Convicted paedophile Carl Beech – who made the allegations that sparked the inquiry
The flawed £2 million Operation Midland investigation by the Met Police into alleged sexual abuse by VIPs and politicians which contained sensational false allegations of child murders from a man who turned out to be sex offender himself could be re-opened after four years.
Carl Beech was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2019 on 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud.
Police raided the homes of Harvey Proctor and Lord Bramall and Lord Brittan. .
New inquiry to be set up
Former judge Sir Richard Henriques did a highly critical investigation of how the Met Police handled the investigation and also suggested that two other people -known as Witness A and Witness B who both claimed to be victims of child sexual abuse – should also be investigated for perverting the course of justice.
West Midlands Police carried out a further inquiry and has recommended a further inquiry into all the evidence supplied by both witnesses to see if further action should be taken against them. The police force said there were reasonable grounds to think they had perverted the course of justice.
The Met is asking a second police force to decide now whether there is enough evidence to breing charges.
The Met Police also said that new evidence against them had been supplied by a third party.
After the statement Harvey Proctor claimed he was the person who had supplied fresh evidence. I do not know the identities of the two people
The full Met Police statement reads: “
“In 2016, Sir Richard Henriques was asked to carry out a review into the Met’s handling of Operation Midland which was an investigation into non-recent sexual offence allegations against persons of public prominence.
Sir Richard’s report recommended that “offences of attempting to pervert the course of justice be considered” in the cases of two individuals known as witnesses A and B. He added that “it would be appropriate for another police force to carry out such investigations”.
Earlier this year, following a third party referral which included new information, the Metropolitan Police arranged for West Midlands Police to consider all relevant material relating to witnesses A and B in order to advise on whether any further investigation should follow.
That work has now been completed, with West Midlands concluding that there are reasonable grounds to suspect witnesses A and B have committed an offence of perverting the course of justice and that it is in the public interest to open an investigation into whether there is sufficient evidence to justify a prosecution.
Acknowledging that in light of its previous involvement the Met would not be the most appropriate force to carry out this investigation, officers are in the process of agreeing terms of reference with an external force so that the matter can be taken forward.”
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Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (salary £275,534 a year) and two other Court of Appeal judges ( salaries £225,978 each) spent this week delivering a judgement on whether a prisoner could eat a boiled sweet.
In what must be one of the most lofty and byzantine judgements of the year a judicial review at the Court of Appeal threw out a request from a disabled prisoner at Liverpool jail to be able to eat boiled sweets.
The prisoner only known to the courts as JJ is a toothless quadriplegic inmate serving time until 2027 in the health wing of the prison. Lady Justice King delivered the verdict, which the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Justice Lewis concurred after spending time on a hearing and taking advice from the Royal College of Physicians.
In what must have been a very expensive case -since it was an appeal from another high court judge – barristers from top NHS lawyers Hill Dickenson and DAC Beachcroft to defend the prison’s healthcare company, Spectrum community Health. who were caring for him in jail while JJ was in the health wing. JJ had his own barrister, Aswini Weereratne KC.
Lady Justice King pic credit: Law Gazette
Lady Justice King said: “JJ is quadriplegic and without teeth. While his cognitive and communication skills are unimpaired, his physical capacity is limited to pushing a button with one finger. Since 2016 he has been bed-bound and wholly dependent on care staff for all his personal cares and for feeding. He is nursed in a supine position.”
“As a consequence of JJ’s condition, eating food poses a risk of death or serious injury by choking or aspiration. Some foods pose a more significant risk than others. Until 2021, JJ ate a mixed diet of soft and non-soft foods. Meals would be sent to his cell and he would decide whether he was capable of eating them. He would regularly supplement his diet with snacks bought from the prison canteen, including non-soft foods such as boiled sweets.”
Prisoner goes on hunger strike over the denial of boiled sweets
There have been several instances of him choking on food but JJ insisted that he would take responsibility for himself and still wanted to suck boiled sweets.
The care company however were worried about his choking. They called in a therapist who decided that he should only eat soft and bite sized food once his supply of boiled sweets ran out. JJ wanted to choose what he ate and when this was not allowed went on hunger strike only taking high energy fluids to stay alive.
The judge said: “JJ’s approach was, and is, that he could exercise his basic freedom of choice to decide what he will eat, being fully aware of the risks.”
