded that the body may have been deficient in the past,` David Scott added: "Notice it is always in the past," and further on in response to `It... will require the institution charged with the investigation and prosecution of crime to face up candidly and critically to the practices and policies of years gone by, he commented: "Again always painted as `it`s perfect now, but it wasn`t then`. And there`s no explanation as to how this miraculous change ever happened."
 
The article goes on:

"It comes after John Halley, a lawyer appointed to the inquiry, suggested that vulnerable young people in care were being let down raising his concerns about child trafficking through prostitution of children in care in a report sent to Lady Smith, the inquiry`s chairwoman. Mr Halley cited several cases that never came to court despite evidence of trafficking and sexual abuse of children in care,` the Sunday Times reported. `Some victims were linked to senior figures within the legal establishment... And Mr Halley said `I will not be complicit nor tolerate cover-up and failure to report or investigate systemic failures."

In addition, David Scott informs listeners and viewers that Mr Halley put the following statement on twitter: 

"I have been absent from work since 28 October 2016. On 10 October 2016, I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. On 31 October 2016, I underwent a right hemicolectomy in surgery lasting some 4 hours at Borders General Hospital, Scotland. Between 6 December 2016 and June 2017, I underwent 8 cycles of chemotherapy. I have been unable to return to work since then."

"Prior to and after my diagnosis of cancer, I have held appointment as Lead Junior Counsel to the SCAI [Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry]. On 1 April 2019, I submitted a detailed `Note` running to in excess of 17,500 words, on Child Trafficking Through Prostitution of Children in Care in Scotland to Lady Smith, Chair of the SCAI. By letter dated 15 April 2019, Julie-Anne Jamieson, SCAI Secretary, informed me that Lady Smith has decided that the Note is comprised of material that I ought not to have been working on. I refute that entirely. I was instructed and I did investigate and report. The Note sets out a summary of my remit, important facts, allegations, inferences and sources for investigation by the SCAI. It is clear to me that Lady Smith has decided that the SCAI will not investigate the material detailed in the Note."

"Since 1 September 2016, I have had to suffer disability discrimination, harassment and victimisation by Lady Smith. I will deal with that in an application to the Employment Tribunal when I am well enough. However, I will not be complicit in, nor tolerate cover-up and failure to report or to investigate systemic failures, including prosecution policy failures, which appear to have perpetrated injustice on vulnerable young people in care in Scotland. I will not permit the serious allegations, detailed in my Note, of past child exploitation, and failures to report suspicions of child exploitation, by lawyers, judges, public figures and others, to be ignored."

"I have today reported by Note to Mr Graham Fraser, Procurator Fiscal for Scottish Borders Area. I understand that the Procurator Fiscal will report the Note and its content directly to the Lord Advocate if, having considered its content, he is satisfied of the duty to do so. I have felt compelled to immediately report the Note to the Procurator Fiscal in the public interest. However this is spun the facts remain."

"In order to ensure necessary safeguarding of our children going forward, Scotland and our survivors of child abuse require the truth."

Returning to David Scott, he remarks: "So Lady Smith has been asked to investigate the Procurator Fiscal Service because the Procurator Fiscal Service has let down the survivors of child sexual abuse."

"Meanwhile the Procurator Fiscal Service has been asked to investigate a case where Lady Smith has let down the survivors of child sexual abuse. And out of this we hope for truth and justice."

"It does not look good."
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-9NPzoKYuA

 

For more cover-ups, see UK Column`s article HERE which refers to the tape which Lady Smith refused to release to now deceased child abuse campaigner Robert Green.

Child abuse campaigner dies this morning

Lady Smith and the altered transcript

 [UK Column 19 October 2018]

"Well let`s move on to Robert Green. And of course Robert Green was the man who stayed with the Hollie Greig abuse case where Hollie had been abused and clearly there was no justice coming forward. It took Robert Green to stick with the case to report the facts and ultimately to go to prison for his efforts in trying to protect children from child abuse. This has now reached an interesting stage because although many people probably think everything around Robert has died down, Robert has been campaigning for justice for himself as to what was and was not said in court."

 "And we`ll just pop her up on screen. Briefly, Judge Lady Smith is now north of the border supposedly running the Scottish inquiry into child abuse. What`s the link between this lady and Robert Green ?"

David Scott: "This is very interesting. Lady Smith picked up the reins of the Scottish independent child abuse inquiry... after everyone else led by the chief Susan O`Brien QC resigned, citing government interference and lack of independence. So lady Smith is now the sole director of this inquiry. She replaced the three people formally running it and is there personally directing how it proceeds. Lady Smith is the person who was asked to review Robert`s complaint that the Judge in this case, Sheriff Principal Edward Farquhar Bowen, had made racist comments during the sentencing...[hearing in 2012] These comments were entirely omitted from the transcript provided to Robert of the sentencing and comments. That transcript came from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service... She wouldn`t let Robert listen to the tape but she listened to the tape of the hearing and she assured Robert that there was nothing to be concerned about. It transpires that`s not true."

Brian Gerrish: "Right, so we can show a little bit of the documents here to show people how this trail works. 1`ve got to say up front that of course, at the moment, what was said and what wasn`t said in court is not in front of us as evidence, so what the sheriff did and didn`t say we are trying to track down... The important thing about this is how the system itself seems to be manoeuvring and obfuscating around the information."

"So the first document... is from the Crown Office in Scotland... Tell us about this document."

