Over 100 pages of new material have been written. These will be written and typed asap. Earlier autobiographical articles will be merged while some material will be deleted to reflect changing beliefs. Here's a sample.
One night, as I was falling asleep, I saw the familiar eyes again and heard a voice stating “We would like to do a surgery on your reproductive organs because this area of the body is where much of your anger is stored.” It was understood that reproduction in this context was not entirely physical. I then found myself entering a cavern that opened into a city beneath a mountain, whose edifices were fused into stone. There I found Katja with her mother, living within a larger community. Her mother let me in to see her but I was dismayed by a cold reception. She looked at me like a stranger and said “You are mistaken. We are not in a relationship. I am married to a man I've known since childhood.” With a feeling of incredible emptiness I left the community and returned the way I had arrived, through the cavern which opened into a narrow valley spanning maybe a dozen yards across, between two sheer cliffs. For mile after mile I walked, seeing nothing but endless walls stretching for thousands of yards above. There was no water in sight. I wondered if I would die of dehydration. The severe landscape was delineated by rocky outcroppings which bubbled and coalesced into bulbous igneous rock formations as volcanoes boiled, simmered and smoldered over the course of millenia. Once invisible dimensions became visible. A trio of white horses ran alongside my path. They had always existed, always been present as silent companions. The only thing that has changed was my perception of them, or lack thereof. The valley floor gradually expanded into a wide plain where merchants plied a thriving trade in luxury goods like silk and spices alongside basic items of subsistence. The setting was pre-industrial feudalism. Roving bands of raiders had interwoven themselves within the business of the market, and were busy terrorizing the merchants, siphoning fruits of their trade. Unlike the popular image of Medieval raiders, these men were close linked to the aristocracy, enjoying a great deal of social privilege. The towering walls of cliffs had receded into the slopes of another great mountain, whose seemingly impenetrable walls opened to reveal a narrow passageway. I followed to path inside the mountain and into a hive-like settlement with modern furnishings. In a kitchen with high celings and metallic walls the warmth of extended community was made evident. I walked to the faucet and poured myself a glass of water. The honeycomb-like structure of the dwelling contained dozens of rooms per unit, connected by corridors, patios, open- courtyards and conference rooms, There were beings from many different galaxies mingling in common areas. I was brought to a central hall where the clamor of loud conversation between hundreds of beings was taking places at long tables.
Serena sat down at the end of our table so that we were facing each other. I wanted to know why Katja had been so cold to me. She said the relationship was not intended to be permanent, that our interactions formed strands in a web of life that would connect all beings born in a state of separation. She showed me a device that was like a hologram, announcing that I had killed the spider. Inside the hologram was a twitching arachnid leg almost a meter long, which she explained had once been attached to me. I was horrified. As she spoke, she transferred to me a sense of respect for the creature's life, which had served an important function by containing dark emotions like greed and hatred. She then said, perhaps ominously, that there was more work to be done. Serena put away the hologram before presenting another device that looked like a prism. Watching light reflecting off its surfaces, I felt my surroundings blur, fade and vanish. Time and space disassembled. An abyss stretched fathomless depths through layers of black soil, dense rock, molten lava, across empty caverns and towards a blazing light. Diffusions of sound produced frequency shifts fluctuating into the ether, reverberating as gravity waves. Doorways arranged and rearranged in never-ending configuration of patterns, revealing the rhythmic pulse of horses running in great number down a steep hillside. A litany of atrocities was committed against the public. Black clusters of carrion birds obscured the sun. Flickering torchlight revealed faces in a Medieval armory pervaded with the stench of smoke and blood. The powers of church and state were unified under vows spoken in secrecy. The artifice of sense certainty crumbled as sight and sound merged into amorphous anomaly.
Linear events become unbound. Seasons pass in an instant. Fertility emerges, grows, blooms and declines. A battlefield littered with bodies is replaced by a meadow of wildflowers. Indistinct forms waver through viscosity to visual coherence. Shapes, images and histories unfurl, fragment and scatter,
warping physicality into the eternal now. Observation becomes participation. Marriages form, decay and return. Children age, generating cycles of their own, enmeshed and enfolded within one another like Chinese egg dolls. Luminous oscillations reveal rain falling on cobblestone streets. The financial district of London. Men in tailored suits are stepping from a horse-drawn carriage towards a staircase leading down to a basement nightclub. Colleagues are with a serving girl in the corner. A central bar is stocked with vintage liquers. Someone is being tortured in the back room. The sound of screaming. Passive faces of voyeurs look on, unaffected. The feeling of despair is a visible substance, black and grimy like stubborn grease. A doorway opens. Light is reflected and refracted, dividing, subdividing and multiplying. A shallow facade of dimensional solidity is torn asunder, displaying a carnival barker in pinstripe suit, cane and top hat, a stage full of tattooed monstrosities, genetic abnormalities, the shoulders of a giant moving through the crowd, towering above it, the smell of laudanum, the sound of children screaming as colored minerals explode across the sky. Living memories recorded in crystalline faces enfold and collapse, revealing new geometries. Insectoid limbs on a terrestrial surfaces sparkling with phosphorescence multiply into an array of beings as a singular entity's energy bodies converge and diverge into a rainbow of color. Flashes of light alternate with shimmering colors as doorways open and close.
Serena said I was watching recording of past lives. She said there was no longer a need to be angry about issues of social inequality because the old world order is collapsing. She predicted that people who cling to values of separation and hierarchy will be finding themselves inhibited in many ways. I understood the Catholic church to be one of many institutions included in this summary of events.
That dream occurred months before I first watched videos of Barbra Marciniak channeling the Pleiadians. In the course of these videos they discuss the upcoming collapse of the Catholic Church. The phrase “old world order” is also mentioned in at least one instance. Let me reemphasize that I had never watched her videos before the dream happened, so subliminal influence can not possibly explain the similarity of the message.
Soon after the dream happened it was like a light had been switched off. The formerly harrowing attachment to Katja receded into the distance in such a hurry it was disorienting. I have never moved on from someone so fast. Another possible post-surgical complication was that casual sex was no longer appealing. My attention had already returned to a situation closer to home.
A few days after the dream I was in the bath and looked down to see see what appeared to be a surgical incision a few millimeters long just over my right ovary. That was my first thought because the line was so abnormally straight it appeared to be have been done with a mechanically made instrument. But then when I ran a nail over it there was no feeling of sensitivity as there would be with a normal injury, and no rough edges as there would be with a scab. All I could feel was smooth skin free from any sense of physical discomfort. The mark was vaguely reddish. When it was still there a few weeks later I began assuming it was an inflamed vein. Then, after over a month has passed since the dream, I ran my nail over it again and the entire line peeled off beneath my finger, revealing smooth, unblemished skin beneath.
The day before I finally sat down to organize and transcribe the notes about the previous dream, which were all scattered in various notebooks, I woke up from a brief nap with a sudden, inexplicable compulsion to look up the word panoply in the dictionary, feeling that the urge was meant to convey an important message. In my mind, “panoply” was linked to an image of the prism, where light and sound were crystallized into physical form. This is not what panoply means. At that time I put the dictionary-searching compulsion aside to go about the business of the day. Some of that “business” involved starting The Once and Future King, a classic Arthurian fantasy novel that had been on my reading list for close to a decade. Aside from its literary merits, part of the fascination derived from noticing how prevalent the Grail mythos is in the literature of all the major religious military orders dating back to the Middle Ages, starting with the Knights Templar. Within Medieval legend and folklore, the Templar Grand Master, Godfroi de Bouillon, was descended from Perceval, protagonist of all the earliest Grail romances. The character of King Arthur might be interpreted as a Western Buddha working towards wealth redistribution, given that, until his emergence in European mythology, there had been no comparable monarch whose efforts were, at least ostensibly, directed towards bringing peace and prosperity to his kingdom. Prior to the invention or romanticized existence of King Arthur, the idea of sacred kingship had been based on strength, which by nature was founded on conquest of subject populations. Of course, this counter-tradition of collectivism has been corrupted by the network of secret societies who comprise the shadow government, because that network borrows heavily from Arthurian mythology while pursuing wealth concentration at the expense of the masses. I have not yet read Joseph Campbell's essay concerning how the Grail romances are the founding myth of European society, but in all likelihood this interpretation is heavily influences by his own family's close personal involvement with, and membership within, Freemasonry. The primary reason I had been reading Arthurian mythology to begin with was to extract symbolic meaning and allusion from the text. Or, at least, that was the excuse.
Near the beginning of the Once and Future King, there is a visually striking scene in which a young Arthur, who is lost in an English forest, wanders into a sunny clearing where a strange knight in gleaming armor is sitting astride a white horse. When Arthur asks the knight for directions, it becomes apparent that he is blinded by foggy glasses that will not become clear when cleaned on the horse's mane or anything else in sight. At one point the knight is crawling around on the ground looking for his glasses but the visor on his helm keeps snapping shut, leaving him in a state of utter confusion. With Arthur's help he locates the glasses, after which the knight's dog, a docile, unmotivated, perpetually happy creature intended for hunting primevil beasts, takes off running in circles around the tree, wrapping his rope leash in knots all the while. The knight then gallops around the tree three times in the opposite direction, intending to disentangle the dog but leaving them both hopelessly ensnared. At this point I had to put the book down for a minute because it had sent me into hysterics. Leash confusion is a state that any responsible dog owner is well acquainted with. Over the course of succeeding chapters, the knight runs into trees and falls over from the weight of his armor. Finally, after reading all of this, I walked over to the bookshelf and looked up the word panoply. I was surprised to read it defined as “a complete suit of armor”. In this particular context, armor was understood to be a metaphor for self-knowledge. One can see how easy it is to misinterpret communication that tends to be symbolic. Later that same day, I looked in the mirror and observed, for the first time, a long scratch running alongside to outer corner of my jaw. It was deep enough that, under normal circumstances, I would have remembered it happening. The scratch looked identical to photos of unexplained marks on the jawlines of other people who had claimed the scratches were left during military or alien abductions.
During 2004, while living in the San Francisco crack hotel, I was walking down 16th street and spotted an intriguing book with a golden pyramid on its cover, resting on the blanket of a man holding a sidewalk sale. Not owning any books at the time, I offered whatever change was in my pocket and took the book home. I might not have emerged from my room for a few days, except to go down the hall to the shower room. The book, called City of Golden Shadow, chronicles the activities of a powerful secret society called the Grail Brotherhood. The group is comprised of wealthy individuals and corporate leaders who have constructed a virtual Egypt animated by artificial intelligence. At the heart of the project is the world's oldest, wealthiest man, who, through mind uploading, has become immortal as a virtual incarnation on the Egyptian deity Osiris. Despite being protected by a cybernetic assassin whose modifications provide surveillance capacity, among other abilities, the Grail Project leader has become afraid of his own creation after witnessing how people wired into its communication network were critically injured without explanation. File under science faction.
Concepts introduced in the book bring to mind testimony by Simon Parkes, whose family's background of employment by British Security Services allowed him to be informed about the activities of Marconi Electronics, a company that was involved in the development of weaponized AI. During the early 80s, the company was in numerous mainstream media outlets after 25 of its employees met sudden, grisly deaths. Tony Collins, a reporter for Computer Weekly, wrote a book on the Marconi enigma in which he determined the deaths to be assassinations, but was unable to determine the cause. Simon claims that the killings were performed by members of the military-intelligence community concerned about the AI falling into the wrong hands. This testimony confirms my own conclusions, and those of other military abductees, who believe that a hostile AI is the ultimate power behind the fourth dimensional entities who control the cryptocracy. In recent years there has been news of a study during which subdermally embedded nano-sensors were used to shut DNA on and off in the bodies of laboratory mice. One can easily imagine an industrial technocracy capable of remotely transmitting diseases to political dissidents. According to reports of some of the so-called “super soldiers”, more accurately recognized as cybernetic subjects of the military-industrial complex, that future is already here. Consider the unusual number of covert operations researchers who have died of rapid onset cancers at a young age. Phil Schneider, Karla Turner, Mac Tonnies and Dave MacGowan are only a small subset of that group. Dr. Barry Trower, a physicist and former M15 employee, claims that microwave weapons have already been used to kill hundreds of thousands of people without ever having left a trace of evidence. His military education included a list of 30 pulse frequencies capable of inducing physical pathologies such as cancer and neurological impairment. Unless humanity is collectively able to end its technology addictions, these developments may soon be introduced to much larger segments of the general population.
One morning I was in the midst of meditation when I noticed the presence of a sentient awareness that identified itself as a mantis. It told me that the City of Golden Shadow book had been provided as part of my education, and the education of humanity as a whole. The author, Tad Williams, also wrote an Arthurian high fantasy trilogy, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, in which a protagonist is imprisoned by humanoid insects who present him with a mirror they use to communicate with the Storm King. When his friends rescue him, he is imprisoned in a gauzy, thread-like substance and speaking an insectoid clicking language. The mirror represents self-knowledge, useful not only for personal growth but for shattering the ego that functions as a barrier preventing communication with the spirit realm, and the realm of Earth's guardians, the nature devas. I had already been wondering if Tad Williams was a contactee whose books were based on information subconsciously implanted by mantids while in the dream state. According to the testimony of many mantis contactees, myself included, the mantids are environmentalists concerned with preventing a technocratic tyranny that will bring great destruction and suffering to Earth and all her inhabitants. But still, despite all the evidence, it all seemed so speculative. I wondered if maybe I had just been reading too much science fiction and it was all just the power of suggestion. I walked to the bookcase and spotted River of Blue Fire, sequel to City of Golden Shadow, which I had picked up at a library book sale years before and forgotten. For the first time, I opened the book's front cover and turned to a random page, number 121. My eye went straight to the words “It is grandfather mantis.”
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Rest in peace, Dave MacGowan
The world lost a brave soul a few weeks ago with the passing of writer and researcher extraordinaire, Dave MacGowan. Dave tackled subject matter most people wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole, whether from fear of professional failure or some of the more ominous consequences met by MK ULTRA whistleblowers, time and time again. Back in 2009, I remarked to a friend that he was a genius (not a phrase I dispense lightly) and was not surprised to find, a few years later, that he was a MENSA member. It still boggles my mind that someone without a shred of personal history with the intelligence community could not only understand the nature of military black projects but convey that understanding in a coherent, evidence-based way to the general public. His pattern recognition skills were phenomenal. Dave has been one of my personal heroes for 12 years now, since the first time I stumbled across Programmed to Kill while in the midst of interacting with a number of individuals whose MK UlTRA background helped me to understand the incredible importance of his work. To a very large extent, my own writing has been an attempt to expand upon that legacy. It was beyond an honor when he promoted one of my blogs on his Facebook page not too long ago. Under most circumstances I roll my eyes at people who cry over public figures they've never met in person, but in this case I completely understand. It was nice to be informed by a friend instead of a random internet stranger. Let's hope that another generation of researchers will take up where he left off, and the body of work he left behind will continue to grow in popularity. Rest in peace, Dave MacGowan. You will be missed.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Vatican inspectors suspect key office was used for money laundering
via Reuters:
VATICAN CITY(Reuters) - Vatican financial investigators suspect a department of the Holy See which oversees real estate and investments was used in the past for possible money laundering, insider trading and market manipulation, according to a report seen by Reuters. The information in the confidential document, which covers the period from 2000 to 2011, has been passed on to Italian and Swiss investigators for their checks because some activity tied to the accounts allegedly took place in these countries, a senior Vatican source said.
VATICAN CITY(Reuters) - Vatican financial investigators suspect a department of the Holy See which oversees real estate and investments was used in the past for possible money laundering, insider trading and market manipulation, according to a report seen by Reuters. The information in the confidential document, which covers the period from 2000 to 2011, has been passed on to Italian and Swiss investigators for their checks because some activity tied to the accounts allegedly took place in these countries, a senior Vatican source said.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Saudi prince arrested with two tons of amphetamines
via The Telegraph:
A Saudi prince has been detained at Beirut airport in Lebanon after two tons of an amphetamine drug popular with Syrian rebels was found on a private jet. Prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four other men were held after what was described as the biggest ever drugs bust at the city’s main Rafik Hariri International Airport, according to local media and security sources. They were allegedly "attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine", a security source was quoted as saying. Captagon is a brand name for the widely used amphetamine phenethylline. Although this type of amphetamine has been prescribed in the past to treat childhood and other behavioural disorders, it is now used overwhelmingly as a stimulant in the Middle East.
It has long been banned in the West. It is the drug of choice for front-line fighters on both sides in the Syrian war, allowing a heightened state of alertness. It is unclear where the pills allegedly found in Beirut were ultimately to be sold, although the plane was said to be heading back to Saudi Arabia. That would fit one of the more unexpected side-effects noted of the Syrian war – the country’s growing role as an exporter of illegal drugs. There have been reports that Syrian suppliers to both sides of the conflict have become so successful in manufacturing Captagon that it is now an export product, smuggled through Lebanon to a broader Middle East market. The drugs were stuffed into 40 suitcases, according to reports. It has been a bad few weeks for the Saudi royal family’s minor princes. Prince Majed bin Abdullah was arrested last month in Los Angeles for allegedly trying to force a woman to perform oral sex, though charges were dropped last week
A Saudi prince has been detained at Beirut airport in Lebanon after two tons of an amphetamine drug popular with Syrian rebels was found on a private jet. Prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four other men were held after what was described as the biggest ever drugs bust at the city’s main Rafik Hariri International Airport, according to local media and security sources. They were allegedly "attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine", a security source was quoted as saying. Captagon is a brand name for the widely used amphetamine phenethylline. Although this type of amphetamine has been prescribed in the past to treat childhood and other behavioural disorders, it is now used overwhelmingly as a stimulant in the Middle East.