Do not resuscitate me says prisoner
Spectrum wouldn’t agree to this so in December 2021 JJ signed an Advance Decision to Refuse Treatment. In this, JJ confirmed that food refusal was to apply even when his life is at risk and that he does not wish to be ventilated or to have cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). It follows that in the event that JJ choked or aspirated as a consequence of eating a boiled sweet which, as he is quadriplegic, would have been put into his mouth by a carer, neither that carer nor any other medical professional on the ward would be able to intervene to give JJ lifesaving CPR.”
In July 2022, JJ brought a claim for judicial review, contending that Spectrum’s refusal to feed him foods of his choice was irrational, discriminatory, in breach of his common law right of autonomy and his Article 8 right to physical and psychological integrity.”
It went to court and he lost and the judge refused an appeal. But it was decided as the issue was a compelling one it should go to the Court of Appeal.
Here the key issue was elevated to whether a patient can refuse to follow a clinician’s treatment and the fact that prisoners cannot choose what food they can eat – only what the prison choose to provide.
Also a bombshell ruling that as Spectrum was regulated by the Care Quality Commission if a nurse gave JJ a boiled sweet and he choked to death would he or she be prosecuted for gross negligence manslaughter?
Liverpool prison where JJ is held
JJ filed a statement to the court : ” In it he describes how he has little or no quality of life. He is completely bed-bound, lying on his back for 24 hours a day, and is unable to do anything for himself other than call for help or control a television. He concludes his statement by saying that he has lost almost everything in his life and ‘being able to eat what I want represents my last shred of humanity and dignity. I want o be able to cling on to it for as long as I can’.
But the judges rejected this saying ” It may be that in certain different medical circumstances the balance would come down in JJ’s favour but not, in my view, in this case. JJ cannot feed himself. He cannot obtain boiled sweets from the prison shop, unwrap them and put them in his own mouth. The provision of boiled sweets in circumstances where JJ cannot even put a sweet into his mouth is different; it is treatment or care carrying with it the considerable risk that on any given day, giving JJ that boiled sweet may cause him to choke to death and in circumstances where JJs advance decision would prevent all but the most basic life-saving intervention on the part of the person who had given him the boiled sweet.”
So what would happen if a friend came to visit him at Liverpool jail? Presumably the prison will have to confiscate any boiled sweets to comply with the Lord Chief Justice’s ruling. We hear of drugs, illicit mobile phones and porn being smuggled into jail now in this case the judiciary’s top judge has extended it to boiled sweets. Given JJ’s brain is the one part of him not impaired It is over the top.
For highly intelligent people the three cold hearted Court of Appeal judges lack any empathy or humanity in this case. Their judgement is more concerned with avoiding liability for the company and the prison if JJ dies rather than granting him a boiled sweet to make his limited life more pleasurable.
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Judge Rebecca Brown’s wig on display at Milton Keynes Museum
A very poignant hearing for contempt by a mentally disturbed woman was held at Milton Keynes County Court last week presided over by Her Honour Judge Rebecca Brown.
Gillian Marriott was facing a committal hearing brought by Thames Valley Police for breaching a court order made two years ago which banned her from contacting the emergency services or attending Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury except in a genuine medical emergency. She is now facing two six month prison sentences and the possibility of a much longer prison sentence if she breaches the order for the next two years. She had already been remanded in custody before the hearing.
The judge took the decision in her absence and without any statement by her in her defence but she was represented by a lawyer.
I am highlighting this story because it neatly encapsulates in one episode what is going wrong with mental health treatment, what is happening to a pressurised NHS in the current crisis and the desperation of public authorities to deal with disturbed people by deciding that incarceration in a prison is the only solution. I don’t know the woman concerned but her situation is very well summed up by the judge in her ruling.
114 calls to 999 and 217 calls to the 111 services
Thames Valley Police who brought the case say she “has made 114, 999 calls and 217, 111 calls reporting various medical episodes. These have all been triaged and checked causing demand on the service unnecessarily” and had attended ” Stoke Mandeville Hospital on occasions which were not for genuine medical need. It is alleged that the defendant attended Stoke Mandeville Hospital on the 23rd of March 2022 claiming an overdose but all her vitals we checked and found to be normal.”
Stoke Mandeville Hospital Pic credit: BBC
The court were told she turned up at Stoke Mandeville claiming to have taken an overdose on “7th of April 2022 , 11th of April 2022 , 13th of April 2022 , 15th of April 2022 , 21st of April 2022 , 26th of April 2022 , 22nd of May 2022 and 3rd of June 2022.”
She also turned up at the accident and emergency department claiming she had taken an overdose on the 15th , 19th , 21st 27th , 28th and 29th of June 2022 and the 18th of July 2022.
