Cyril Smith dies

[William of Walworth]

They showed clips from his funeral on local TV - I couldn't believe how small the coffin was and that they only needed five pall bearers!

Apparantly he'd lost a huge proportion of his former weight while he was ill ....

 

[Santino]

As secretary of the Rochdale Hostel for Boys Association, which ran Cambridge House, Smith was a regular after-hours visitor. Another resident recalled: "Cyril Smith found that I had taken some money. He asked me if I would accept his punishment. He then told me to take off my trousers and pants and bend over his knee… he hit me many times… afterwards he came to my bedroom and wiped my bare buttocks with a sponge.” A third youngster reported that Smith had “given a kind of medical examination… he held my testicles and told me to cough”.

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=hp_sauce&issue=1271

 

[Streathamite]

well done, Santino, nailed him!

 

[Santino]

well done, Santino, nailed him!

I had some help.

*looks down modestly*

 

[Teaboy]

I found the later part of the article really rather interesting:

The Lancashire Constabulary took a different view, and had indeed investigated Smith. A report was prepared but in 1974, during discussions about a Con/Lib coalition, it was taken to London by Special Branch and never seen again. A second copy was sent to the director of public prosecutions but this, too, seemed to vanish into thin air. The DPP stated that he could not "confirm or deny receiving it"

Source: Private Eye, Issue1271, 17 Sept 2010

It seems apt this week of all weeks to mention that those who cover up for the crimes of nonces are in many ways as bad as the nonce themselves.

 

[trevhagl]

Oh lordy a nonce as well.

aye plenty of stuff about it in the latest Eye, i particularly liked the quote from one of the Lib Dem old guard (either Owen or Steel i think) who said something along the lines of "All he did was spank some bare bottoms, nothing wrong with that"

 

[butchersapron]

As secretary of the Rochdale Hostel for Boys Association, which ran Cambridge House, Smith was a regular after-hours visitor. Another resident recalled: "Cyril Smith found that I had taken some money. He asked me if I would accept his punishment. He then told me to take off my trousers and pants and bend over his knee… he hit me many times… afterwards he came to my bedroom and wiped my bare buttocks with a sponge.” A third youngster reported that Smith had “given a kind of medical examination… he held my testicles and told me to cough”.

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=hp_sauce&issue=1271

An MP accessing young boys institutions after hours - who'd have thought it!

 

[butchersapron]

The private eye article as it's not on that link anymore and only on some dodgy sites in unreadable format:

So, farewell then, Sir Cyril Smith MBE. With the lone exception of the Times blogger Oliver Kamm - who called him "a corrupt mendacious mountain of flesh" - the former Liberal MP for Rochdale has departed this world to a chorus of fond tributes. Nick Clegg ventured that he was "one of the most likeable politicians of his day".

Not so likeable, perhaps, if you were one of the children about whom Private Eye wrote in May 1979. The magazine described how Big Cyril had dished out sexual "punishments" to vulnerable youngsters living at the Cambridge boys' hostel during the 1960's. The eye published details from witness statements obtained by Rochdale's Alternative Paper about his threats to teenage residents.
"He gave me a choice between accepting his punishment or leaving the hostel," said one. "He took me into the Quiet Room. He told me to take my trousers and pants down and he hit me four or five times on my bare buttocks."

As secretary of the Rochdale Hostel for Boys Association, which ran Cambridge House, Smith was regular after-hours visitor. Another resident recalled: "Cyril Smith found that I had taken some money. He asked me if I would accept his punishment. He then told me to take off my trousers and pants and bend over his knee...he hit me many times...afterwards he came to my bedroom and wiped my bare buttocks with a sponge." A third youngster reported that Smith had "given a kind of medical exam...he held my testicles and told me to cough." The RAP editors gathered seven sworn statements of this kind. Although Smith took no action against RAP or The Eye - or The New Statesman, which also reported the allegations - not a single national newspaper mentioned the story.

It was dismissed by Liberal leader David Steel as "not a very friendly gesture, publishing that, all he seems to have done is spanked a few bare bottoms."

The Lancashire Constabulary took a different view, and indeed investigated Smith. A report was prepared but in 1974, during discussions about a Con-Lib coalition, it was taken to London by Special Branch and never seen again. A second copy was sent to the director of public prosecutions but this, too, seemed to vanish into thin air. The DPP stated that he could not "confirm or deny receiving it".

If all this suggests some kind of institutional cover-up, it wouldn't be the first in Rochdale. For years the powers-that-be knew about sexual abuse at Knowl View, a special residential school for children aged between eight and 16, but did nothing about it.

Knowl View was eventually closed in 1995. In September 2002 David Higgins, a former teacher, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency involving young children at the school. His crimes had been committed in the years following its foundation in 1969 by Cyril Smith, who was also a governor. The full truth may take a while to emerge: Knowl View school records have been restricted from public view for 100 years.

