Ken Clarke Abuse Claim 'a Fantasy', Court Hears

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-33598485

What on earth is going on here ? Ken Clark was the last person I would have suspected of this sort of thing.

[EDDIE51]

No libel yet,but some answers are phased as though Ken Clark actually has been accused of abuse , which is not true.

[andy-hughes]

I think the majority of AB'ers are able to distinguish the situation here - legal issues are discussed all the time.

In the highly unlikely event of anything illegal being posted, the Ed or the monitors will be on it before it reaches Mr Clarke's legal team.

[anotheoldgit]

andy-hughes

/// Eddie - I see nothing libellous in anything anyone has posted thus far - would you care to point out where you think any libel may be? I think you are on safe ground, there is nothing accusing Mr Clarke of anything that I can see. ///

You came very close to it Andy.

andy-hughes

mikey - //Ken Clark was the last person I would have suspected of this sort of thing. //

/// Funny - I'd have said that about Saville / Travis / Harris .....///

/// no-one is immune from a dark side, no-one. ///

What were you in fact inferring?

[andy-hughes]

AOG - I was not intending to infer anything - what I was stating is that because Mr Clarke is a politician and public figure does not exclude him from the potential for bad behaviour.

If you took an inference from that, it was not intentional, and I don't believe anyone can take action for their interpretation of someone else's comments.

[EDDIE51]

Thanks AOG my point entirely. Some answers come dangerously close to libel . We will get the 'no smoke without fire' argument next!!

[andy-hughes]

What on earth does 'dangerously close to libel' mean?

A statement is either libellous, or it's not, there is not 'almost' involved in the concept.

If that's the way we are working, I am 'dangerously close' to a date with Alison King ... in other words, nowhere near!!!!!

[Peter Pedant]

Mikey's link seems to have morphed

well OK the Beeb have brought it up to date

Ben Fellows has been indicted ( attempting to pervert the course of justice) and the case is being heard
and Ken Clarke cast as the obviously wrongly accused dear old innocent codger - as he obviously is

swings and roundabouts - the dirty old man is really the wronged innocent party....I of course think there are more having seen how easy it is to post on the internet that so-and-so is a dirty old sod ....

[anotheoldgit]

And still some dig deeper EDDIE.

[Peter Pedant]

// No libel yet,but some answers are phased as though Ken Clark actually has been accused of abuse , which is not true.//


I think the Beebs script has changed Eddie

Ben Doo-dah is the indicted one - Cuddly ken the victim

Cuddly Ken has been accused - by Ben Doodah
you mean accused accused - or else "charged...."

as a bleeding heart liberal - sorry pinko wet liberal - my sympathies are totally with Ken Clarke here. - and there is no point in suing him for libel - the fella wont have any mun-ay Still as Harold Wilson said - a week is long time in politics

[mikey4444]

I'm fairly sure that Clarke is innocent here, and no, I can't explain exactly why I say that.

[-Talbot-]

How has andy-hughes come close to libel?

I think like me he is probably thinking that abusers come in all shapes, sizes, colours, and generally from walks of life. Hence why I don't understand the reasoning of mikey's 'the last person I would have suspected'

[andy-hughes]

Thank you Talbot - my point exactly.

In my view, you cannot 'come close' to libel, it is an exact concept, like being unique.

There are no degrees of uniquness, something cannot be 'almost unique' - it is unique or it is not, and the same applies to libel.

Therefore I have not 'come close' to libel, dangerously, safely, or any other way.

[EDDIE51]

Mikey ''I'm fairly sure Ken Clark is innocent here!''
He has NOT EVEN BEEN ACCUSED it is not a question of innocence or not.
The person on trial is Ben Fellows , he has made what is almost certainly a false accusation. Ken Clark does not need to prove his innocence it is not even in dought! You are still hinting that there is substance in the accusation which from the reports will be proved totally false.

[vetuste_ennemi]

Three relevant facts:
1. Clarke is a Tory.
2, Clarke is white.
3. Clarke is not a Muslim.
Conclusion: guilty as alleged.

[-Talbot-]

You will be put on the naughty step, Vetuste.

[whiskeryron]

This is what mikey said '' Ken Clarke Abuse Claim 'a Fantasy', Court Hears''

Dear oh dear I really don't know what other A/Bers are going on about.

[jourdain2]

Mr. Fellows case does not seem to have any support from the people who were around on the 'Cook Report' at the time and were supposed to have evidence to support him, so I suspect that he is a fantasist.

Given all the recent headlines about historical abuse, it's reasonable to think that that sort of thing would enter the mind of someone like that.

[agchristie]

As the OP states....

What on earth is going on here??

[EDDIE51]

Mikey said in the opening post '' What on Earth is going on here? Ken Clark was the last person i would have suspected of this sort of thing''
That reads is if Mikey actually thinks there is truth in the claim.
It was badly reported by the BBC I agree. It does read like court allegation was against Clark.