Monday 17 November 2014

Amazing

From the BBC

A British antiques expert who restored items for royalty was a child abuser involved in a notorious paedophile campaign group, the BBC can reveal.

...

Social services documents described his convictions as a "real cause for concern" and warned that children should not be left unsupervised with him.

...

In 1987, Harding moved to Gloucestershire where social services were aware nearly 20 years ago of his criminal convictions.

Gloucestershire County Council declined to comment on the fact that he continued to run a music box museum in Northleach, which was regularly visited by children, until his death aged 82 in June.


I've been to the Keith Harding museum. It's about mechanical music and I took the kids there. Think I saw him walking around behind one of the counters.

If I offer to help my wife out with bringing stuff out from a Brownie hut, she tells me I can't because I'm not cleared.  But a convicted child sex offender running a museum for 20 years with loads of kids in it? No problem.

It couldn't possibly be that CRB checks are a load of security theatre, could it?


6 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

It would appear so.

Anonymous said...

They're DBS checks now, do keep up. And the requirement for them to be obtained for certain jobs post-dates the nonce in question. It was, IIRC, part of the Ian Huntley fallout.

Also, it's crap that you need to have been DBS checked to shift stuff out of a brownie hut. Someone is being an over-officious idiot.

Lastly, not withstanding the above, the DBS system is a load of twat. Sure, it's nice if we can avoid known peado's getting jobs working with kids.. but it's the unknown ones that are the bigger problem. There's some progress towards a useful and effective system, but mainly it's a triumph of box-ticking over brain-using.

Mark Wadsworth said...

DBS = ???

"Don't Be Savile"?

Anonymous said...

Disclosure & Barring Service

But yours is better.

Sobers said...

Presumably the 'All men are paedos until we say otherwise' witchfinder system doesn't apply to sole traders?

I doubt there's any law preventing a convicted paedophile running a toy or sweet shop for that matter.

Bayard said...

Sobers, yes, in that respect, as in many others, we are back in the C17th.