THE Chief Correspondent and Presenter at Channel 4 News, Alex Thomson posted this ‘Watch this space’ message on Twitter on Saturday, using a photograph of the front of Celtic Park to indicate that Celtic are the focus of his forthcoming investigation. Here is Thomson’s tweet, for those who missed it.
Watch this space… pic.twitter.com/7IJgXxVduw
— alex thomson (@alextomo) February 15, 2020
On Saturday, The Celtic Star Editor replied to this tweet in an article on this site. He apparently has good sources telling him that this Channel 4 investigation concerns historic child abuse in Scottish football. You can read that article, titled ‘Alex Thomson’s Tweet – Why Ibrox should be pictured alongside Celtic Park,’ HERE.
Through my job, I have experience in this area and today would like to attempt to shine some light on just who these people are and how they work, the ignorance of the past and the advancements in place now.
Hopefully it will add some balance and insight into what organisations all over the country not just football clubs like Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and others have been having to face up to in the past and going forward.
WATCH THIS SPACE…
In my real job I work in homelessness and have done for 15 years now. Whenever I am asked about what I do for a living, people immediately think of those they see that are visible, those in the trade we call roofless rather than homeless. The clichéd figure of drug and alcohol issues with weather-beaten skin, a carrier bag for belongings and if they are lucky a sleeping bag they can use to shelter from the elements.
And we do work with them, they are indeed part of my job but only a small part. There is a lot of homelessness people don’t see, lots of types of people who become roofless or in the main threatened with homelessness.
The biggest group, believe it or not are families. Families like yours and mine. One landlord unable to pay his mortgage and the tenant loses their home, one illegal eviction, a family where the bread-winner loses the job and eviction or repossession ensue. The man or woman who has fled from years of domestic abuse and has taken the brave decision to take that chance at escape or indeed the old classics, fire, flood, arson.
Then there are those who have accident, injury or illness who go into hospital and when ready for discharge they don’t have a home that can fit their needs due to their disabilities or standard of living conditions, mould damp, disrepair, so many reasons.
We try to prevent, to relieve, to represent, to find a way for people to remain or find alternatives for them, to stop a threat of homelessness becoming rooflessness.
We go to court we represent them, we become housing law experts who try and find legal loopholes to stop evictions or simply beg mercy of a judge on the day to buy them some time or a hospital to supply a drop down bed service so they are not discharged NFA-No fixed abode. Yes that happens and it happens every day.
Sounds like it should be rewarding doesn’t it? It is, it’s also an incredibly tough and mentally stressful job to have it’s not 9-5. It’s a 24 hour service, as homelessness doesn’t adhere to office hours but it’s a lot easier when you look at that individual or family and think but for the grace of God that could be me or you.
I tell every recruit that walks through our door. Put yourself in their shoes. You need empathy in spades, sympathy is much further down the list. People don’t need that very much. Being sympathetic helps you, finding a way to genuinely be empathetic puts you in a position where you can help them.
By now you must be wondering where I’m going with this it’s not exactly football content is it? Well I’m getting there. There is another group I deal with who become homeless. Prison releases.
Short term sentences even as little as 3 months often result in eviction while in prison. You can’t claim benefits inside when you’ve lost your job. No rent paid and council’s, landlord’s housing associations and banks have no sympathy, they are not permitted to consider empathy. If you don’t meet the contractual rent or the terms of your mortgage you are out.
While you sit in a cell a bailiff changes your locks, empties your home and you head my way, another homeless statistic.
There are individuals in this group where you can use training and empathy and still want to help. The drug addict who stole to feed a habit-wrong but with the right support services they can be helped, the fraudster with the gambling addiction, again there is help to stop the cycle that leads to my door. You can put a package of support alongside other services-you can make that happen. If there’s a will on the side of that person it is possible to help.
With recidivists however it’s harder. Harder to help, harder to have that same empathy. Burglary, Armed robbery, Gang violence, Drug dealing, Gun running. In and out of prison a career choice where arrest and subsequent imprisonment is simply an occupational hazard. No support package will help and even when offered will not be engaged with.
The recent tweet from Channel 4 investigative reporter Alex Thomson concerned me. If as believed these reports linked to a picture of Celtic Park with the cryptic words ‘watch this space’ was concerning both in its apparent flippancy on the subject matter and who would appear to be the journalist’s main target.
For me I have some experience of the particular group of those serial offenders the channel 4 investigation is likely to reporting on. You can add to that previous list the homeless sexual offender, in particular those of minors. Grooming, targeting and infiltrating. There is next to no chance of helping these people, they have no interest in the main. Once again being caught is an acceptable occupational hazard.