It has long been banned in the West. It is the drug of choice for front-line fighters on both sides in the Syrian war, allowing a heightened state of alertness. It is unclear where the pills allegedly found in Beirut were ultimately to be sold, although the plane was said to be heading back to Saudi Arabia. That would fit one of the more unexpected side-effects noted of the Syrian war – the country’s growing role as an exporter of illegal drugs. There have been reports that Syrian suppliers to both sides of the conflict have become so successful in manufacturing Captagon that it is now an export product, smuggled through Lebanon to a broader Middle East market. The drugs were stuffed into 40 suitcases, according to reports. It has been a bad few weeks for the Saudi royal family’s minor princes. Prince Majed bin Abdullah was arrested last month in Los Angeles for allegedly trying to force a woman to perform oral sex, though charges were dropped last week
Friday, August 14, 2015
UK police investigate child sex abuse claims against former PM Heath
via CNN:
London (CNN)At least four UK police forces are independently investigating claims that include child sexual abuse involving the late British Prime Minister Edward Heath.
The allegations about Heath, who led a Conservative government from 1970 to 1974 and only left Parliament in 2001, have dominated UK newspaper headlines this week.
They come at a time when Britain has been rocked by a series of revelations involving the sexual abuse of children by public figures -- including UK entertainer Jimmy Savile -- and allegations that the British establishment may have sought to cover up historic abuse claims involving some former senior politicians.
Heath, the most senior figure to be investigated for child sex abuse allegations dating back decades, died in 2005 at age 89.
Police forces in Kent, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Jersey, an island in the English Channel, have now confirmed they are looking into claims involving the former Prime Minister.
A UK police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is also examining how Wiltshire Police handled an alleged claim of child sex abuse made in the 1990s.
Wiltshire Police appealed Monday for any witnesses or victims who could support those allegations to come forward and confirmed that Heath "has been named in relation to offences concerning children."
In a statement, Kent Police said it had received a report Tuesday of a sexual assault in East Kent in the 1960s. "The victim has named Sir Edward Heath in connection with the allegation," the statement said. "Detectives are making initial inquiries, and will obtain a full account from the victim."
The States of Jersey Police said: "Sir Edward Heath does feature as part of Operation Whistle, currently investigating historical allegations of abuse in Jersey."
A Hampshire Constabulary spokeswoman also confirmed to CNN that the force is investigating allegations regarding Heath.
Met Police look into claims of organized abuse
In response to media inquiries about Heath, a fifth force, London's Metropolitan Police, said it would not confirm any names in relation to its sex abuse investigations.
The force said speculation continued about its ongoing investigation into allegations of organized sexual abuse of young boys in and around London by a group of powerful men in the 1970s and '80s -- dubbed Operation Midland -- but declined to name anyone involved.
"Operation Midland continues to be a complex and sensitive investigation, and the MPS will not be giving a running commentary on its progress," a Met statement said. "This is important for the integrity of the investigation and protecting evidence that may form part of it."
Former aide, charitable foundation doubt claims
At least one former colleague, Heath's onetime private secretary Wilf Weeks, has spoken out against the suggestion that the man who ran the country was also a child sex abuser.
"Well I'm bemused and I'm sure he would have been even more bemused because I just don't for a moment think that there is anything there," he said.
The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation said it welcomed the inquiry and wholeheartedly believed it would clear his name.
Such allegations 'must be investigated'
In response to the latest developments, Peter Wanless, chief executive of UK children's charity the NSPCC, said, "It's important that people who believe they have been victims of abuse have the confidence to speak out knowing that their voices will be listened to.
"Whether abuse happened in the past, or is occurring today, whether those being accused are authority figures or not, allegations of crimes against children must be investigated thoroughly."
A government investigation into Savile uncovered hundreds of victims that he allegedly raped and sexually abused across four decades, but the abuse
came to light only after his death in October 2011.
Metropolitan Police launched Operation Yewtree in response to the slew of historic claims involving Savile and others.
This saw entertainers Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter convicted of sexual offenses dating back as much as four decades.
London (CNN)At least four UK police forces are independently investigating claims that include child sexual abuse involving the late British Prime Minister Edward Heath.
The allegations about Heath, who led a Conservative government from 1970 to 1974 and only left Parliament in 2001, have dominated UK newspaper headlines this week.
They come at a time when Britain has been rocked by a series of revelations involving the sexual abuse of children by public figures -- including UK entertainer Jimmy Savile -- and allegations that the British establishment may have sought to cover up historic abuse claims involving some former senior politicians.
Heath, the most senior figure to be investigated for child sex abuse allegations dating back decades, died in 2005 at age 89.
Police forces in Kent, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Jersey, an island in the English Channel, have now confirmed they are looking into claims involving the former Prime Minister.
A UK police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is also examining how Wiltshire Police handled an alleged claim of child sex abuse made in the 1990s.
Wiltshire Police appealed Monday for any witnesses or victims who could support those allegations to come forward and confirmed that Heath "has been named in relation to offences concerning children."
In a statement, Kent Police said it had received a report Tuesday of a sexual assault in East Kent in the 1960s. "The victim has named Sir Edward Heath in connection with the allegation," the statement said. "Detectives are making initial inquiries, and will obtain a full account from the victim."
The States of Jersey Police said: "Sir Edward Heath does feature as part of Operation Whistle, currently investigating historical allegations of abuse in Jersey."
A Hampshire Constabulary spokeswoman also confirmed to CNN that the force is investigating allegations regarding Heath.
Met Police look into claims of organized abuse
In response to media inquiries about Heath, a fifth force, London's Metropolitan Police, said it would not confirm any names in relation to its sex abuse investigations.
The force said speculation continued about its ongoing investigation into allegations of organized sexual abuse of young boys in and around London by a group of powerful men in the 1970s and '80s -- dubbed Operation Midland -- but declined to name anyone involved.
"Operation Midland continues to be a complex and sensitive investigation, and the MPS will not be giving a running commentary on its progress," a Met statement said. "This is important for the integrity of the investigation and protecting evidence that may form part of it."
Former aide, charitable foundation doubt claims
At least one former colleague, Heath's onetime private secretary Wilf Weeks, has spoken out against the suggestion that the man who ran the country was also a child sex abuser.
"Well I'm bemused and I'm sure he would have been even more bemused because I just don't for a moment think that there is anything there," he said.
The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation said it welcomed the inquiry and wholeheartedly believed it would clear his name.
Such allegations 'must be investigated'
In response to the latest developments, Peter Wanless, chief executive of UK children's charity the NSPCC, said, "It's important that people who believe they have been victims of abuse have the confidence to speak out knowing that their voices will be listened to.
"Whether abuse happened in the past, or is occurring today, whether those being accused are authority figures or not, allegations of crimes against children must be investigated thoroughly."
A government investigation into Savile uncovered hundreds of victims that he allegedly raped and sexually abused across four decades, but the abuse
came to light only after his death in October 2011.
Metropolitan Police launched Operation Yewtree in response to the slew of historic claims involving Savile and others.
This saw entertainers Rolf Harris and Gary Glitter convicted of sexual offenses dating back as much as four decades.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
MI5 accused of covering up sexual abuse at boys’ home
via The Guardian:
MI5 is facing allegations it was complicit in the sexual abuse of children, the high court in Northern Ireland will hear on Tuesday.
Victims of the abuse are taking legal action to force a full independent inquiry with the power to compel witnesses to testify and the security service to hand over documents.
The case, in Belfast, is the first in court over the alleged cover-up of British state involvement at the Kincora children’s home in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. It is also the first of the recent sex abuse cases allegedly tying in the British state directly. Victims allege that the cover-up over Kincora has lasted decades.
The victims want the claims of state collusion investigated by an inquiry with full powers, such as the one set up into other sex abuse scandals chaired by the New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard.
Amnesty International branded Kincora “one of the biggest scandals of our age” and backed the victims’ calls for an inquiry with full powers: “There are longstanding claims that MI5 blocked one or more police investigations into Kincora in the 1970s in order to protect its own intelligence-gathering operation, a terrible indictment which raises the spectre of countless vulnerable boys having faced further years of brutal abuse.
“It’s only Justice Goddard’s inquiry that will be able to ensure that evidence doesn’t remain hidden in Whitehall filing cabinets and that even senior politicians will have to attend the inquiry.”
Children are alleged to have suffered sustained sexual abuse after being taken from the east Belfast children’s home, run by a member of a Protestant paramilitary organisation, to be offered to men.
Lawyers for the victims will argue in court that “there is credible evidence (and it is therefore arguable) that the security forces and security services were aware of the abuse, permitted it to continue and colluded in protecting the individuals involved from investigation or prosecution”, according to papers lodged with the Belfast high court.
One alleged victim, Gary Hoy, said in a sworn affidavit seen by the Guardian: “If we had had a proper inquiry in the 1980s then I wouldn’t have to relive this again today. MI5 and MI6 cannot be allowed to hide things, and I believe everything needs to be brought out into the open. I find it heart-wrenching that there were security men could have been behind the abuse or involved in it … Because they were in positions of authority or supposed to be protecting the state they get away with it.”
Hoy was placed in Kincora with his younger brother in the 1970s. He says the abuse left him broken as an adult.
At the court case this week, lawyers for Hoy will state that “he (and other individuals) suffered abuse whilst in the care of Kincora boys’ home which would come within the definition of torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment as defined under article 3 of the ECHR [European convention on human rights]”.
Two former British military officials say a full inquiry with proper powers should take place. One says MI5 was complicit in the abuses; another says he reported it to MI5 but no action was taken. Colin Wallace, a former army information officer in Northern Ireland, said: “There is now irrefutable evidence that previous inquiries were deliberately engineered or manipulated to mislead parliament by concealing the role of government agencies in covering up the abuses.”
The demand for an inquiry with full powers was supported last week by parliament’s home affairs committee.
The government wants the allegations covered by a different inquiry which lacks the powers to compel MI5 to hand over documents and cannot compel witnesses to testify. The government’s preferred option will not fund lawyers for the victims.
Three men were jailed for their part in abuse at Kincora in 1981, but attempts to establish the truth about British state involvement have been blocked. It has persistently been alleged that William McGrath, Kincora’s housemaster and the leader of an extreme evangelical Protestant group called Tara, was an informant for British intelligence. McGrath was jailed for sexual offences in 1981 and is now There have been limited inquiries into Kincora, but officers of the former Royal Ulster Constabulary, army intelligence officers, a former Northern Ireland ombudsman, and the judges conducting those earlier inquiries all said the truth about what went on there – and why it was allowed to continue for so many years – had been suppressed.
RUC officers were repeatedly refused permission in the 1980s to interview a senior MI5 official about the affair.
The Home Office, the government department responsible for MI5, declined to say if any intelligence official had ever even been questioned about the claims. It also declined to confirm or deny if the allegations of MI5 complicity in the abuse of children were true or a maligning of the security service’s reputation.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government is cooperating fully with all investigations into allegations relating to the Kincora boys’ home. It is not appropriate to comment further while these investigations are under way.”
In his affidavit, Hoy said: “Joe Mains, who was jailed for offences in the 1980s, he had a room in a [portable building]. His door was always closed, and I remember well-dressed men used to go in with children and the door was locked. Joe Mains took me to a house in Four Winds and abused me, and a man called Semple [also convicted] took me to a house in the Fortwilliam area and abused me.”
Lawyers acting for Hoy and other alleged victims want judges to declare the government’s planned inquiry is inadequate. They are seeking leave to judicially review the government’s decision.
The allegations of security service complicity in the abuses at Kincora have been reported by news organisations in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic for decades.
Kevin Winters, the solicitor for Hoy and other victims of Kincora, said they viewed the government’s proposed inquiry as offering little hope of delivering the justice they had waited so long for: “They see this as a continuation of the cover-up that has existed for decades. They deserve full closure and justice.”
The allegations of British state complicity in the abuse of children initially appeared to be a conspiracy theory. But detectives who investigated Kincora in the 1980s said at least one Tory MP visited the home at the time boys were being sexually abused there. Brian Gemmell, a former army intelligence officer, has said he was warned off his investigations into Kincora by an MI5 officer.
Among the first to accuse the Ministry of Defence and MI5 of a cover-up was the former army information officer Wallace, who was himself the victim of dirty tricks, and subsequently left the MoD.
In 1980, as more people began to take notice of his claims about Kincora, Wallace was arrested and convicted of manslaughter. He spent six years in jail amid suggestions he had been framed. His conviction for manslaughter was quashed in 1996 in the light of fresh forensic evidence and shortcomings at his trial. In 1990, Margaret Thatcher was forced to admit that her government had deceived parliament and the public about Wallace’s role.
An independent investigation by David Calcutt QC had found that members of MI5 had interfered with disciplinary proceedings against Wallace. As a result, Wallace was awarded £30,000 compensation.
He told the Guardian: “Surely some action must be taken against those whose actions deliberately perpetuated the cover-up of the abuses and thus prolonged the suffering of the victims unnecessarily.”
The chair of the current inquiry, Sir Anthony Hart, has asked all UK government departments and agencies to provide him with every file they held on Kincora. A spokesperson for the inquiry declined to elaborate when asked what response Hart had made to his demand.
However, Theresa May, the home secretary, has told Hart and the Northern Ireland secretary, Theresa Villiers, that “all officials, government departments and agencies will give their fullest cooperation”. This, she added in a letter seen by the Guardian, “includes the security service [MI5] and the Ministry of Defence”. May said that if necessary she would place the Kincora allegations into the hands of the England and Wales child sexual abuse panel inquiry under Judge Goddard.
MI5 is facing allegations it was complicit in the sexual abuse of children, the high court in Northern Ireland will hear on Tuesday.
Victims of the abuse are taking legal action to force a full independent inquiry with the power to compel witnesses to testify and the security service to hand over documents.
The case, in Belfast, is the first in court over the alleged cover-up of British state involvement at the Kincora children’s home in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. It is also the first of the recent sex abuse cases allegedly tying in the British state directly. Victims allege that the cover-up over Kincora has lasted decades.
The victims want the claims of state collusion investigated by an inquiry with full powers, such as the one set up into other sex abuse scandals chaired by the New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard.
Amnesty International branded Kincora “one of the biggest scandals of our age” and backed the victims’ calls for an inquiry with full powers: “There are longstanding claims that MI5 blocked one or more police investigations into Kincora in the 1970s in order to protect its own intelligence-gathering operation, a terrible indictment which raises the spectre of countless vulnerable boys having faced further years of brutal abuse.
“It’s only Justice Goddard’s inquiry that will be able to ensure that evidence doesn’t remain hidden in Whitehall filing cabinets and that even senior politicians will have to attend the inquiry.”
Children are alleged to have suffered sustained sexual abuse after being taken from the east Belfast children’s home, run by a member of a Protestant paramilitary organisation, to be offered to men.
Lawyers for the victims will argue in court that “there is credible evidence (and it is therefore arguable) that the security forces and security services were aware of the abuse, permitted it to continue and colluded in protecting the individuals involved from investigation or prosecution”, according to papers lodged with the Belfast high court.
One alleged victim, Gary Hoy, said in a sworn affidavit seen by the Guardian: “If we had had a proper inquiry in the 1980s then I wouldn’t have to relive this again today. MI5 and MI6 cannot be allowed to hide things, and I believe everything needs to be brought out into the open. I find it heart-wrenching that there were security men could have been behind the abuse or involved in it … Because they were in positions of authority or supposed to be protecting the state they get away with it.”
Hoy was placed in Kincora with his younger brother in the 1970s. He says the abuse left him broken as an adult.
At the court case this week, lawyers for Hoy will state that “he (and other individuals) suffered abuse whilst in the care of Kincora boys’ home which would come within the definition of torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment as defined under article 3 of the ECHR [European convention on human rights]”.
Two former British military officials say a full inquiry with proper powers should take place. One says MI5 was complicit in the abuses; another says he reported it to MI5 but no action was taken. Colin Wallace, a former army information officer in Northern Ireland, said: “There is now irrefutable evidence that previous inquiries were deliberately engineered or manipulated to mislead parliament by concealing the role of government agencies in covering up the abuses.”
The demand for an inquiry with full powers was supported last week by parliament’s home affairs committee.
The government wants the allegations covered by a different inquiry which lacks the powers to compel MI5 to hand over documents and cannot compel witnesses to testify. The government’s preferred option will not fund lawyers for the victims.
Three men were jailed for their part in abuse at Kincora in 1981, but attempts to establish the truth about British state involvement have been blocked. It has persistently been alleged that William McGrath, Kincora’s housemaster and the leader of an extreme evangelical Protestant group called Tara, was an informant for British intelligence. McGrath was jailed for sexual offences in 1981 and is now There have been limited inquiries into Kincora, but officers of the former Royal Ulster Constabulary, army intelligence officers, a former Northern Ireland ombudsman, and the judges conducting those earlier inquiries all said the truth about what went on there – and why it was allowed to continue for so many years – had been suppressed.
RUC officers were repeatedly refused permission in the 1980s to interview a senior MI5 official about the affair.
The Home Office, the government department responsible for MI5, declined to say if any intelligence official had ever even been questioned about the claims. It also declined to confirm or deny if the allegations of MI5 complicity in the abuse of children were true or a maligning of the security service’s reputation.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government is cooperating fully with all investigations into allegations relating to the Kincora boys’ home. It is not appropriate to comment further while these investigations are under way.”
