Police investigate swastikas on Bognor park benches
Police are investigating after swastikas were drawn and carved on benches and bins in a West Sussex park.The damage has been appearing in Hotham Park, Bognor, since the start of June.More than 50 pieces of park furniture have been attacked, costing Arun District Council thousands of pounds to repair.Sussex Police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.
Sgt Ross Beaumont said: "This offensive behaviour has caused upset in the community and has led to unnecessary cost and time to repair the damage."Someone must know who is responsible."
A council spokesperson said: "We have made it a priority to remove the damage as much as we can, as often as we can."This comes at a significant cost to the council and removes key staff from planned works which provide added value to our parks and green spaces."
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BBC News
35 minutes ago
- BBC News
Criminals not able to wipe record with gender change, MSPs told
Criminals are not able to wipe clean their conviction record by changing gender, Justice Secretary Angela Constance has told MSPs. It follows reports that a murderer's criminal past was not disclosed in court files after they altered their gender identity while in said the "isolated" incident was "not reflective of broader issues" in the justice system. She told parliament Police Scotland had been asked to review its procedures following the error. Constance was quizzed about the case of Alex Stewart, formerly called Alan Baker, who was jailed for murdering father-of-two John Weir in Daily Record reported that the error with his criminal record was identified when a lawyer requested his file. The request was made ahead of a case relating to violence inside HMP Greenock in which the inmate was named as a witness. However, the criminal record under Stewart's new name was previous criminal activity only appeared when a search was done under the old name, Alan Baker, according to the Record. Conservative MSP Meghan Gallacher asked Constance how many transgender prisoners' criminal records had been "erased" following changes to their birth justice secretary said: "A change of name does not under any circumstances alter a person's criminal record."All criminal records are maintained in accordance with established retention and sharing protocols and remain fully accessible to the justice system."Police Scotland has acknowledged an error in one case reported in the media and acknowledges this should not have occurred."Constance said she had been assured that this was "an isolated incident and not reflective of broader issues in their recording practices". 'Inaccurate and misleading' Gallacher replied: "This should not have happened in the first place."We are talking about convicted criminals, some of them violent or sexual offenders."She added: "We cannot have further instances of this happening in the future."We need to ensure that victims, women's' groups and the wider public have faith in the justice system."Asked to assure parliament that it was an isolated incident, Constance said: "This was an error in one case."It was a failure to disclose and not a reflection on data recording systems."In response to a question from Tory MSP Sharon Dowey, the justice secretary said it would be "utterly inaccurate and misleading ... if not disgraceful, to suggest that Police Scotland wipe criminal records". Asked about the case on Monday, First Minister John Swinney said that a criminal record "must continue to be associated" with any individual regardless of changes they make to their name or told journalists that it was important to have a clear understanding of what had happened in this added there was "a need for there to be public confidence about this question".A Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service spokesperson said: "Information about previous convictions is provided to COPFS by the police following a check of the relevant databases."Although the initial witness check showed no previous convictions, on further inquiry by the procurator fiscal this was corrected prior to trial."COPFS have asked Police Scotland to review and confirm the processes for recording and sharing information on previous convictions".A Police Scotland spokesperson said that the issue relating to Stewart's file had been "rectified" and that work was "ongoing to prevent similar scenarios taking place in the future".
The Sun
37 minutes ago
- The Sun
Bludgeoned to death & set alight… why I'm sure secret paedo ring STILL on UK streets was behind sick murder of dad-to-be
'I know what's going on. I'm going to spill the beans soon,' council worker Bulic Forsythe told a colleague on a cold February day in 1993. Just days later, the 42-year-old was found dead - in horrific, mysterious circumstances that have baffled investigators for decades. 15 15 15 Called to a fire raging in his small flat in Brixton, firemen found Bulic lying in his bed with a pillow over his head. The father-to-be, described by colleagues as decent and hard-working, had been killed by repeated blows against his skull. It was a chilling cold case, and to this day no one has been charged. Police at the time looked into his personal life, suspecting he had lived a double life within the gay community, or that the motive was robbery. What wasn't investigated was his professional life at Lambeth Council. And if they had, they might have found a much darker motive behind his brutal murder. During the 80s and 90s, the council was mired in corruption, with allegations of financial malpractice and abuse of power. But the most serious crimes did not become clear until decades later, when an unearthed internal investigation shed light on the horrific abuses of a paedophile ring operating primarily in the housing department where Bulic worked. Often in the basement of council buildings themselves, the sickening network assaulted and even filmed the abuse of hundreds of children in care. Horrific child abuse videos were thought to have been made and distributed by council staff, while other workers were reportedly intimidated, coerced, or even drugged before being assaulted themselves. In all, it is now alleged that at least 700 children were sexually abused while under the council's care, though the true number is believed to be even higher. And shockingly, only a handful of the abusers - who included senior council workers - have ever been prosecuted, with investigators warning that many still walk UK streets to this day. More than 700 children suffered sex abuse as paedos ran wild for 50 years at homes run by Lambeth Council, report says Now, a Channel 4 documentary from criminologist Professor David Wilson and Emilia Fox has unearthed new witness evidence that suggests they were prepared to go to any length - even murder - to silence potential whistleblowers like Bulic. 