She admitted turning up but claimed she had genuinely thought she was ill and needed treatment
Her psychiatrist, Dr Srikanth Nimmagaddam said in a statement to the court that she had ” a history of being brought up in an overprotective environment in the context of the death of her brother. She also feels that she suffered from emotional abuse, as her parents regularly adversely compared her with her deceased brother. She gives a history of problems at school and being sent to a special school. She gives a history of being severely bullied and discriminated at school, as she went to a special school. She gives a history that at the age of 11, she was raped by a person, who later blackmailed to harm her father. She had to withdraw the case and that resulted in being accused by the police of wasting their time. All this seems to have been extremely traumatic for her given her young age. She did some farm jobs until the age of 25, when she was married. One of her daughters was taken into care.”
He said “I believe there is clear evidence to suggest that she has a personality disorder – an emotionally unstable personality disorder of borderline type. The features of her personality disorder include impulsivity, including acting impulsively without considering the consequences; severe mood swings; chronic feelings of emptiness; uncertainty about her aims, objectives and goals in life; chronic low self-esteem; difficulties in sustaining relationships with a constant fear of rejection and abandonment; maladaptive coping mechanisms in the form of numerous acts of deliberate self-harm and of substance abuse.”
He ruled she was fit to plead and recommended a treatment programme that would not require a hospital admission but would require residential accommodation.
Some of the care plan unavailable because of resources
But Leanne Manning, Community Psychiatric Nurse, told the court: ” Some of the suggested aspects of the care plan are not available in terms of resources such as a residential placement. Ms. Manning thought supported accommodation would assist Ms. Marriott because it she may feel more supported and less isolated.“ Ms. Manning informed the court that Ms. Marriott could attend a number of courses at the Whiteleaf centre such as mindfulness classes, managing mood classes and managing and understanding your diagnosis classes. Ms. Manning also told the court that instead of telephoning 999 or 111, Ms. Marriott should first try to consider whether she really needs medical assistance by going through a checklist that she has. She can then telephone the Whiteleaf centre to speak to Ms. Manning or another worker or telephone a “social prescriber” who is based at the GP.”
The police’s lawyer took a hard line against her. Mr Garnett said: “the breaches were a deliberate flouting of the order and the breaches were serious and egregious.”
He argued that there was a high degree of culpability. No real mitigation has been put before the court because there is no evidence from Ms. Marriott. The evidence is that Ms. Marriott has refused to engage with any treatment plan which would assist her in her impulse control which would stop this conduct.”
Ms Marriott’s Lawyer, Mr Killen, said she would agree to go on the course but not move into residential accommodation.
He said” she values her independence too much and has lived in her current accommodation for a long time.”
The Judge said she had considerable sympathy and compassion for Ms Marriott but ruled that her actions amounted to a criminal standard that Ms. Marriott knew that she was making unnecessary calls and as such continued to add unnecessary burdens to the NHS whether it be A and E, ambulance drivers and other medical staff. But she said she had not done it out of malice more because of her vulnerability.
People may die because ambulances are being diverted to Ms Marriott – judge
“There is immense pressure on the NHS and emergency services and people may die because an ambulance is not available because it has been diverted to Ms. Marriott. I am satisfied that Ms. Marriott understands the terms of the injunction and knows that the number of callouts is unacceptable.”
Her judgement concluded: “The court therefore orders that Ms. Marriott serves a term of six months for the 999 and 111 calls and a further sentence of 6 months for the visits to Stoke Mandeville, each sentence to run concurrently and be suspended for two years until 22.8.2024. This court specifically warned Ms. Marriott that if she appears back before this court, has made no sustained attempt at engaging with work to address her behaviour and has carried on breaching the order, she is likely to receive a significant custodial sentence as well as serve the activated suspended sentence.”
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Carl Beech: !8 year prison sentence for perverting the course of justice and fraud Pic credit:BBC
The Carl Beech verdict is a blow to child sex abuse
investigations. After the trial and thorough investigation by Northumbria
Police Beech he emerged as a prolific, manipulative and malicious paedophile
who made false allegations against powerful people and sparked off a huge
investigation by the Met Police.
Both myself and the reporter, Mark Conrad, who investigated Beech, part company with Exaro’s former editor in chief, Mark Watts, in deciding that the verdict was “unsafe” or that he didn’t get a fair trial. Beech chose not to call a single witness in his defence and when the net was closing he fled the country.
Now the question is asked should journalists have ignored him from day one and reported nothing taking the line that no one in “the great and good” has ever sexually molested a child and anybody alleging that is a fantasist.
Or should we try diligently to get to the truth of the matter given the limited tools journalists have compared to a police force or the powers and scope an inquiry can have to investigate a case?