 

[butchersapron]

And to go with that little hint/bump above from last month:

CPS statement on the Smith file:

1.

In March 1970, some 16 years before the Crown Prosecution Service was formed and when Sir Norman Skelhorn was the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), a file of evidence was submitted to the then DPP’s Office.

The file, from Lancashire Constabulary, contained allegations made by eight men that they had been subjected to indecent assaults by Cyril Smith as teenagers. The allegations were very similar in nature, and were allegedly conducted on the pretexts of either a medical examination or punishment for misbehaviour. All the boys were either living at Cambridge House Children’s Home in Rochdale (six of them), or were dependent on Cyril Smith for either employment, financial support or some sort of guardianship. It is noted that 80 pages of evidence was supplied to the then DPP’s office with a covering note dated 11 March 1970.

The only documentation of the decision making is a one page letter to the Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary.

2.

In April 1997 South Wales police began an investigation into sexual and physical abuse within care establishments in Wales, during which helplines were publicised by the media inviting potential victims to come forward. One man who rang the helpline alleged he was abused by Cyril Smith at Cambridge House Children’s Home in Rochdale between 1965 and 1968. This allegation was passed to Greater Manchester Police, who submitted a file of evidence, which also included the 1970 documentation, to the CPS in May 1998.

The request was to review the 1970 decision making and this was provided in a written advice from the CPS lawyer on 17 June 1998.

In light of the greater understanding of sexual abuse, the reviewing lawyer concluded that there was sufficient evidence to charge, but that a prosecution should not proceed because:

Cyril Smith had been told that he would not be charged for these alleged offences 28 years previously. The law and procedures followed by prosecutors in 1998 made clear that long-standing charging decisions could only be reversed in very limited circumstances, namely new evidence coming to light. This rule applied to all cases and the evidence submitted by police against Smith in 1998 was the same as in 1970.
If Smith had been charged, a court would have likely stopped the prosecution for the same reason.

3.

The man who had rung the helpline was spoken to by Greater Manchester Police in October 1998, and confirmed he was one of the original complainants from 1970. During further police enquiries, two further complainants were identified through a local journalist who made allegations of indecent assault against Cyril Smith.

The reviewing lawyer (the same as provided advice in 1998) provided advice on 21 May 1999. It concluded:

The conduct alleged by one complainant was not a criminal offence so no action could be taken.

The other complainant had not reported the abuse to the police earlier, despite being aware of the 1969/70 investigation, but had spoken to the media about it in 1979, while still making no complaint to the police. Furthermore, this complainant approached Smith after the alleged abuse to seek a favour and it was only when police made contact with this complainant that the allegations came to the attention of the authorities. Taken together, these factors seriously weakened a case that would have relied entirely upon the complainant’s evidence from some 30 years previously. In these circumstances, it was concluded that there was insufficient evidence to authorise charges.

The decision made in 1970 would not be made by the CPS today.

 

[elbows]

Well at least that confirms what we suspected rather than let this bit drag on without any answers, but still hard not to get very angry about this. Its the headline story on the Guardian website at the moment:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/27/cyril-smith-claims-decision-prosecute

Simon Danczuk, the Labour MP for Rochdale who first raised allegations against Smith on the floor of the House of Commons, said the CPS has serious questions to answer over its failure to act in the past.
"What has become clear today is that Cyril Smith should have been prosecuted for sexual abuse," Danczuk said. "We now know that the CPS failed to act on police officers' recommendations on three occasions.
"In the last week I have met with senior police officers from both Lancashire and Greater Manchester police, who told me they had seen the files I had requested at [prime minister's questions].
"They were in no doubt that Smith should have been put in the dock and they wanted the victims to know this."

Sources close to the current Greater Manchester police (GMP) inquiry into the Smith investigations said the CPS's statement had been released as a face-saving exercise because of intense pressure from former detectives who worked on the cases.

Some pressure on MPs again:

One alleged victim of Smith, who says he was 17 and had fallen out with his adoptive parents when he was first abused by the former Liberal MP in the late 70s, said the announcement was a relief, but asked MPs to now also say if they knew of the allegations but failed to disclose them.

"For years I have harboured a lot of pain and suffering but lacked the confidence to come forward. But the reason that I did not report this was because there was such an inequality of power. I would have been fighting a man who was a member of parliament. I am pleased to hear that the CPS has looked at the files but parliament now has to look at itself too. I think it has failed to protect me or any of his other victims," he said.

 

[elbows]

Doh, what a choice of words from Simon Hughes at Ogre Smiths memorial service.

From 57 seconds onwards of this clip:



Tough love

 

[Wilf]

As always I want to go on about the systems, the power relationships, the corruption that allowed people like him to get away with it. The real tragedy though is for the people he attacked (including the greater number who haven't come forward) watching his self seving career, the fucking Knighthood, the tributes and, most of all, him getting away with it. Fucking nonce.