In his affidavit, Hoy said: “Joe Mains, who was jailed for offences in the 1980s, he had a room in a [portable building]. His door was always closed, and I remember well-dressed men used to go in with children and the door was locked. Joe Mains took me to a house in Four Winds and abused me, and a man called Semple [also convicted] took me to a house in the Fortwilliam area and abused me.”
Lawyers acting for Hoy and other alleged victims want judges to declare the government’s planned inquiry is inadequate. They are seeking leave to judicially review the government’s decision.
The allegations of security service complicity in the abuses at Kincora have been reported by news organisations in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic for decades.
Kevin Winters, the solicitor for Hoy and other victims of Kincora, said they viewed the government’s proposed inquiry as offering little hope of delivering the justice they had waited so long for: “They see this as a continuation of the cover-up that has existed for decades. They deserve full closure and justice.”
The allegations of British state complicity in the abuse of children initially appeared to be a conspiracy theory. But detectives who investigated Kincora in the 1980s said at least one Tory MP visited the home at the time boys were being sexually abused there. Brian Gemmell, a former army intelligence officer, has said he was warned off his investigations into Kincora by an MI5 officer.
Among the first to accuse the Ministry of Defence and MI5 of a cover-up was the former army information officer Wallace, who was himself the victim of dirty tricks, and subsequently left the MoD.
In 1980, as more people began to take notice of his claims about Kincora, Wallace was arrested and convicted of manslaughter. He spent six years in jail amid suggestions he had been framed. His conviction for manslaughter was quashed in 1996 in the light of fresh forensic evidence and shortcomings at his trial. In 1990, Margaret Thatcher was forced to admit that her government had deceived parliament and the public about Wallace’s role.
An independent investigation by David Calcutt QC had found that members of MI5 had interfered with disciplinary proceedings against Wallace. As a result, Wallace was awarded £30,000 compensation.
He told the Guardian: “Surely some action must be taken against those whose actions deliberately perpetuated the cover-up of the abuses and thus prolonged the suffering of the victims unnecessarily.”
The chair of the current inquiry, Sir Anthony Hart, has asked all UK government departments and agencies to provide him with every file they held on Kincora. A spokesperson for the inquiry declined to elaborate when asked what response Hart had made to his demand.
However, Theresa May, the home secretary, has told Hart and the Northern Ireland secretary, Theresa Villiers, that “all officials, government departments and agencies will give their fullest cooperation”. This, she added in a letter seen by the Guardian, “includes the security service [MI5] and the Ministry of Defence”. May said that if necessary she would place the Kincora allegations into the hands of the England and Wales child sexual abuse panel inquiry under Judge Goddard.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Norway Sues Catholic Church for 'Fraud'
via Naharnet.com:
Norway is claiming 4.6 million euros ($5.1 million) compensation from the Catholic church for exaggerating membership numbers to obtain more state aid, the Oslo diocese said Monday. The diocese, its bishop and the financial officer are suspected of fraudulently registering thousands of people on its membership lists between 2010 and 2014, which enabled it to obtain 50 million kroner (more than $6.0 million or 5.8 million euros) in state subsidies. Norway's church denies engaging in fraud but has admitted its past methods were "unsatisfactory."
In Norway, a predominantly Protestant country, the state provides subsidies to organized religions, the size of which is determined by the number of members. The Dagbladet daily, which first broke the story, said the diocese had received a letter from the administration on Monday calling for the 40.6 million krone overpayment to be refunded. A spokeswoman for the diocese, Lisa Wade, confirmed the contents of the letter. She told AFP that the church would not be paying the sum and would take the matter up with the culture ministry. We have a very different understanding of the law," she said. "It's complex. It's not like it's a clear-cut case."
Norway's Roman Catholic minority had 140,000 registered members in 2014, more than double the number in 2010.
To explain the jump, the Church has claimed it benefited from a large wave of Catholic immigrants, notably Poles, who practiced their religion but did not register with the Church, which in turn cost the Church more but did not result in increased state subsidies.
Their names have now been removed from the list. More than 21,000 other cases have yet to be clarified. Police raided the Catholic Church's offices on February 26 on suspicions of "aggravated fraud."
Norway is claiming 4.6 million euros ($5.1 million) compensation from the Catholic church for exaggerating membership numbers to obtain more state aid, the Oslo diocese said Monday. The diocese, its bishop and the financial officer are suspected of fraudulently registering thousands of people on its membership lists between 2010 and 2014, which enabled it to obtain 50 million kroner (more than $6.0 million or 5.8 million euros) in state subsidies. Norway's church denies engaging in fraud but has admitted its past methods were "unsatisfactory."
In Norway, a predominantly Protestant country, the state provides subsidies to organized religions, the size of which is determined by the number of members. The Dagbladet daily, which first broke the story, said the diocese had received a letter from the administration on Monday calling for the 40.6 million krone overpayment to be refunded. A spokeswoman for the diocese, Lisa Wade, confirmed the contents of the letter. She told AFP that the church would not be paying the sum and would take the matter up with the culture ministry. We have a very different understanding of the law," she said. "It's complex. It's not like it's a clear-cut case."
Norway's Roman Catholic minority had 140,000 registered members in 2014, more than double the number in 2010.
To explain the jump, the Church has claimed it benefited from a large wave of Catholic immigrants, notably Poles, who practiced their religion but did not register with the Church, which in turn cost the Church more but did not result in increased state subsidies.
Their names have now been removed from the list. More than 21,000 other cases have yet to be clarified. Police raided the Catholic Church's offices on February 26 on suspicions of "aggravated fraud."
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Adviser to Queen was founder of paedophile support group to keep offenders out of jail
via The Daily Mail:
One of Britain’s most senior judges actively campaigned to support a vile paedophile group that tried to legalise sex with children, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Lord Justice Fulford, named last year as an adviser to the Queen, was a key backer of the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) which police suspect of abusing children on an ‘industrial scale’.
An investigation by the Mail on Sunday has discovered that Fulford was a founder member of a campaign to defend PIE while it was openly calling for the age of consent to be lowered to just four.
It can also be revealed that the Appeal Court judge and Privy Counsellor:
Planned demonstrations outside courts where defendants – described by prosecutors as ‘sick’ and a ‘force for evil’ – were on trial.
Wrote an article claiming PIE, now under investigation in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, was merely a way for paedophiles to ‘make friends and offer each other mutual support’.
Sought help with the campaign from future Labour Minister Patricia Hewitt, then in charge of a controversial civil rights group.
Attended meetings to discuss tactics with PIE chairman Tom O’Carroll, who has since been jailed for possessing thousands of pictures of naked children.
Was praised by the paedophile group for coming to its defence.
Fulford was a founder member of an organisation called Conspiracy Against Public Morals set up to defend PIE leaders facing criminal charges.
It later published a sickening pamphlet claiming that children would be freed from the oppression of the state and their parents if they were allowed to have sex with adults.
The 60-page document, unearthed by The Mail on Sunday, is adorned with disturbing child-like pictures and sexual cartoons.
At the time the organisation went under a slightly different name but had the same postal address as Fulford’s group had.
When asked last night about his involvement in the group, Fulford said: ‘I have no memory of having been involved with its foundation or the detail of the work of this campaign.’
One of Britain’s most senior judges actively campaigned to support a vile paedophile group that tried to legalise sex with children, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Lord Justice Fulford, named last year as an adviser to the Queen, was a key backer of the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) which police suspect of abusing children on an ‘industrial scale’.
An investigation by the Mail on Sunday has discovered that Fulford was a founder member of a campaign to defend PIE while it was openly calling for the age of consent to be lowered to just four.
It can also be revealed that the Appeal Court judge and Privy Counsellor:
Planned demonstrations outside courts where defendants – described by prosecutors as ‘sick’ and a ‘force for evil’ – were on trial.
Wrote an article claiming PIE, now under investigation in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, was merely a way for paedophiles to ‘make friends and offer each other mutual support’.
Sought help with the campaign from future Labour Minister Patricia Hewitt, then in charge of a controversial civil rights group.
Attended meetings to discuss tactics with PIE chairman Tom O’Carroll, who has since been jailed for possessing thousands of pictures of naked children.
Was praised by the paedophile group for coming to its defence.
Fulford was a founder member of an organisation called Conspiracy Against Public Morals set up to defend PIE leaders facing criminal charges.
It later published a sickening pamphlet claiming that children would be freed from the oppression of the state and their parents if they were allowed to have sex with adults.
The 60-page document, unearthed by The Mail on Sunday, is adorned with disturbing child-like pictures and sexual cartoons.
At the time the organisation went under a slightly different name but had the same postal address as Fulford’s group had.
When asked last night about his involvement in the group, Fulford said: ‘I have no memory of having been involved with its foundation or the detail of the work of this campaign.’
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Royal household scrutinized in child sex abuse inquiry
via RT.com:
The Royal household will not be exempt from scrutiny over pedophile allegations and may be asked to provide evidence to a newly launched child sex abuse inquiry, it has emerged. Justice Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge chairing the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, had initially not included the Royal household in a list of institutions to be investigated over historical crimes. However, a statement from the inquiry, launched on Thursday, later confirmed the monarchy would also be “within the scope” of the investigation.
The child abuse inquiry could take up to five years and cost £100 million, it has been confirmed, as authorities will investigate every level of British society including local authorities, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the NHS, the media and armed forces. Justice Goddard told the Times: “There is no limit on the types of institutions that fall within the terms of reference. The monarchy is an institution and it runs a number of other institutions, all of which are potentially within the scope of the inquiry.” In a statement, Goddard described the investigation as “the most ambitious public inquiry” ever undertaken in England and Wales.
The Royal household has come under scrutiny in recent years following several allegations of child sexual abuse. The Duke of York (Prince Andrew) came under the media spotlight in January after being accused of having forced sexual relations with an American teenager who was underage at the time. He was named in court papers relating to an ongoing civil case by Virginia Roberts, 30, against convicted billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in the United States. US judge Kenneth Marra ruled the sex allegations against Prince Andrew be struck from the public record in April, but made no ruling as to whether the claims were true or false.
In March, a former police officer claimed a member of the British royal family was part of a pedophile ring under investigation by police until the case was suddenly dropped. The former Metropolitan Police officer said the investigation, which took place in the late 1980s, was halted for national security reasons. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, the former officer said: “I was in a car with two other vice squad officers."
"They were discussing a madam who had provided a girl of about 15 to Oliver Reed ... the detective sergeant said he had just had a major child abuse investigation shut down by the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] regarding a royal and an MP ... he did not mention names, but he said the CPS had said it was not in the public’s interest because it ‘could destabilize national security.’”
“What I was told has stayed with me to this day,” he added.
Goddard’s child abuse inquiry was set up last year following claims investigations into a pedophile ring that operated in Westminster in the 1980s were covered up. Several government figures who were prominent in the 1980s have since faced allegations of sexual impropriety. The late former home secretary Leon Brittan faced accusations of child sexual abuse shortly before to his death in January. The CPS formally apologized for failing to investigate allegations of child sex abuse made against the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith, who was exposed as a pedophile following this death in 2010.
The Royal household will not be exempt from scrutiny over pedophile allegations and may be asked to provide evidence to a newly launched child sex abuse inquiry, it has emerged. Justice Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge chairing the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, had initially not included the Royal household in a list of institutions to be investigated over historical crimes. However, a statement from the inquiry, launched on Thursday, later confirmed the monarchy would also be “within the scope” of the investigation.
The child abuse inquiry could take up to five years and cost £100 million, it has been confirmed, as authorities will investigate every level of British society including local authorities, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the NHS, the media and armed forces. Justice Goddard told the Times: “There is no limit on the types of institutions that fall within the terms of reference. The monarchy is an institution and it runs a number of other institutions, all of which are potentially within the scope of the inquiry.” In a statement, Goddard described the investigation as “the most ambitious public inquiry” ever undertaken in England and Wales.
The Royal household has come under scrutiny in recent years following several allegations of child sexual abuse. The Duke of York (Prince Andrew) came under the media spotlight in January after being accused of having forced sexual relations with an American teenager who was underage at the time. He was named in court papers relating to an ongoing civil case by Virginia Roberts, 30, against convicted billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in the United States. US judge Kenneth Marra ruled the sex allegations against Prince Andrew be struck from the public record in April, but made no ruling as to whether the claims were true or false.
In March, a former police officer claimed a member of the British royal family was part of a pedophile ring under investigation by police until the case was suddenly dropped. The former Metropolitan Police officer said the investigation, which took place in the late 1980s, was halted for national security reasons. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, the former officer said: “I was in a car with two other vice squad officers."
"They were discussing a madam who had provided a girl of about 15 to Oliver Reed ... the detective sergeant said he had just had a major child abuse investigation shut down by the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] regarding a royal and an MP ... he did not mention names, but he said the CPS had said it was not in the public’s interest because it ‘could destabilize national security.’”
“What I was told has stayed with me to this day,” he added.
Goddard’s child abuse inquiry was set up last year following claims investigations into a pedophile ring that operated in Westminster in the 1980s were covered up. Several government figures who were prominent in the 1980s have since faced allegations of sexual impropriety. The late former home secretary Leon Brittan faced accusations of child sexual abuse shortly before to his death in January. The CPS formally apologized for failing to investigate allegations of child sex abuse made against the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith, who was exposed as a pedophile following this death in 2010.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Catholic church complicit in First Nation genocide
via Telesur TV:
In Canada’s residential schools, many Indigenous children were beaten, tortured, raped, medically experimented on, and killed. Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) just released its Executive Summary Report on their inquiry into Indian Residential Schools finding that in Canada’s dealings with Indigenous Nations, it had engaged in a form of genocide and made 94 recommendations for action. The TRC’s mandate came from the class action litigation (and subsequent settlement) by survivors of the residential schools who wanted Canadians to have a true understanding of what happened in those schools. The Summary Report represents over six years of historical research, investigation, and the documentation of the stories of over 6,750 survivors. The final report is expected to be at least six volumes. Indian residential schools were boarding schools created and designed by the federal government to eliminate the “Indian problem” in Canada – not unlike the Indian boarding schools created by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the United States. The federal government, in partnership with churches of various denominations (primarily Catholic), apprehended Indigenous children from their communities and forced them to live in residential schools under the guise of civilizing them with education. Instead of receiving an education (most never received more than a grade 6 education), most were starved, beaten, tortured, raped, and medically experimented on. In some schools, upwards of 40 percent of Indigenous children never made it out alive. Nationally, the death rate for these children was 1:25 - higher than the 1:26 death rate for WWII enlistees – and that was war.
While some have characterized the Indian problem as the desire by Canada to erase cultural difference, the reality had far more to do with power and economics. The oft-quoted Duncan Campbell Scott, the deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs, appears to claim that the objective is one of assimilation: “I want to get rid of the Indian problem … Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic.” However, when presented with the alarming death rates in the residential schools by his chief medical officer, Dr. Peter H. Bryce, Scott decided that the deaths of Indian children was in line with departmental objectives which he characterized as “the final solution.” “Indian children … die at a much higher rate [in residential schools] than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is geared towards a final solution of our Indian problem,” said Scott. So the central question seems to be what exactly was the Indian problem? Was it truly a desire to rid Indians of their cultures – or was it more about eliminating Indians? Canada’s record, considered on the whole, would seem to suggest that the Indian problem was more about Indians refusing to die off, than maintaining different languages and cultures. Colonial governments didn’t issue bounties on Mi’kmaw scalps because of their culture – they did so because Mi’kmaw people refused to give up their land. Canada didn’t forcibly sterilize Indigenous women and girls without their consent to stop them from speaking their languages – they did it to eliminate the population. By the United Nations definition – that is genocide.
It doesn’t matter whether Canada ever agrees that its actions amounted to genocide – very few nation states ever admit to committing acts of genocide. What happened in residential schools were crimes back then, just as they are today. It was always against colonial and Canadian law to assault, rape, torture, starve, and murder children. Despite the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the federal government, and church officials all knowing what was happening in those schools, everyone with the power to stop it allowed it to continue. That is why residential schools had grave yards instead of playgrounds.
Moving forward, the biggest mistake that could come from this report would be for Canadians to historicize what happened. Indian policy is not a sad chapter in our history – it is a lethal reality for Indigenous people today. Today, there are more Indigenous children in state care than during the residential school era. Nationally, there are 30-40,000 children in care and in some provinces, like Manitoba, Indigenous children represent 90 percent of all kids in care. Canada’s current policy of purposefully underfunding essential human services on Indian reserves like food, water, sanitation, housing, health and education, leads to the premature deaths of Indigenous peoples by 7-20 years. Indigenous peoples are overrepresented in prisons by 10 times the national rate, and the problem is getting worse. In the last decade, the Indigenous inmate population has steadily increased by more than 56 percent. In the last 30 years, there have been over 1,200 cases of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls and little action from Canada to protect them. None of this is because they practice different cultures, but because they are Indians – impediments to unfettered land access, development, and resource extraction.
It’s long past the time that Canada live up to the spirit and intent of the treaties signed with Indigenous Nations (now constitutionally protected) and work towardsa new policy which reflects the promises of mutual respect, mutual benefit and mutual protection. The vision of the treaties was always to share these lands. Despite all the horrors of residential schools, Indigenous Nations kept their treaty promises.