David Scott: "So this was given to Robert Green on his release from prison. He was complaining that the Sheriff had made racist comments during the sentencing and hearing, and that this showed bias, this being grounds for appeal. [The] document [is] on Crown Office notepaper and it`s as you see quite brief. We`ve actually covered this in detail in the Column many years ago because it`s quite strange as well. But even stranger is that we`ve now, after some considerable negotiation and exchange, found that the original tape is still held. It`s in the archives of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and after some discussion they agreed to provide initially a written transcript, a new written transcript, of the same comments. So when we see the new written transcript ... we find that it doesn`t match. "

Brian Gerrish: "[The] Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has now come into it. Have I got the right one?"

David Scott: "That`s correct, yes. Now it doesn`t match. Now indeed it doesn`t match very closely at all. It`s sort of like the first one was a sort of paraphrase. The second one has clearly been transcribed directly from some sort of record, we don`t know exactly what, and lo and behold there`s an additional sentence in the new transcript that was entirely omitted from the original document - and what Robert has been saying for six years."

Brian Gerrish: "So we can bring this new sentence on screen. And what we`re saying here is that this has never been seen before. Suddenly, we`ve got this sentence which has now appeared in a second version of what is claimed to be the transcript."

David Scott: "It`s a very interesting sentence. So this was omitted from the accurate record that was provided by the Crown Office and was confirmed by Lady Smith. And the sentence says: `Let me tell you that we in Scotland are more than capable of identifying our own deficiencies without the assistance of someone with your background`. Now this is interesting on many levels. Not only was it omitted entirely from the initial record but it covers exactly the ground, or subject area, that Robert Green and the six or seven other witnesses in court that day all said was covered by the sentencing comment. It just does it in a way which is neutered. It calms it down; it reads like what the Sheriff maybe wishes he said. It doesn`t comply, tally closely, with what has been reported to me by numerous witnesses ... But it covers the same ground."

Brian Gerrish: "To emphasise this we`re going to show - we`ll bring it up on screen - what members of the public who were present at the hearing allege that the Sheriff said to Robert Green: `You are either stupid or misguided, probably both, to think that you, a Welsh-English man, can come up to Scotland to tell us how to run our justice system. I am telling you that WE run the justice system just fine.` So that`s what members of the public who were present allege was said."

"I`ll just jump back and show again what is now being said the transcript shows. `Let me tell you that we in Scotland are more than capable of identifying our own deficiencies without the assistance of someone with your background`... I was told shortly before we came on live for today`s news that in England it is normal procedure that although somebody is actually there taking down the transcript as the trial takes place, that transcript goes ultimately to the Judge to be - what`s the word - verified."

Mike Robinson: "Sanitised?"

Brian Gerrish. "Sanitised ! Before it is released to the public as the true version of events. I don`t know whether the same system works in Scotland but, of course, if it does this makes life very interesting indeed."

David Scott: "Well it`s an excellent question because we`ve been told by the Scottish Courts & Tribunals Service that this transcript is verbatim, taken from the tape that was recorded in court. Now they`ve offered Robert the chance to listen to the tape. So far they`re refusing to give him a copy of the recording for forensic examination but they have offered to allow him to listen to it. So that`s going to happen..."

Brian Gerish: "OK, now you have written some letters on this subject. You thought that this one that you wrote some time ago to Lord Gill was of particular importance because you were coming back to the significance, the legal significance, of this event. We still don`t know what the true facts are but this is giving a flavour for it by having a look at the dangers of bias in court cases and you found this very powerful case precedent."

"Back in the 1980s, a Sheriff whilst relaxing at Ayr curling club, pronounced that the coal miners, then on strike, would not receive legal aid if they came into this court on breach of the peace charges. Some of the miners later appealed his decision, on quite different grounds, to refuse legal aid. The matter went to the Court of Session. The Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Ross, concluded that the Sheriff had not brought his prejudice into the court and that his decisions had been correct in law but that this was not enough. `There must not be even the appearance of bias,` Lord Ross said. `There is nothing to suggest that at the trials the Sheriff acted unfairly. What the Sheriff failed to note was that the interests of justice required not merely that he should not display bias but that the circumstances should not be such as to create in the mind of a reasonable man the suspicion of the Sheriff`s partiality.` Lord Ross found for one of those appealing."

"The inescapable conclusion is that the statements by Sheriff Principal Bowen concerning Mr Green`s nationality failed to live up to the standard required by Scots Law and defined in the statement by Lord Ross. The logical implication is therefore that the court records were altered not for public relations reasons, or to save the Sheriff the embarrassment of an unguarded remark, but to avoid Mr Green having grounds for appeal; an appeal Mr Green could well have won given the previous stand made by the Court of Session on this subject."

David Scott: "Yes, this is a 2014 letter from me to the head of the judiciary in Scotland, the Lord President of the Court of Session. I write here pointing out that - now as I`ve said we`ve got six or seven separate witnesses, all of them reasonable men and women, who came away from that court convinced there were grounds to doubt the Sheriff`s impartiality. These people are on the record... Their records incidentally were offered to Lady Smith who refused to receive them."

Brian Gerrish: "OK we`ve got a slide here, effectively your summary of this, which I can read out...."

Brian Gerrish: "Really David, you are saying that if the public are not entitled to know what really took place in the court hearing and who said what, there is no justice north of the border and there is certainly no justice for Robert Green."

David Scott: "It must been seen to be done; it must be ... as the quote there from Lord Ross made absolutely clear; there must be not even a hint or suggestion in the mind of a reasonable observer the system is less than scrupulously fair. It seems that in Robert`s case we`re failing that by a country mile."　

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WEjDNBhPjs&t=1169s

The whereabouts of Melanie Shaw is still a mystery

Robert Green reporting on the Melanie Shaw court case, 5 September 2018:

"As expected, Melanie was not present at the latest hearing at Leeds Crown Court today."

"As you will be aware, I have issued two formal complaints about Judge Phillips, who officiated on 7th August. The grounds on which the complaint was made were based on what appeared to be his failure to apply due diligence towards the welfare and safety of the defendant."