The simple solution is to say allegations, particularly
historic, of child sex abuse, are so problematic, so difficult to prove, that
anybody coming to a journalist suggesting they are a survivor of sexual abuse
should be turned away. That would a devastating to the many thousands of
survivors themselves who would have no other recourse other than going to an
overworked police force. It wouldn’t be just a case of not being believed but
being ignored.
It was also play into
the hands of any paedophile to do what he or she liked – knowing their victims
would never be listened to and they could hide behind the new populism that
most child sex abuse in the UK is just a string of false allegations.
The latter fact is wrong. If you look at recent convictions
hardly a week goes by -without either individuals or paedophile gangs being
convicted in the courts- and that includes historic cases.
While Operation Midland was going on the National Crime Agency successfully prosecuted people in North Wales – including a police superintendent – the late Gordon Angelsea- who had denied child sex abuse crimes for years and successfully sued Private Eye and the Observer. He was one of 11 people so far successfully prosecuted through Operation Pallial including John Allen, an owner of children’s home and gang of five paedophiles led by a former professional wrestler.
Gangs have been convicted in Rotherham, Hull, Stoke on
Trent, Rochdale, Lichfield and Newcastle upon Tyne to name a few.
And the idea that there isn’t a single prominent person who
indulges in child sex abuse has been proved untrue with the conviction of the
late Bishop Peter Ball, Bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, who convinced people at
the very top, including Prince Charles, for years that accusations against him
were a pack of lies. And Sir Cyril Smith MP whose escaped crimes in Rochdale were
exposed in a report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
The only way you can investigate child sex abuse is to look
for any outside facts that might stand up the likelihood of the case, test the
person’s knowledge of the places where it is alleged to have happened and do a
thorough test to see if the “ victim” can identify his perpetrator. You also
rely on other people – not sexually abused themselves – to act as whistleblowers
or people in authority at the time who can stand up the circumstances of a
story.
The problem with the Carl Beech investigation was the way he undermined any diligent reporting by meticulously researching details about his victims and their premises so the” right” answers would come out.
The other was the odd way Exaro was run. Unlike nearly all news organisations there were no internal news conferences where ideas could be swapped and challenged. Reporters were forbidden from discussing the individual child sex abuse case they were investigating with any other reporter.
As a result I did not
know the true identity of Carl Beech until it was made public. I have never met
him, never exchanged any emails or talked to him.
Perhaps he would have
been exposed if a tech savvy reporter had seized his computer – but I doubt the
public would support journalists seizing other people’s computers while they
were conducting investigations.
There has been
criticism of my colleague Mark Conrad for conducting a picture identity test
after Beech had alleged 12 people had sexually abused him. He tells me that consisted of inserting the
12 into 42 different people and took place before the police started their
investigation.
The reason why it was done was because of the disastrous episode on BBC Newsnight where the survivor Steve Messham was never shown a picture of the late Lord McAlpine who was wrongly alleged to have abused him – which would have prevented a false allegation circulating on social media..
Investigating historic child sex abuse is one of the most
difficult areas to do in journalism. Carl Beech has made it even more so. One
lesson is that people who say they were sexually abused will in future have to
face more scrutiny by both the police and journalists investigating their
claims. The law about anonymity for
people being investigated for child sex abuse might have to be tightened up –
though I would be careful in advocating this.
But what must not happen is that the default position should move from believing a survivor to taking the view that the accusation is false. That way would provide paedophiles – who are the most cunning and manipulative of all people – with a free market to abuse whoever they wish and get away scot free.
The Church of England has finally fully acknowledged the impact of the predatory sexual abuse committed by one of its most charismatic former bishops Peter Ball.
A forensic report by Dame Moira Gibb into both his activities and the cover up by the church of his behaviour which reached the then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, (now Lord Carey) to protect the Church’s reputation.
It is a grim story only coming light after the former Bishop of Gloucester was successfully prosecuted and jailed in 2015 after a career of physically and sexually abusing and exploiting boys and young men, including some who were particularly vulnerable.
The report says : “He had used his position within the Church to identify those whom he then abused. and admitted two offences of indecent assault and a further offence of misconduct in public office.”
Tragically a young man, Neil Todd, who had first accused him in 1993 of abusing him in when he was 17 killed himself in 2012 when Sussex Police re-opened an investigation when he was Bishop of Lewes.
Equally culpable, though not an abuser, is Michael Ball, his twin brother and former Bishop of Truro, who ran a campaign after his brother had been given a caution for abusing Todd in 1993 to rehabilitate him using every type of pressure he could find.