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Canada-Was-Killing-Indians-Not-Cultures-20150608-0018.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
In Canada’s residential schools, many Indigenous children were beaten, tortured, raped, medically experimented on, and killed. Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) just released its Executive Summary Report on their inquiry into Indian Residential Schools finding that in Canada’s dealings with Indigenous Nations, it had engaged in a form of genocide and made 94 recommendations for action. The TRC’s mandate came from the class action litigation (and subsequent settlement) by survivors of the residential schools who wanted Canadians to have a true understanding of what happened in those schools. The Summary Report represents over six years of historical research, investigation, and the documentation of the stories of over 6,750 survivors. The final report is expected to be at least six volumes. Indian residential schools were boarding schools created and designed by the federal government to eliminate the “Indian problem” in Canada – not unlike the Indian boarding schools created by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the United States. The federal government, in partnership with churches of various denominations (primarily Catholic), apprehended Indigenous children from their communities and forced them to live in residential schools under the guise of civilizing them with education. Instead of receiving an education (most never received more than a grade 6 education), most were starved, beaten, tortured, raped, and medically experimented on. In some schools, upwards of 40 percent of Indigenous children never made it out alive. Nationally, the death rate for these children was 1:25 - higher than the 1:26 death rate for WWII enlistees – and that was war.
While some have characterized the Indian problem as the desire by Canada to erase cultural difference, the reality had far more to do with power and economics. The oft-quoted Duncan Campbell Scott, the deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs, appears to claim that the objective is one of assimilation: “I want to get rid of the Indian problem … Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic.” However, when presented with the alarming death rates in the residential schools by his chief medical officer, Dr. Peter H. Bryce, Scott decided that the deaths of Indian children was in line with departmental objectives which he characterized as “the final solution.” “Indian children … die at a much higher rate [in residential schools] than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is geared towards a final solution of our Indian problem,” said Scott. So the central question seems to be what exactly was the Indian problem? Was it truly a desire to rid Indians of their cultures – or was it more about eliminating Indians? Canada’s record, considered on the whole, would seem to suggest that the Indian problem was more about Indians refusing to die off, than maintaining different languages and cultures. Colonial governments didn’t issue bounties on Mi’kmaw scalps because of their culture – they did so because Mi’kmaw people refused to give up their land. Canada didn’t forcibly sterilize Indigenous women and girls without their consent to stop them from speaking their languages – they did it to eliminate the population. By the United Nations definition – that is genocide.
It doesn’t matter whether Canada ever agrees that its actions amounted to genocide – very few nation states ever admit to committing acts of genocide. What happened in residential schools were crimes back then, just as they are today. It was always against colonial and Canadian law to assault, rape, torture, starve, and murder children. Despite the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the federal government, and church officials all knowing what was happening in those schools, everyone with the power to stop it allowed it to continue. That is why residential schools had grave yards instead of playgrounds.
Moving forward, the biggest mistake that could come from this report would be for Canadians to historicize what happened. Indian policy is not a sad chapter in our history – it is a lethal reality for Indigenous people today. Today, there are more Indigenous children in state care than during the residential school era. Nationally, there are 30-40,000 children in care and in some provinces, like Manitoba, Indigenous children represent 90 percent of all kids in care. Canada’s current policy of purposefully underfunding essential human services on Indian reserves like food, water, sanitation, housing, health and education, leads to the premature deaths of Indigenous peoples by 7-20 years. Indigenous peoples are overrepresented in prisons by 10 times the national rate, and the problem is getting worse. In the last decade, the Indigenous inmate population has steadily increased by more than 56 percent. In the last 30 years, there have been over 1,200 cases of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls and little action from Canada to protect them. None of this is because they practice different cultures, but because they are Indians – impediments to unfettered land access, development, and resource extraction.
It’s long past the time that Canada live up to the spirit and intent of the treaties signed with Indigenous Nations (now constitutionally protected) and work towardsa new policy which reflects the promises of mutual respect, mutual benefit and mutual protection. The vision of the treaties was always to share these lands. Despite all the horrors of residential schools, Indigenous Nations kept their treaty promises.
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Canada-Was-Killing-Indians-Not-Cultures-20150608-0018.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Pleiadian Predictions 2017 - Religion and Disclosure
more on the ongoing collapse of religion via the Ps:
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Arrested Catholic Archbishop’s computer contained over 100,000 images of children
via Raw Story:
Vatican detectives analyzing a computer used a by an archbishop arrested earlier this week discovered over 86,000 pornographic photos and 160 sexually explicit video files of children, reports the International Business Times. According to investigators, another 45,000 pictures had been deleted. ormer Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 66, was arrested at the Vatican earlier this week on charges that he paid to have sex with minors when he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic from 2008 to 2012. Wesolowski is the first Vatican official to be arrested within the city state on charges of pedophilia. The former archbishop was recalled to Rome by the Vatican last year while still a diplomat in Santo Domingo and relieved of his duties following accusations from Dominican media that he was paying for underaged sex partners.
Until earlier this week, he had been free to roam Rome, but is now being held in in a small room in the basement of the Collegio dei Penitenzieri, which hosts the Vatican’s court and military police. Vatican authorities are now investigating if Wesolowski was part of a network of pedophiles and whether he abused children in other posts during his career. Wesolowski previously served in South Africa, Costa Rica, Japan, Switzerland, India and Denmark. If convicted, Wesolowski faces 12 years in jail in the first trial for sexual abuse to be held inside the Vatican City. His trial is expected to start in January.
Vatican detectives analyzing a computer used a by an archbishop arrested earlier this week discovered over 86,000 pornographic photos and 160 sexually explicit video files of children, reports the International Business Times. According to investigators, another 45,000 pictures had been deleted. ormer Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, 66, was arrested at the Vatican earlier this week on charges that he paid to have sex with minors when he was a papal ambassador in the Dominican Republic from 2008 to 2012. Wesolowski is the first Vatican official to be arrested within the city state on charges of pedophilia. The former archbishop was recalled to Rome by the Vatican last year while still a diplomat in Santo Domingo and relieved of his duties following accusations from Dominican media that he was paying for underaged sex partners.
Until earlier this week, he had been free to roam Rome, but is now being held in in a small room in the basement of the Collegio dei Penitenzieri, which hosts the Vatican’s court and military police. Vatican authorities are now investigating if Wesolowski was part of a network of pedophiles and whether he abused children in other posts during his career. Wesolowski previously served in South Africa, Costa Rica, Japan, Switzerland, India and Denmark. If convicted, Wesolowski faces 12 years in jail in the first trial for sexual abuse to be held inside the Vatican City. His trial is expected to start in January.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Decapitated body of Brazilian journalist investigating child prostitution ring found
via The Independent:
The decapitated body of a missing blogger who was investigating a child prostitution ring has been found by police in Brazil. Evany José Metzker's body was found outside the town of Padre ParaÃso, in the northeast of Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state. According to local media reports he had been stripped half-naked and his hands tied behind his back. His head was found 100 metres from his body. Metzger, who maintained a blog named 'Coruja do Vale' (The Owl of the Valley), was reportedly investigating a child prostitution ring operating in the area. Media rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders as well as the Minas Gerais Union of Professional Journalists, called on the Brazilian authorities to mount a "thorough" investigation into Metzker's murder...Metzger's wife, Hilma Chaves Silva Borges, was quoted by The Committee to Protect Journalists as saying that Metzker was working in a dangerous part of the country. "There are lots of murders here. I think that the motive, given the barbarity of his murder, was because he hit on something," she was quoted as saying. Brazil is the third most dangerous country for journalists in Latin America, after Mexico and Colombia, according to Reporters Without Borders. In his blog Metzger often reported on corrupt officials and politicians.
The decapitated body of a missing blogger who was investigating a child prostitution ring has been found by police in Brazil. Evany José Metzker's body was found outside the town of Padre ParaÃso, in the northeast of Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state. According to local media reports he had been stripped half-naked and his hands tied behind his back. His head was found 100 metres from his body. Metzger, who maintained a blog named 'Coruja do Vale' (The Owl of the Valley), was reportedly investigating a child prostitution ring operating in the area. Media rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders as well as the Minas Gerais Union of Professional Journalists, called on the Brazilian authorities to mount a "thorough" investigation into Metzker's murder...Metzger's wife, Hilma Chaves Silva Borges, was quoted by The Committee to Protect Journalists as saying that Metzker was working in a dangerous part of the country. "There are lots of murders here. I think that the motive, given the barbarity of his murder, was because he hit on something," she was quoted as saying. Brazil is the third most dangerous country for journalists in Latin America, after Mexico and Colombia, according to Reporters Without Borders. In his blog Metzger often reported on corrupt officials and politicians.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Paedophile Freemason Ran Lodge For Official UK Spy Agency
via Your News Wire:
Former secretary of the Paedophile Information Exchange (Pie), Keith Harding, who was also a known prolific paedophile, was made Worshipful Master of the Mercurius Lodge In Cheltenham in 2011. This masonic lodge has been revealed to have been set up by UK spy agency GCHQ with many of the agencies intelligence officers members.
Express.co.uk reports:
Harding was convicted of an indecent assault against four children aged eight and nine in 1958 and classified a Schedule-1 offender, which meant the offence remained on his criminal record all his life. His name was also on a list of about 400 PIE members seized by police in 1984, the year the organisation disbanded.
The Sunday Express revealed earlier this month how Harding met MPs Cyril Smith and Leon Brittan in the 1980s when he ran a north London antiques store. Thirty-five years ago he appeared alongside paedophile television presenter Jimmy Savile in a Christmas special of Jim’ll Fix It. The lodge boasts of its Government Communications Headquarters heritage on its website. A source close to Harding revealed: “The Mercurius Lodge is known as the Spies Lodge because it was set up by GCHQ and over the years many intelligence officers have become members. “These are people trained to find out sensitive information and yet none of them had any idea of Keith’s background and past convictions. “They even voted him the highest honour by making him Worshipful Master. “Keith felt the Freemasons were somewhere he finally belonged, he called them his “brotherhood”.
When he died last year, they arranged his funeral and made sure the ceremony started at midday because the time apparently has significance within Masonic ritual.” Spies displaced from London and Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, where the German wartime Enigma code was cracked, set up the Mercurius Lodge in 1957. It meets at the Grade IIlisted Cheltenham Masonic Hall, purpose-built in 1823. Harding ran the Mechanical Music Museum 10 miles away in Northleach after moving from London in 1987. In 2013, he organised a trip to the museum for Freemasons and their families. A photograph shows Harding wearing a Masonic apron, collar and medals during a ceremony a couple of years ago. The Mercurius Lodge last night declined to comment. Detectives probing historical sexual abuse allegations revealed on Wednesday they are investigating 1,433 suspects, including 135 from the entertainment industry, 76 politicians, seven sportsmen and 43 from the music industry.
- See more at: http://yournewswire.com/paedophile-freemason-ran-lodge-for-official-uk-spy-agency/#sthash.hprJEYLS.dpuf
Former secretary of the Paedophile Information Exchange (Pie), Keith Harding, who was also a known prolific paedophile, was made Worshipful Master of the Mercurius Lodge In Cheltenham in 2011. This masonic lodge has been revealed to have been set up by UK spy agency GCHQ with many of the agencies intelligence officers members.
Express.co.uk reports:
Harding was convicted of an indecent assault against four children aged eight and nine in 1958 and classified a Schedule-1 offender, which meant the offence remained on his criminal record all his life. His name was also on a list of about 400 PIE members seized by police in 1984, the year the organisation disbanded.
The Sunday Express revealed earlier this month how Harding met MPs Cyril Smith and Leon Brittan in the 1980s when he ran a north London antiques store. Thirty-five years ago he appeared alongside paedophile television presenter Jimmy Savile in a Christmas special of Jim’ll Fix It. The lodge boasts of its Government Communications Headquarters heritage on its website. A source close to Harding revealed: “The Mercurius Lodge is known as the Spies Lodge because it was set up by GCHQ and over the years many intelligence officers have become members. “These are people trained to find out sensitive information and yet none of them had any idea of Keith’s background and past convictions. “They even voted him the highest honour by making him Worshipful Master. “Keith felt the Freemasons were somewhere he finally belonged, he called them his “brotherhood”.
When he died last year, they arranged his funeral and made sure the ceremony started at midday because the time apparently has significance within Masonic ritual.” Spies displaced from London and Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, where the German wartime Enigma code was cracked, set up the Mercurius Lodge in 1957. It meets at the Grade IIlisted Cheltenham Masonic Hall, purpose-built in 1823. Harding ran the Mechanical Music Museum 10 miles away in Northleach after moving from London in 1987. In 2013, he organised a trip to the museum for Freemasons and their families. A photograph shows Harding wearing a Masonic apron, collar and medals during a ceremony a couple of years ago. The Mercurius Lodge last night declined to comment. Detectives probing historical sexual abuse allegations revealed on Wednesday they are investigating 1,433 suspects, including 135 from the entertainment industry, 76 politicians, seven sportsmen and 43 from the music industry.
- See more at: http://yournewswire.com/paedophile-freemason-ran-lodge-for-official-uk-spy-agency/#sthash.hprJEYLS.dpuf
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Child sex abuse inquiry: Victim had teeth pulled out by nuns with pliers, royal commission hears
via ABC News:
Nuns used pliers to pull out the teeth of a child sex abuse victim at a Ballarat orphanage, and he was also locked in a dungeon known as the "horror room" and abused by a priest, an inquiry has heard. Giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Gordon Hill - now in his 70s - said he was taken to the St Joseph's Home as a three-year-old. He told the inquiry he could still remember "all the little kids getting on the bus" in 1946.
Mr Hill said he was among a group at the home known as "the Drones", children who had no-one and instead of going to school were put to work. He said he was assigned a number and a locker number, instead of a name, and did not know his own surname until he was 10 years old.
Mr Hill told the inquiry he was first abused by a priest at age five, in a dungeon-like environment he called "the horror rooms". [These particular details are consistent with another account of torture at Roman Catholic institutions.]
"I was given a drink ... I blacked out," he said. "When I woke up my genitals and bottom hurt ... I discovered bite marks. The priest told me to get out." Mr Hill said a nun had told him to go to the rooms.
"Father wants to cleanse you, 29," the nuns said to him. He said when he woke up and walked outside, "The nun was laughing. Big joke to her ... she told me to get back to work. Maybe because I was walking funny." On other occasions Mr Hill said he was strapped down naked, tied up and sexually abused. Mr Hill also described being tortured with electric shock therapy while he was tied down, with pads on his head and neck, and a catheter inserted 'so I didn't make a mess'."
He said his hair on the back of his head never grew back from where it bounced against the bed. "Sometimes I think, how the hell did I survive all that happened to me?" he said. Mr Hill began crying as he recalled the ongoing nightmares and toll the abuse had taken on his life. "I felt like an outcast, always in the background, from all the rejection I got when I was at St Joseph's," he said. "One of the last things my wife said before she died ... was that she hoped one day I could tell my story."
"Sometimes the nuns would punish us by pulling out a tooth with a pair of pliers or hitting one of us in the head with an engineer's hammer." Mr Hill told the inquiry his mouth was so sore after having his teeth removed he could not eat, so he fed his food to a mouse he made a pet of in the dungeon. He said sticks were broken across his back and he still bears the scars. "I made a mess on the floor because I was bleeding so much ... I was left in a room with a bucket behind a soundproof door. For a bed I had a concrete slab," he said. "I stayed there about a month. The nuns told me nobody wants you, nobody cares about you. You're just a nobody."
Nuns used pliers to pull out the teeth of a child sex abuse victim at a Ballarat orphanage, and he was also locked in a dungeon known as the "horror room" and abused by a priest, an inquiry has heard. Giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Gordon Hill - now in his 70s - said he was taken to the St Joseph's Home as a three-year-old. He told the inquiry he could still remember "all the little kids getting on the bus" in 1946.
Mr Hill said he was among a group at the home known as "the Drones", children who had no-one and instead of going to school were put to work. He said he was assigned a number and a locker number, instead of a name, and did not know his own surname until he was 10 years old.
Mr Hill told the inquiry he was first abused by a priest at age five, in a dungeon-like environment he called "the horror rooms". [These particular details are consistent with another account of torture at Roman Catholic institutions.]
"I was given a drink ... I blacked out," he said. "When I woke up my genitals and bottom hurt ... I discovered bite marks. The priest told me to get out." Mr Hill said a nun had told him to go to the rooms.
"Father wants to cleanse you, 29," the nuns said to him. He said when he woke up and walked outside, "The nun was laughing. Big joke to her ... she told me to get back to work. Maybe because I was walking funny." On other occasions Mr Hill said he was strapped down naked, tied up and sexually abused. Mr Hill also described being tortured with electric shock therapy while he was tied down, with pads on his head and neck, and a catheter inserted 'so I didn't make a mess'."
He said his hair on the back of his head never grew back from where it bounced against the bed. "Sometimes I think, how the hell did I survive all that happened to me?" he said. Mr Hill began crying as he recalled the ongoing nightmares and toll the abuse had taken on his life. "I felt like an outcast, always in the background, from all the rejection I got when I was at St Joseph's," he said. "One of the last things my wife said before she died ... was that she hoped one day I could tell my story."
"Sometimes the nuns would punish us by pulling out a tooth with a pair of pliers or hitting one of us in the head with an engineer's hammer." Mr Hill told the inquiry his mouth was so sore after having his teeth removed he could not eat, so he fed his food to a mouse he made a pet of in the dungeon. He said sticks were broken across his back and he still bears the scars. "I made a mess on the floor because I was bleeding so much ... I was left in a room with a bucket behind a soundproof door. For a bed I had a concrete slab," he said. "I stayed there about a month. The nuns told me nobody wants you, nobody cares about you. You're just a nobody."