"When Melanie appeared that day, in a clearly distressed and incoherent state, after being passed fit to plead just five days earlier by court appointed psychiatrist Professor Jennifer Shaw, the judge should have immediately called for an appropriate medical professional to physically examine Melanie to ascertain whether drugs had been unlawfully administered to her before her appearance or if the medication she needs had been withheld from her."

"His failure also led to the possibility of her being placed back into the hands of the very people who may have committed a criminal act against her. The complaints against the judge are ongoing."

"Today, Judge Phillips was replaced by Judge Neil Clark."

"I have no concern whatsoever about Judge Clark`s conduct. Although the requirements placed upon him were far from exacting, he seemed fair and understanding, stating only that no realistic decision could be made today, as Dr Quinn, currently responsible for Melanie`s welfare, had informed the judge that Melanie was unwell. The judge thought that she may need to be moved to hospital within the next few days, but there was no obvious indication, as we had feared, that any attempt to section Melanie was imminent."

"He saw no reason to change the date of the next hearing, the 4th October although he did consider the possibility, at the request of the prosecution, that an interim hearing about Melanie`s health, may take place on 28th September."

"We shall need to remain vigilant, of course, but there appeared today, at least on the surface, nothing that anything sinister was afoot."

"Around thirteen members of the public were present to observe the proceedings."

Robert Green

------------

There have since been unconfirmed reports that Melanie Shaw has been released from prison into a psychiatric hospital.

 

See Here https://www.davidicke.com/video/493742/melanie-shaw-savile-establishment-paedophilia-david-icke

Censorship and cover-up

[From UK Column News 24 July 2018]

"The UK conservative government is now clearly operating beyond authority. We have a cabal running the country. Even backbencher MPs have no idea what`s happening in Westminster. So it`s simply the members of the Cabinet Office and the secretive P... Office. which is dealing with the global corporations and international banks with connections through to the Privy Council and this is all secret, certainly to other members of parliament but also to the public. So we have a cabal, many people would say a criminal cabal, running the country. Let`s remember that the fuel for UK politics is the abuse of children."

 

"Just an amazing headline here from the Daily Mail a few days ago. Forget the bit about the The `drink sodden world` of EU boss sneering at Britain, what we`re really looking at is the main headline. `What a cosy cover-up!`"

"And basically this was pointing out that MPs have voted for anonymity if they`re accused of sexual harassment and if there`s any hint of expenses fraud. And what the Daily Mail article pointed out was that minutes after this vote was taken a list of politicians under investigation vanished from Parliament`s website."

"Now I find this particularly interesting because a few weeks ago we actually made contact with the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner`s office to ask some questions about Mr Keith Vaz , but on that particular day back in June - I think it was the 22nd June - what we established was that this lady....Kathryn Hudson was going to step down as the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and we were intrigued to see that she was going to be replaced by a new lady. This is Kathryn Stone; and her background is looking after children with special needs before becoming a qualified child protection social worker and mental health expert."

"And this just seemed a fascinating qualification to then move over to be Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. It just seems a little bit too interesting."
 

Keith Vaz

 

"Well at the time ... 22 June, we had a look at the Parliamentary Standards web page and one of the things we could see here was `under Investigation by the Commissioner`. We were interested in Mr Vaz; and apparently the Vaz inquiry is confidential. That`s what we were told. No information can be disclosed to the public in the interests of fairness. That is clearly fair to Mr Vaz. I don`t think it`s particularly fair to the public but of course the public doesn`t count. We were told that no comment could be made on whether the video of Mr Vaz forms the base of evidence. This is the video which appeared to show him in a room with some rent boys and there was a discussion of drugs. The inquiry, even though there`s video evidence, could take years."

Mike Robinson: "Was there any explanation as to why."

"No, except I have to say the lady I spoke to was unbelievably nervous as I asked some fairly reasonable and gentle questions. She did say that Mr Vaz had not been suspended and she was also happy to say the first police investigation had been dropped."

"But the important thing here is that even going to the government website I was able to find some information because I knew that something was going on. But now enter 2018. So there was that web page. It`s been replaced by this web page. And what`s significant? Well we have the same designator ... Sorry we`ve got `Complaints and Investigations` but on the original screen on the left we have names on the screen. On the right we just have the Complaints process. So all these names disappear and they`ve been whitewashed out Mike. And the other thing is the Current Inquiries bar has also disappeared from the government`s website. So the MPs clearly circling the wagons now to defend themselves when people come forward with allegations of sexual harassment or expenses fraud."  

 
"Well Mr Vaz seems to be doing OK because the probe, not investigation - it`s called a probe now, whatever that means - has already lasted two years and nobody knows when this is going to be completed. Now if we remind ourselves what happened: he stood down as Chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, looking at matters to do with vice after the Sunday Mirror reported he had discussed buying cocaine with a rent boy (male prostitute). So the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner launched a probe into whether he was guilty of a conflict of interest because he had been leading a review of vice laws at the same time as the allegations. So that`s a very difficult thing for them to establish Mike, even with a video. So years have gone by and we`ve still not got any result but now the whole thing has become totally secret." 

"Something that was quite interesting was that the UK Column had a report, and I would say from a source that we would say was reliable, and in that report it was alleged that one or both of the rent boys who were apparently present at the incident with Mr Vaz were attacked and badly beaten in Poland by persons as yet unknown."

"So that`s the allegation that those rent boys were attacked and beaten very badly in Poland but there isn`t any evidence at the moment who did it. That`s what we are being told. We`ll see whether we get more reports on that."

"So here we are, a report in the Sun: police drop initial investigation, into the Leicester East MP 18 months ago and the new Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone has told MPs she is referring the case back to the Met. But at the same time they`re apparently also looking into the fact people are not too sure where all his money is coming from."

