Kent Freedom Movement
Bringing truth to the people of Kent
Banned! Former Cllr Sheena Williams - WhatDoTheyKnow Org
The website; What Do They Know; have banned former Councillor Sheena Williams from submitting any further Freedom of Information Act request to their organisation.
Councillor Sheena Williams who resigned from the Conservative party after Kent county council took her four grandchildren away in a forced adoption, has been in a long running battle with Kent County Councils Social Services. It all started when Sheena’s daughter Jade reported her partner as being violent within the relationship. The Social Services intervened, and instead of addressing the situation and trying to resolve any problems, they took the children into care.
A long custody battle ensued, whereas Sheena was putting herself forward to be the children carer. For some incredible reason the judge in the case preferred to keep the children with foster parents as opposed to letting them go and live with their grandmother.
Now anyone who knows Sheena Williams, she is a well turned out lady, they don’t have riff-raff in the Tory party! But you know what I mean, she is obviously fairly intelligent for her to have become a councillor, on saying that, I often wonder; how on earth do the majority of politicians get voted in?
Everyone in the case seemed to agree Sheena was the ideal mother of her own children and would probably be for the grandchildren, yet the court rejected the obvious, which is that the four children involved, would of course be far better off in the loving and comfortable surroundings of their nicely decorated grandmothers home, and not in some strangers home.
Sheena speaks at the UK Rally Against Child Abuse 2010
There’s big bucks for these parents who go into the “children for sale” game. Dragons Den - James Caan, exposed how easy and common practice it is to buy and sell children, when he offered £7,000 for a young girl. Little did he realise he was being filmed. Makes you wonder what these types of people might have locked away in their cellars or attacks?
It seems to be that the major problem is that children become a commodity, that once they are taken into care then the financial ball starts to role; social workers, solicitors, judges, doctors and so on - all have a financial interest in what it is they do.
The parents who come through the system are strangers to the social workers and members of the legal and medical fraternities that they have to encounter.
However, they all know each other and regularly work and collude with each other so as to not rock the boat and have a decent living, whilst many families suffer in the process.
It's in everyone or these workers interest to keep quite and just go along with the abusive regime.
Kent Payments to Adoptive Parents:
1. Adopted Child Support Allowance for 2010/11 was £3,324,101
2. Grants to Adoptive Parents to purchase furniture, equipment, etc, prior to the adopted children's arrival for 2010/11 was £9,463
3. Prospective Adoptive Parents expenses for 2010/11 was £36,241.01
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/payments_to_adoptive_parents_...
Being a former Tory council, she no doubt has made enemies. She has exposed many cover-ups she had witnessed taking place in her council. He continuous years of battle in trying to get her grandchildren back out of care - and home with their own family, has caused her to campaign and expose what a sham Kent County Councils’ Social Services, the Police and the Courts really are, and that the adoption process and procedures are regularly being abused and all in the quest of control and making money.
She has recently caused a stir by placing a banner onto her front garden gate [see photo above], it reads: Former Cllr Sheena Williams - What Do They Know .COM – Knowledge is Power – Trapped in a Masonic World - Free eBook ' - 'Warning Over 18yrs Only' - do share.
Sheena said police cars have stopped outside and taken photos of it, as have other local people and passers-by.
WhatDoTheyKnow
TheyWorkForYou
Many of those behind “My Society” - who are behind the “WhatDotheyKnow” website, which is interlinked with other such TheyWorkForYou, are also members of the Jesus College Network, which recruit most of its members via Jesus College, which is one of 31 colleges in the University of Cambridge, each an independent self-governing body, with its own constitution, endowments and income. Members of the College – Fellows and students – are prominent in all aspects of the University’s life and activities.
The objective of the WhatDoTheyKnow website; is to give ordinary members of the public access to government or civil service documents and reports etc., such as their expenses, via the Freedom of Information Act.
[Others address the public over their plights with the Social Services and having their children taken away from them.]
However, and perhaps to the disappointment of one of its founders, Chris Lightfoot, [Red Indian by chance?], for it doesn’t really seem to be fulfilling its original intentions or purpose. Banning people is no way to go about running these types of services. Often an application is rejected, or only ‘partial’ information given, making it look appear they have dealt with the case, so as it looks good on the website, when really they are glorified rejections.
