Wide-Ranging Inquiry Into Child Abuse Planned

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28189072

At last the long-standing logjam is beginning to move, and not before time.
Perhaps the authorities will listen to the victims now. What we need is what was called a "drains-up" exercise when I was an Engineer.

[Zeuhl]

/acknowledge that some people lie, especially where money's concerned./

Based on recent cases, can you quote the evidence of any victims 'lying' svejk?

Not just prosecutions having insufficient evidence to convict, but actual evidence of victims lying to get compo.

Just so we know whether it is a legitimate possibility or just tosh designed to distract people.

[DrFilth]

> The assumption on almost all AnswerBank threads on the subject is that many/most/all of the victims coming forwards are simply seeking compensation......by any means necessary, and that must be a crushing attitude to be on the receiving end of. <

very few of the answers that i have read have that opinion , one thing to remember is that the victims identity is kept secret

[royfromaus]

Would you sit in front of a camera and say this for a bit of compo?



I deliberately posted the link here and not in the youtube box.

[royfromaus]

How did that happen?

[DrFilth]

Zeuhl here is one

MAY 20

* Australian woman Tonya Lee says she stopped eating and became a “shell” of her former self after Harris indecently assaulted her at a London pub in 1986 when she was 15.

* Ms Lee admits she lied to British detectives about selling her story to the Australian media.

MAY 21

* Ms Lee admits she was wrong to blame Harris for her weight loss when confronted with evidence that the dinner at which she claims she was assaulted occurred at the end, not the start, of the 1986 trip.

[Svejk]

I see you were very careful to include the 'insufficient evidence' clause, zeuhl, otherwise I might have been able to point to all the recent acquittals as evidence of accusers not being believed.

[Zeuhl]

/I might have been able to point to all the recent acquittals as evidence of accusers not being believed. /

Not really svejk - insufficient evidence to convict does not necessarily mean the accusers lied.

Dr F - that's an interesting one i concede. But nowhere in your quotes does it suggest (or reference the accuser admitting) that the assault allegations were false.

[DrFilth]

Zeuhl your question was
> Based on recent cases, can you quote the evidence of any victims 'lying' svejk? <

i was just pointing out
>
* Ms Lee admits she lied to British detectives about selling her story to the Australian media.

[mushroom25]

tipped to chair the inquiry:-

James Brian Edward Hutton.

[Zeuhl]

Point taken Dr F - I was alluding to suggestions that victims would lie about the the alleged assaults.

divebuddy - one would have to judge the reliability of testimony on a case by case basis. I wouldn't assume that lying about a side issue such as business dealings with the media would necessarily be relevant to the main accusations.

[Svejk]

Quite a few people who successfully obtained compo for the 'abuse they suffered' at the hands of Catholic priests in Ireland(dead priests) got a bit carried away with themselves. Selling their stories in papers, appearing on telly and writing books. Big mistake. Their own families dismissed them as fantasists, it was proved the priests weren't in the same town or even the same country as their sobbing accusers.
Its not just about money either. I'm sure we all know 'flakey' who love being the centre of attention or embroiled in controversy of some sort with very little regard for who they might hurt on their merry course.
Naturally, I'm not saying that everybody in these cases is a liar, just that some almost certainly are.

[DrFilth]

you can read about him here

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jul/31/davidkelly.huttonreport

[DrFilth]

Svejk as my mate pointed out even if only one was telling the truth he got was he deserved

[DrFilth]

change was to what

[Zeuhl]

/I'm not saying that everybody in these cases is a liar, just that some almost certainly are./

Fair point - i can see it could and can happen.

Maintaining that fiction through a court trial and convincing judge and jury would take some doing...

[Gromit]

The cynic in me says the announcement of an inquiry is just to shut up the constant drip of sleaze in an election year. No doubt the inquiry will report back AFTER the election, and no one will say anything more while the inquiry is underway.

[Hypognosis]

@gromit

they use some typical parliamentary lingo along the lines of 'I fully respect the [x] of the enquiry and shall not comment further until its conclusions have been published'. I can't remember what x is but it might as well be 'sanctity' for all the over-baked reverence they give to these things.

As far as Joe Public is concerned, it's just a terribly convenient excuse to not let the media draw them on their opinions/knowledge of the matter. (Verbal diarrhoea, the rest of the time) ;-)

[Svejk]

kicking things into the long grass, I believe, is the expression and I think you're right.

[mikey4444]

The announcement made by the Home Secretary this afternoon goes a long way to finally addressing the long standing problem of child sexual abuse.

We must thank Tom Watson and Simon Danczuk especially for raising the profile of this issue to such an extent that it can no longer brushed under the carpet, as it has been by previous Governments, of both political hue.

Sometimes its necessary to kick up such a stink, before the powers to be finally take the issue seriously. Its often said that you must be prepared to break a few eggs in order to make an omelet, and Watson and Danczuk, among others, have certainly done that. I wish this new enquiry every success.