'I've got no doubt that if the police were to continue to look at the information which we have provided to them, there is every possibility that there could be arrests in relation to what happened to Bulic,' David told The Sun. 'In my career, I've seen cold cases reopened, reinvestigated, and successfully prosecuted on the basis of less evidence than what emerged during the investigation that took place for his documentary.' Murder mystery Born in Jamaica before moving to Britain, Bulic worked for the council's housing department and lived alone, with his wife based in America. But then, out of the blue, he didn't show up for work. His neighbour reported a commotion - the sound of heavy footsteps - then at 2am on February 26, they were awoken by the smell of burning before the fire brigade recovered his body. Tragically, he died just three months before the birth of his daughter, Kiddist, who has since joined the campaign to find justice for her father. The fire had destroyed any forensic evidence. Instead, police noted the fact Bulic had friends in the gay scene, wondering he had been secretly bisexual - a line of inquiry that led nowhere. 15 15 15 Later, a man was found in possession of some jewellery taken from his flat, but they were unable to place the suspect at the time of the murder - and no one was ever charged. But what was ignored by police at the time was Bulic's workplace, Lambeth Council. 'It was a very difficult time. Lambeth had been in the news as a disaster for many years by then - every year services were getting worse,' Stephen Whaley, council leader at the time, told the documentary. 'There was an endless barrage of accusations of corruption. You had a process of corrupt people corrupting others, to make sure it never came out.' Lambeth became a byword for corruption and fraud - but a culture of fear made blowing the whistle difficult. Nearly unearthed files even reveal that at one point, Bulic resigned from his position, with his manager noting he was 'aware of the effort Bulic made because of the culture of the organisation.' 'It was an incredibly hard place to work. It would have been an even harder place to speak out,' said Clive Driscoll, a former Detective Chief Inspector for the Metropolitan Police. 'There was a councillor who told me that there was a man that would go round and give a knock on your door, basically saying that if you didn't shut up, things could happen to you.' Victims silenced Yet as it emerged, the corruption went far deeper than just financial manipulation, with both children under the care of the council and staff members themselves subjected to horrific sexual assaults behind closed doors. And whoever was carrying out this abuse had an extensive network able to threaten and intimidate people at will. One person, Louise*, who worked at the council around the time of Bulic's death, claims she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a senior official in the council, often where there were children. The former staffer, who appears in the documentary speaking anonymously, says many of the assaults were captured on camera - she believes for money. But even this was not as terrifying as what happened when she tried to speak publicly. 15 'An investigation was set up. I was told a lot of people came forward - but they didn't take any signed statements because people were terrified,' she said. 'Initially it was phone calls, telling me to back off, then I had a chemical thrown in my face. 'And then lastly, somebody broke into my house, and poured petrol on to my bed. 'The coldness of the petrol woke me up and made me jump out of bed just as they were lighting it.' Louise's attack has terrifying parallels with that against Bulic - and she has now moved away from London out of fear for what could happen to her. Working in the housing department, Bulic himself was only a few degrees of separation from the abuse that was going on. People who knew him have recalled conversations in which he suggested that he was about to expose everything. Bulic was determined to reveal the truth and told pals he was compiling a report that detailed names, locations and dates concerning the sexual abuse. The document has never been found following the murder and arson attack at his property. 'He came to me briefly when I was in the council chamber. He just said, 'I'm on to something',' recalled Anna Tapsell, a councillor at the time who was also looking into the allegations of child abuse. 'My immediate assumption was that it was something to do with financial wrongdoing. 'I now know that he was probably looking at the same thing that I was.' Industrial-scale abuse Like Louise, when Anna started to speak out, she found her home burgled a number of times - but only the post would be stolen. In the end, such were her fears that she arranged for her children to stay with different people until the threat blew over. 15 15 'Everybody knew that [Bulic] was very fearful before he was killed,' Anna added. 'People told me that Bulic had actually found something about people making films with children. 'After all these years, I'm even more convinced that he discovered the bad things that were going on.' It turned out that Bulic was right, with an unpublished internal investigation carried out by officers within Lambeth Council in the 1990s - which was uncovered a decade ago - laying bare the shocking extent of the abuse that went on. Even the basement of Lambeth's housing headquarters was thought to have been used to carry out assaults, and one anonymous woman described being raped alongside children and animals by important figures within the council. The abuse was so widespread that council leaders found themselves forced to shut down the children's homes. Some people were let go from their roles - but the internal report recommended a full criminal investigation, which never happened. No justice One of the locations in which Louise was subjected to abuse was the South Vale Children's home, run by the council. It's one of five homes which, according to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, was infiltrated by abusers - both as staff and as 'volunteers'. One man, Leslie Paul, who was eventually convicted in 2016 for a string of child sex offences that took place at South Vale, was also a special constable within the Metropolitan Police at the time. It is not outside the scope of possibility that corrupt police officers played a role in covering up the abuse and throwing investigators off the scent of Bulic's murder. 