Children's homes were 'supply line' for paedophiles, says ex-minister
The Guardian:
Powerful people in the 1980s targeted children's homes that served as a "supply line" for paedophiles, a former health minister has claimed. As a former child protection manager warned that a "powerful elite" of at least 20 prominent figures carried out the "worst form of abuse", the former health minister Lord Warner described the sexual abuse of children as a "power drive". Warner, a health minister in 2003-07 who conducted an inquiry into child abuse in Birmingham in 1992, spoke out after the home secretary, Theresa May, announced a national inquiry into how the authorities may have ignored child abuse at Westminster. "It is vital that the inquiry is sufficiently comprehensive and over-arching. The important thing is to get at the truth to get at justice, to get what happened in institutions, and to get the right answers for the future. The appalling examples of child protection abuse we have seen must never be allowed to happen again."
MPs on the home affairs select committee will question Mark Sedwill, the home office's permanent secretary, on Tuesday afternoon over the loss of 114 potentially relevant files on child abuse dating back to the 1980s. Warner, a director of social services in Kent in the 1980s, said insufficient action was taken to deal with child abuse in that decade because there was "disbelief in the public mind". He said: "It is pretty distasteful stuff. Society has found it difficult to come to terms with this … We still had an air of deference about people in authority.
"A cover-up means something is very organised. I think much more of this is about people being insensitive to some of these concerns and not being as preoccupied with protecting vulnerable people – children and adults."
Peter McKelvie, a former child protection manager whose allegations about child abuse led to a police inquiry in 2012, claimed that at least 20 prominent people abused children. McKelvie told BBC2's Newsnight: "I believe that there is strong evidence – and an awful lot of information that can be converted into evidence if it is investigated properly – that there has been an extremely powerful elite amongst the highest levels of the political classes for as long as I am alive, and I am 65.
"There has been sufficient reason to investigate it over and over again, certainly for the last 30 years. There has always been the block and the cover-up and the collusion to prevent that happening."
He added: "For the first time I have got a belief that survivors will come forward and justice will be served for a lot of survivors. Unfortunately it has been left so late that a lot of the abusers are now dead.
"We are looking at the Lords, we are looking at the Commons, we are looking at the judiciary, we are looking at all institutions where there will be a small percentage of paedophiles and a slightly larger percentage of people who have known about it but have felt that in terms of their own self-interest and self-preservation and for political party reasons it's been safer for them to cover it up rather than deal with it." May said she would look at plans, backed in principle by the Labour MP Tom Watson, to require public servants to report allegations of child abuse to officials in a form of mandatory whistleblowing. A duty to report would place some form of culpability on a public official if they knowingly withheld information concerning suspected child abuse.
Powerful people in the 1980s targeted children's homes that served as a "supply line" for paedophiles, a former health minister has claimed. As a former child protection manager warned that a "powerful elite" of at least 20 prominent figures carried out the "worst form of abuse", the former health minister Lord Warner described the sexual abuse of children as a "power drive". Warner, a health minister in 2003-07 who conducted an inquiry into child abuse in Birmingham in 1992, spoke out after the home secretary, Theresa May, announced a national inquiry into how the authorities may have ignored child abuse at Westminster. "It is vital that the inquiry is sufficiently comprehensive and over-arching. The important thing is to get at the truth to get at justice, to get what happened in institutions, and to get the right answers for the future. The appalling examples of child protection abuse we have seen must never be allowed to happen again."
MPs on the home affairs select committee will question Mark Sedwill, the home office's permanent secretary, on Tuesday afternoon over the loss of 114 potentially relevant files on child abuse dating back to the 1980s. Warner, a director of social services in Kent in the 1980s, said insufficient action was taken to deal with child abuse in that decade because there was "disbelief in the public mind". He said: "It is pretty distasteful stuff. Society has found it difficult to come to terms with this … We still had an air of deference about people in authority.
"A cover-up means something is very organised. I think much more of this is about people being insensitive to some of these concerns and not being as preoccupied with protecting vulnerable people – children and adults."
Peter McKelvie, a former child protection manager whose allegations about child abuse led to a police inquiry in 2012, claimed that at least 20 prominent people abused children. McKelvie told BBC2's Newsnight: "I believe that there is strong evidence – and an awful lot of information that can be converted into evidence if it is investigated properly – that there has been an extremely powerful elite amongst the highest levels of the political classes for as long as I am alive, and I am 65.
"There has been sufficient reason to investigate it over and over again, certainly for the last 30 years. There has always been the block and the cover-up and the collusion to prevent that happening."
He added: "For the first time I have got a belief that survivors will come forward and justice will be served for a lot of survivors. Unfortunately it has been left so late that a lot of the abusers are now dead.
"We are looking at the Lords, we are looking at the Commons, we are looking at the judiciary, we are looking at all institutions where there will be a small percentage of paedophiles and a slightly larger percentage of people who have known about it but have felt that in terms of their own self-interest and self-preservation and for political party reasons it's been safer for them to cover it up rather than deal with it." May said she would look at plans, backed in principle by the Labour MP Tom Watson, to require public servants to report allegations of child abuse to officials in a form of mandatory whistleblowing. A duty to report would place some form of culpability on a public official if they knowingly withheld information concerning suspected child abuse.
1,400 investigated in child sex abuse inquiry, including politicians, entertainers
via The Guardian:
Police across the country are investigating more than 1,400 men – including 261 high-profile individuals – over allegations of child abuse in the past, a senior officer running the national operation has revealed.
The scale of alleged child abuse across society – both recent and non-recent – was stark, said Ch Const Simon Bailey, who runs Operation Hydrant, the national coordinating team overseeing the various inquiries.
Figures from police forces in England and Wales published on Wednesday reveal that 1,433 men have been identified in reports of alleged abuse by victims, since the operation was set up in 2014.
Of these 216 are dead, 76 are politicians, both national and local figures, 43 are from the music industry, 135 from TV, film or radio and seven from the world of sport. The cases include recent high-profile convictions, including Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter and Max Clifford.
Hundreds of institutions have been identified by victims of non-recent abuse as places where their abuse took place. These include 154 schools, 75 children’s homes, 40 religious institutions, 14 medical establishments, 11 community groups, nine prisons or young offender institutions, nine sports venues and 28 other places including military establishments....“What we are seeing is an absolutely unprecedented increase in the number of reports that are coming forward. That has brought about a step-change in the way the police service has had to deal with this. We are rising to and meeting the challenge, this is what Operation Hydrant is about.”
Bailey said the Hydrant team was working to create a database which would try to ensure that the failures of the past – as identified in the Jimmy Savile case – would not be repeated.
During the investigation of the late Radio 1 DJ it emerged that intelligence and information, including reports of abuse, were buried in the system – in some cases to prevent leaks – which meant when individual police forces with their own allegations checked the national police computer database his name did not come up...Gabrielle Shaw, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), said: “The scale and scope of sexual abuse of children committed in the past can often seem overwhelming. What these figures from the National Police Chiefs’ Council do is to provide some degree of measure of the issue.
“And what a measure it is; prolific offenders from all spheres of society, thinking they were untouchable, abusing children and the most vulnerable in settings where they should have been safest , including schools, care facilities and religious institutions.”
Police across the country are investigating more than 1,400 men – including 261 high-profile individuals – over allegations of child abuse in the past, a senior officer running the national operation has revealed.
The scale of alleged child abuse across society – both recent and non-recent – was stark, said Ch Const Simon Bailey, who runs Operation Hydrant, the national coordinating team overseeing the various inquiries.
Figures from police forces in England and Wales published on Wednesday reveal that 1,433 men have been identified in reports of alleged abuse by victims, since the operation was set up in 2014.
Of these 216 are dead, 76 are politicians, both national and local figures, 43 are from the music industry, 135 from TV, film or radio and seven from the world of sport. The cases include recent high-profile convictions, including Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter and Max Clifford.
Hundreds of institutions have been identified by victims of non-recent abuse as places where their abuse took place. These include 154 schools, 75 children’s homes, 40 religious institutions, 14 medical establishments, 11 community groups, nine prisons or young offender institutions, nine sports venues and 28 other places including military establishments....“What we are seeing is an absolutely unprecedented increase in the number of reports that are coming forward. That has brought about a step-change in the way the police service has had to deal with this. We are rising to and meeting the challenge, this is what Operation Hydrant is about.”
Bailey said the Hydrant team was working to create a database which would try to ensure that the failures of the past – as identified in the Jimmy Savile case – would not be repeated.
During the investigation of the late Radio 1 DJ it emerged that intelligence and information, including reports of abuse, were buried in the system – in some cases to prevent leaks – which meant when individual police forces with their own allegations checked the national police computer database his name did not come up...Gabrielle Shaw, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), said: “The scale and scope of sexual abuse of children committed in the past can often seem overwhelming. What these figures from the National Police Chiefs’ Council do is to provide some degree of measure of the issue.
“And what a measure it is; prolific offenders from all spheres of society, thinking they were untouchable, abusing children and the most vulnerable in settings where they should have been safest , including schools, care facilities and religious institutions.”
Friday, May 8, 2015
California Trio Accused of Running Rogue Masonic Police Force
source: BBC, via Cryptogon:
Three people have been charged in California with impersonating law enforcement officers after claiming to operate a police department with jurisdiction in 33 states. They said they belonged to a group called the Masonic Fraternal Police Department, which they claimed dated back to the Knights Templar. One of the trio is a junior aide to California’s attorney general. Uniforms, weapons and vehicles were found in premises linked to the group. Brandon Kiel – an aide to state Attorney General Kamala Harris – David Henry and Tonette Hayes were arrested on 30 April and released later that day.
“When asked what is the difference between the Masonic Fraternal Police Department and other Police Departments the answer is simple for us. We were here first!” the group’s website page reads. “We are born into this Organization, our bloodlines go deeper than an application.” Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida told the Associated Press news agency that there were no indications that the group had carried out any law enforcement activities.
Three people have been charged in California with impersonating law enforcement officers after claiming to operate a police department with jurisdiction in 33 states. They said they belonged to a group called the Masonic Fraternal Police Department, which they claimed dated back to the Knights Templar. One of the trio is a junior aide to California’s attorney general. Uniforms, weapons and vehicles were found in premises linked to the group. Brandon Kiel – an aide to state Attorney General Kamala Harris – David Henry and Tonette Hayes were arrested on 30 April and released later that day.
“When asked what is the difference between the Masonic Fraternal Police Department and other Police Departments the answer is simple for us. We were here first!” the group’s website page reads. “We are born into this Organization, our bloodlines go deeper than an application.” Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Nishida told the Associated Press news agency that there were no indications that the group had carried out any law enforcement activities.
Priest Who Ran Meth Ring Sentenced to 5 Years
source: NBC, via Cryptogon:
A suspended Connecticut Roman Catholic priest who authorities say dealt pounds of methamphetamine and bought a sex shop intending to launder his drug money will spend another three years in prison after being sentenced on Thursday. Around 75 people were in court on Thursday to support Monsignor Kevin Wallin, 63, dubbed "Monsignor Meth" in some media reports, and the judge called it an "unprecedented" turnout for a drug trafficking sentencing. Wallin, who has already served 28 months in jail, was sentenced to five years and five months in prison. With time served, Wallin will be in prison for three more years, followed by five years of supervised release. "My shame remains intense. ... 'I'm sorry' does not convey the remorse I feel," Wallin said on Thursday. "The day I was arrested was a very good day."
In March, Monsignor Kevin Wallin's public defender filed a sentencing request for leniency in federal court in Hartford, citing Wallin's three decades of charitable service as well as more than 80 letters of support, including one from the late New York Cardinal Edward Egan. "I cannot ignore your decision to infect your community with methamphetamine," Judge Alfred Covello said. In addition to the dozens of supporters, 90 letters supporting wallin were also submitted. Wallin pleaded guilty in 2013 to a methamphetamine conspiracy charge and agreed to a potential prison sentence of 10 to 11 years, but was asking for a sentence of no more than four years in prison, followed by a year of home confinement, 500 hours of community service and drug treatment.
"The record evidence demonstrates that Kevin Wallin is an extraordinary man whose remarkable character and acts have touched thousands of people," Wallin's public defender, Kelly Barrett, wrote in the sentencing request in March. "Kevin tragically became a methamphetamine addict. He fell from grace and did criminal wrong, but has confessed his crimes and has been working hard to atone for them." Barrett wrote that Wallin's numerous accomplishments include serving as pastor of St. Peter's Parish in Danbury and the Cathedral Parish in Bridgeport, volunteering with a variety of community groups, helping found an AIDS ministry program, leading an inner city charity group, serving on the Danbury Cultural Commission and serving on the board of directors of Sacred Heart University.
Egan, who died in March, was bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport from 1988 to 2000 and praised Wallin in a letter to the court. "He was outstanding in the fulfillment of his assignments and in his concern for people in need," Egan wrote. "Father Wallin was held in highest regard as a dedicated clergyman and an outstanding citizen as well." Federal prosecutors said Wallin committed serious crimes and most people convicted of conspiring to sell meth are sentenced to at least 10 years in prison.
Federal investigators said Wallin had associates in California send him methamphetamine beginning in late 2008 or early 2009. By 2011, Wallin's partners were sending him one to three pounds of meth a month and Wallin was running the drug operation out of his apartment in Waterbury, investigators said. Wallin also bought the "Land of Oz & Dorothy's Place" adult video and sex toy shop in North Haven and apparently intended to launder drug proceeds that totaled in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, federal agents said in court documents.
Wallin's two accomplices in California — Chad McCluskey of San Clemente and Kristen Laschober of Laguna Niguel — were both sentenced last year to five years in prison. Two men who helped Wallin sell drugs in Connecticut also were convicted. Kenneth Devries, of Waterbury, was sentenced to more than two years in prison and Michael Nelson of Manchester awaits sentencing. Brian Wallace, a spokesman for the Diocese of Bridgeport, previously said Wallin is still a priest, but remains suspended from public ministry. "We're asking for prayers for him, understanding and recognizing that many people ... suffer from addiction and they lose control of their lives," Wallace said. "It's time for him to try to rebuild his life."
A suspended Connecticut Roman Catholic priest who authorities say dealt pounds of methamphetamine and bought a sex shop intending to launder his drug money will spend another three years in prison after being sentenced on Thursday. Around 75 people were in court on Thursday to support Monsignor Kevin Wallin, 63, dubbed "Monsignor Meth" in some media reports, and the judge called it an "unprecedented" turnout for a drug trafficking sentencing. Wallin, who has already served 28 months in jail, was sentenced to five years and five months in prison. With time served, Wallin will be in prison for three more years, followed by five years of supervised release. "My shame remains intense. ... 'I'm sorry' does not convey the remorse I feel," Wallin said on Thursday. "The day I was arrested was a very good day."
In March, Monsignor Kevin Wallin's public defender filed a sentencing request for leniency in federal court in Hartford, citing Wallin's three decades of charitable service as well as more than 80 letters of support, including one from the late New York Cardinal Edward Egan. "I cannot ignore your decision to infect your community with methamphetamine," Judge Alfred Covello said. In addition to the dozens of supporters, 90 letters supporting wallin were also submitted. Wallin pleaded guilty in 2013 to a methamphetamine conspiracy charge and agreed to a potential prison sentence of 10 to 11 years, but was asking for a sentence of no more than four years in prison, followed by a year of home confinement, 500 hours of community service and drug treatment.
"The record evidence demonstrates that Kevin Wallin is an extraordinary man whose remarkable character and acts have touched thousands of people," Wallin's public defender, Kelly Barrett, wrote in the sentencing request in March. "Kevin tragically became a methamphetamine addict. He fell from grace and did criminal wrong, but has confessed his crimes and has been working hard to atone for them." Barrett wrote that Wallin's numerous accomplishments include serving as pastor of St. Peter's Parish in Danbury and the Cathedral Parish in Bridgeport, volunteering with a variety of community groups, helping found an AIDS ministry program, leading an inner city charity group, serving on the Danbury Cultural Commission and serving on the board of directors of Sacred Heart University.
Egan, who died in March, was bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport from 1988 to 2000 and praised Wallin in a letter to the court. "He was outstanding in the fulfillment of his assignments and in his concern for people in need," Egan wrote. "Father Wallin was held in highest regard as a dedicated clergyman and an outstanding citizen as well." Federal prosecutors said Wallin committed serious crimes and most people convicted of conspiring to sell meth are sentenced to at least 10 years in prison.
Federal investigators said Wallin had associates in California send him methamphetamine beginning in late 2008 or early 2009. By 2011, Wallin's partners were sending him one to three pounds of meth a month and Wallin was running the drug operation out of his apartment in Waterbury, investigators said. Wallin also bought the "Land of Oz & Dorothy's Place" adult video and sex toy shop in North Haven and apparently intended to launder drug proceeds that totaled in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, federal agents said in court documents.
Wallin's two accomplices in California — Chad McCluskey of San Clemente and Kristen Laschober of Laguna Niguel — were both sentenced last year to five years in prison. Two men who helped Wallin sell drugs in Connecticut also were convicted. Kenneth Devries, of Waterbury, was sentenced to more than two years in prison and Michael Nelson of Manchester awaits sentencing. Brian Wallace, a spokesman for the Diocese of Bridgeport, previously said Wallin is still a priest, but remains suspended from public ministry. "We're asking for prayers for him, understanding and recognizing that many people ... suffer from addiction and they lose control of their lives," Wallace said. "It's time for him to try to rebuild his life."
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Chicago Jesuits hid sex crimes
via Chicago Tribune:
Internal church records released Tuesday show that Chicago Jesuits consciously concealed the crimes of convicted sex offender Donald McGuire for more than 40 years as the prominent Roman Catholic priest continued to sexually abuse dozens of children around the globe.