None of the authorities, with the exception of Sussex police, come out of this well, Neither the Church, Lambeth Palace, Gloucestershire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service. It is litany of failed responsibility among those in power and also the misuse of power and reputation to protect the powerful.
Peter Ball comes out of this report as a manipulative, sadomasochistic predator who appears to have used every trick to entice young men from public schoolboys to priests and damaged and vulnerable youths coming to the Church for his own sexual gratification. It is not clear even now at 85 whether he shows any remorse as he refused to co-operate with Dame Moira’s inquiry.
While on the surface being a charismatic leader he and his brother appear to have conned the Establishment to cover up his activity and the Establishment appear to have been prepared to do so.
The report reveals how he wanted to whip Neil Todd who was only saved by worried staff at the Bishop’s house who sent him away. He also got youths to strip off in the chapel so they could pray together in the nude and even used a ceremony to anoint a youth’s penis in some bizarre religious rite.
But as bad is the 20 year cover up . This included dragging Prince Charles into Ball’s defence – by using his privileged access to Highgrove House – to claim, falsely, as an examination of letters between Ball and the Prince show, that he supported his cause. According to the report even a commercial arrangement that allows Ball and his brother to rent a house off the Duchy of Cornwall was twisted to say this was a Royal favour.
Lord Carey: Former archbishop of Canterbury Pic credit: BBC
Lord Carey emerges as a very weak character in this sorry saga. On the one level he is aware of Ball’s transgressions and tries to investigate, on another level he intervenes with the aim, whatever he says in a letter to Gloucestershire’s chief constable, to prevent a public trial of a Bishop by just issuing a caution. In the end this is done in return for his resignation as bishop. It is here that Gloucestershire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service, which now admits its mistake, are totally at fault. Lord Carey also failed to pass on information to the police on people Ball abused and defended his reputation to the police.
Then after this ” escape from justice” he and his brother pursue a ruthless campaign to rehabilitate him as a priest – which is successful. They demand money from the archbishop to fund their expenses, insist on his reinstatement as a priest in his brother’s parish ( at one stage his brother actually threatens to do this without Lambeth Palace’s permission) and he even gets an honorary retired bishop’s post from the Bishop of Chichester.
The report recommends a strengthening of safeguarding in the Church of England and will be considered by the independent child sex abuse inquiry. But what it doesn’t address – and it is outside its terms of reference – is the glaring issue of homosexuality in the Church.
To put it in its historic context these events take place when people who were homosexuals in public life often lived a double life for fear of exposure in the press. This was the time when David Atkinson, the Tory MP for Bournemouth East was publicly a happily married man with a wife and children while secretly leading a double gay life in the House of Commons.
It was also the time when Britain’s first successful black footballer, Justin Fashanu, led a troubled double life attracted to young men, which led to his suicide when the US law caught up with him.
One wonders whether if as now – when to be openly gay no longer is a problem and gay marriage is acceptable ( except to the Democratic Unionist party) Ball could have had a stable relationship instead. Or was he a predatory abuser anyway? This is not to excuse the Ball twins from the appalling sexual abuse and cover up that followed. But it suggests the Church has got to address a wider problem than just the abuse.
I am reblogging this from the site of Jerry Hayes, a former Tory MP and practising criminal barrister. He is highlighting the dangers of miscarriages of justice since the Forensic Science Service was privatised by David Cameron because private companies are cutting corners and not doing a proper job. The person here could have been imprisoned for seven years as a result of their negligence.
THE SCANDAL THAT UNDERMINES OUR ONCE GREAT SYSTEM OF JUSTICE
10 May 2017 at 07:09
I never blog on cases, but today I must break my rule. Yesterday I discovered a scandalous state of affairs which could have led to an innocent man going to jail for a substantial period of time. I will not name the defendant nor the court for obvious reasons. In forty years of practice at the bar this shook my faith in what was once the finest and fairest justice system in the world. Read this and weep. And mourn for British justice.
Yesterday I was sent to the Crown Court to offer no evidence in a firearms case. I had been instructed some weeks ago as Prosecution counsel. Let me give you a thumbnail sketch. Last year the police searched a van. In this van was a tool box and in this tool box were founds guns and ammunition. This comprised of an 8mm blank firing pistol converted to be a lethal weapon. An empty magazine belonging to that hand gun. A Glock self loading hand gun. The magazine from this handgun contained two live rounds. And three further live rounds were found in a knotted bag. It goes without saying that the possession of these items is a very serious offence and carries a minimum sentence of five years for the guns and a consecutive sentence for the ammunition. Anyone convicted potentially faces a sentence of imprisonment of seven years upwards.
