Re: Rochdale In The News Again

Hinch Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:10 am

I wonder if The Guardian will be threatened for breaking the embargo by RMBC as happens locally?

Perhaps not.

Spartacus Sat Dec 21, 2013 10:57 am

Sir Peter Fahy needs to resign NOW!

There was a petition about the proposed CEO payrise on RMBCs website. I think there should be a petition demanding Sir Peter Fahy's immediate resignation.

Added to that, EVERYONE who failed to act throughout GMP, RMBC etc. should be disciplined and face charges where appropriate. At the very least they should be charged with failing to perform in public office, dereliction of duty, or whatever applies. Their failure to act is complicit in these crimes.

Chill37 Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:20 am

Spartacus wrote: Sir Peter Fahy needs to resign NOW!
There was a petition about the proposed CEO payrise on RMBCs website. I think there should be a petition demanding Sir Peter Fahy's immediate resignation.

Added to that, EVERYONE who failed to act throughout GMP, RMBC etc. should be disciplined and face charges where appropriate. At the very least they should be charged with failing to perform in public office, dereliction of duty, or whatever applies. Their failure to act is complicit in these crimes.

I've been saying the same thing over on a FB page. Me and Hinch contributed to a debate. But some people on there implied it was negative to even discuss it. One poster even went on record as saying the abuse happened in Heywood and not Rochdale. Heywood is still in Rochdale as far as I am aware. That comment disgusted me TBH.

Hinch put up a fantastic post on the page and 'reported' in a happy non-negative way using the words the posters on the FB site wants to be used.

I've said that RMBC needs to be put under special measures. End of. All the people involved and in charge suspended and investigated by a separate Police force, not GMP, and once each person has been cleared or not involved given their role back.

cyfrifia Mon Dec 23, 2013 11:53 am

MP, Simon Danczuk, said: "The council has a history of not wanting reviews into child sexual exploitation made public, and the timing of their release of the serious case reviews does look cynical.

"It's well over a year since they were announced and the reports are now being sneaked out on the last Friday before Christmas in the hope that no one will notice. Accountability and transparency should be paramount here, not cynical media management."

Danczuk said he had to fight "tooth and nail" to persuade the safeguarding board to commit to the serious case reviews "after their previous chair told me it wasn't necessary".

A Council spokesman said: "To suggest the council has influenced the timing of this report's release is completely untrue. It is the responsibility of the independent Safeguarding Board to take this decision not us. We have had nothing to do with the timing and anyone who has any knowledge of the review knows this full well."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/20/rochdale-council-sex-grooming-reports

Chill37 wrote:
Ive said that RMBC needs to be put under special measures. End of.

Some sort of special effort is needed. It might be possible to have Social Services Dept. of R.M.B.C. put under special measures, but may be difficult due to similar failings of Social Services elsewhere.

Do elected councillors have any role in the appointment of council officers?

Spartacus Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:32 pm

Chill, I might be wrong (in the middle of reading up about it) but, as far as I know, though the majority of the crimes took place in Heywood many of the children were "taxied" in from other areas in the Borough.

Guest Mon Dec 23, 2013 11:39 pm

Spartacus wrote: Chill, I might be wrong (in the middle of reading up about it) but, as far as I know, though the majority of the crimes took place in Heywood many of the children were "taxied" in from other areas in the Borough.

Spartacus: If you're referring to part of the grooming gang who were convicted from the trial at Liverpool early last year, and the sample of victims who gave evidence, the Rochdale children were trafficked to various parts of the borough - and outside of it.

The trial presented cases that showed the girls were plied with drugs and alcohol and were passed around to offenders' friends, family and ' contacts, ' - being taken or 'taxied' to various locations around the north of England, including Rochdale, Oldham, Nelson, Bradford and Leeds ...

One victim has repeatedly stated that it got to the point where she was driven around the region and raped up to 20 times each night by different men.

The lengthy timescales involved and the number of different reviews eventually / recently put out to the public, seem to muddy the waters further. Earlier street grooming trials involving local children and Rochdale offenders appear to have been forgotten as, to a certain extent, do the large numbers of unconvicted criminals and victims implicated in the 'Grooming Gang of 9' sentenced last year.

If anyone thinks it's a borough NIMBY location debate, I believe many folk have been successfully diverted.

Hinch Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:15 am

Yes Chill. I was accused of doom and gloom-mongering for posting a link to my story on RO on the SCR so I decided to do a faux alternative in an upbeat style. As far as I remember, it went summat like this:-

"Today there was great news for Rochdale, site of a wonderful Gothic town hall as 17 separate agencies vowed to work more closely together to improve child safety..."

There was the insinuation that the media should focus only on good news. This mentality is to me, the town's biggest single problem. Some sites ban virtually all 'negative' comment. By negative, they mean any desire to get at the truth or to try out any constructive self criticism or analysis.