And if anything was to appear too sensitive and revealing, then often the information and request is; “Withheld”. So you only get sight-off what is not going to be that much of a revelation anyway.
These types of groups and organisations can be very helpful in many respects. Though if they are portraying to be flag-bearers for; Freedom of Speech and Information, - when in fact they appear to not be; then this is dangerous and detrimental to society as a whole, and perhaps people should begin to question who is really behind the WhatDoTheyKnow website and organisation, and what is really their purpose?
Is it nothing more than a “false facade” siphoning off any real harmful material and banning people because of whatever reason?
We know the government are watching people and via all forms of communications, especially the internet, people who regularly contacted these type of agencies, do so at their own peril, dossiers are no doubt being drafted on anyone who appears to be a dissident and questioning government workers as to whats going on in their villages, towns and cities.
Prism Programme
Those members of secret socities who divvy up all the local contracts and what the council has to pay millions for, don't like these WhatDoTheyKnow kind of enquiries.
This is why it cannot be right or justified for an organisation such as this to ban anyone. As they appear to be nothing more than gatekeepers of whatever sensitive information is out there and should be in the public domain.
What gives them the right to say what we can and cannot see, that’s not transparency - if all you’re getting is half of the picture.
Some people fear for their lives and why they sometimes choose anonymity or use aliases when they make an application to find information about some of the most powerful and rich people living on their doorstep and within their own neighbourhoods. Hence they could find out where they live and make their lives hell, and which we know goes on for sure and all around the country.
Does it matter whose making the application? It’s only request to ask for something to be put into the public domain, so what’s the problem if a person wishes to use another name? You’d probably find a high percentage of requests are done so by people using another name.
Is Sheena’s campaigns’ exposing secret courts, adoption agencies, dodgy judges, lawyers and police officers in general, who she knows the majority are Freemasons, and especially in Maidstone were the fraternity holds are strong and where she lives. Has she upset anyone? Has anyone contacted WhatDoTheyKnow, and asked them to ban her? She has been constantly asking for Freedom of Information articles and papers about many of these people in Kent County Council and their related bodies, have they targeted her?
In Stephen Knights' book the Brotherhood, he explains how; How to ruin a man, and how there Masonic networks spreads out and covers the globe if need be.
The Structure of Freemasonry
Is anyone doing this to Sheena? She's convinced someone tried to poison her, and twice. Once her drink was spiked at a function. She has almost been run over.
She says she has exposed a lot of cover-ups within her council, has anyone decided to target her?
Stealing her own daugthers children and they way the whole case and court hearings were carried out, sounds like she was set-up, and their intention was to get those children from her and her family, - knowing it would destroy most people - and rubber-stamping any "official" report or order they so wish to apply for.
Extract from Stephen Knight’s book; The Brotherhood. – Christopher, a senior Whitehall Civil Servant and Freemason explained that Masonry’s nationwide organisation of men from most walks of life provided one of the most efficient private intelligence networks ever imaginable. Private information on anybody in the country could normally be accessed very rapidly through endless permutations of Masonic contacts – police, magistrates, solicitors, bank managers, Post Office staff, [very useful in supplying copies of a man’s mail, and especially if you say the “target” is a sex offender – Julian Assange comes to mind [1]], doctors, government employee, bosses of firms and nationalised industries etc., and a dossier of personal data could be built up on anybody very quickly.
When the major facts of an individual’s life were known, areas of vulnerability would become apparent. Perhaps he is in financial difficulties; perhaps he has some social vice – if married he might retain a mistress or have proclivity for visiting prostitutes; perhaps there is something in his past he wishes keep buried, some guilty secret, a criminal offence [easily obtainable through Freemason police of doubtful virtue], or other blemish on his character: all these and more could be discovered via the wide-ranging Masons network of 600,000 contacts [2] [this number has perhaps increased by at least a third since this article was originally written in 1984, though it’s normally accepted by the UGLE that there are 400,000 members in the UK, though as I say, I believe the figure to be much higher. Perhaps Knight was also referring to other Freemasons further abroad, or other affiliations such as the Rotarians, Odd Fellows etc.], a great many of whom were disposed to do favours for one another because that had been their prime motives for joining.