"So what can we see? We can see our parliament becoming increasingly secretive, to the extent it`s not even worth making an allegation because this will simply stay undercover and you have no idea whether any investigation takes place."

Cliff Richard

"So couple it with Cliff Richard, and we`ve pointed it out before, but basically as a result of incompetence or possibly a planned action by the BBC, we can now see the law rapidly moving towards a position where you cannot make any public allegation against anybody because this will come back on you, in order to protect the identity of these individuals."

"So at least Ian Murray here of the Society of Editors said it had worrying consequences for Press freedom and the public`s right to know ... But of course Tory MP Nigel Evans dismissed those concerns over Press Freedom saying: they [the journalists] are worried that they can`t trash people`s reputations."

Prince Charles and Peter Ball

"And that brings us nicely to the so-called independent child abuse inquiry because in the last few days it`s emerged that Prince Charles`s lawyers have been arguing with the inquiry`s legal team over the manner in which he produces evidence in relation to Bishop Ball who was imprisoned as a result of sexual abuse. So we`re not going to find out really what Prince Charles has got to say but interestingly enough one of the lawyers working for survivors said this: `We wish to register our surprise and concern that the Prince has chosen to put his evidence to the inquiry in the form of a letter as opposed to a witness statement verified by a statement of truth in the normal way that survivors giving evidence to this inquiry have done`. So one rule for the survivors. Totally different one for Prince Charles. And he goes on to say: `Concerns around Charles`s letter include that it may be `less than entirely frank about his personal relationship with Peter Ball and that it contains matters to which he is reluctant to attach a formal statement of truth`. And this lawyer, Richard Scorer, also retweeted this little report by a lady called Linda Woodhead. She said: `IICSA today on the Peter Ball scandal hears of the extraordinary lengths to which Prince Charles`s lawyers went to wiggle out of complying with IICSA`s request that the Prince give a witness statement to the inquiry like everyone else. Even invoking European convention on Human Rights`."

"So obviously Prince Charles desperate that he does not have to give evidence in the same way that survivors or members of the public would. Why would he be so shy?"

"Well this tweet was sent through to me. And I`ve got to say I think the gentleman`s comments fit. So it`s a Brian P Willmot and he says  `Any person who is Not prepared to stand and tell the Truth has something to hide` and it certainly seems that this is the case on this one Mike."

Melanie Shaw

"And perhaps this leads us nicely into Melanie Shaw. And let`s remind ourselves that Melanie Shaw`s local MP is a gentleman called Chris Leslie. Several people contacted me to point out that here was Mr Leslie getting very excited about the standards in prison. So we`re going back to January here, but he said: `Shocking `urgent notification` from Chief Inspector into `fundamentally unsafe` Nottingham Prison, echoing concerns I raised in Commons debate last year: eight suicides recently; 200 assaults in past 6 months; 30% positive for drugs. New Lord Chancellor David Gauke must act now`. But remarkable that this gentleman Mike doesn`t want to act for Melanie Shaw who`s been brutalised by these very failings in other prisons."

Mike Robinson: "And he was even her employer at one point."

"Yes he was her employer at one point and there is a photograph ... where he`s sat next to her on a sofa holding her hand to show his level of support for child abuse victims. But it appears like many MPs Chris Leslie is duplicitous when it comes to actions to protect Melanie Shaw."

"Now I`d like to just look at this excellent letter that Robert Green sent to Christ Leslie and let`s read through."

"`Dear Mr Leslie,

I have contacted you, as have many others over the years, about the disgraceful ongoing plight of your constituent Melanie Shaw.

I do not propose to go through the details of this case, as I feel confident that you have been fully informed about the state`s unrelenting persecution of this poor, defenceless and acknowledged victim of multiple sexual abuse, committed whilst in the supposed `care` of the Nottinghamshire authorities. Indeed, one local authority employee, Andris Logins, has been convicted of  multiple rapes committed at the very care home in which Melanie was placed and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. His wife, Helen Logins, another Nottingham council social worker, has also been convicted for aiding and abetting her husband.

I and others have been in regular contact with Amnesty International as the evidence suggests that Melanie, during her controversial imprisonment has been the victim of torture, administered by the UK state. The case is, I am told being currently considered by that international organisation...

We now know, due to recent revelations, that the British government is perfectly capable, not only of being complicit in torture, but also even prepared to publicly lie about it, as demonstrated by the misconduct of Jack Straw. At least one excuse, weak though it is, was that such torture was used on suspected foreign terrorists operating outside the United Kingdom.

Melanie Shaw, on the other hand, is a Nottingham woman and UK national who has apparently been tortured in British prisons because of the evidence she is prepared to put before the IICSA, in providing details of serious crimes committed at Beechwood Home that may implicate high-ranking public individuals, including, I understand, a person formerly a colleague of the current Prime Minister.

As Melanie is clearly an absolutely crucial, high-profile witness in the IICSA investigation into widescale child sexual abuse in the Nottingham area, I found it shocking that the inquiry has not already interviewed her, regardless of the incarceration that can only be explained rationally as a means of silencing her.

I have therefore sent key details to the IICSA`s current head, Professor Alexis Jay and her deputy, Liz Long, has written to me to confirm that these details have indeed been read by Professor Jay. There can now be no further excuse for the failure to interview Melanie.

And he ends by saying,  As her elected parliamentary representative, what are you going to do about it?

Yours sincerely,

Robert Green.`"

"So a truly excellent letter from Robert and I think this should provide a lead for many other people to write to Chris Leslie with that key question: what are you going to do to help Melanie Shaw, Chris Leslie?"