One letter written in 1970 by the Rev. John H. Reinke, then president of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, described McGuire's presence at the school as "positively destructive and corrosive." Instead of insisting he be removed from ministry or sent to treatment, Reinke suggested a transfer to Loyola University.
"This whole situation has been so muddy and troublesome I just wanted to get it out of my mind from time to time," wrote Reinke, who died in 2003. "Anyway, here it is, for the files and the record. … There is little hope of affecting any change. … He cannot be corrected."
The documents contributed to a $19.6 million settlement between the Jesuits and six men from four states announced Tuesday. With an average payout of $3 million per person, the amount per individual is the largest in the history of the U.S. Catholic sexual abuse crisis, the victims' lawyers said. The settlement and the documents add one more chapter to the still unfolding story of sexual abuse in the church.
While the settlement of the lawsuit against the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus doesn't name any priests accused of abusing minors who have not been previously disclosed to the public, it does name a number of Jesuit superiors who for four decades kept McGuire's crimes a secret and, the victims' attorneys said, enabled him to abuse more young men. To date, lawyers have identified 28 men who have alleged abuse by McGuire from the 1960s until 2004. Eight have filed lawsuits.
"Jesuits made choices time and time again that demonstrated willful indifference," said Jeff Anderson, the plaintiffs' attorney. "Not one Jesuit official has yet to be prosecuted for their complicity in these crimes."
The Rev. Timothy Kesicki, who as Chicago provincial leads the area's Jesuits, said in a statement that the order is "painfully aware" that it made mistakes and failed to protect children. Many steps have been implemented since 2007 to go above and beyond the policies to protect children passed by the U.S. Catholic bishops, said Jeremy Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Jesuit province. "More important, we failed to listen to those who came forward and to meet their courage in dealing with Donald McGuire as we should have," said Kesicki, who has been promoted to lead the Jesuits' national office next year. Lawyers for the victims commended Kesicki for understanding the failure of the order's leadership in protecting children.
As former spiritual director for Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity, McGuire offered Roman Catholic retreats around the globe.
The first allegation of sexual abuse against McGuire or any Jesuit priest in Chicago came in the form of a lawsuit filed in 2003 by a former student at Loyola Academy. The lawsuit alleged that McGuire molested and beat the student more than 100 times in 1968 and 1969. At the time it was filed, the lawsuit also named and accused the Jesuits of failing to inform law enforcement of the boy's complaints.
The Rev. Richard McGurn, assistant to the provincial for the Chicago Jesuits at the time, said the order did not know of allegations of abuse until it received a letter from Anderson 10 days before his client filed the lawsuit. Only then did the order suspend McGuire's priestly functions, prohibiting him from doing public ministry or administering sacraments pending an investigation.
But as McGuire and the allegations against him made their way through various court systems, evidence began to mount that the Jesuits knew all along.
After a second victim from Loyola Academy came forward, Cook County authorities directed the two men to Wisconsin, where they said McGuire molested them during trips to the resort area near Lake Geneva between 1966 and 1968. Unlike Illinois' statute of limitations, Wisconsin's didn't preclude criminal prosecution. McGuire was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to seven years behind bars and 20 years of probation. Though the prison sentence was postponed pending his appeal, McGuire was jailed three times for violating his probation. Before Wisconsin authorities could have his probation revoked, federal authorities charged McGuire in 2007 with traveling internationally to engage in sexual misconduct with a minor.
That same year, more accusers — six in total — began to report that McGuire had abused them on spiritual retreats. In 2011, documents that Wisconsin prosecutors were told never existed began to surface that showed consecutive Jesuit provincials in Chicago had known the truth about McGuire for a while.
A memo in February 1991 expressed concern about a boy from Anchorage, Alaska, who traveled with McGuire and slept in the same room during a retreat in California. "This travel business is at least very imprudent, perhaps much more serious," wrote the Rev. Robert Wild. He could not be reached for comment.
Another memo, dated April 1993, documented a call from the Rev. Joe Fessio, reporting that McGuire had been accompanied by several young men in Russia, "one of whom he was taking showers with and reading hard pornography." Fessio reportedly contacted the boy's father and "asked him to keep this quiet until he could represent this to McGuire's provincial."
Fessio could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
In 1995, the Rev. Francis Daly, then acting provincial, wrote to McGuire after a mother copied his superiors on a memo telling him to stay away from her son. Daly could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"Let us hope that no more alleged incidents come to light," Daly wrote. "You must understand the complaints raised in these situations are serious. There must be no more. I am calling you to a prudence greater than that which you have shown in recent years."
In 1998, the Chicago Archdiocese granted McGuire permission to serve in the archdiocese based on a glowing endorsement from his superior, the Rev. Richard Baumann. "Specifically there is nothing to our knowledge in his background which would restrict any ministry with minors," Baumann wrote.
And in a letter to McGurn in October 2000, a parent reported her son's anxiety over how McGuire had treated him during a yearlong mission. McGurn could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"He cried as he told us 'he couldn't take it anymore!' He stated that Father was overwhelming him with pornographic pictures and talking to him about sexual matters at every waking moment."
With all of this in mind, lawyers amended the complaint to seek punitive damages against the order. The Jesuits and six men reached a $19.6 million settlement in January.
Internal church records released Tuesday show that Chicago Jesuits consciously concealed the crimes of convicted sex offender Donald McGuire for more than 40 years as the prominent Roman Catholic priest continued to sexually abuse dozens of children around the globe.
One letter written in 1970 by the Rev. John H. Reinke, then president of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, described McGuire's presence at the school as "positively destructive and corrosive." Instead of insisting he be removed from ministry or sent to treatment, Reinke suggested a transfer to Loyola University.
"This whole situation has been so muddy and troublesome I just wanted to get it out of my mind from time to time," wrote Reinke, who died in 2003. "Anyway, here it is, for the files and the record. … There is little hope of affecting any change. … He cannot be corrected."
The documents contributed to a $19.6 million settlement between the Jesuits and six men from four states announced Tuesday. With an average payout of $3 million per person, the amount per individual is the largest in the history of the U.S. Catholic sexual abuse crisis, the victims' lawyers said. The settlement and the documents add one more chapter to the still unfolding story of sexual abuse in the church.
While the settlement of the lawsuit against the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus doesn't name any priests accused of abusing minors who have not been previously disclosed to the public, it does name a number of Jesuit superiors who for four decades kept McGuire's crimes a secret and, the victims' attorneys said, enabled him to abuse more young men. To date, lawyers have identified 28 men who have alleged abuse by McGuire from the 1960s until 2004. Eight have filed lawsuits.
"Jesuits made choices time and time again that demonstrated willful indifference," said Jeff Anderson, the plaintiffs' attorney. "Not one Jesuit official has yet to be prosecuted for their complicity in these crimes."
The Rev. Timothy Kesicki, who as Chicago provincial leads the area's Jesuits, said in a statement that the order is "painfully aware" that it made mistakes and failed to protect children. Many steps have been implemented since 2007 to go above and beyond the policies to protect children passed by the U.S. Catholic bishops, said Jeremy Langford, a spokesman for the Chicago Jesuit province. "More important, we failed to listen to those who came forward and to meet their courage in dealing with Donald McGuire as we should have," said Kesicki, who has been promoted to lead the Jesuits' national office next year. Lawyers for the victims commended Kesicki for understanding the failure of the order's leadership in protecting children.
As former spiritual director for Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity, McGuire offered Roman Catholic retreats around the globe.
The first allegation of sexual abuse against McGuire or any Jesuit priest in Chicago came in the form of a lawsuit filed in 2003 by a former student at Loyola Academy. The lawsuit alleged that McGuire molested and beat the student more than 100 times in 1968 and 1969. At the time it was filed, the lawsuit also named and accused the Jesuits of failing to inform law enforcement of the boy's complaints.
The Rev. Richard McGurn, assistant to the provincial for the Chicago Jesuits at the time, said the order did not know of allegations of abuse until it received a letter from Anderson 10 days before his client filed the lawsuit. Only then did the order suspend McGuire's priestly functions, prohibiting him from doing public ministry or administering sacraments pending an investigation.
But as McGuire and the allegations against him made their way through various court systems, evidence began to mount that the Jesuits knew all along.
After a second victim from Loyola Academy came forward, Cook County authorities directed the two men to Wisconsin, where they said McGuire molested them during trips to the resort area near Lake Geneva between 1966 and 1968. Unlike Illinois' statute of limitations, Wisconsin's didn't preclude criminal prosecution. McGuire was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to seven years behind bars and 20 years of probation. Though the prison sentence was postponed pending his appeal, McGuire was jailed three times for violating his probation. Before Wisconsin authorities could have his probation revoked, federal authorities charged McGuire in 2007 with traveling internationally to engage in sexual misconduct with a minor.
That same year, more accusers — six in total — began to report that McGuire had abused them on spiritual retreats. In 2011, documents that Wisconsin prosecutors were told never existed began to surface that showed consecutive Jesuit provincials in Chicago had known the truth about McGuire for a while.
A memo in February 1991 expressed concern about a boy from Anchorage, Alaska, who traveled with McGuire and slept in the same room during a retreat in California. "This travel business is at least very imprudent, perhaps much more serious," wrote the Rev. Robert Wild. He could not be reached for comment.
Another memo, dated April 1993, documented a call from the Rev. Joe Fessio, reporting that McGuire had been accompanied by several young men in Russia, "one of whom he was taking showers with and reading hard pornography." Fessio reportedly contacted the boy's father and "asked him to keep this quiet until he could represent this to McGuire's provincial."
Fessio could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
In 1995, the Rev. Francis Daly, then acting provincial, wrote to McGuire after a mother copied his superiors on a memo telling him to stay away from her son. Daly could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"Let us hope that no more alleged incidents come to light," Daly wrote. "You must understand the complaints raised in these situations are serious. There must be no more. I am calling you to a prudence greater than that which you have shown in recent years."
In 1998, the Chicago Archdiocese granted McGuire permission to serve in the archdiocese based on a glowing endorsement from his superior, the Rev. Richard Baumann. "Specifically there is nothing to our knowledge in his background which would restrict any ministry with minors," Baumann wrote.
And in a letter to McGurn in October 2000, a parent reported her son's anxiety over how McGuire had treated him during a yearlong mission. McGurn could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"He cried as he told us 'he couldn't take it anymore!' He stated that Father was overwhelming him with pornographic pictures and talking to him about sexual matters at every waking moment."
With all of this in mind, lawyers amended the complaint to seek punitive damages against the order. The Jesuits and six men reached a $19.6 million settlement in January.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Leicester Politician Greville Janner should have faced sex abuse trial years ago, says official report
via Leicester Mercury:
Leicester politician Greville Janner should have been put on trial as far back as 1991 to face allegations of sexually abusing children, an official report said today. Up to 25 people – many of them former Leicestershire children's homes residents – told police Lord Janner sexually abused them between 1970 and the mid to late 1980s. However, despite three previous police investigations,two of which were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service, (CPS), the Labour politician, who served as a city MP between 1970 and 1997, was never charged. Details of the historical allegations came to light today as the head of the CPS confirmed that Lord Janner was no longer fit to stand trial because he is seriously ill with Alzheimer's Disease.
However, Leicestershire Police said it believed the decision not to put the matter to a jury was the "wrong one" and is taking legal advice on the possibility of overturning the CPS decision. Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, said it was a "matter of regret" Lord Janner was not charged and put on trial following police investigations in 1991 and 2000. In a comprehensive statement on the case today, she said: "Lord Janner should have been prosecuted in relation to those complaints. "It is a matter of deep regret that the decisions in relation to the previous investigations were as they were.
"Had the previous decisions been to prosecute, as they should have been, Lord Janner would have had the opportunity to challenge the evidence and defend himself through the trial process, with a jury ultimately deciding on his guilt or innocence some years ago. "Victims of the alleged offences have been denied the opportunity of criminal proceedings in relation to the offences of which they have complained. "It is of obvious and particular concern that such proceedings did not take place as a result of what the CPS now consider to be wrong decisions."
Leicestershire's Assistant Chief Constable Roger Bannister, who has overseen the investigation into Lord Janner, said: "Thanks primarily to the courage of 25 victims who have made a complaint and the complete professionalism of the investigation team, we have built a case that the DPP has acknowledged is the result of a thorough investigation, evidentially sufficient and gives rise to a realistic chance of conviction.
"There is credible evidence that this man carried out some of the most serious sexual crimes imaginable over three decades against children who were highly vulnerable and the majority of whom were in care. "I am extremely worried about the impact the decision not to prosecute him will have on those people, and more widely I am worried about the message this decision sends out to others , both past and present, who have suffered and are suffering sexual abuse. "We are exploring what possible legal avenues there may be to challenge this decision and victims themselves have a right to review under a CPS procedure." Lord Janner was named as an alleged abuser during the trial of former city care home manager Frank Beck, who died in prison while serving a sentence for offences against children in care. The BBC reported today that Lord Janner's family had issued a statement that he was "a man of great integrity and high repute" and "entirely innocent of any wrongdoing".
Leicester politician Greville Janner should have been put on trial as far back as 1991 to face allegations of sexually abusing children, an official report said today. Up to 25 people – many of them former Leicestershire children's homes residents – told police Lord Janner sexually abused them between 1970 and the mid to late 1980s. However, despite three previous police investigations,two of which were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service, (CPS), the Labour politician, who served as a city MP between 1970 and 1997, was never charged. Details of the historical allegations came to light today as the head of the CPS confirmed that Lord Janner was no longer fit to stand trial because he is seriously ill with Alzheimer's Disease.
However, Leicestershire Police said it believed the decision not to put the matter to a jury was the "wrong one" and is taking legal advice on the possibility of overturning the CPS decision. Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, said it was a "matter of regret" Lord Janner was not charged and put on trial following police investigations in 1991 and 2000. In a comprehensive statement on the case today, she said: "Lord Janner should have been prosecuted in relation to those complaints. "It is a matter of deep regret that the decisions in relation to the previous investigations were as they were.
"Had the previous decisions been to prosecute, as they should have been, Lord Janner would have had the opportunity to challenge the evidence and defend himself through the trial process, with a jury ultimately deciding on his guilt or innocence some years ago. "Victims of the alleged offences have been denied the opportunity of criminal proceedings in relation to the offences of which they have complained. "It is of obvious and particular concern that such proceedings did not take place as a result of what the CPS now consider to be wrong decisions."
Leicestershire's Assistant Chief Constable Roger Bannister, who has overseen the investigation into Lord Janner, said: "Thanks primarily to the courage of 25 victims who have made a complaint and the complete professionalism of the investigation team, we have built a case that the DPP has acknowledged is the result of a thorough investigation, evidentially sufficient and gives rise to a realistic chance of conviction.
"There is credible evidence that this man carried out some of the most serious sexual crimes imaginable over three decades against children who were highly vulnerable and the majority of whom were in care. "I am extremely worried about the impact the decision not to prosecute him will have on those people, and more widely I am worried about the message this decision sends out to others , both past and present, who have suffered and are suffering sexual abuse. "We are exploring what possible legal avenues there may be to challenge this decision and victims themselves have a right to review under a CPS procedure." Lord Janner was named as an alleged abuser during the trial of former city care home manager Frank Beck, who died in prison while serving a sentence for offences against children in care. The BBC reported today that Lord Janner's family had issued a statement that he was "a man of great integrity and high repute" and "entirely innocent of any wrongdoing".
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Queensland Child Protection Director Charged With Child Sex Offences
via Your News Wire:
The child protection director for public schools in Queensland has been charged with a series of child sex offences against pupils at schools where he taught as a Catholic Brother in the 1980s.
52-year-old Brett Anthony O’Connor was arrested on March 20 for offences allegedly committed at two NSW schools, in Hunters Hill and Campbelltown.
O’Connor was working as the director of child safety at the Department of Education and Training (DETE) when the offences were reported to police late last year.
The BrisbaneTimes report: Last month, Mr O’Connor was charged by NSW detectives over indecent and sexual assaults allegedly committed against a 12-year-old boy when he was a Marist Brother at Sydney’s prestigious St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill in 1987.
The child protection director for public schools in Queensland has been charged with a series of child sex offences against pupils at schools where he taught as a Catholic Brother in the 1980s.
52-year-old Brett Anthony O’Connor was arrested on March 20 for offences allegedly committed at two NSW schools, in Hunters Hill and Campbelltown. O’Connor was working as the director of child safety at the Department of Education and Training (DETE) when the offences were reported to police late last year. The BrisbaneTimes report: Last month, Mr O’Connor was charged by NSW detectives over indecent and sexual assaults allegedly committed against a 12-year-old boy when he was a Marist Brother at Sydney’s prestigious St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill in 1987. He was also charged with sexually and indecently assaulting a 12-year-old-boy at St Gregory’s College, Campbelltown in 1989. Both colleges are large independent Catholic day and boarding schools for boys, run by the Marist Brothers.
O’Connor later left the religious order and qualified as a psychologist. Police said both matters were reported to them in late 2014. On March 20, O’Connor was arrested at Tweed Heads Police Station and charged with four counts of indecent assault of a child aged 16 and under authority, and six counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 16 and under authority. He was granted conditional bail, including a $5000 surety, to appear at Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday, April 13. He is to live at an address in Mount Gravatt, a suburb of Brisbane. In 2013, he was engaged by Independent Schools Queensland to advise that sector on “creating safer independent schools”. He spoke at a seminar on reporting sexual abuse, how to identify grooming behaviour and strategies for incorporating safety in the school curriculum.