Even decent Masons could often be conned into providing information on the basis that: “Brother Smith needs this to help the person involved”. The adversary would even sometimes be described as a fellow Mason to the Brother from whom information was sought perhaps someone with access to his bank manager or employer. The good Mason would not go to the lengths of checking with Freemasons Hall whether or not this was so. The “target” was presented as a “Brother” in distress by a fellow Freemason, especially a fellow Lodge member that would be enough for any upright member of the Craft. Sometimes this information gathering process – often involving a long chain of Masonic contacts all over the country and possibly abroad – would be unnecessary. Enough would be known in advance about the adversary to initiate any desired action against him. I asked how this action might be taken. “Solicitors are very good at it” said Christopher. “Get your man involved in something legal – it need not be serious – and you have him”. Solicitors, I was told, are past masters at causing endless delays, generating useless paperwork, ignoring instructions, running up immense bills, misleading clients into taking decisions damaging to themselves, [and this I can vouch for, and one of the reasons I dislike and don’t trust many people of the so called ‘legal fraternity’], Masonic police can harass, arrest on false charges, and plant evidence. “A businessman in a small community or person in public office arrested for dealing in child pornography, for indecent exposure, or for trafficking in drugs is at the end of the line”, said Christopher. “He will never work again. Some people have committed suicide after experiences of that kind”.
Freemasons can bring about the situation where credit companies and banks withdraw credit facilities from individual clients and tradesmen, said my informant. Bank can foreclose. People who rely on the telephone for their work can be cut off for long periods. Masonic employees of local authorities can arrange for a person’s drains to be inspected and extensive damage to be reported, thus burdening the person with huge repair bills; workmen carrying out the job can find – in reality cause – further damage. Again with regard to legal matters, a fair hearing is hard to get when a man in ordinary circumstances is in financial difficulties. If he is trying to fight a group of unprincipled Freemasons skilled in using the ‘network’ it will be impossible because “Masonic Department of Health and Social Security and Law Society officials can delay applications for Legal Aid endlessly. [3] Employers, if they are Freemasons or not can be given private information about a man who has made himself an enemy of Masonry. At worst he will be dismissed or consistently passed over for promotion”. Christopher added.
“Masonic doctors can also be used. But for some reason doctors seem to be the least corruptible men. Only the fighters have any hope of beating the system once it’s at work against them”, he told me. “Most people, fighters or not, are beaten in the end, though. It’s . . . you see, I … you finish up not knowing who you can trust. You can get no help because your story sounds so paranoid that you are thought a crank, one of those nuts who think the whole world is a conspiracy against them. It is a strange phenomenon. By setting up a situation that most people will think of as fantasy, these people can poison every part of a person’s life. If they give in they go under. If they don’t give in its only putting off the day because if they fight, so much unhappiness will be brought to the people around them that there will likely come a time when even their families turn against them out of desperation. When that happens and they are without friends wherever they look, they become easy meat. The newspapers will not touch them. – There is no defence against an evil which only the victims and the perpetrators know exists”. Christopher – Senior Whitehall Civil Servant and Freemason – Quoted in Stephen Knight’s book: The Brotherhood, 1984.
To know more about Sheena Williams’ case, secret courts and other child abuse cases checkout the links:
http://www.ukcolumn.org/forum/child-stealing-state/former-councillo...
http://tpuc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20622&start=90
http://nameshamesocialworkers.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/shame-your-soc...
Views: 22150
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Comment by Hope on September 14, 2014 at 12:35 -
Second South Lakes school in alleged child abuse investigation
Witherslack Hall School. The claims do not relate to the current school owners or staff
DCI Doug Marshall who is leading the Operation Tweed inquiry on behalf of Cumbria Police,
A SECOND South Lakeland school is being investigated by detectives probing complaints of alleged child abuse, the Gazette can reveal.
The allegations relate to the 1970s and 1980s at Witherslack Hall School, a 90-room mansion on the edge of the Lake District, which at that time housed around 55 boys in care.
It is the second school to be named under Operation Tweed, the far-reaching Cumbria Police investigation into historic complaints of physical and sexual child abuse.
he first was Underley Hall in Kirkby Lonsdale, a former residential boarding school for ‘troubled young boys’, which shut two years ago.
DCI Doug Marshall, the officer heading Operation Tweed, said: “The cases we are looking at in relation to Witherslack Hall are historical in that they go back some length of time and aren’t linked to the current school.”