"Well if we remind ourselves that IICSA itself still refuses to take evidence from Melanie Shaw or even communicate with her, despite the fact that Melanie has said publicly she wants to speak to the inquiry, despite the fact that contact has been made with the inquiry on her behalf, including, it`s alleged, by Mr Chris Leslie himself, IICSA says `can`t act unless Melanie calls us` but of course Melanie can`t call them because she`s denied phone calls in prison."

"And we`ll finish the section by reminding people, of course, of the untimely haste with which Beechwood Children`s Home was sold off and demolished after Nottingham police fail to carry out a full and proper forensic investigation and, more recently, UK Column has informed people that reports about Beechwood have been pulled from mainstream media sites and the BBC as a result of collaboration between Nottingham City & County Council and Nottingham police."

"So censoring of the news there Mike in order to help silence and cover up abuse of children."

 

"So we`ll come back to Robert here because this was such a wonderful statement. Robert said this: So Melanie Shaw is desperate to give evidence to IICSA and it has so far refused to take it.  Meanwhile Prince Charles is desperate to avoid giving evidence to IICSA.... What is going on?"

IICSA and NSPCC

"Well there can only be one answer. We`re witnessing a cover-up by the British government. And if we come back to the inquiry itself, a very big thank you to the person who pointed this out to us. The inquiry commissioned this report. It`s called A Rapid Evidence Assessment: What can be learnt from other jurisdictions about preventing and responding to child sexual abuse. And ... the University of Lancashire has been commissioned to carry out this piece of work by the so-called independent child abuse  inquiry."

"What did they do? They looked at information on the internet Mike."

"Really?"

"Yeah. So we have these people: Lorraine Radford, Helen Richardson Foster, Christine Barter and Nicky Stanely. They carried out this work for the so-called independent child abuse inquiry. Fascinating report. I would encourage people to see it online. Here`s the Executive Summary."

"This Rapid Evidence Assessment was commissioned by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales which is investigating  whether public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duties to care for and protect children and young people from child sexual abuse and exploitation. The question for the review was: What can be learnt from jurisdictions outside of England and Wales, about the role of institutions, including accountable state and non-state organisations with responsibility for children in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse and exploitation?"

"What they seem to have done here, Mike, is to produce the answers for a whitewash. `No jurisdiction has everything right. While overall robust research on what is effective is limited, there is plenty of promising evidence that can be developed further to inform work in England and Wales`."

"So we got it wrong. but don`t worry because in the future we can put it right. `Adequately resourced, comprehensive, multi sector approaches that aim to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse and exploitation are likely to be the most effective approaches.` But these are the approaches that have failed. We`ve got a nice circular argument."

"What`s special about the research team? Well I did a little bit of an investigation and I find by an amazing coincidence they`re all linked to NSPCC and in their own report of course they`ve then used a lot of NSPCC information saying how NSPCC is apparently stopping the abuse of children. This is all independent you understand."

Mike Robinson: "And there`s no possibility that the NSPCC could ... be criticised by the independent public inquiry if the independent inquiry was doing their job properly."

Brian Gerrish laughs. "eh Yes And we remember that it was NSPCC that was first of all taking phone calls and there was such outrage amongst the abuse survivors and others that they had to drop the contract."

"Right. So they were running the call centre for the independent inquiry at the beginning and whereas many of the survivors were saying, `well hold on`, the NSPCC was involved in the abuse, or at least helped cover it up in the past; so what are they doing taking phone calls off of us?"

"Yes. ... Well this is what independence is about Mike. But it gets better because I did a little bit of research before the news today on IICSA`s site and here we`ve got their own documentation showing that in Rochdale going back into 1974 - 1989 we`ve got NSPCC taking over child protection from the local authorities. So seemingly here NSPCC must be implicated in the very failings that the independent inquiry is now asking an NSPCC experienced team to report on."

"Good stuff."

"But it`s not a cover-up."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH4A4UL1KDY

Child Abuse, data and wellbeing concerns

Brian Gerrish, Mike Robinson and David Scott are in conversation on UK Column News, 29 June 2018, about the Edward Heath article on the BBC website. "Several people emailed to say: This is clearly a case of `thou doth protest too much.` So all of a sudden we`ve got the BBC and other outlets saying that Edward Health could not have been on the island - channel islands - therefore he could not have been involved in any abuse. And when you look for any substance to this story, this is simply claims from Ted Heath supporters and they say: `Never mind what the police did, we had a look at his diaries. It doesn`t show him there; he wasn`t there; so therefore he`s not guilty of any crimes`. So I`m going to label that with a question mark. BBC seems to be back on its old routine of protecting child abusers."

Normalising paedophilia 

 

"This one several people told me as well. Just incredible. Ted hosted a talk where a young lady took the stage and said, amongst other things, `Let me be clear here: Abusing children is wrong without any doubt. But a paedophile who does not abuse children has not done anything wrong.` As a result of the amount of correspondence to Ted, they`ve taken this video down. But really we`ve got a classic case here of promoting the normalisation of child abuse. Probably that gives a nice lead into David Scott."

Fresh Start Foundation

Mike Robinson: "David let`s start off with the Fresh Start Foundation because here`s Robert Green. We were talking about this [on] last Friday`s news programme here: Robert Green, outside the venue of the Fresh Start Foundation talk. That appears to have not happened."

"No, well it was cancelled at the last minute after discussions on Friday last week. We got a call that due to unexpected maintenance ... the meeting was cancelled. Initially there was a flood... So we went along to the hotel .... to try and see what state the room was in, to see if we could - because this was all very last minute - if it was possible to find a way round this.... to host the event there. They were quite hostile I would say. I`m not quite sure why. We`re customers who had payed a deposit and had been badly let down. So we weren`t treated particularly nicely ... There was no sign of a flood. There was no sign of water. There was one room which didn`t seem to have been used for a while with some plaster down the ceiling. It may have been to do with that; we don`t really know. But the line from the hotel was ... the ceiling had come down and they couldn`t let us use the room. That was unfortunate."