'For his professional life not to have been pursued by police at the time seemed to me at best simply an oversight,' added David Wilson. 'At worst, it was a dereliction of duty.' 15 15 Another council worker corroborated that Bulic's report was going to reveal who was behind the widespread abuse. Like Louise, she chose to remain anonymous out of fears for her safety. But before Bulic was able to release his findings, he was dead - and the report was never found. 'Because of Bulic, people were really, really frightened,' Louise added. A Crimewatch report on the murder even noted that a group of men in suits were spotted leaving his house the day he went missing, carrying out briefcases of files. To date, only six people have been prosecuted in relation to the abuse that happened under the watch of Lambeth Council. Leslie Paul himself was convicted on three separate occasions for abusing for boys in his care during the 1980s. Another, John Michael Carroll, was a children's home manager for 10 years, from 1981 to 1991. Shockingly, the council didn't dismiss him when he disclosed that he'd previously received a conviction for child abuse. In 1999, he was convicted of 35 offences including buggery of young boys and served five years in jail. But the true number of perpetrators is likely to be even higher. 'At the time, there was a reluctance to actually say that children were being sexually abused on an industrial scale,' said David, who also noted that when making the documentary, people willing to speak on record about the abuse and corruption at the time were hard to come by. 'I have no doubt that there are people out there who were involved in the sexual abuse and in covering it up.' In the Footsteps of Killers: The Murder of Bulic Forsythe airs tonight at 10pm on Channel 4 *Name has been changed
The Independent
38 minutes ago
- The Independent
Class-based prejudice didn't just enable grooming gangs
In my 2013 research on grooming gangs, I found that perpetrators saw the exploitation of girls as a lucrative and low-risk alternative to drug dealing. Being caught with a girl was viewed as safer than being caught with drugs. A hierarchy of risk existed, with Asian girls seen as least likely to report abuse due to shame and fear that they would be blamed by their families. I documented cases where Pakistani and Bangladeshi girls were repeatedly gang-raped by men of various ethnicities – including white men – and silenced through threats of exposure. Yet, their experiences are largely absent from public discussions on grooming gangs, with few cases ever reaching prosecution. We are now hearing that there was also a deep-rooted, class-based prejudice at play when it came to the systemic failures of the institutions designed to safeguard vulnerable children. These girls – many of them working-class, in care, or from unstable homes – were not seen as innocent victims. They were viewed as troublemakers, promiscuous, and difficult – and, therefore, easy to dismiss. Instead of protection and compassion, they were met with contempt. Not only would the establishment's inaction have emboldened the perpetrators, allowing the abuse to continue unchecked for many years – decades, even – the reasoning for their silence doesn't stand up. Are we really to believe they overlooked abused children through fear of being labelled 'racist'? That level of honesty is surely far more damaging to their reputations and careers. As Yvette Cooper rightly pointed out following Baroness Casey's report, male suspects of Asian and Pakistani heritage are over-represented in cases like this. Muslims – and, by extension, Pakistani men (given they make up the largest demographic of Muslims) – are also over-represented in the prison population. Muslims currently make up around 18 per cent of the male prison population, despite representing only 6.5 per cent of the general UK population. Fears of racism have not prevented these Muslims being held accountable for their crimes, so why should it be a determining factor in this case? Organised crime is often fuelled by poverty, unemployment, limited social mobility and under-resourced policing – particularly in deprived urban areas. As around 40 per cent of the UK's Muslim population – especially Pakistanis – live in some of the poorest neighbourhoods, experience high levels of poverty and have lower education levels, such conditions may have drawn some men towards illegal income – including the exploitation of vulnerable girls. Of course, social deprivation alone cannot fully explain why in some areas a disproportionate number of Pakistani men have been involved in grooming gangs. Cultural dynamics may have also played a significant role. In my research into 35 grooming cases, a third of the South Asian girls involved had also experienced sexual abuse within their own families – abuse that often continued unchallenged, even after disclosure. This points to a wider, unaddressed pattern of harm. Domestic abuse is also a serious and persistent issue. Women regularly contact the Muslim Women's Network Helpline that I run. While domestic abuse exists across all backgrounds, minority ethnic women (which will include Pakistani women) are one-fifth more likely to be victims of domestic homicide – a deeply troubling statistic that has been consistently overlooked by successive governments. When it comes to minority ethnic communities, funding tends to focus on high-profile, culturally specific issues, like forced marriage, honour-based abuse and female genital mutilation. While these are important concerns, they often overshadow the more prevalent issues of child sex abuse (sometimes involving multiple perpetrators) and domestic abuse, which continues to claim the lives of women and girls. When men are not held accountable for abuse committed within their own families, it is unsurprising that some go on to perpetrate harm beyond the private sphere. I would not be surprised if those convicted in grooming gang cases had prior histories of domestic or sexual abuse within their own households – an issue that warrants thorough consideration in any inquiry. Ultimately, sexual predators do not discriminate by race, faith, or culture. Sexual exploitation is driven by harmful male attitudes towards women and girls. Even if concerns about community tensions held any validity, they never justified abandoning children to abuse.