The guns and ammunition were forensically examined. The laboratory gave the police what is called a Streamlined Forensic Report (SFR). It came to this conclusion, ‘a match exists between the defendant and the sample’. In other words the defendant’s DNA was found on one of the magazines.
This was served on the CPS and duly uploaded onto the digital case system, effectively serving this on the court and the defence. An SFR is precisely that, and both prosecution and defence are entitled to see the full report. But very often it is taken at face value. As there was no other evidence the CPS reviewing lawyer wanted further information. He asked for more information. Was there a mixed profile? How strong was the DNA? He received obfuscation from the lab. ‘The SFR provided indicated that a number of results were subject to progress.’ But the lawyer was dogged in his determination and finally received this bombshell. ‘The lab confirms due to confusion they have never compared mixed profiles against the defendant.’ They also stated that ‘progress means there are no additional findings’. Then came this chilling line. ‘The lab refused to elaborate any further……’
The reviewing lawyer reported the following,‘I am concerned that the language used in the SFR appears to assert positive and ongoing actions when they are clearly negative. I have requested the OIC to obtain an email from the forensic officer confirming the phone communication and what is implied in the SFR…..he confirmed that the report was misleading.’
The CPS, underfunded, overworked and creaking at the seams comes in for a lot of criticism. In this case the reviewing lawyer deserves a herogram.
Yesterday when I offered no evidence I explained to the judge in detail what had happened. I will never forget the look of horror on his face. There will be a thorough judicial investigation.
And yesterday SKYNEWS reported that a private forensic laboratory had ‘manipulated data.’ What the hell is happening? I will tell you. In 2010 the government announced that the national forensic service (the FSS) was to be closed down and forensic analysis would be privatised. Let me be clear that the FSS has had its fair share of cock ups. But the government announcement prompted horror from professionals. The National Audit Office warned, ‘this could spark a crisis within the justice system.’ They were right. Soon the court of appeal will be swamped. Will someone, somewhere listen? I won’t hold my breath.
Earlier this month this blog covered the plight of Alexander Adamescu, the joint owner of Romania’s oldest newspaper, who is facing extradition from the UK on what are seen as trumped up charges of bribery using the European Arrest Warrant.
His father, Dan, who was the co-owner of Romania Libera, Romania’s oldest newspaper was in prison serving a four year sentence on similar charges and his family were planning to fight the state over the way they are trying to close down his companies.
Now tragically his father has died – after a short period in hospital – one of a large number of people who die every year because of the notorious nature of the Romanian prison regime.
His son Alexander states :“On January 24, right after midnight, Dan Adamescu, aged 68, died in a hospital in Bucharest, without having his family close to him. Sentenced on June 5, 2014 following a trial that relied on false testimonies, he was consecutively imprisoned in 3 penitentiaries, where his health status became increasingly serious. Hospitalized in his last months of his life – which he spent being intubated and in semi-inducted coma – the 15 diseases he had made his body become more and more weak, and the deadly blow was given by the pathogenic bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus, with which he was contaminated in the inhuman conditions from the prison”
He mentions that his father went through difficult moments in the penitentiaries where he was imprisoned, given his health status.
“Jailed in unspeakable conditions in the Remand Center – 6 to 8 detainees in a cell of a few sq. m. at the basement, without closets, without room to move, with Turkish toilet – and not once, because of the atrophied muscles and of his ill knee, he felt I his own excrements – jailed for 23 of 24 hours – because he was allowed to go out for 1 hour, in the 30 sq. m. called “outdoor” (actually, a closed room of approx. 30 sq. m., having grids instead of the ceiling, extremely dirty) – he was moved later to the Rahova Penitentiary, where he shared a cell with 6 detainees, but because of his sharpened health status and of his inability to move, he remained permanently blocked in the cell.
Besides, for some bureaucratic reason, the treatment that he needed desperately wasn’t administered for 37 days, although medicines have been brought by my aunt, and his life was in real danger. Moving him to the Jilava Penitentiary was a new ordeal for my father… so he went from here to the Floreasca Emergency Clinical Hospital, directly in syncope; only after 10 days of medical care his vital functions have been restored, following a serious infection spread throughout his body” .
The issue of prison conditions in Romania- where nearly 500 people have died over the last five years often due to the lack of medical treatment – has already been challenged in the High Court in London by the international human rights lawyer, Ben Emmerson ( who also represented Alexander Livenenko’s widow in the recent public inquiry into his poisoning by plutonium). He has taken up the cases of other people being extradited by the Romanians and the prison.