The operators of the school said they were aware of the investigation but stressed the allegations pre-dated the current staff and owners.
So far, the Gazette has been unable to contact anyone involved in the running of the school four decades ago.
Nicki Cozens, of law firm Slee Blackwell in Somerset, said she was acting on behalf of three complainants making abuse allegations relating to Witherslack Hall School.
She said the primary allegations related to physical abuse but with an ‘undercurrent of sexually inappropriate behaviour’.
Meanwhile, former pupils of Underley Hall in Kirkby Lonsdale welcomed confirmation this week that the Government will hear their complaints at a national child abuse inquiry.
MP Norman Baker said a panel of experts would examine whether public bodies, and other non-state institutions, did enough to protect vulnerable children from abuse.
Mr Baker, the minister for Crime Prevention, said that any allegations relating to Underley Hall in Kirkby Lonsdale, would be considered as part of the Government’s specially-commissioned inquiry, led by the Lord Mayor of London, Fiona Woolf.
He said: “This inquiry will consider whether public bodies and other non-state institutions, have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.”
Tim Farron, who wrote to the Home Office about the issue, said: “I am pleased that the Government will make sure that allegations made by former pupils at Underley Hall will be rolled into the overarching inquiry. We must get to the truth.”
Former Underley Hall pupil Joseph Ryan added: “We welcome the news that the police will also look at Witherslack Hall School as it was a similar type of school to Underley Hall.
“It was part of the inter-school curriculum that pupils from Underley Hall would play against Witherslack Hall at things like cross-country, canoeing, football and outdoor pursuits.”
Built in 1874, Witherslack Hall opened as a school for boys in 1973 in what was formerly Sandford School for Girls, close to Whitbarrow Scar off the A590. Described as a ‘Sleeping Beauty Castle’, it started with four boys but by 1975 it had grown to house 55 boys from across the country.
By 1982, its aim was to help youngsters ‘fit back into society’ and across three ‘houses’ – Lake House, Peak House and Dale House – it catered for boys aged 12 to 16.
Like Underley Hall, it was independently-run with around 20 staff and took in boys who had been the subject of care orders from local authorities.
Pupils were educated up to CSE level and went on trips to places like Switzerland and were given pocket money and school uniforms.
This week Witherslack Hall Group, which still provides a 38-week residential and day school for pupils aged 10 to 19 with ‘complex learning needs and challenging behaviour’, issued a statement saying:
“We are aware of a police investigation into allegations of historic abuse of children who attended Witherslack Hall School in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria.
"These allegations date back to the 70s and 80s and we would like to stress that none of the staff currently working at the school were employed at that time and that the allegations predate the current owners involvement in the school.
“Throughout its current ownership the school has been judged to be good or outstanding by Ofsted for both education and care.”
DCI Marshall said: “Officers obviously have to spend time with those people getting accounts of alleged incidents that occurred many years ago – this isn’t a speedy process and I am anxious that it is done properly, allowing people all the time they need to relay their evidence."
http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/11468762.Second_South_L...
How many years has Former Town Councillor Yvonne Stewart-Taylor in Cumbria been trying to raise child abuse issues - her grand-daughter is known as the one that got away because children's social services failed to steal her !
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Comment by Hope on September 14, 2014 at 12:43
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Struck off, judges caught pocketing £1.5million in legal aid handouts: Money still missing three years after abuse of system was detected
- Denis McKay and Stuart Turner have been struck off the roll of solicitors
- They 'misused legal aid money sent to their Lancashire-based law firm'
- Disciplinary proceedings still ongoing and no criminal charges yet brought
- Misappropriation of funds is understood to date back to at least April 2000
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2526136/Struck-judges-caugh...Bent judges? Who'd have thought it....................
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Comment by Hope on September 15, 2014 at 6:46
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'It was an amazing moment': Social worker gloats on Facebook over breaking up a family, revelling in the 'massive rollicking' the judge gave the parents
- Siobhan Condon bragged on social media about court proceedings
- Said judge had given parents a 'massive rollicking' over children
- Family court proceedings are normally shrouded in secrecy
- The 41-year-old gave enough detail to identify family in public Facebook post
A social worker gloated about having three children taken into care on her publicly accessible Facebook page.