A spokesman for the Queensland Department of Education and Training said in late March a public servant was suspended after a range of child-related offences were laid by NSW police. The spokesman said Mr O’Connor had a high level policy position, which did not involve direct contact with children on a regular basis. -
The child protection director for public schools in Queensland has been charged with a series of child sex offences against pupils at schools where he taught as a Catholic Brother in the 1980s.
52-year-old Brett Anthony O’Connor was arrested on March 20 for offences allegedly committed at two NSW schools, in Hunters Hill and Campbelltown.
O’Connor was working as the director of child safety at the Department of Education and Training (DETE) when the offences were reported to police late last year.
The BrisbaneTimes report: Last month, Mr O’Connor was charged by NSW detectives over indecent and sexual assaults allegedly committed against a 12-year-old boy when he was a Marist Brother at Sydney’s prestigious St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill in 1987.
The child protection director for public schools in Queensland has been charged with a series of child sex offences against pupils at schools where he taught as a Catholic Brother in the 1980s.
52-year-old Brett Anthony O’Connor was arrested on March 20 for offences allegedly committed at two NSW schools, in Hunters Hill and Campbelltown. O’Connor was working as the director of child safety at the Department of Education and Training (DETE) when the offences were reported to police late last year. The BrisbaneTimes report: Last month, Mr O’Connor was charged by NSW detectives over indecent and sexual assaults allegedly committed against a 12-year-old boy when he was a Marist Brother at Sydney’s prestigious St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill in 1987. He was also charged with sexually and indecently assaulting a 12-year-old-boy at St Gregory’s College, Campbelltown in 1989. Both colleges are large independent Catholic day and boarding schools for boys, run by the Marist Brothers.
O’Connor later left the religious order and qualified as a psychologist. Police said both matters were reported to them in late 2014. On March 20, O’Connor was arrested at Tweed Heads Police Station and charged with four counts of indecent assault of a child aged 16 and under authority, and six counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 16 and under authority. He was granted conditional bail, including a $5000 surety, to appear at Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday, April 13. He is to live at an address in Mount Gravatt, a suburb of Brisbane. In 2013, he was engaged by Independent Schools Queensland to advise that sector on “creating safer independent schools”. He spoke at a seminar on reporting sexual abuse, how to identify grooming behaviour and strategies for incorporating safety in the school curriculum.
A spokesman for the Queensland Department of Education and Training said in late March a public servant was suspended after a range of child-related offences were laid by NSW police. The spokesman said Mr O’Connor had a high level policy position, which did not involve direct contact with children on a regular basis. -
Friday, April 10, 2015
Gay orgies and murder scandals engulf Vatican
more on the ongoing collapse of the Catholic church, via The Independent:
The Vatican has been embroiled in two separate, highly embarrassing, scandals.
In one, a north Italian priest has been removed from office after allegations emerged that he had been surfing the internet to find gay lovers and had been involved in gay orgies. The other, which has generated – if possible – even more lurid press coverage in Italy, alleges a priest in the south of the country is under investigation on suspicion of murdering one of his parishioners. Father Gratien Alabi, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is under investigation for murder following the discovery of female bones under the flagstones of an ancient mountain chapel. The bones are anticipated to belong to Guerrina Piscaglia, 50, who disappeared from nearby Arezzo in Tuscany last year, The Times reported.
The case has generated intense media interest, with some papers claiming that Father Alabi had engaged in an affair with the woman, a parishioner of his and another priest’s church, and fathered a child with her. Father Alabi has denied all claims, protesting his innocence. Meanwhile, to the north of the country, the local Curia is scrambling to address the allegations made by a 32-year-old man from Rovigo, midway between Bologna and Venice. The unidentified man apparently approached the media after church authorities failed to take action following his official complaint to the Ecclesiastical Court of the Puglia region against the unidentified 50-year-old priest.
The younger man claimed he met the priest through Facebook, forming a close friendship with the clerical figure who then confessed his homosexuality to his online correspondent. In his complaint, according to Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno, the man included a record of his conversations with the priest. In these online interactions, the priest admitted to sexual relationships with other religious figures – as well as members of the Vatican’s elite Swiss Guard – using the internet to find new partners and engage in sexual encounters online. Following the involvement of Archbishop of Taranto Filippo Santoro, the individual involved was immediately removed from office, once the “reliability of the facts” had been established. He added that the allegations included behaviour that was “absolutely incompatible with the priestly ministry”. “Needless to say, the feelings of the archbishop and the Curia are those of the regret and dismay,” a Vatican spokesperson told the Italian newspaper.
The Vatican has been embroiled in two separate, highly embarrassing, scandals.
In one, a north Italian priest has been removed from office after allegations emerged that he had been surfing the internet to find gay lovers and had been involved in gay orgies. The other, which has generated – if possible – even more lurid press coverage in Italy, alleges a priest in the south of the country is under investigation on suspicion of murdering one of his parishioners. Father Gratien Alabi, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is under investigation for murder following the discovery of female bones under the flagstones of an ancient mountain chapel. The bones are anticipated to belong to Guerrina Piscaglia, 50, who disappeared from nearby Arezzo in Tuscany last year, The Times reported.
The case has generated intense media interest, with some papers claiming that Father Alabi had engaged in an affair with the woman, a parishioner of his and another priest’s church, and fathered a child with her. Father Alabi has denied all claims, protesting his innocence. Meanwhile, to the north of the country, the local Curia is scrambling to address the allegations made by a 32-year-old man from Rovigo, midway between Bologna and Venice. The unidentified man apparently approached the media after church authorities failed to take action following his official complaint to the Ecclesiastical Court of the Puglia region against the unidentified 50-year-old priest.
The younger man claimed he met the priest through Facebook, forming a close friendship with the clerical figure who then confessed his homosexuality to his online correspondent. In his complaint, according to Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno, the man included a record of his conversations with the priest. In these online interactions, the priest admitted to sexual relationships with other religious figures – as well as members of the Vatican’s elite Swiss Guard – using the internet to find new partners and engage in sexual encounters online. Following the involvement of Archbishop of Taranto Filippo Santoro, the individual involved was immediately removed from office, once the “reliability of the facts” had been established. He added that the allegations included behaviour that was “absolutely incompatible with the priestly ministry”. “Needless to say, the feelings of the archbishop and the Curia are those of the regret and dismay,” a Vatican spokesperson told the Italian newspaper.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Colombian Report on US Military’s Child Rapes Not Newsworthy to US News Outlets
via Globalresearch.ca
:
An 800-page independent report commissioned by the US-friendly Colombian government and the radical left rebel group FARC found that US military soldiers and contractors had sexually abused at least 54 children in Colombia between 2003 and 2007 and, in all cases, the rapists were never punished–either in Colombia or stateside–due to American military personnel being immune from prosecution under diplomatic immunity agreements between the two countries.
The report was part of a broader historical analysis meant to establish the “causes and violence aggravators” of the 50-year-long conflict between the government and rebels that’s presently being negotiated to an end. AsColombia Reports (3/23/15) would spell out:
Thus far, however, these explosive claims seem to have received zero coverage in the general US press, despite having been reported on Venezuela’s Telesur(3/23/15), the British tabloidDaily Mail (3/24/15) and Russian RT (3/25/15).
But why? These aren’t fringe claims, nor can the government of American ally Colombia be dismissed as a peddler of Bolivarian propaganda. Indeed, the Miami Herald (9/3/09) documented the case of US Sgt. Michael Coen and contractor César Ruiz in 2009:
The US government has made little effort to investigate a US Army sergeant and a Mexican civil contractor implicated in Colombia in the raping of a 12-year-old girl in August 2007, according to an El Nuevo Herald investigation.
The suspects, Sgt. Michael Coen and contractor César Ruiz, were taken out of Colombia under diplomatic immunity, and do not face criminal charges in the United States in the rape in a room at Colombia’s Germán Olano Air Force Base in Melgar, 62 miles west of Bogotá.
So why no coverage? Certainly one of Washington’s stanchest Latin American allies co-authoring a blistering report about systemic US military child rape of a civilian population should be of note–if for no other reason than, as the report lays out, it undermined American military efforts to stop drug trafficking and fight leftist rebels:
Yet here we are, over 72 hours since the Colombian and foreign press first reported on the allegations, and there’s a virtual media blackout in America over the case. Nothing on CNN, nothing on MSNBC, nothing in the New York Times or Miami Herald. Nothing in Huffington Post. Nothing inFusion or Vice. Why?
As UK authorities and NATO officials stress the importance of clamping down on “false Russian” narratives in the media, perhaps our own media could stop providing a shining example as to why such anti-Western narratives are so often the only outlet for certain ugly truths.
:
An 800-page independent report commissioned by the US-friendly Colombian government and the radical left rebel group FARC found that US military soldiers and contractors had sexually abused at least 54 children in Colombia between 2003 and 2007 and, in all cases, the rapists were never punished–either in Colombia or stateside–due to American military personnel being immune from prosecution under diplomatic immunity agreements between the two countries.
The report was part of a broader historical analysis meant to establish the “causes and violence aggravators” of the 50-year-long conflict between the government and rebels that’s presently being negotiated to an end. AsColombia Reports (3/23/15) would spell out:
In his report, the historian [Renan Vega] cited one 2004 case in the central Colombian town of Melgar where 53 underage girls were sexually abused by nearby stationed military contractors “who moreover filmed [the abuse] and sold the films as pornographic material.”
According to Colombia’s leading newspaper, El Tiempo, the victims of the sexual abuse practices were forced to flee the region after their families received death threats.
Other Americans stationed at the Tolemaida Air Base allegedly committed similar crimes, but possibly also never saw a day in court due to an immunity arrangement for American soldiers and military contractors agreed by Washington and Bogota.
One case that has called most attention in Colombian media was that of a 12-year-old who in 2007 was raped by a US Army sergeant and a former US military officer who was working in Melgar as a military contractor.
Colombian prosecutors established that the girl had been drugged and subsequently raped inside the military base by US sergeant Michael J. Coen and defense contractor Cesar Ruiz.
However, prosecution officials were not allowed to arrest the suspected child rapists who were subsequently flown out of the country.
Thus far, however, these explosive claims seem to have received zero coverage in the general US press, despite having been reported on Venezuela’s Telesur(3/23/15), the British tabloidDaily Mail (3/24/15) and Russian RT (3/25/15).
But why? These aren’t fringe claims, nor can the government of American ally Colombia be dismissed as a peddler of Bolivarian propaganda. Indeed, the Miami Herald (9/3/09) documented the case of US Sgt. Michael Coen and contractor César Ruiz in 2009:
The US government has made little effort to investigate a US Army sergeant and a Mexican civil contractor implicated in Colombia in the raping of a 12-year-old girl in August 2007, according to an El Nuevo Herald investigation.
The suspects, Sgt. Michael Coen and contractor César Ruiz, were taken out of Colombia under diplomatic immunity, and do not face criminal charges in the United States in the rape in a room at Colombia’s Germán Olano Air Force Base in Melgar, 62 miles west of Bogotá.
So why no coverage? Certainly one of Washington’s stanchest Latin American allies co-authoring a blistering report about systemic US military child rape of a civilian population should be of note–if for no other reason than, as the report lays out, it undermined American military efforts to stop drug trafficking and fight leftist rebels:
However, prosecution officials were not allowed to arrest the suspected child rapists who were subsequently flown out of the country.
The case has caused major indignation among Colombians for years….
The special envoy will possibly have to deal with the role of the US military and its members in the alleged victimization of Colombians.
Yet here we are, over 72 hours since the Colombian and foreign press first reported on the allegations, and there’s a virtual media blackout in America over the case. Nothing on CNN, nothing on MSNBC, nothing in the New York Times or Miami Herald. Nothing in Huffington Post. Nothing inFusion or Vice. Why?
As UK authorities and NATO officials stress the importance of clamping down on “false Russian” narratives in the media, perhaps our own media could stop providing a shining example as to why such anti-Western narratives are so often the only outlet for certain ugly truths.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Royal family member was investigated as part of paedophile ring before cover-up, ex-cop says
The Independent:
A member of the Royal family was claimed to be part of a suspected paedophile ring under investigation by police in the late 1980s, a former police officer has said. The former Metropolitan Police officer says he was told by a detective sergeant that the investigation into the ring, which was also claimed to include an MP, was shut down for national security reasons. “I was in a car with two other vice squad officers. … The detective sergeant said he had just had a major child abuse investigation shut down by the CPS regarding a royal and an MP,” he told the Sunday Mirror newspaper. “He did not mention names, but he said the CPS had said it was not in the public’s interest because it ‘could destabilise national security’.” The police officer identified the two colleagues, the newspaper said.
Sir Allan Green, the Director of Public Prosecutions and head of the CPS at the time the conversation took place, said he was not aware of any child abuse investigations shut down for national security reasons. He however said he had been asked by a “senior person” if he had heard anything about a named MP being involved in child abuse. He said he had not. The MP he was asked about has since died, Mr Green said. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told the Independent: "If detailed, substantive allegations are made they will be taken seriously and looked into. However, we are not in a position to comment on speculative stories based on a chain of unnamed sources." The Metropolitan Police has pledged to investigate historical crimes by establishment figures “without fear of favour”.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he was pleased that allegations of cover-ups were coming to light. "We do think we are getting somewhere with these wider enquiries and we are seeing people coming forward. We have seen lots of coverage this week around allegations of cover-ups, and I think it's helpful that this is being spoken about and people are coming forward. "We will go where the evidence takes us, without fear or favour, I think that is what the public expect and that is what the investigators are doing and are keen to continue to do." The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating 14 related allegations of impropriety by officer stretching from the 1970s to 2005. The Home Secretary Theresa May said earlier month that child sexual abuse ran through British society like a “stick of Blackpool rock” and warned that the public did not fully “appreciate the true scale” of exploitation.
A member of the Royal family was claimed to be part of a suspected paedophile ring under investigation by police in the late 1980s, a former police officer has said. The former Metropolitan Police officer says he was told by a detective sergeant that the investigation into the ring, which was also claimed to include an MP, was shut down for national security reasons. “I was in a car with two other vice squad officers. … The detective sergeant said he had just had a major child abuse investigation shut down by the CPS regarding a royal and an MP,” he told the Sunday Mirror newspaper. “He did not mention names, but he said the CPS had said it was not in the public’s interest because it ‘could destabilise national security’.” The police officer identified the two colleagues, the newspaper said.
Sir Allan Green, the Director of Public Prosecutions and head of the CPS at the time the conversation took place, said he was not aware of any child abuse investigations shut down for national security reasons. He however said he had been asked by a “senior person” if he had heard anything about a named MP being involved in child abuse. He said he had not. The MP he was asked about has since died, Mr Green said. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told the Independent: "If detailed, substantive allegations are made they will be taken seriously and looked into. However, we are not in a position to comment on speculative stories based on a chain of unnamed sources." The Metropolitan Police has pledged to investigate historical crimes by establishment figures “without fear of favour”.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he was pleased that allegations of cover-ups were coming to light. "We do think we are getting somewhere with these wider enquiries and we are seeing people coming forward. We have seen lots of coverage this week around allegations of cover-ups, and I think it's helpful that this is being spoken about and people are coming forward. "We will go where the evidence takes us, without fear or favour, I think that is what the public expect and that is what the investigators are doing and are keen to continue to do." The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating 14 related allegations of impropriety by officer stretching from the 1970s to 2005. The Home Secretary Theresa May said earlier month that child sexual abuse ran through British society like a “stick of Blackpool rock” and warned that the public did not fully “appreciate the true scale” of exploitation.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Crimewatch reporter killed after investigating elite pedophile ring
via The Daily Mail:
Murdered Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando tried to get BBC bosses to investigate an alleged paedophile ring in the corporation, it has today been claimed. A former friend and retired BBC worker has claimed that the television host was told that 'big name stars' and BBC staff were involved in abuse. But when she tried to get her superiors to investigate, and handed a file to senior management, no action was taken, the source claims. The former staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Daily Star Sunday that she raised the claims with management in the mid 1990s.
The source said that the names were 'surprisingly big'. She said: 'I think she was quite shocked when told about images of children and that information on how to join this horrible paedophile ring was freely available.' They added that Ms Dando had also been told that female work colleagues told her they had been groped or assaulted, and that nothing had been done. 'She compiled a file of complaints but she was not really an investigative journalist, just a presenter. 'She passed the information to someone else and they gave it back. No one wanted to know.'
The BBC said it had not seen anything to substantiate the claims. Miss Dando, 37, was gunned down outside her home in Fulham, west London, on April 26, 1999, moments after stepping out of her car. Dando was killed with a single muffled bullet to the skull and neighbours found her in a pool of blood on her doorstep in a crime that shocked Britain. Part-time stuntman Barry George was jailed for the killing in 2001, but his conviction was overturned in August 2008 following the emergence of fresh evidence. Her killer has never been found.
Murdered Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando tried to get BBC bosses to investigate an alleged paedophile ring in the corporation, it has today been claimed. A former friend and retired BBC worker has claimed that the television host was told that 'big name stars' and BBC staff were involved in abuse. But when she tried to get her superiors to investigate, and handed a file to senior management, no action was taken, the source claims. The former staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Daily Star Sunday that she raised the claims with management in the mid 1990s.
The source said that the names were 'surprisingly big'. She said: 'I think she was quite shocked when told about images of children and that information on how to join this horrible paedophile ring was freely available.' They added that Ms Dando had also been told that female work colleagues told her they had been groped or assaulted, and that nothing had been done. 'She compiled a file of complaints but she was not really an investigative journalist, just a presenter. 'She passed the information to someone else and they gave it back. No one wanted to know.'
