Thank god for “difficult women”. At enormous cost to themselves, and against all the social conditioning women face to be agreeable and not make a fuss, Sara Rowbotham and Maggie Oliver are the only reason this hideous injustice came to light.
I wish I had faith that the attitudes of the police had completely changed...
I was in the process of writing a very long and detailed account of my own experiences with Rochdale police and how rotten they were at the time of these offences from a criminal defence point of view, but I was already up to a couple of thousand words and I wasn't even a third of the way through. In summary though, I will say this: while much has changed in the last 15 years or so the rape of young girls in Rochdale and other areas is ongoing. It will never stop unless an aggressive, proactive policy of targeted harassment of offenders is undertaken by GMP and nobody has the political will to do that. Since the introduction of directly elected mayors the position of chief constable has become a de facto political appointment which is not good for anybody. Much as Andy Burnham likes to claim he is hands off when it comes to policing, he isn't. A force being put into special measures affects him politically so it is in his interest to keep an eye on policing. And as much as the chief constable likes to pretend he acts without political interference he cannot. Watson's job depends on keeping Burnham happy and Burnham's political position depends on Watson giving at least the appearance he is doing something about crime in general and wholesale rape in particular. A great weakness with Burnham is he is massively out of his depth when it comes to crime and Watson knows this. Their relationship is mutually parasitic. For both Burnham and Watson it is all very well and politically expedient to commission reports into things which happened before both their tenures. They can walk away from it with relatively clean hands. The real test will be what they will do now. Already, they are looking in the right place but have the wrong priorities. Investigation, arrests, charge and punishment is the end result of what are truly horrific crimes. But wouldn't it be much better if these weren't happening in the first place? Nothing has been said by anybody in any position of authority over the last 15-20 years or in the last few days has come even close to addressing that. Until they do , nothing will change.
Have Rochdale Borough Council explained why they didn’t investigate? I’m sure there were social workers who were desperately trying to raise the alarm.
Thank god for “difficult women”. At enormous cost to themselves, and against all the social conditioning women face to be agreeable and not make a fuss, Sara Rowbotham and Maggie Oliver are the only reason this hideous injustice came to light.
I wish I had faith that the attitudes of the police had completely changed...
Listened to World at One today R4 with Maggie Oliver and Andy Burnham talking with Sarah Montague , very disturbing indeed. Catch up on bbc Sounds.
I was in the process of writing a very long and detailed account of my own experiences with Rochdale police and how rotten they were at the time of these offences from a criminal defence point of view, but I was already up to a couple of thousand words and I wasn't even a third of the way through. In summary though, I will say this: while much has changed in the last 15 years or so the rape of young girls in Rochdale and other areas is ongoing. It will never stop unless an aggressive, proactive policy of targeted harassment of offenders is undertaken by GMP and nobody has the political will to do that. Since the introduction of directly elected mayors the position of chief constable has become a de facto political appointment which is not good for anybody. Much as Andy Burnham likes to claim he is hands off when it comes to policing, he isn't. A force being put into special measures affects him politically so it is in his interest to keep an eye on policing. And as much as the chief constable likes to pretend he acts without political interference he cannot. Watson's job depends on keeping Burnham happy and Burnham's political position depends on Watson giving at least the appearance he is doing something about crime in general and wholesale rape in particular. A great weakness with Burnham is he is massively out of his depth when it comes to crime and Watson knows this. Their relationship is mutually parasitic. For both Burnham and Watson it is all very well and politically expedient to commission reports into things which happened before both their tenures. They can walk away from it with relatively clean hands. The real test will be what they will do now. Already, they are looking in the right place but have the wrong priorities. Investigation, arrests, charge and punishment is the end result of what are truly horrific crimes. But wouldn't it be much better if these weren't happening in the first place? Nothing has been said by anybody in any position of authority over the last 15-20 years or in the last few days has come even close to addressing that. Until they do , nothing will change.
Have Rochdale Borough Council explained why they didn’t investigate? I’m sure there were social workers who were desperately trying to raise the alarm.
It’ll be interesting what happens next with the crowd justice campaign and this outstanding FOI after todays press release https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/evidence_to_support_nazir_afzals