When a man pushing 40 has sexual contact with a girl of 13 there is one person who is absolutely in the wrong. And it isn't the girl.
She can look as vampish as Mata Hari, pout and prance like Lady GaGa and slink as sinuously as Gypsy Rose Lee. But underneath she remains a child and the man needs to keep his trousers zipped and his hands to himself.
Neil Wilson failed to obey the rule and is lucky not to be in jail.
As you may know, Wilson was given an eight-month suspended prison sentence at Snaresbrook Crown Court last Monday after pleading guilty to intentionally touching a child under sixteen sexually and to being in possession of extreme pornography.
The prosecuting counsel, Robert Colover, told the court that the girl was 'predatory in all her actions', 'sexually experienced' and that she had forced herself on Wilson. Passing sentence, Judge Peters also used the word 'predatory' and said that the 'facts' showed that she had 'egged Wilson on'.
The language was brought to the attention of the Ending Victimisation campaigners and a petition was set up on Tuesday morning, asking Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, to investigate. By Wednesday evening 45,000 people had signed, Mr Colover had been suspended from handling sexual abuse cases for the Crown Prosecution Service and his profile had been removed from his chambers' website. His choice of words was censured by the CPS, by Mr Starmer and by David Cameron.
Wilson was back in front of Judge Peters at Southwark Crown Court this morning (Monday 12 August), not for another offence or as a result of the outcry, but because of a technicality over the sentencing. Two community orders imposed last week for possession of indecent and extreme images could not run at the same time as the suspended prison sentence. They were therefore rescinded and the jail term was increased to 12 months, but it remains suspended for two years.
It's a troubling case. Troubling because of Wilson's behaviour. Troubling because it is apparently a blatant example of victim blaming. Troubling because it is strange that these words should have come from the prosecuting counsel. Troubling that the judge should have repeated them. And troubling because mainstream journalists seem to have been behind the curve all along.
Only scant details of the court case have been published in the national papers, with most focusing on the petition and the general outcry by various charities and individuals over the word 'predatory'.
The Independent gave the story the most prominence, splashing on it on Wednesday, with the intro:
Equality activists have condemned a judge for letting a man who admitted having sex with a 13-year-old girl walk free on the grounds that his victim was sexually "predatory".
The story then goes into the DPP's promise of a review and comments from assorted campaigners before returning briefly to events in court on the page four turn. The judge, it said, had accepted the suggestion that the girl was complicit in the abuse and had told Wilson:
'You have come as close to prison as is imaginable. I have taken in to account that even though the girl was 13, the prosecution say she looked and behaved a little bit older. On these facts, the girl was predatory and was egging you on.'
The next paragraph gives the terms of the suspended sentence and mentions almost in passing that Wilson had eight images of child sexual abuse and eleven involving horses and dogs on his computer.
The article then turns its attention back to the protesters, including one woman's account of her own experiences of abuse, before closing with confirmation that the Attorney-General would be examining the case to see if the sentence was unduly lenient and a statement from the CPS condemning the barrister's language.
But while this was by far the most prominent coverage of the story, it was flawed. The pair did not 'have sex', nor did anyone say that the girl was sexually predatory. Wilson was, in fact, charged with one count of sexual activity with a child, two counts of possession of an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child and five of possession of extreme pornographic images.
The reader is left in complete ignorance as to what happened, why it happened, how it happened, where it happened - indeed how it ever came to court. The two people involved were hardly likely to approach the police. We are told that the campaigners were angered by Mr Colover's remarks - but we aren't told what he said. There is, however, room on the front page for a recap of the Twitter abuse saga.
The Telegraph - which had been the only paper to report the case on Tuesday morning - made the story a top nib the next day, focusing on the key Colover quote and the CPS response. It would have been a perfect update had the reader been given the full story the day before.
The Times has its own child abuse agenda and with serendipitous timing, its award-winning Andrew Norfolk had come up with a splash about a plan to hand-pick judges for sex abuses cases (shame about the juxtaposition of Petra Ecclestone in a bondage-style dress). The Wilson story made a basement on page 4 under a backgrounder. Again, the text was restricted to the abbreviated quotes from the judge and barrister, the voice of protest and the official response.
So what's the problem then? Sex abuse cases are two a penny, this one's different only because someone made a fuss about the victim-blamey language and now the top brass are taking a look.
But didn't it strike anyone as odd that this description of the child as being 'predatory in all her activities' was put forward not by the defence in mitigation but by the prosecution? Indeed, Mr Colover went to far as to say:
'There was sexual activity but it was not of Mr Wilson's doing. You might say it was forced upon him, despite being older and stronger than her.'