"We managed to book a room just across the road in another hotel... and we advertised that in an hour... You know that one was cancelled as well because they had maintenance going on... The aircom system was being worked on. So although the rooms were there and were empty and there was no sign of any workmen - there were workmen on the roof - so they were going to need access to those rooms. We couldn`t get there either. So that was jolly unfortunate. So at least there`s a lot of maintenance going on in the Aberdeen construction industry. So we`ll all be benefiting. So it`s not a zero sum game here."

"But we went off to the gazebo in Union Street and we had a meeting there and a nice meal afterwards and we had actually a very good day ... Under these sort of conditions people get to know each other that bit better. And a little bit of collective response to adversity never hurt anybody. So it was actually a very good day."

Peter Cherbi`s blog

The next topic refers to Peter Cherbi`s blog who is back on the case of Elish Angiolini, former Lord Advocate of Scotland, who was involved in Robert Green`s case. She has recently been appointed in order to investigate and report on how police complaints are dealt with in Scotland. Cherbi gives a number of reasons why her appointment is a very bad idea.

Read more HERE

Data sharing in Scotland

Mike Robinson: "The Public Commissions Committee. What`s going on here?"

"Well, Alison Preuss and Leslie Scott, my wife, representing the home educators and the Tymes Trust ME charity, have put out a petition together and have sent it yesterday to the Commissions Committee and this is to get an investigation, a public inquiry, into the human rights abuses that have happened in Scotland surrounding the GIRFEC legislation, or surrounding the GIRFEC policy; because GIRFEC, which stands for Getting it Right for Every Child, was a policy whereby information was gathered and shared by the state ... and intervention into family life by the state was generated as a result."

"Now there were certain problems with this and the whole thing was eventually ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court. Problems relate to, firstly, the lowering of the threshold for interventions into family life in which welfare is now known as wellbeing, and wellbeing means anything you want it to mean. It is entirely subjective. So what it gives is the power to state officials, based on a subjective whim, there`s no more to it than that, to intervene into family life, to share information, to investigate families, to investigate children and any associated adult."

"So that`s been going on since around 2013 and there`s a lot of harm; there`s a lot of families who have suffered these investigations and they`re traumatic and there needs to be some form of recompense; there needs to be some recognition of what`s actually gone wrong. And of course the policy`s continued to this day. The current data sharing policy from my own local authority is in this flow chart here."

"And what this says is: `Are you worried or concerned about a child or young person`s wellbeing?`... And if the answer`s YES. `Do I need consent to share information?` NO. `Share information.`"

"So all you need is a worry or concern, which is an emotional reaction or a notion about wellbeing which can mean anything. That`s the current policy in my local authority. So basically there is no data protection if you`re a child or a family with a child in Scotland at the moment. And...that then generates things which can escalate into child protection issues and child protection procedures where there`s no welfare issues; there`s just this assembly of wellbeing worries."

"So that`s what they want, an investigation to stop this, to allow those families who have been harmed some form of remedy; but also to actually inform the state about what is in fact lawful because there`s ongoing consideration of some further Acts to try and sort this mess out and these ongoing considerations don`t seem to be based on any understanding of what has already gone wrong."

Mike Robinson: "So this has had some mainstream coverage. I`ve got the National, as an example of this, but actually it`s had quite a bit of other mainstream coverage in Scotland, David?"

"Yes, the idea that human rights abuse has been happening is now getting through on the mainstream media quite solidly...."
 

More here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILoQdRzNUjQ

Melanie Shaw 21 days past her release date

Child abuse survivor still languishes in prison

 

Hear Robert Green talking about Melanie Shaw

The hypocrisy of the Scottish Government

A Robert Green update about Hollie Greig case

 
(That was a quick recap of the Hollie Greig case from 2012)

"Host Samuel William(s) helped to expose the corruption and abuse of power which started in the Aberdeen area and then spread throughout the UK."

===============

An update published from another source on 23 April 2017 shows that five years later Robert Green has not been silenced by imprisonment; and, like a terrier for the truth, hangs on and still pesters the Scottish authorities that would neglect a disabled child by covering up that girl`s abuse.

The sound quality is not the best but Robert does provide video evidence of letters that have gone back and forth to the Scottish government and their agents, as well as evidence of judicial corruption. 

View here https://youtu.be/fZqLx3RrBT4

A few Announcements

Vaxxed Facebook

There was another announcement about VAXXED on yesterday`s UK Column News. The location of the film will be put out on the day, 27 April 2017, it is to be shown in London in order to avoid harassment from government sources.

Brian Gerrish then gave some advertising time to the new Holliiegreigjustice website... The previous site was taken down, it would appear, by the Scottish government putting pressure on Google.  Gerrish wondered whether it was just a coincidence that the website got taken down within a couple of weeks of an election being called.

"Something in it? We don`t know."

"And remember that Portland Communications is the firm that Google is using to advise it; and Portland Communications headed up by a man previously very close to Tony Blair; so strong government connections. And go have a look at this website because on it it`s got an update of the trial - the Heather Capital trial - where huge amounts of money disappeared from a hedge fund and unfortunately that hedge fund was linked to Peter Watson of Levy & McRae solicitors, law firm, the very firm that started to threaten people in Scotland to get them to close down any sites talking about Hollie Greig; and of course the very man who phoned UK Column to attempt to pressurise us into dropping our reporting on Hollie Greig.  I`m pleased to say we never did."

