Might is Right!

UPDATE!

This article has now been updated as things have changed since it was first written.

Abuse

Recently, there have been a number of high profile abuse cases involving very prominent people, including show business celebrities, politicians and even whole Churches.

Dead or in Jail

Some of those accused of abusing children have now died, though others are still alive and have gone to jail after being found guilty in court.

Unfit To Stand Trial

The latest person to be accused of abuse of young boys is not going to go to court. He has been found to be suffering from Alzheimer's dementia and so unfit to be tried. The accusations were first made against him over 20 years ago, maybe even 30 years. He was a Member of Parliament at the time, a lawyer (a senior lawyer because he was a Queen's Counsel) and a member of the British Board of Deputies. The accusations were made against him during the trial of a man who was subsequently found guilty of child abuse, sent to prison and who died there. At the time, this accused man said he would sue any newspaper that printed these lies about him and everything has been quiet in the media about him since then. He is now about 87 years old and has been suffering from dementia. The local police have built a case against him but before it can go to court, it has to be looked at by the Public Prosecutor's office. UPDATE: Since this was written, the decision not to take it to court has been overturned. It WILL now go to court and if the person is found unfit to stand trial, a "trial of the facts" will be held, where those who allege they were injured by this man will have their opportunity to speak in court, although, I don't think there will be a "guilty or innocent" verdict at the end. I am not quite sure what the outcome of this will be, as I have not seen one of these before .

Public Prosecutor

The public prosecutor is the person who decides whether there is enough evidence in a case to warrant going to trial and whether there is a realistic chance of winning. In this case, while the Public prosecutor felt that the case would ordinarily have gone to court, they could not do so here because the defendant would not be able to understand the proceedings or defend himself.

Closure For The Victims

The alleged victims of this man are furious. They will not now be able to give their stories in a court of law ( Update: they will now get their day in court - see above ). The Public Prosecutor has suggested that they will be able to testify in a commission that has been set up to investigate what has been termed historic child abuse. It won't be the same but at least they will get to tell their stories.

Might is Right

Victims of child abuse have had to wait many years to get their tormentors prosecuted. They were not believed or no one was prepared to help and in many cases, the "establishment" ignored or covered up the wrong doing. This particular accused man was even appointed to the House of Lords after he retired from being an MP! There have been too many cases where powerful people have been able to get away with criminal activity because of their power, who they knew and their money for silencing talk. Some things are changing now but not fast enough for justice to be seen to be done, at least in this case.

Another Politician

In the responses to the original article it was suggested that an even more high profile figure would be named. This has now happened as a former Prime Minister of the UK, now dead has been accused of child sexual abuse! There will be more to come on this.

FOPP abuse courtcases

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