Siobhan Condon, 41, bragged about the power she felt at breaking up the family and revelled in the judge giving the parents a ‘massive rollicking’.
She even referred to the solicitor in the case complimenting her ‘fine nails and shoes’ before saying she was about to ‘do the mammoth grim task’ of removing the youngsters from their home and signing off with three kisses.
The children, all aged under ten at the time, were put into foster care following the court hearing last year.
Their mother reported Miss Condon’s comments to Essex County Council after spotting them on the social worker’s Facebook page, which was open to the public and gave enough information to identify the family.
Family proceedings are normally held behind closed doors and shrouded in secrecy.
The Health and Care Professional Council found Miss Condon guilty of misconduct and the local authority decided not to renew her contract.
However, she has not been struck off. Instead, she must be closely monitored by a line manager for a year.
Tory MP Simon Burns yesterday questioned the leniency of the punishment, saying: ‘There are some very difficult cases … where there are no winners and it seems incredible that someone in a position of trust and responsibility should post information on Facebook … to gloat is totally inappropriate.
‘I find it quite staggering and do question whether simply monitoring someone who does this is right.’
The case of ‘Family A’ was heard at Chelmsford Crown Court on May 9 last year. Miss Condon, who has a young daughter, posted comments the night before, speculating about whether the judge ‘might question my zero tolerance to domestic violence’.
The next day, after the case ended, the senior social worker who qualified in 1999, wrote: ‘Just experienced His Honour Judge [sic] give parents a massive rollicking. It was an amazing and extraordinary moment in my career and he complimented my court evidence.’
It was an amazing and extrardinary moment in my careerSiobhan CondonShe added: ‘Me and [unnamed person] are reflecting on how the solicitor commented on [how] fine nails and shoes appear to be a requirement of our team lol. Anyway of [sic] now to do the mammoth grim task fingers crossed xxx.’
Miss Condon later wrote: ‘Its [sic] powerful to know that … children’s lives have been massively changed for the better.’
The council’s conduct committee heard the children’s mother, ‘Mrs A’, made a complaint on May 17.
A senior manager used Google to look for evidence and found the comments, despite not being a Facebook friend of Miss Condon’s. He reported that Mr and Mrs A were ‘upset and angry’.
Miss Condon claimed she thought a privacy setting on her account meant her entries could only be read by her friends. But the committee noted that even if this were true, around 70 of them were not involved in social care and the family were identifiable.
Last week the committee concluded her conduct fell ‘seriously below’ expected standards as the postings were ‘disrespectful and demonstrated poor judgment’.
Miss Condon, who now works for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham according to a friend, declined to comment. Essex council has apologised to Mr and Mrs A for her conduct.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2755853/It-amazing-moment-S...
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Comment by Hope on September 15, 2014 at 18:02
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How the adoption process became a source of revenue for the Church
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Comment by Hope on September 16, 2014 at 0:08
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Former Mayor jailed after downloading indecent images of children
former Mayor of Weston super Mare jailed for 14 months
A former Mayor of Weston super Mare has been sentenced to 14 months after he admitted downloading more than 350 indecent pictures and videos of children.
Philip Judd had been a local councillor since 2007, and was mayor of Weston-super-Mare between 2010 and 2011. He was appointed vice-chairman of North Somerset Council in May 2013 but resigned just a month later following his arrest.
Police found a total of 205 images and 156 movies stored on his computer and hard drive during a search of his home in Worle.
He pleaded guilty to 12 charges of making indecent photographs of a child and possessing prohibited images.
http://www.itv.com/news/west/update/2014-09-15/former-mayor-jailed-...
Didn't former Cllr Sheena Williams try to expose similar abuse ... was there too many coverups ?
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Comment by Hope on September 16, 2014 at 0:23
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Comment by Hope on September 16, 2014 at 11:21
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Child abuse doctor - more victims?
There are likely to be more victims of a children's doctor who has pleaded guilty to a string of sex offences against boys as young as eight in his care , police have warned.
Dr Myles Bradbury carried out examinations on children "purely for his own sexual gratification" and with no medical justification whatsoever. His victims included cancer sufferers and those being treated for blood disorders, police said.
The 41-year-old, who worked as a paediatric haematologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge, pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault and 12 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.