This, in part explains why or local paper virtually totally failed to report on the Alderglen indentured labour scandal all those years ago; a story that won RAP the Scoop of the Year award and why the denials about Cyril Smith's predatory paedophile activities allowed him to carry on for 50 years.

No wonder we're in such a mess.

As for Heywood (and Middleton) not being part of the Borough, it will be 40 years next year since we became conjoined; a fact seemingly lost on many.

Chill37 Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:31 am

Spartacus wrote:

Chill, I might be wrong (in the middle of reading up about it) but, as far as I know, though the majority of the crimes took place in Heywood many of the children were "taxied" in from other areas in the Borough.

Yes you are correct Spartacus many of the children who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of the paedos were bussed in from other areas of Rochdale, as well as around other parts of the Region. But the poster on FB was implying that Heywood is NOT a part of Rochdale and ergo not linked to Rochdale. He also started bringing in Oxford into the conversation, where Oxford also had a paedo ring inflicting horrific abuse on children.

Why he felt the need to do so is beyond me. Seeing as the mere mentioned of another town or area with (for example) superior shopping centres etc, is jumped on instantly and the person putting up hard facts is called disloyal by a couple of people. Yet, one of the people who jumps on people for daring to go elsewhere for shops etc - also runs a business in Blackburn and then advertises it !!! How does that work?!!! Plus a third person tried to bring in the Shopping Centres and empty units into the conversation, untll I asked point blank where do Police and RMBC Social Services have input into retail space. Think I'm still waiting for an answer.

But I digress, it seems to me that the person who implied Heywood is part of Bury and NOT Rochdale is wanting to bury his head in the sand and pretend everything is fine and dandy. But this poster has seemed to have forgotten that a take away was shut down by the Police in Milnrow with very strong rumours around the area that it too had links to the child abuse gangs. Oh wait, Milnrow is now part of Shaw/Oldham and not Rochdale if we use the posters rule of thumb that no abuse happened in Rochdale - only in Heywood - and everything is rosy.

As I said, I am utterly digusted that the poster thinks that Heywood is elsewhere and therefore not affecting Rochdale.

Chill37 Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:33 am

Hinch wrote: Yes Chill. I was accused of doom and gloom-mongering for posting a link to my story on RO on the SCR so I decided to do a faux alternative in an upbeat style. As far as I remember, it went summat like this:-

"Today there was great news for Rochdale, site of a wonderful Gothic town hall as 17 separate agencies vowed to work more closely together to improve child safety..."

There was the insinuation that the media should focus only on good news. This mentality is to me, the town's biggest single problem. Some sites ban virtually all 'negative' comment. By negative, they mean any desire to get at the truth or to try out any constructive self criticism or analysis.

Agreed Hinch.

To divert slightly. Another FB site has banned all talk of the Asbestos time bomb known as TBA. He said he refuses to let any negative talk about our Town, so no talk about TBA and its lethal legacy.

Chill37 Tue Dec 24, 2013 7:51 am

Bottom line is to move onto the future all the bad nasty things (for want of a better word) need to be resolved, out in the open and not hidden or talked in hush tones in dark corners.

As if you think about it people wanting to invest or live in Rochdale will not want to if things are allowed to continue. Just think if investors see headlines like TBA Site resolved and turned into a country park,. Crime crackdown in Rochdale - figures show crime down etc.

Yes Oxford had a horrific Paedo ring. But did a bit of research and the few articles I have found shows that Oxford cracked down, dished out long long sentences and resolved matters. I am yet to find any reference to SCR reviews or scathing attacks on the failure of 17 DIFFERENT departments in Oxford, unlike Rochdale . Yet the issues in Rochdale carries on with the 'pass the buck' disease in full operation. Or the Mushroom effect

Chill37 Tue Dec 24, 2013 8:48 am

[/quote]

Some sort of special effort is needed. It might be possible to have Social Services Dept. of R.M.B.C. put under special measures, but may be difficult due to similar failings of Social Services elsewhere.

Do elected councillors have any role in the appointment of council officers?

[/quote]

Judging by how things are dictated to in Rochdale, it appears just a small select few leaders and Council Officers are in charge. Judging by the wage debarcle recently and the pathetic attempts to steam roller the obscene pay rises through. I read recently another Town is now being threatened to be placed under special measures due to their inability to resolve or work together. Just cant quite put my finger on the name.

However, judging by all the issues reported on locally and nationally about Rochdale. Surely the failure of 17 departments protecting the Borough's children is more than enough to trigger a take over by central Goverment. What does it take to get action against the utter failing of the aforementioned departments. Oh and also Sir Peter of GMP who is in charge of a Police force also savaged in the report. I note the Police Commissioner is very quiet on the whole matter as of late.

cyfrifia Tue Dec 24, 2013 11:38 am

Chill37 wrote:
Yes you are correct Spartacus many of the children who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of the paedos were bussed in from other areas of Rochdale as well as around other parts of the Region.