Romania’s cramped and unsanitary prison conditions mean that pre-trial detention has also become a kind of punishment. Prison standards are so bad that between 1998 and 2015, the European Court of Human Rights found Romania guilty of 178 violations of Article 3 of the ECHR prohibiting inhuman or degrading treatment. The court recorded 27 violations in 2015.
This sad end to his father’s life strongly adds to the need for some action to stop the extradition of his son who blames the Romanian authorities for his early death.
Earlier this month I railed about the extraordinary findings of a report by the National Audit Office which showed Whitehall’s abject failure to confiscate the stolen assets of criminals.
Theresa May’s claims that crime musn’t pay were torn into tatters by a report which showed what a woeful record the present government has in confiscating them.
You would think that her top Home Office civil servant – permanent secretary Mark Sedwill – would do everything to make amends for this poor performance.
But think again. When he came to account for missing almost every target set by Parliament a few years before his complacent response so angered MPs on Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that he was sent packing by the chair Labour Mp, Meg Hillier.
Now Mark Sedwill has a stellar nickname – thanks to a jokey reference in a recent Christmas card put out by the Commons Home affairs Committee, which monitors the home office.
He is proud to be depicted as” Darth Vader ” the evil figure in the Star Wars movie – to Theresa May’s Princess Leia as part of cast of characters on their Christmas card ( see picture above.)
As he told Civil Service World ” It’s always better to be one of the stars, even if you’re the dark lord, than to be disregarded. I think he’s the coolest character in the pantheon – so I’m not that bothered.”.
His performance before the committee was anything but stellar. And the criminals would be delighted that the man representing the Dark Side was happy to pretend he had recovered their loot.
He obfuscated, denied reality and pretended that he had never agreed with the report’s findings in the first place. He even started quoting government propaganda that ministers were delighted with his efforts – which left at least £203m worth of assets uncollected.
So angry was one Tory MP, Stephen Phillips, a QC and member for Sleaford and North Hykeham, that he accused him of turning the hearing into ” a farce”and said his performance was ” an exercise in Sir Humphreyism.”.
And the committee abruptly halted the hearing – an almost unprecedented event- when Meg Hillier told him:” I do not think we have any option but to adjourn this. This is something I never wanted to do in this Committee. As Mr Phillips said, we want to get answers. This is a hugely important area and I am really disappointed that we are going to have to take this form of action. I do not think we are going to get very much further today.”
He has a chance to redeem himself next Tuesday when he will have to come up with some real answers at a resumed hearing. We have to hope this time the MPs will turn into Jedi knights to get some explanations.
Two very high profile cases involving child sexual abuse have recently hit the headlines. One involved the Premier League footballer Adam Johnson, capped 12 times for England. The other involved Andrew Picard ( who used his mother’s name rather than his father’s surname), an Old Etonian from a wealthy , well connected family.
Adam Johnson was given a six year prison sentence for grooming and sexually assaulting a 15 year old girl, a Sunderland fan besotted with him.
As the BBC reported Judge Jonathan Rose told him he had abused a position of trust and caused his victim “severe psychological harm”. He told Johnson, 28, he had engaged in sexual activity with her knowing she was under 16. Police also found extreme pornography involving animals on Johnson’s laptop.
Andrew Picard, 18, was spared jail and given a 10 month sentence suspended for 18 months after the police found over 1155 indecent children images on his computer in his Eton College dormitory. Like Johnson some of the images involved animals. The judge described some of the videos – which included abuse of babies and toddlers – as “so appalling, frankly I can’t bring myself to talk about it.”
One of his videos showed a girl as young as three being raped, while others showed young children being forced to have sex with dogs. He also shared these videos and images on a chat room where he was unmasked by undercover police.
Now I am not going to defend Adam Johnson or challenge the sentence he received. He is a Premier League football player who used his position in society to take advantage of an under age girl who obviously had a crush on him, and he took an unhealthy interest in extreme sex.
But I do think there is an element of rough justice when you compare the sentence handed out to him and the one given to Andrew Picard. Adam Johnson is a Northern working class lad educated at Easington Community College who suddenly became rich through his footballing skills.
Andrew Picard is the son of a very wealthy American lawyer living in Westminster and has yet to prove himself in any career. Johnson is splashed all over the tabloids, Picard was initially covered by the tabloids but already reports about his case have been taken down by one newspaper and he is starting to disappear off the internet.
The Mirror reported in a now withdrawn article: ” Sallie Bennett-Jenkins, QC referred to her client’s remorse and pointed to the good work he had been doing with doctors in the past year, undergoing constant treatment with numerous doctors and psychiatrists.