Paediatric haematologist Dr Myles Bradbury, 41, arriving at Cambridge Crown Court where he admitted child sex offences
He also admitted three counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one count of voyeurism and two counts of making indecent images of a child when he appeared at Cambridge Crown Court today.
Police said more than 16,000 indecent images of children were found on a disc in his home.
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Police confirmed today that "there are likely to be more victims", adding that a helpline can be called if parents, patients or former patients have any concerns.
Dr Keith McNeil, chief executive of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Addenbrooke's, said it "sickens" him to think the trust between Bradbury as a doctor and his patients had been breached.
"It is hard to put into words just how saddened we are that this situation has occurred, and our most abject and sincere apologies go out to any and all of our patients and their families who are affected by this in any way," he said.
"As chief executive of the trust, I am so deeply sorry these incidents have happened and I am also deeply saddened, as a doctor, that one of my own profession has placed himself and his patients in this position. There is a very ancient and sacred trust that exists between a doctor and his patients and, quite frankly, it sickens me to think that trust has been breached."
Ann-Marie Ingle, the trust's chief nurse, said she and the rest of the staff had been shocked by Bradbury's "cold and calculating abuse of trust".
Police said Bradbury was interviewed three times but refused to say anything.
His offences involved 18 victims aged from eight to 17, and were carried out between 2009 and last year.
His abuse came to light after a victim spoke to his parents about what had happened and Bradbury was suspended by the NHS last November before being arrested the following month.
He was charged with 11 offences in June but more counts were added to the indictment last month after further victims came forward following publicity.
Bradbury pleaded not guilty to a count of sexual activity with a child and a count of sexual assault, which Judge Gareth Hawkesworth said will probably remain on file.
No date for sentencing was given but the judge said Bradbury could expect a "substantial" custodial sentence.
Bradbury was bailed and told he would have to sign the sex offenders register.
As he left court, Bradbury told reporters: "I'm so sorry." He refused to answer further questions.
Ms Ingle said: "I cannot begin to express how sorry I and all of my colleagues are for the distress that Myles Bradbury's abuse caused to patients and their families. Our thoughts, and ongoing support, are with the families and children who are affected by these charges.
"His cold and calculating abuse of trust has deeply shocked us all, including staff who worked alongside him to care for these vulnerable and sick children. As soon as we were alerted, we took immediate action to suspend him from clinical practice and we have worked closely with the police and the NSPCC over these past months.
"The actions of one individual should not taint the public's trust in the NHS and the care it provides. I would like to reassure patients and families that our staff working in children's services here at Cambridge University Hospital continue to provide the care which our patients expect and can rely on."
Detective Sergeant Shane Fasey said: "Bradbury's offences were an appalling breach of trust committed against vulnerable victims who had been placed in his care.
"The families believed the boys were in his safe hands but they were actually being abused by Bradbury, who carried out examinations purely for his own sexual gratification and with no medical justification whatsoever."
Anyone with concerns can call the helpline set up by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust on 0800 389 8625.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-2756326/Doctor-admits-c...
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Comment by Hope on September 16, 2014 at 14:44
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Communities and Local Government Committee
Oral evidence: Jay Report into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham, HC 648
Wednesday 10 September 2014
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evi...
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Comment by Hope on September 16, 2014 at 22:10
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Big Ian Knew (Kincora Sex Abuse Scandal)
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Comment by Hope on September 17, 2014 at 15:52
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Violinist Nigel Kennedy claims children as young as 10 were sexually abused by top pianist at his prestigious music school
- Late music director at Yehudi Menuhin School accused of abusing pupils
- Pianist Marcel Gazelle, who died in 1969, helped to found elite school
- Accusations relate to 1960s when Mr Kennedy was a pupil at Surrey school
- Acclaimed violinist has said he knew Gazelle was 'a repeat offender'
- Surrey Police confirmed they are investigating historic allegations
Star violinist Nigel Kennedy has claimed children were subjected to sexual abuse at the elite music school he attended in Surrey.
Mr Kennedy has said he knew Marcel Gazelle - the founding music director of the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School - was a 'repeat offender', amid accusations the deceased pianist abused pupils as young as 10 during the 1960s.
The acclaimed musician, 56, spoke out as a Channel 4 News investigation exposed allegations of sexual abuse and inappropriate behaviour at five of the UK's specialist music schools over a period of 40 years.