The Court News UK service recognised that it was unusual, and sent out this tweet at lunchtime on Monday, while the hearing was proceeding:
Prosecution describe girl,13, as 'predatory' after stripping for adult man even though he said not to. There's a first for everything...Once sentence had been passed, the service sent out this follow-up:
— CourtNewsUK (@CourtNewsUK) August 5, 2013
Child abuser walks free as prosecution describe 13 year-old victim as 'predatory in all her actions' http://t.co/2KQZrbKo8qThis stirred the interest of at least two journalists:
— CourtNewsUK (@CourtNewsUK) August 5, 2013
@AllyFogg @katabaticesque yes it's from this afternoon at Snaresbrook Crown Court
— CourtNewsUK (@CourtNewsUK) August 5, 2013
@JaneFae @AllyFogg @katabaticesque will add a quote
— CourtNewsUK (@CourtNewsUK) August 5, 2013
@CourtNewsUK @AllyFogg @katabaticesque is there more for registered users to see...cause i'm having diffculty with PROSECUTION saying that...and of this tweeter, who alerted the @EVB_Now team:
— Jane Fae (@JaneFae) August 5, 2013
Child abuser walks free as prosecution describe 13 year-old victim as 'predatory in all her actions' http://t.co/hbK0Lb1g6p @EVB_NowThe agency's Twitter link led them to this:
— Lucy_W (@l_wales) August 5, 2013
So by 5pm on Monday Court News UK had made available more quotes, some detail of the circumstances of the offence and the fact that a friend of the girl had gone to the police.
The agency and Jane Fae had both shown surprise that it was the prosecution who suggested that the victim was in some way culpable. So did End Victimisation.
Jo, the group's founder, told SubScribe that they had come to expect that sort of language from defence lawyers, but not from prosecutors. She said they had checked the facts carefully while simultaneously working with John Coventry of Change.org to prepare a petition. It went live on Tuesday morning.
But newspapers, whose job is supposed to be to point up the unusual, weren't interested. The Telegraph's single-column story on Tuesday was pretty much the same as the Court News UK version, but nobody else touched it. Even the local papers - Metro and the Romford Recorder - didn't post it online until Tuesday afternoon, 24 hours after sentencing.
By Wednesday 45,000 people had signed the End Victimisation petition and won a promise of action from Mr Starmer, who wrote: “The language used by the prosecution counsel in this case was inappropriate. In particular, the use of the word ‘predatory’ to describe the 13-year-old victim is of great concern to me...I will be reviewing this case to decide what action is necessary.”
Almost all the national newspapers had by now woken up - although they were far more interested in the outrage than the event that provoked it (a too-common failing). The scant detail from the hearing did readers a disservice as they were in no position to reach their own conclusions beyond their personal prejudices - 'vulnerable child' v 'little scrubber'.
Why had Mr Colover apparently sought to absolve the man he was prosecuting? Was there a defence lawyer in court? What did he or she have to say? What was the justification for saying the girl was 'predatory in all her activities'? Had she entrapped Wilson? Was she perhaps planning to blackmail him? Had anyone on any newsdesk gone back to the agency to ask for more information - or was everyone so caught up in the protest movement that they didn't care about the case itself?
The Mail showed why, for all its many faults, it is still the slickest paper in the game with this spread pulling together the Snaresbrook and the Times stories. The Wilson story was split into two, with the lead focusing on the row and the second using all the material available from Court News UK to give the most complete account yet of the court case. The right-hander has a swift catch-up on Andrew Norfolk's story and a retrospective of the dreadful treatment of abuse victims in other courts.
At last we learn that Snaresbrook Crown Court was told that the girl had been cadging cigarettes in Romford town centre while playing truant on March 6 last year. Wilson bought her a whole packet, they got talking and she went with him to his flat. Over the next two weeks, Wilson was said to have bombarded her with phone calls and texts and they met several times at his home.
On March 20 she again went to the flat and Wilson claims to have told her that they had to stop seeing each other. He said that her response was to ask if she could change out of her school uniform. Wilson said that he had left the room and when he returned she was sitting on a sofa wearing only a T-shirt. She had then started kissing him and touching his genitals, but he had pushed her away.
These were the 'facts' of the case that were agreed by the prosecution and defence and which led to Wilson's guilty plea. The girl and her friend were interviewed by the police, but the court was told that the girl did not want to make a complaint and she took no part in the proceedings.
Having been alerted by the friend, the police visited Wilson's flat and found the indecent images. The former policeman Mark Williams-Thomas claims in his blog that they included pictures of the girl in the case - although this was not mentioned in court.
If there were pictures of the girl on the computer, they may have had some bearing on Mr Colover's response when the judge asked for clarification of the relationship between Wilson and the girl. The barrister had conferred with the officer in the case before uttering the fateful phrase about her being predatory.