Some work as individuals. Alongside police and probation you can watch them closely. Individuals are dangerous of course but they work alone. They can be managed effectively and the public can be protected. Only a lot of work and information sharing over many years has got a handle on that and only recently.
But in this day and age of the internet it’s become far bigger. So much more organised. Most no longer work alone. They find likeminded people and they find ways to hide, anonymous almost, in a world of the dark web. They create a network, interlinked, looking out for each other and targeting their victims.
These paedophile groups have a road plan and they help each other achieve their individual goals and targets, it really is that cold, that frightening. I’ve attended the eye opening training courses the police run to have us aware of the signs to share knowledge and intelligence.
If you think your social media profile is safe it may be worth thinking again, they will see a picture of a child. They will post that innocent picture. They will ask that network if from the background anyone recognises the town, they will see if anyone knows the other family members pictured, they will use that information to find out where they live, go to school what playgroups etc they attend and they will infiltrate.
Most of you will have heard of Six degrees of separation. The idea that all people are six, or fewer, social connections away from each other. Also known as the 6 Handshakes rule. As a result, a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. These groups use each other on the back of that same theory.
These groups infiltrate other families even their own, schools, nurseries, boys brigade, scouts and of course football clubs, in particular the younger age groups at boys club level.
They build up trust, plant seeds of perceived problem children, tell everyone they are trying to help but really they are predators and they are organised. They help each other get positions of trust in these organisations and then they share in the sick fruits of their labour. As they ruin lives they exchange images, videos and even that individual themselves. A team, a network, a spider’s web of likeminded predators who target the most vulnerable. Our children.
They use the internet and they live amongst you. While working in Edinburgh I was told by police intelligence that here were six identified paedophiles on Portobello beach on a sunny bank holiday. Families enjoying time together while at the same time unaware of ulterior motives moving amongst them.
Photographs, uploaded images, all targeted and all shared. It’s sophisticated, organised almost business like. It’s cold and they have no intention of being rehabilitated, some revel in it, push your buttons. They stop short of telling you what they’ll do, that they’ll reoffend but hint enough to make your blood boil, make it hard to stay professional.
As such it’s worth remembering football clubs and boys clubs are just as open to infiltration. They are a prime target. Young boys and girls often from poorer backgrounds where they will be perceived as having the societal problems at home linked to poverty, where these predators can move in and take advantage.
When police, probation, social services all struggle to keep any control on what these individuals do is it any wonder boys club or any sports clubs in Scotland has had problems?
Before anyone blames the societies or boys clubs, those running them or those having connections with them it’s worth remembering those professionals in Police, probation and intelligence, with all the training available struggle to keep up with these predators and struggle to keep us all safe.
These clubs and groups are not necessarily at fault, they have been often duped, certainly underprepared but to apportion that blame entirely in that direction misses the point. These offending groups over the years have developed faster than the professionals underfunded and undermanned can keep up. When the Police and intelligence services can’t keep you safe what chance does a boys club or a scout group have?
I have had a great deal of training to help be part of a tapestry of services that does our very best to keep a careful watch on these people. I will prioritise their case for help to re-house, not because of empathy or sympathy, I consign myself to the fact I have to do this so we all know where they are when they are released from prison and we have at least half a chance of stopping them when they return to old habits.
I hope when Channel 4 runs this story that Alex Thomson does not simply make this about blaming the organisations who were infiltrated. These people have infiltrated families like yours and are working together today to continue to target others. It is virtually impossible with the resources available to stop this happening entirely but we are getting there. Historically little was known on this subject, the extent of it all we were all rather ignorant of. It’s only in recent years there has been any sort of joined up approach to try and prevent this from happening.
If the investigation has thrown up weaknesses in the past I hope it also shines a light on the advances that have been made since and reassures people. I hope it does not become a blame game where whataboutery ensues. The victims deserve closure, support and where they have been left unprotected or warning signs ignored, of course they deserve both justice and compensation but what they will most strive for is that everything is done to stop it happening again to future generations.
The advances in this area, the awareness, education, training and collaborative working at every level from nurseries to high schools and every group in between has grown massively. When Channel 4 run with this story I have full confidence it will be balanced and fair and those survivors of these crimes, perhaps ignored for years will have their stories heard. That they are genuinely listened to and their experiences enveloped in a plan going forward. I hope when Alex Thomson reports that it is also recognised how far we all have come in identifying possible abuse, and a light shone on just how behind the curve, underprepared and undereducated well all were on this until recently. It may not help the survivors of the abuse from the past but it can and does help for those coping with it in the here and now.
Niall J