The BBC said it had not seen anything to substantiate the claims. Miss Dando, 37, was gunned down outside her home in Fulham, west London, on April 26, 1999, moments after stepping out of her car. Dando was killed with a single muffled bullet to the skull and neighbours found her in a pool of blood on her doorstep in a crime that shocked Britain. Part-time stuntman Barry George was jailed for the killing in 2001, but his conviction was overturned in August 2008 following the emergence of fresh evidence. Her killer has never been found.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Wealthy UK pedophile cult includes alleged assassins
via The Daily Mail:
Bracketed statements are added commentary.]
The leader of a Satanic sex cult is facing a lengthy jail sentence after being found guilty of multiple counts of rape and child abuse. Colin Batley, 48, exercised absolute control over his sect in a seaside cul-de-sac – abusing and exploiting helpless children as ‘sex toys’ for more than a decade. He was found guilty yesterday of 35 sex offences against children and young adults. Yet social services were alerted to Batley’s child abuse in 2002 – and took no action. As a consequence, the former Tesco security guard was allowed to continue ‘preying on the young and vulnerable’ for a further eight years – with the full support of wife Elaine. At their semi in Kidwelly, South Wales, he would dress in hooded robes, chant before an altar and then orchestrate or participate in group sex with his female followers, including Jacqueline Marling and Shelly Millar. One helpless girl was ‘initiated’ when she was just 11 and threatened with death by ‘cult assassins’ if she did not comply. At least two of his young victims gave birth as a result of the ‘systematic and prolonged abuse’. Yesterday at Swansea Crown Court, Marling, 42, and Elaine Batley, 47, were found guilty of five counts including sexual activity and indecency towards children.
Millar, 35, was found guilty of two similar charges. Another woman, Sandra Iveson, was found not guilty of gross indecency. Those found guilty will be sentenced tomorrow and face ‘substantial’ jail terms. Colin Batley’s home was a typical semi in a typical cul-de-sac. But to the stream of visitors who trooped through the front door – especially on Sunday nights – it was the Temple. In the lounge, a white cloth would be draped over a table to form an altar with candles and burning incense; nearby were tanks full of snakes and Satanic symbols. Those present would put on hooded robes and wear upside-down crucifixes. There would be chanting, which would always end in group sex. Children, boys and girls as young as 11, were also ‘initiated’ – repeatedly sexually abused in other words – during ‘Black Masses’ at Batley’s home. There were at least five victims that we know of, but police believe there could have been many more. Yet these vile activities did not disturb the neighbours. Why? Because they were involved too. They lived in houses next to or opposite each other on the outskirts of Kidwelly (population 3,000) near Carmarthen. For more than a decade Clos Yr Onnen, Welsh for Ash Tree Close, was possibly the most depraved street in Britain. The proof was there, in black and white, on the charge sheet at Swansea Crown Court where Batley, his bisexual wife Elaine and their accomplices stood trial for a sickening catalogue of crimes.
All of them perpetrated by culprits living in the same road; perhaps the single most shocking fact of all.
This disturbing story begins not in Wales, however, but more than 200 miles away in East London. Batley, from Shoreditch, had a string of jobs including work as a Tesco security guard and on a fruit-and-vegetable stall. He also bred rottweiler dogs and Siamese cats. His outwardly mundane existence, we now know, masked a sinister private life. He and his wife had been dabbling with the occult ever since they were married 30 years ago and were obsessed with Aleister Crowley, the most notorious Satanist of the 20th century, the self-styled ‘Great Beast’. One of Crowley’s publications, the Book of the Law, includes the passage: ‘Let all chaste women be despised. Sex with anyone is not just permissible but to be encouraged.’ And this: ‘Some of the most passionate and permanent attachments have begun with rape. Rome was founded thereon.’ Apart from anything else, the Book of the Law provided justification for the couple’s own ‘open marriage’. Batley had sent a photo of his wife to the Readers’ Wives section of a pornographic magazine and this had led to them meeting ‘others for group activities’, the jury was told.
They included former dental nurse Jacqueline Marling and prostitute Shelly Millar, who both joined Batley’s occult ‘circle’. They were given matching tattoos of the Eye of Horus, the Egyptian falcon god depicted pecking out the eyes of Christ in Crowley’s works, and addressed Batley as ‘My lord’ (police found him listed under this name on Millar’s mobile phone). Such was Batley’s control over his wretched ‘coven’ that they had to pay him 25 per cent of their income. Every time Millar entertained a client, she would send Batley a text message to tell him how much she had been paid. She had sex with more than 3,000 clients over a two-year period, making about £2,000 a month, a quarter of which went to him. It explained how Batley, officially unemployed, could afford a £45,000 caravan and frequent holidays abroad.
Batley would later claim that he moved to Wales for health reasons – to escape the smog. A claim rather undermined by the fact that his coven also relocated to the principality. Police believe there was another reason for the exodus; they suspect that other members of the cult – who have not been identified – were based in Wales. The first East Londoner to arrive in Kidwelly was twice-married mother of four Sandra Iveson in 1995. The following year, the Batleys moved in. Two years later, Marling became their next-door neighbour and Millar, 35, an unmarried mother of two who was brought up a Catholic, completed the set. Did other residents have any inkling of the kind of people that were now living among them? Well, with hindsight, there were a few small clues. John Wheatland and his wife Marion, both in their seventies, couldn’t help but notice how Colin Batley was ‘over at Shelly’s all the time’. On another occasion, the Wheatlands encountered Millar and another woman kissing and touching each other in the supermarket. Yet they could not have imagined the extent of what was really going on behind the closed curtains of the so-called Temple. During occult gatherings it became the set of a horror movie.
Batley, in a hooded robe, would read out extracts from the Book of the Law, which had been typed out and laminated by his wife. Hanging above him on the wall was a gold ceremonial dagger and sitting menacingly nearby were his two rottweilers, Tutankhamun and Sekhet. One young victim told how Batley introduced her to the cult by raping her when she was 11, telling her that having sex with him was a ‘test’ and if she did not pass she would go to ‘the Abyss’. The victim, now in her twenties, told the court: ‘I did not want him to do what he was doing, but I did not have a choice because what Colin said happened. What Colin said went.’
The abuse continued for years. As a teenager she became pregnant by Batley, who prevented her from having an abortion saying that babies belonged to the cult and not to their mothers. Another victim, now in her thirties, said she was forced to have sex with Batley when she was 15. She was also ordered to perform sex acts on his wife and other men and women. ‘I was told I’d be killed if I didn’t become part of the cult,’ she said. ‘Colin Batley had a gun and brought it to meetings. I was so scared I just did what I was told. I was in the living room at his home and he told me there would be an initiation. I was called upstairs. Elaine was there. He would just snap his fingers and say, “Strip”.’
She said that on one occasion when she was 16, she was made to have sex with a boy of 15 – as Marling filmed them.
The girl was told she would be murdered by ‘cult assassins’ if she did not give in to Batley’s demands. Through a video link, she sobbed as she told how she was taken to other addresses by Batley where she had sex with other men. ‘I did it because I was told to by Colin.’ Another woman victim said she was recruited into the cult and became pregnant after becoming a ‘sexual plaything’ for the group. Batley ordered her not to abort her ‘occult child’. A male victim said that, as a teenager, he was tricked into having sex with Batley’s wife. The witness recalled how Batley promised to set him up with a girl and directed him to a dark bedroom. Once inside, he got into bed and then realised that the other person lying beside him was Elaine Batley. One of the charges against Shelly Millar was that she seduced a boy of 15. Millar claimed he was 16, and that she was teaching him how to have sex as he had a new girlfriend ‘he wanted to impress’. She had sex with him twice in Batley’s caravan in Tenby. Batley, it emerged during the trial, had been reported to Carmarthenshire Social Services in 2002 by a concerned relative. She said Batley had been abused by his own father and that ‘history was about to repeat itself’.
The warning went unheeded, allowing Batley and his cult to prey on youngsters week after week, month after month for another eight years. The Batleys had four children, one of whom, Damian, died of strangulation three years ago when a bizarre sex game went wrong. He was found hanging from his bedroom door at the family home and had been filming himself. Finally, last year, one of Batley’s victims went to the police. It was one of the girls he had impregnated as a teenager. She said she feared he might target her own child. Batley was tipped off about the police inquiry and, by the time he was arrested, had destroyed potential evidence. But officers found home-made films of two of his victims on his camcorder. [The circumstances surrounding the death of the Batleys' son seem highly questionable given that the family has already been accused of producing what very well might be commercial pornography]. Interviewed 11 times by detectives, he steadfastly maintained his innocence. The jury did not believe him. They saw him for what he was – ‘an evil and manipulative sexual predator’ who had used the cult and ‘black magic’ as a cover for his own perverted ends. Back in Kidwelly, there was relief at the verdicts. ‘I’m just glad they’ve all finally gone,’ said John Wheatland. He spoke for everyone in Ash Tree Close.
Sex cult was inspired by 'the Great Beast'
The cult’s inspiration, Aleister ‘the Great Beast’ Crowley, believed himself to be a prophet of a new age of personal liberty, controlled by the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
Bracketed statements are added commentary.]
The leader of a Satanic sex cult is facing a lengthy jail sentence after being found guilty of multiple counts of rape and child abuse. Colin Batley, 48, exercised absolute control over his sect in a seaside cul-de-sac – abusing and exploiting helpless children as ‘sex toys’ for more than a decade. He was found guilty yesterday of 35 sex offences against children and young adults. Yet social services were alerted to Batley’s child abuse in 2002 – and took no action. As a consequence, the former Tesco security guard was allowed to continue ‘preying on the young and vulnerable’ for a further eight years – with the full support of wife Elaine. At their semi in Kidwelly, South Wales, he would dress in hooded robes, chant before an altar and then orchestrate or participate in group sex with his female followers, including Jacqueline Marling and Shelly Millar. One helpless girl was ‘initiated’ when she was just 11 and threatened with death by ‘cult assassins’ if she did not comply. At least two of his young victims gave birth as a result of the ‘systematic and prolonged abuse’. Yesterday at Swansea Crown Court, Marling, 42, and Elaine Batley, 47, were found guilty of five counts including sexual activity and indecency towards children.
Millar, 35, was found guilty of two similar charges. Another woman, Sandra Iveson, was found not guilty of gross indecency. Those found guilty will be sentenced tomorrow and face ‘substantial’ jail terms. Colin Batley’s home was a typical semi in a typical cul-de-sac. But to the stream of visitors who trooped through the front door – especially on Sunday nights – it was the Temple. In the lounge, a white cloth would be draped over a table to form an altar with candles and burning incense; nearby were tanks full of snakes and Satanic symbols. Those present would put on hooded robes and wear upside-down crucifixes. There would be chanting, which would always end in group sex. Children, boys and girls as young as 11, were also ‘initiated’ – repeatedly sexually abused in other words – during ‘Black Masses’ at Batley’s home. There were at least five victims that we know of, but police believe there could have been many more. Yet these vile activities did not disturb the neighbours. Why? Because they were involved too. They lived in houses next to or opposite each other on the outskirts of Kidwelly (population 3,000) near Carmarthen. For more than a decade Clos Yr Onnen, Welsh for Ash Tree Close, was possibly the most depraved street in Britain. The proof was there, in black and white, on the charge sheet at Swansea Crown Court where Batley, his bisexual wife Elaine and their accomplices stood trial for a sickening catalogue of crimes.
All of them perpetrated by culprits living in the same road; perhaps the single most shocking fact of all.
This disturbing story begins not in Wales, however, but more than 200 miles away in East London. Batley, from Shoreditch, had a string of jobs including work as a Tesco security guard and on a fruit-and-vegetable stall. He also bred rottweiler dogs and Siamese cats. His outwardly mundane existence, we now know, masked a sinister private life. He and his wife had been dabbling with the occult ever since they were married 30 years ago and were obsessed with Aleister Crowley, the most notorious Satanist of the 20th century, the self-styled ‘Great Beast’. One of Crowley’s publications, the Book of the Law, includes the passage: ‘Let all chaste women be despised. Sex with anyone is not just permissible but to be encouraged.’ And this: ‘Some of the most passionate and permanent attachments have begun with rape. Rome was founded thereon.’ Apart from anything else, the Book of the Law provided justification for the couple’s own ‘open marriage’. Batley had sent a photo of his wife to the Readers’ Wives section of a pornographic magazine and this had led to them meeting ‘others for group activities’, the jury was told.
They included former dental nurse Jacqueline Marling and prostitute Shelly Millar, who both joined Batley’s occult ‘circle’. They were given matching tattoos of the Eye of Horus, the Egyptian falcon god depicted pecking out the eyes of Christ in Crowley’s works, and addressed Batley as ‘My lord’ (police found him listed under this name on Millar’s mobile phone). Such was Batley’s control over his wretched ‘coven’ that they had to pay him 25 per cent of their income. Every time Millar entertained a client, she would send Batley a text message to tell him how much she had been paid. She had sex with more than 3,000 clients over a two-year period, making about £2,000 a month, a quarter of which went to him. It explained how Batley, officially unemployed, could afford a £45,000 caravan and frequent holidays abroad.
Batley would later claim that he moved to Wales for health reasons – to escape the smog. A claim rather undermined by the fact that his coven also relocated to the principality. Police believe there was another reason for the exodus; they suspect that other members of the cult – who have not been identified – were based in Wales. The first East Londoner to arrive in Kidwelly was twice-married mother of four Sandra Iveson in 1995. The following year, the Batleys moved in. Two years later, Marling became their next-door neighbour and Millar, 35, an unmarried mother of two who was brought up a Catholic, completed the set. Did other residents have any inkling of the kind of people that were now living among them? Well, with hindsight, there were a few small clues. John Wheatland and his wife Marion, both in their seventies, couldn’t help but notice how Colin Batley was ‘over at Shelly’s all the time’. On another occasion, the Wheatlands encountered Millar and another woman kissing and touching each other in the supermarket. Yet they could not have imagined the extent of what was really going on behind the closed curtains of the so-called Temple. During occult gatherings it became the set of a horror movie.
Batley, in a hooded robe, would read out extracts from the Book of the Law, which had been typed out and laminated by his wife. Hanging above him on the wall was a gold ceremonial dagger and sitting menacingly nearby were his two rottweilers, Tutankhamun and Sekhet. One young victim told how Batley introduced her to the cult by raping her when she was 11, telling her that having sex with him was a ‘test’ and if she did not pass she would go to ‘the Abyss’. The victim, now in her twenties, told the court: ‘I did not want him to do what he was doing, but I did not have a choice because what Colin said happened. What Colin said went.’
The abuse continued for years. As a teenager she became pregnant by Batley, who prevented her from having an abortion saying that babies belonged to the cult and not to their mothers. Another victim, now in her thirties, said she was forced to have sex with Batley when she was 15. She was also ordered to perform sex acts on his wife and other men and women. ‘I was told I’d be killed if I didn’t become part of the cult,’ she said. ‘Colin Batley had a gun and brought it to meetings. I was so scared I just did what I was told. I was in the living room at his home and he told me there would be an initiation. I was called upstairs. Elaine was there. He would just snap his fingers and say, “Strip”.’
She said that on one occasion when she was 16, she was made to have sex with a boy of 15 – as Marling filmed them.
The girl was told she would be murdered by ‘cult assassins’ if she did not give in to Batley’s demands. Through a video link, she sobbed as she told how she was taken to other addresses by Batley where she had sex with other men. ‘I did it because I was told to by Colin.’ Another woman victim said she was recruited into the cult and became pregnant after becoming a ‘sexual plaything’ for the group. Batley ordered her not to abort her ‘occult child’. A male victim said that, as a teenager, he was tricked into having sex with Batley’s wife. The witness recalled how Batley promised to set him up with a girl and directed him to a dark bedroom. Once inside, he got into bed and then realised that the other person lying beside him was Elaine Batley. One of the charges against Shelly Millar was that she seduced a boy of 15. Millar claimed he was 16, and that she was teaching him how to have sex as he had a new girlfriend ‘he wanted to impress’. She had sex with him twice in Batley’s caravan in Tenby. Batley, it emerged during the trial, had been reported to Carmarthenshire Social Services in 2002 by a concerned relative. She said Batley had been abused by his own father and that ‘history was about to repeat itself’.
The warning went unheeded, allowing Batley and his cult to prey on youngsters week after week, month after month for another eight years. The Batleys had four children, one of whom, Damian, died of strangulation three years ago when a bizarre sex game went wrong. He was found hanging from his bedroom door at the family home and had been filming himself. Finally, last year, one of Batley’s victims went to the police. It was one of the girls he had impregnated as a teenager. She said she feared he might target her own child. Batley was tipped off about the police inquiry and, by the time he was arrested, had destroyed potential evidence. But officers found home-made films of two of his victims on his camcorder. [The circumstances surrounding the death of the Batleys' son seem highly questionable given that the family has already been accused of producing what very well might be commercial pornography]. Interviewed 11 times by detectives, he steadfastly maintained his innocence. The jury did not believe him. They saw him for what he was – ‘an evil and manipulative sexual predator’ who had used the cult and ‘black magic’ as a cover for his own perverted ends. Back in Kidwelly, there was relief at the verdicts. ‘I’m just glad they’ve all finally gone,’ said John Wheatland. He spoke for everyone in Ash Tree Close.
Sex cult was inspired by 'the Great Beast'
The cult’s inspiration, Aleister ‘the Great Beast’ Crowley, believed himself to be a prophet of a new age of personal liberty, controlled by the ancient Egyptian god Horus.
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