Panorama (Monday) BBC l TV suprising lack of action

[GabbyLoggon]

Panorama 24th jan

I could not understand why the police did not take more action against a man who drove a woman out of her home.

They probably will now after the TV broadcast.

In other areas I have known people given alarms direct to the police station. "Gabby"

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

yes, I saw this. very disturbing wasn't it? but entirely believable because we've seen far too many cases on the news where the stalker killed the woman in the end

poor woman, this is clearly a tragedy waiting to happen.

[JBellingham]

Hmm it seemed a bit sketchy to me, if the reason for showing us not much is because of impending court action then do the program after the case and show us some details.

I saw a man harrassing a woman outside her house twice on a camera, and both times the police sorted it. They showed the same clip of him with the van reversing about 6 times but we actually only saw two events.

We heard a weird conversation supposedly recorded on a phone while he was allegedly attacking her, yet when she dialled 999 (on another phone I assume) she could not talk to the cops and got done for assaulting the man with a knife. The scenario can easily be rearranged.. they fight, she slashes his face and 999 is called. Afterwards she records the conversation where we hear her talking, but not him, as 'evidence'.

The call 'witnessed by her solicitor' I assume is genuine but it was vague.

I think Panorama were either guilty of not investigating this properly or they should have waited until after the court case to show the programme with more meat on it.

She may be a victim and if so then I hope justice prevails but I did not see much 'evidence' on that prgramme.

[JBellingham]

Oh and the house trashing/slashing... no DNA or anything even though the cops would have it on record as he has been arrested before. Bit of a big scene to leave no DNA. If she had done it as a framing job and then gone on holiday abroad for someone else to find and say 'well she was away' you would not fiund his DNA. He looked too gormless to wear a bio suit and gloves for house ransacking.

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

it didn't say they had even looked for DNA; it was not clear that they had looked and not found any. Given that they weren't taking the whole thing very seriously it seems entirely likely they didn't bother.

[JBellingham]

They said they had no evidence to show it was him. That is all we know.

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

exactly.

[JBellingham]

It was a sensationalist piece of journalism with not many facts or information

Really the only conclusive things we can get from that programme is she has a restraining order on him. She slashed his face and was found guilty of it. He was at her house twice and the police dealt with it both times.

[GabbyLoggon]

I think there will be positive action now.

The police could have given her an alarm
(In view of past tragedies)

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

ah, you are clearly one of those men who thinks women are more likely than not to be lying.

you don't have to know conclusively what's going on here to believe that there is a high probability that this man is stalking the woman and is a risk to her.

[sethstarkaddersmackerel]

that was aimed at JBellingham not you Gabby.

[GabbyLoggon]

The programme had credibility
and the geezer seemed out of control

I believed the thretening phone calls and the film taken out of the window

your man had a chance to give his side

[JBellingham]

I expect a BBC investigative item to have investigated and give the public some facts. I do not expect them to behave like the Daily Mail, trumpet drama and accusations and then show little to back it up. It was a one sided vague dramatic account of a story that has not gone to court. At best she is a victim whose case could be shown in full once the trial has ended and people held to account, at worst she is an attention seeking liar who wanted a new house and to be on TV.

[JBellingham]

The geezer did seem out of control. Two clips of him looking spaced/drunk/mentally ill. Both times the police dealt with it. The phone calls were her screaming and some weird whispery voice.

No one has to give their side to the BBC, that is what court is for.

[wubblybubbly]

I may have misunderstood it, but didn't the knife incident occur when he had broken into her house in the middle of the night and attacked her?

I think I must have missed something, as I just couldn't understand why she was charged when clearly he had no right to be there.

I also believe that she wasn't found guilty, but pled guilty to a lesser charge. Hard to understand perhaps, but then I've not been through the nightmare she is going through.

[JBellingham]

wubbly - yes I read it that way which is one of the reasons why I am sceptical that not all (or hardly any) of the facts were reported correctly.

[wubblybubbly]

He was given the opportunity to put his side across though, or someone from his family and chose not to.

I think part of the problem was that none of the incidents were being correctly logged, so each one was treated as an individual incident. Although having said that, anyone of those events would have scared the life out of me.

She has moved now and is changing her name, but I bet she still won't feel safe.

[GabbyLoggon]

If the court gets involved again, it would be safer for us to clam up

I assume the Lancashire Telegraph and post will be following this up today or tomorrow

The police and the media do work together over many things. (Take Crimewatch for example.)

[JBellingham]

Wubbly - He didn't look capable of stringing sentences together, but why should he have to talk to some biased BBC reporter? I am going to be very interested to see if they follow up when the court case has finished.

[JBellingham]

Gabby - the court IS involved, hence all the blurry faces and vague reporting. It should have been done after he is convicted or cancelled once he is aquitted.

[wubblybubbly]

I don't know JB, perhaps you're right, but he seemed quite capable of stringing together a good selection of menacing words in those recordings.

I obviously have the attention span of a gnat because I also missed that there was an ongoing court case .

[JBellingham]

wubbly - I may be wrong on that, it may be that the rozzers are 'investigating', I will re watch it when I get home.

[wubblybubbly]

I know they are investigating the complaint from the victim, that much I heard. I didn't think there were any other charges pending as far as I can recall.

[GabbyLoggon]

He has had convictions and seems to be breaking restrictions. But I dontknow if there is a new charge which has been put to him......