"And we`ll also give this up and coming site some air time. This is Fresh Start Foundation and this is an initiative by Andy Peacher who`s been working extremely hard to expose child abuse over many years - a big event on Wednesday 3rd May. So that`s coming up at the Station Hotel, 1 Leonard Street in Perth."

"Get on the website and if you`re able to go to that, there`s some really excellent speakers and Andy and the other people there of course will be very glad to see you."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQpwY1Ws8I&t=1379s

Hollie Greig supporters tackled by Google

BBC News

"I just happened to catch this little bit at the bottom," says Brian Gerrish on UK Column News: "This is what it said: `Europe is now the hub for child abuse content` and I was fascinated that the story which is essentially about the abuse of children is now pushed sideways into the category of technology. It`s nothing to do with children being abused, it`s simply to do with what is circulating on the internet and we should be concentrating on what`s circulating as if the content is not actually child abuse. It`s a fascinating piece of spin and propaganda by the BBC and I found it deeply offensive particularly as this is going on in the background."

Google to tackle terrorists online

"Now just a reminder here that we`ve had a lot in the news that Google and Facebook and other social media providers are going to tackle terrorists and extremists online. So we`ve just chosen the Telegraph article here but what they`re saying is: `Google and some of the world`s biggest internet companies agreed last night to create new technical tools to identify and remove terrorist propaganda in the wake of the Westminster terrorist attacks`."

"So this is all Google doing good work to protect the public and the Guardian here: `Amber Rudd showdown talks with tech firms on extremism are pure PR`. Well the Guardian is being a bit more cynical. It`s saying that `meetings between UK government and Facebook are more ritual than battle as they avoid subjects that both parties disagree on`... tax is obviously an important thing - more important than cleaning up the internet."

"Well, we were informed over the weekend of this, and the information is that the holliegreigjustice.blogspot has been taken down by Google. It was taken down on the evening of 31 March 2017. Apparently, no reason has been given and the site itself has had 1.7 million ordinary views and 5 million google + views."

"So what is the holliegreigjustice site about? Well, of course, it`s about justice for Hollie Greig and in striving for justice for Hollie, striving for justice for all other survivors of child sexual abuse. So we find it interesting that Google has suddenly turned its attention to this website... Remember that the focus of this is on Hollie on the left hand side and the mother Anne and of course Robert Green who`s been to prison twice trying to achieve justice for Hollie. So we wondered why Google would suddenly get tough on child abuse extremists."

"Well the good news is that there is a replacement site up at the moment but it`s very thin on the ground and I know that the people working behind the scenes are desperately trying to get ... the content they had previously up, but this is causing them some problems."

"Now one of the questions that`s been raised - it`s speculation but I think it`s very interesting speculation - is what would have caused Google to take this action? And our attention is turned to these letters which Robert Green`s MP David Mowat has actually been sending out. There`s three of them, and this gentleman has stood up to be counted on behalf of Robert and let`s have a look at what these letters say."

"So basically, the first one is to the Permanent Secretary of the Scottish government and it says: `Mr Green my constituent recently came to see me to discuss a number of issues and during the discussions he made reference to the fact he had requested copies of correspondence from your office and that not only had this been denied but that no satisfactory explanation had been provided as to why his request had been declined`."

"And then the letter says well `I am therefore asking you, if you will tell me why the material has been denied and why you have made this decision`. Now for an MP to do this, that`s a lot of weight behind Robert Green`s original request..."

"So we`ve got another letter here. It says that `I understand that the aforementioned constituent has been in recent communication with your office in order to secure the transcript of a case in which he himself was involved. I understand that Mr Green has subsequently been provided with a transcript as per his request. However, Mr Green has advised that the transcript is incomplete and that a section of the proceedings which he feels particularly significant to his case has been excluded from the text and so Mr Green is asking for that to be provided - and they are being asked why this has been excluded."

"This is the key tape from one of the court cases that Robert Green went through. So the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland is now being asked to provide the tape which Robert Green has been attempting to get and we say again this is really marvellous to see an MP standing up to be counted and now asking himself."

"Right well ... let`s just bring this up... well this is a question being asked on the website that basically on the 4th December 2009, Google got a letter from the Scottish government legal representatives threatening to take down the site. That was overcome but what the website supporters are saying is that in 2017 they may have done the same thing again."

"So the inference is that the letters that have been sent to the Scottish government have been so dangerous that the response has been for the Scottish government to contact Google."

"Now there is another letter and this is probably the key one because of course what we`ve got here is Mr Mowat writing to Nicola Sturgeon and what he`s saying is that his constituent Robert Green has come to see him and pointing out that the Scottish child abuse inquiry has now had a number of individuals resigning and surprisingly the Scottish government has simply replaced them with one individual and how can that possibly work?  How can you take an investigation which was supposedly going to have a team of people working and then you simply replace it with Lady Smith?"

"The aforementioned constituent has been in contact with me over a number of years and keeps me abreast of his endeavours to secure justice for Hollie Greig. I understand that he has written to you on a number of occasions regarding this and related matters. However the purpose of my writing to you today is in respect of the Panel that has been set up for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry."

"Mr Green recently came to my office to discuss a number of issues and during our conversation he mentioned that of the three persons originally appointed to the Panel: Ms Susan O`Brien QC, Professor Michael Lamb and Mr Glen Houston, all have now stepped down from the inquiry. I understand that the first two cited interference from the Executive as their reason for so doing."

"However, my concern is not so much that all three of the panellists have determined not to continue in post; albeit that this is not a particularly helpful state of affairs, my concern relates to the fact that three panellists have all been replaced with a single person; Lady Anne Smith."