Even Jimmy Savile's family had to ultimately change their tune about him. Be nice to hear Norman Smith and the rest of them come out with a bit of contrition. Breath not held.

 

[Fedayn]

Doh, what a choice of words from Simon Hughes at Ogre Smiths memorial service.

From 57 seconds onwards of this clip:



Tough love

Aaaah yes, Simon Hughes Lib Dum MP, a man who benefitted from a gutter homophobic campaign to win an election waxing lyrical about their own feted beknighted child abuser...

 

[Buckaroo]

Doh, what a choice of words from Simon Hughes at Ogre Smiths memorial service.

From 57 seconds onwards of this clip:



Tough love

Honest, straightforward and caring. His wisdom and his kindness, high standards and principles, in politics to make sure that people from the bottom of the social scale had the opportunities, narrow the gap between the rich and poor, that justice and the fight for equality, and fourty years of abuse which you knew about or at least heard about but said nothing, you filthy scumbag Simon Hughes. Tough love indeed.

 

[Buckaroo]

Doh, what a choice of words from Simon Hughes at Ogre Smiths memorial service.

From 57 seconds onwards of this clip:



Tough love

Honest, straightforward and caring. His wisdom and his kindness, high standards and principles, in politics to make sure that people from the bottom of the social scale had the opportunities, narrow the gap between the rich and poor, that justice and the fight for equality, and fourty years of abuse which you knew about or at least heard about but said nothing, you filthy scumbag Simon Hughes. Tough love indeed.

 

[Wilf]

Honest, straightforward and caring. His wisdom and his kindness, high standards and principles, in politics to make sure that people from the bottom of the social scale had the opportunities, narrow the gap between the rich and poor, that justice and the fight for equality, and fourty years of abuse which you knew about or at least heard about but said nothing, you filthy scumbag Simon Hughes. Tough love indeed.

True. The one thing you can be almost certain about is that the late 1990s (in)action by the CPS would have been known about by the Lib dem hierarchy (and, of course you can be 100% sure they knew about the public accusations made against him in the 70s - accusations he chose not to sue over).

 

[gunneradt]

Really easy to accuse dead people - how about accusing live people?

 

[fogbat]

Really easy to accuse dead people - how about accusing live people?

You're a nonce.

 

[Fedayn]

Really easy to accuse dead people - how about accusing live people?

Errr, 3 young men did.... Sinking in yet?

 

[butchersapron]

Really easy to accuse dead people - how about accusing live people?

Wow, avid news reader here.

 

[gunneradt]

Nah - let's have some others - go on I dare you.

I bet Lord McAlpine is spending the money as we speak!!

 

[gunneradt]

Wow, avid news reader here.

Are you in or outside your heroic car?

 

[Wilf]

Fuck, my memory - I'd forgotten about all the asbestos stuff (start of this thread). Brings it all back, campaigning on that and the lack of a union at his factory, in the 80s. Loathsome cunt.

 

[butchersapron]

Are you in or outside your heroic car?

After your rape-defence last time you did this look at me being naughty act i hoped you may have had a little word with yourself - but no, after that particular episode you come right back with your rubbish but this time on the topic of child-abuse.

Just go away, no ones cares about your little act or you.

 

[William of Walworth]

Simon Hughes will be out of Parliament next election. I predict.

 

[cesare]

You're a nonce.

 

[gunneradt]

After your rape-defence last time you did this look at me being naughty act i hoped you may have had a little word with yourself - but no, after that particular episode you come right back with your rubbish but this time on the topic of child-abuse.

Just go away, no ones cares about your little act or you.

Oh you're inside, with someone else driving.

Doubt you can reach the pedals!!

 

[Wilf]

Nah - let's have some others - go on I dare you.

I bet Lord McAlpine is spending the money as we speak!!

I well remember telling some Liberal Party canvassers that Smith was a kiddy fiddler - or whatever was the term of the day - soon after the Private Eye article in 79. As one of them was a a councillor it made things a little tense a couple of years later when I got a job as a committe clerk for the council.

Anyway, what's your fucking point? Do you want us to breach Ed's policy of not naming individuals? Regardless, there's nothing in your contribution that suggests you give a flying fuck about the issue.

 

[Fedayn]

Nah - let's have some others - go on I dare you.

I bet Lord McAlpine is spending the money as we speak!!

No, let's get back to Smith, or are you off on another defence of sex-cases?! A bit close to home is it?

 

[elbows]

Even Jimmy Savile's family had to ultimately change their tune about him. Be nice to hear Norman Smith and the rest of them come out with a bit of contrition. Breath not held.

No chance at this stage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-20516533

Sir Cyril's family said: "The allegations are not new and were investigated by Lancashire Police, Greater Manchester Police and the DPP.
"We cannot comment on why the DPP took the decision not to bring charges at the time or on subsequent occasions.
"We have no wish to be involved with any further trial by media, but we will fully co-operate with any further investigation conducted by the police and/or the CPS."