By reading all the tweets, blogs and various newspapers, it becomes possible to piece together some of what happened - but most of the country is still in the dark. Why on earth would a prosecutor say such a thing and almost exculpate the defendant? Why would a judge reinforce the view? Are our senior lawyers still stuck in the 18th century? We have also yet to hear from the (official) defence. Maybe with such a sympathetic prosecutor it doesn't matter. But it does.
Somebody must have asked the question because Court News UK sent out this tweet on Wednesday - 48 hours after the hearing.
Paedophile in 'sexual predator' controversy could pose a risk to youngsters - according to his own lawyer http://t.co/3VKpitKSla
— CourtNewsUK (@CourtNewsUK) August 7, 2013
The Mail quickly updated its online story, changing the heading and including this from the defence counsel Rebecca Blain:
Police came to his house and he made lengthy admissions. 'He said he watches pornography and then told police he does watch hardcore porn but he had deleted them as they were not on his computer. He poses some risk but not an imminent risk and his treatment should be in the community and not in custody.'
It would be interesting to know why this was not included in the original report sent out by Court News UK. Judging from his Twitter thread, the reporter, George Pavlou, was dismayed by the attention his story was getting and frustrated by what he saw as misreporting.
So my 13-year-old 'sexual predator' story has blown right up. Attorney General now reviewing the case...
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
Would really bloody love all this to blow over sooner rather than later. Judge shouldn't be punished for being led by prosecution...
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW WRONG SO MANY JOURNALISTS ARE GETTING THIS STORY! Embarrassing...It was two hours after this last tweet that Court News UK sent out the update with the defence quotes. By 7 o'clock Pavlou was exasperated:
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
The key in the whole story is that SHE did not come forward. She told a friend who came forward. She had no interest in being a complainant!
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
You can sit there and say she is only 13 but surely that says a lot about her attitude towards what she did. Facts agreed between pros+def
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
I'm not saying the decision to use the word 'predatory' is correct, just that it was a reasonable description of her ON THE FACTS
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
And that's not to say Wilson is the victim but a man like him, clearly with issues, could easily be led by a 'predatory' young girl...
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
Eeeeven if she is only 13.
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
As for the shed-load of mis-reporting of this, stick to the facts you know, stop dressing it up to something it was not. Utter despair...
— George Pavlou (@G_Pavlou) August 7, 2013
The next morning he commends a blogpost by the barrister Matthew Scott as brilliant and factually correct. It is a calm and reasoned piece explaining sentencing policy and has this gem on the role of a prosecuting counsel from Mr Colover himself in a video art installation last year:
People often say 'You’re the prosecuting barrister, you’re representing the victim, and the victim’s your client'. No, that is wrong, the victim is the state’s witness as to what happened but they’re not represented by the prosecution barrister.
Crime stories pour into newsdesk computer feeds like rain, and journalists have always had to be sharp-eyed to spot those that are going to have wider ramifications. In this case the pressure groups were swift to react to the almost jokey initial tweet from Court News UK. But not even the local paper was on the ball, let alone the nationals.
Understandable, perhaps, given the mountain of stories about bullying, abuse, suicide. We can't publish only gloomy news. And this screen grab shows how fast the stories flow, even in August:
All this serves to demonstrate that newspapers are not only struggling to set the agenda - they are also struggling to keep up when someone else sets the bandwagon rolling. Politicians, film stars, musicians, scientists have all realised that they can reach directly to the public - and interact with interested people - without having to issue press releases or subject themselves to newspaper interviews. Special interest groups are also catching on fast. They can spot a gap, set themselves up and build a reputation fast.
As SubSist noted last month, Jo had the idea for Ending Victimisation in May, started building the website on the 21st and went live on the 24th. Less than three months later she was able to muster 45,000 supporters and secure a promise of action from the DPP in less than three days.
Should we celebrate that, or worry about kneejerk politics? Should we despair that most of our newspapers have still told us only half the Wilson story or say 'it doesn't matter, he's just another two-bit paedophile'?
There is much resistance to the Twitter society. It is ridiculed as a middle-class playground. Newspapers loved the trolling story, yet consistently failed to make the link between what was happening to the feminists and what has been happening to vulnerable teenagers for the past five years.
This isn't Facebook. It is public and it has astonishing power to get people motivated, for good or ill.
Old-fashioned news organisations know that Twitter is important - reporters and online staff are required to tweet out puffs and links to their work constantly - but they don't 'get' Twitter. If they did, they would by now have recognised that their newsrooms are inadequately staffed if they do not have a Social Media Correspondent.
Have you seen such a byline yet?
No, neither have I.
@gameoldgirl |
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