"Given the important work that this inquiry is required to undertake it does seem rather unorthodox to appoint a single person to take matters forward, when initially it was considered necessary to appoint three people to share the load. Furthermore given that Lady Smith was nominated to post by Mr John Swinney MSP, a member of your Executive Team; does this not open the Executive up to potential challenge?  As such it would appear to me to be a risky strategy to pursue."

"So the inference is that these letters have upset the Scottish government and particularly Nicola Sturgeon... to such an extent that they`ve called upon Google to take down the whole of the history which of course has been up on that website about the Hollie Greig case. I think there may well be some merit in this because obviously the Scottish government has been prepared to act and attack Robert Green in particular every time he started to make headway with questions about the Hollie Greig case."

 

"Now just for completeness: I spoke to Google media team this morning [3 April 2017] and followed up with this email simply saying `We understand that you`ve taken this website down. Please confirm that. But also is it correct that this `take down` action is at the behest of the Scottish government? So we sent that email off just before we became live. We haven`t had a response yet but it`s going to be extremely interesting to see what Google says."

"So Google, publicly tough on terrorists, but behind the scenes the inference seems to be that if you get too close to criminal activity at the government level you`re going to be taken down as well."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvAmhhldGic

Investigation into former PM Sir Edward Heath

"A £1 million ($1.25mn) taxpayer funded child abuse investigation into former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath has been closed by police, reportedly due to a lack of evidence."

"The inquiry, codenamed Operation Conifer, will be closed in the coming weeks, but the report on its findings will remain confidential, the Telegraph reports."

"The huge bill has been criticized as a waste of taxpayer money since it was launched in August of 2015. Police have also been slammed for damaging the reputation of the late ex-PM, who cannot go on trial."

"According to sources who spoke to the newspaper, private investigators that were hired by police to help conduct the inquiry have been told that their contracts will not be renewed..."

"Friends of Heath, who died in 2005 aged 89, insist that the inquiry found no evidence implicating the Tory politician, saying the questions police put to his former staff members and sailing friends were so lacking in detail that there appeared to be no hard evidence."

"The investigation was launched after at least seven allegations of child sex abuse were brought against Heath, including one claiming that the former Tory MP abused a boy on his yacht before throwing him overboard."

"Heath was also examined in a now defunct investigation into a suspected VIP paedophile ring at the heart of Westminster dubbed Operation Midland."

https://www.rt.com/uk/381383-edward-heath-investigation-pedophile/

So that is RT reporting on the Telegraph report.

The UK Column News took the story up on Tuesday 21 March by referring to the Mail on Sunday and calling it a false article. [about 42.27 minutes] The investigation into former PM Sir Edward Heath has NOT been closed.

"A source for UK Column spoke to the police who said this was not true," Gerrish informed viewers. "So we have something that the police are saying is untrue but then we notice this in another Daily Mail article:"

"Yesterday, Lord Armstrong, the former Cabinet Secretary and Sir Edward`s principal private secretary from 1970 to 1974, said: `I simply don`t understand how the Chief Constable got himself into such a position.`"

"So the Daily Mail are helping the former Private Secretary of Mr Heath to gently undermine the police investigation."

 

Brian Gerrish points to another article in the Mail in Scotland from a couple of years ago which reports:  "`Mandarin who can`t help being economical with truth: Lord Armstrong at centre of accusations of child abuse cover-up.`  And basically what this story is about is this gentleman working with MI5 -  bring in the security services again - and what were they doing?  They were pushing the child abuse under the carpet in order to protect the state."

"So this is some of the comment from that article:"

"Lord Armstrong - who was Margaret Thatcher`s Cabinet Secretary for eight years - is now at the centre of accusations of a major establishment cover-up of child abuse by leading public figures in the 1970s and 1980s."

"It has been revealed that he was urged by MI5 to help hush-up abuse allegations against a senior MP so as to avoid political embarrassment for the Thatcher government."

"Even today, despite years of official investigations into the claims and a top-level review into the loss of hundreds of Home Office files relating to the original allegations, Armstrong defiantly refuses to identify the suspect politician or even say if he is alive or dead."

"So I`m going to put a label on that and say: why does the Daily Mail want to use this man to help undermine a police child abuse investigation?"

"Any clues Mike?"

"And indeed they seem to be undermining their own reporters. There`s a difference...between the Daily Mail and the Mail in Scotland."

 

Gerrish then reads from a letter by Robert Green to Mr Paul Dacre, Editor of the Daily Mail.

"With regard to previous correspondence, I was disturbed to read today of yet another attack on Chief Constable Mike Veale by your crime correspondent, Rebecca Camber."

"It was of great concern on two counts."

"First, the article quotes the opinion of Lord Armstrong, who clearly seeks to undermine the competence of the Chief Constable. It was a curious choice by Ms Camber to quote Lord Armstrong as less than two years ago, the Scottish Daily Mail published a withering attack on this individual for his apparent attempts to cover up child abuse by another senior Conservative MP, Sir Peter Morrison. I am sure that your readers may have formed a different view of Lord Armstrong`s attack on the Chief Constable had details of the Mail`s earlier article been revealed."

"Secondly and possibly even more seriously, Wiltshire Police has confirmed that the Daily Mail has indulged in fake news: the investigation into Edward Heath has not been called off."

In the next paragraph there is a reminder that Tim Fortescue MP, Chief Whip to Edward Heath, admitted covering-up for Members of Parliament who were child abusers.

"Finally, I have provided expert witness evidence regarding Edward Heath and others that has been accepted by Wiltshire Police. Included in those named are two of your most senior journalists."

"The reputation of your newspapers could hardly be at more risk over this issue. I trust that the readers will be treated to more balanced and truthful journalism over this issue in future."

etc

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21 March is World Down Syndrome Day

It was not forgotten by the UK Column team that there has been no support for Hollie Greig, the down syndrome girl who was abused in Aberdeenshire.

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