Although the towns of the northwest of England make up a huge population, due to history and geography, they tend to be isolated from each other in terms of services and information sharing. This can allow criminal gangs who network and have ready and regular use of car transport to operate easily.

Johnathan Bridge, lawyer for three of the victims.

Quote: "I think even in the Rochdale case you would be looking at hundreds potentially still out there preying on victims. One of my clients who was abused in Rochdale also reports abuse in seven or eight other towns across the northwest and even down as far as Wolverhampton in the midlands, and this was a feature of this kind of abuse, that not only were the girls abused in a specific town, but they would be passed between gangs in other towns and unfortunately I think Rochdale is just the tip of an iceberg."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50bjJwqdkD4

Guest Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:54 am

YUG. Rochdale pair charged with £1M NHS fraud; remanded in custody.

On the run - http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/couple-deborah-hancox-john-leigh-6457264
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-25563392

Chill37 Wed Jan 01, 2014 11:21 am

If found guilty then they should pay back every last penny. Get forensic accountants in. Sieze everything they have brought with the stolen money. Any shortfall just jail them. Say a month for every thousand pound short.

cyfrifia Wed Jan 01, 2014 11:44 am

Another Rochdale fraud, in the news.

This chap "arrested while in possession of a new passport and plane tickets to Bangladesh", does seem to be an exceptionally hard working, well informed, intelligent and diligent fraudster.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/rochdale-fraudster-conned-firms-out-6436319

Prudence Tempered Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:10 pm

Mojo Hill wrote:

YUG. Rochdale pair charged with £1M NHS fraud; remanded in custody.
On the run - http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/couple-deborah-hancox-john-leigh-6457264
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-25563392

Strangely, nobody seems yet to have commented on their ethnicity.

cyfrifia Thu Jan 02, 2014 12:34 pm

When it comes to understanding methods of crime and types of criminals, ethnicity is only one aspect, cultural background and connections are also relevant.

According to BBC 'Crimewatch', John Leigh has connections to Pakistan and is known to use the name Jawad Kadhum Muhsin, but apart from that we don't know much about them.

Guest Thu Jan 02, 2014 3:30 pm

Prudence Tempered wrote:
Strangely, nobody seems yet to have commented on their ethnicity.

Prudence Tempered: Mad

What the ' blue blazes' has their ethnicity got to do with them being suspected of fraud leading to the NHS being defrauded of more than one million pounds ? ?

Prudence Tempered Thu Jan 02, 2014 3:42 pm

Mojo Hill wrote:
Prudence Tempered wrote:
Strangely, nobody seems yet to have commented on their ethnicity.

Prudence Tempered: What the ' blue blazes' has their ethnicity got to do with them being suspected of fraud leading to the NHS being defrauded of more than one million pounds ? ?

Absolutely nothing. That's the point.

cyfrifia Thu Jan 02, 2014 5:56 pm

What is relevant, to any attempt to retrieve the million pounds stolen from the N.H.S., is the international aspect of the crime. With known connections in Cyprus and Pakistan, where could the money be now?

All too often money defrauded from the UK disappears abroad, and it is not considered cost effective to trace and reclaim it. Maybe it is though, as the UK is targeted more often because of that policy.

(As part of the investigation Mushtaq Ahmed (29/12/1964), of Shay Fold, Bradford and Attia Bibi (25/09/1982), of Stonecliffe Drive, Leeds, have been charged with conspiracy to defraud and money laundering.)

Guest Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:25 pm

Rochdale AFC News, FA Cup Third Round > Rochdale 2 - 0 Leeds United

Goal either side of half-time from Scott Hogan and Ian Henderson give Rochdale a memorable win over a side 44 places above them in the Football League. Scalped ... cheers

Rochdale In The News Again - Page 7 Ian-Henderson

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/3/rochdale-afc-news/84616/fa-cup-third-round-rochdale-2-0-leeds-united

cyfrifia Wed Jan 08, 2014 1:23 pm

Simon Danczuk makes an appearance in the news today. Quote: "Mr Danczuk is regularly used by the Labour press office as an attack dog"

From the article, it sounds more like Labour press office want him to be an

'attack parrot'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2535597/Milibands-One-Nation-mantra-turns-voters-Backbencher-says-Labour-leader-turning-voters-sloganeering.html

cyfrifia Mon Feb 03, 2014 10:53 pm

Rochdale in the national news again, something truly sad and tragic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-26024485

So very sorry to hear that.

Atlas Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:53 am

A very sad case. It cannot however infer that the jury were wrong in their verdict as much as the womans distress which led to her death may make others think so. I have a great deal of sympathy for the 'man' involved following this incident if the jury's verdict was sound for the inference may give unwarranted credence as to a wrong verdict. One has to be very careful in such tragic cases. It's a sad world. Crying or Very sad

Hinch Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:09 am

Will start a separate thread on this.

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