'Appalled': Violinist Nigel Kennedy was a student at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School during the 1960s, at the time the alleged abuse was taking place
It follows recent revelations of historic sexual abuse at the world-renowned Chetham's School of Music in Manchester.
Mr Kennedy, who was a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School during the 1960s, told Channel 4 News he was 'shook up and appalled' by the allegations.
Surrey Police confirmed they had been contacted about the allegations.
The Menuhin School was founded in 1963 by Yehudi Menuhin with the help of his friend, pianist Gazelle.
Channel 4 News said they received allegations that Gazelle, who died in 1969 and who performed and recorded with Mr Menuhin, sexually abused girls in bedrooms at the school.
'I just know that Marcel Gazelle was a repeat offender and it wasn't a one-off thing,' Mr Kennedy told the broadcaster.
'It's a disgrace really that people's trust has been abused in such a way... The children themselves, their trust, the parents' trust, people's belief in music as being a pure form of art, [that] this whole ethos can be abused by one sick selfish person is very, very disturbing.'
Elite: Marcel Gazelle, the founding music director of the Yehudi Menuhin School in Cobham, Surrey, has been accused of abusing pupils as young as 10 during the 1960s
Irita Kutchmy, who studied with Gazelle from the age of nine to twelve, told the broadcaster his behaviour had a 'very detrimental' effect on her childhood.
She said: 'I felt he was a very powerful person... I just remember feeling like I was sort of like his property, his pupil and therefore what he said went.
'It didn't appear to me to be weird that he came up to wake us up in the morning. It was just the way it was at the school... He would tickle me under the sheets... His hands were on my bare skin where they shouldn't be.'
'I felt he was a very powerful person... I just remember feeling like I was sort of like his property'
Gazelle's former pupil Irita Kutchmy
The programme has also spoken to two more women who claim Gazelle sexually abused them at the Yehudi Menuhin School.
One of them says she reported his behaviour to the school at the time and was told to avoid being on her own with him.
Marcel Gazelle's family said he was a good man and they were surprised by the allegations, which they dispute.
The Yehudi Menuhin School said it was 'shocked and saddened to learn of the allegations'.
The school told Channel 4 News: 'We have checked the records which survive from 50 years ago and can find nothing about any concerns expressed at the time.
'In accordance with our policies we have reported these serious allegations to Surrey Police.'
Another woman who was a pupil at one of the music schools in the 1990s told the programme her teacher flirted with her frequently, before making a pass at her after a lesson at his home.
She said: 'I can remember it very vividly. The lesson was over, I was leaving. He then shut the blinds in the front room, which I thought - well you know, that's a very odd thing to do - why would he do that?
'And his words were, "I'm going to kick myself if I don't do this" and proceeded to kiss me.'
She said she lost her virginity to her teacher when she was just 17 years old.
Abuse: The Channel 4 investigation follows recent revelations of historic sexual abuse at the world-renowned Chetham's School of Music in Manchester
At least three pupils at the same school say they were sexually involved with the same teacher, Channel 4 News reported.
Abuse: Michael Brewer, a former music director at Chetham's, was labelled a 'predatory sex offender' and jailed for six years in March
The teacher no longer works at the school, though he continues to teach elsewhere, the programme said.
Responding to details of the programme's investigation, the music schools said the welfare of their pupils was their overriding priority and that where necessary they've contacted the police and the relevant authorities.
The schools said the majority of the allegations were historic, that recent allegations have been dealt with appropriately and that they have confidence in their safeguarding procedures, which they say are under constant review.
The three other schools were not named in the report for legal reasons.
The former music director at prestigious Manchester school Chetham's, Michael Brewer, was labelled 'a predatory sex offender' and was sent to prison for six years earlier this year.
His victims included ex-pupil Frances Andrade, 48, who he groomed for sex from the age of 14 and who went on to take her life at her home in Guildford, Surrey, during his trial.
Surrey Police confirmed they have been contacted by the Yehudi Menuhin School following 'allegations of historic sexual abuse against a member of staff who is now deceased'.
A spokesman said: 'The Force is liaising with the school and would encourage anyone with concerns to contact us.
'Surrey Police treats any allegation of this nature seriously and have officers who are specially trained to support victims of sexual assault.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2321165/Violinist-Nigel-Ken...
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