“This is a young and very able man who has hopes for the future,” she added.
“He was able to have this opportunity [to seek help] and this was something Andrew sought for himself, by himself.”
Sparing Picard jail, Judge Ross said a term of custody would undo the good work he had done in the past year undergoing extensive counselling.
He said: “This defendant Andrew Picard was a privileged young man. His family are clearly wealthy enough to send him to school in Eton.
“Quite how you found your way into this unpleasant world Mr Picard, the world of chat rooms and exchanging this material, is not clear to me.”
Now there could be some mitigating circumstances.which are highlighted by Matthew Scott’s barrister blog. He points out that but for the delay in bringing the case to court Andrew committed the offences at the age of 17 when he would have been granted anonymity and the press could only say he was a public schoolboy. As it is his father was spared embarrassment by him being charged in his mother’s name – even though this failed when the press found his surname. I am curious that the Crown Prosecution Service allowed him to be charged under a different name.
More interestingly he points out that the judge imposed an order that could still land him in prison. As he writes : ” Those who think the judge was going soft on Mr Picard need to ask themselves why, if that was the case, did he impose a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (breach of which carries a prison sentence of up to 5 years)? The law did not require him to impose it, he chose to do so. ”
But my view is that this sentencing reflects the present divide in society. The full force of the law comes down on a working class footballer but the law is generous to the crimes of an Old Etonian. I only hope the psychiatrists,doctors and counsellors treating Andrew Picard can get him to change his ways.He is lucky his family can afford them, unlike many child sex victims.
Theresa May, home secretary, ensuring crime can pay. Pic Credit: conservatives.com
Politicians love simple slogans especially bashing criminals. Tony Blair was famous for his ” Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” mantra. Theresa May, the home secretary told the Police Federation last November that she was getting tough on criminals to ensure ” crime doesn’t pay” when it comes to forcing them to hand back their swag.
But a forensic inquiry across Whitehall by Parliament’s spending watchdog the National Audit Office tells a different story. Read it here. It exposes politicians like May speaking warm words on the subject and doing the opposite. Indeed it could be said she is creating circumstances so it is even easier for criminals to get away with it.
No doubt Teflon Theresa will deny this -pointing out new laws saying hardened criminals will stay longer in prison if they don’t cough up where they have hidden their ill gotten gains.
But Parliament can pass as many laws as it likes. If there are fewer resources to tackle the problem and no determination to do anything about it nothing will happen. So May’s words will remain just a meaningless political slogan.
Her ” crime doesn’t pay” mantra contrasts with the fact that uncollected debt from crimes is at record £1.156 billion – up £158m in two years.
True an extra £22m has been confiscated in the past two years but it hasn’t kept pace with crimes. And confiscation orders from the courts are DOWN 7 per cent.
The report says:“The total value of orders imposed also fell by £31.5 million to £247.3 million between 2012-13 and 2014-15 (an 11% reduction) after adjusting for inflation.”
It ominously warns : “We estimate that the reduction in the number and value of orders imposed is likely to continue in 2015.”
But even more seriously the NAO reveals the number of as ‘confiscators’, employed to find the stolen goods and money has fallen from 1,440 in September 2013 to 1,358 in September 2015, down 6%.
The report says: “The fall has mostly been seen across police forces. Reasons for the fall include budget cuts and greater demand for the skills of experienced financial investigators in the private sector.”
So Theresa May’s support for austerity is ensuring crime will still pay. In other words public officials who have had pay restraint and face spending cuts have been lured to join the private sector. Indeed even wealthy criminals could offer them better paid jobs.
The government has done some eye catching little initiatives to redress like giving a paltry £10m a year to police forces to boost their efforts. But as the NAO reveals this compares with £800m over five years to try and tackle tax evasion. Small potatoes.
And as for Theresa May’s claim that longer sentences will force criminals to disclose where they have hidden the money – the NAO say not proven.
New arrangements with foreign government to try and find out where assets have been hidden abroad have so far had little success. Only £6.5m of the estimated £300m of criminal assets held overseas have been recovered, though for the first time the United Arab Emirates has returned £300,000 to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The arrangement seems to have benefited foreign governments more with £28m being returned to Macau from criminals working in Britain.
Probably the most damaging fact is that the Commons public accounts committee told the government all this two years ago – and precious little has happened.
Obviously Teflon Theresa has to be seen stopping criminals living a luxury lifestyle on stolen goods But she is not prepared to do much about it.
Westminster Confidential 