Ever met someone you later learned had done something really bad? **Content warning: thread contains mentions of child abuse**

[user2848502016]

Just asking because a few months ago someone I worked with suddenly stopped coming to work... then we found out he had been found guilty of possessing child porn 😬
He hadn't been working with us for long so didn't know him that well but he just seemed like a nice, slightly boring middle aged man! I know you can't ever tell by looking at someone but it just made me think anyone I know could be doing anything behind closed doors.....

Thread titled edited by MNHQ to add a content warning

God that’s awful.

Yes , but work in a prison !

Worked in care homes for 20 years.

One home i worked in years ago, we had a man there who was very friendly, always making jokes, everyone loved him. He had dementia and slowly got worse and eventually died aged 96. We were all sad because he really did light up a rook when he entered.

Not long after his death, the care home manger let slip that he had killed his wife and their 3 young children, 60 plus years before. He served 35 years in prison before being released.
She knew and so did people higher up but nobody else was told, because we care for the person they are now and not the one they were. We had no need to know.

Two men DH worked with, child abuse.

DH is a recruiter in a small industry. One of his previous candidates murdered someone and went to prison for a long sentence. DH said that when he first met him, before the murder took place, that there was something 'off' about him. Something unsettling about his views on colleagues and oddly strong opinions about things that didn't matter etc.

Similar story. But it was over a decade later.

Oh - and we'd worked together with children

Yep, refused to get in a car when a friends boyfriend offered a lift
He was later charged and went to prison for rape (including teenagers), sexual assault, incest, possession of child abuse photos/videos.. the list goes on

We were 13, she thought he loved her, I felt it was wrong and told my dad about him and it all came tumbling out
He later sent me a letter from prison about what he wanted to do to me sexually when he was released

Pornography is consensual.
They are images of child sexual abuse, a crime that causes horrendous unimaginable lifelong damage to its victims.

I was fairly good friends with a guy at uni, hilarious, camp, outspoken, loved a night out. Also I remember incredibly clever, would get 100% in all exams.

He dropped out and I didn't hear from him again for months. I googled him and he had been caught with days' worth of images of child abuse.

Looking back the only mild red flag was he didn't have a mobile phone, his contact was all via a house phone (he lived with his mum) and he kept my number on a word document on his computer for when he fancied a night out. Bit weird but didn't think much of it at the time.

I taught a boy in primary who committed a drugs related murder years later. One of my old school friends (male) murdered his wife and then killed himself.
Just awful.

Just chilling those two. Those poor girls.

I’m close to one of the 58 individual suspects who may face criminal charges for Grenfell.

I've remembered another one.
We had someone in to decorate the living room as we both worked full time.
A times DH said his underwear drawer was not how he left it.
(DH has OCD so everything is tidy)
This decorator was prosecuted for having forced sexual contact with a man in a mens toilets.(Male rape)

Many years ago, when I was in my early 30s, I had a crush on a work colleague.

He was the same age as me and a perfect match for me; we got on so well all the time at work, I always sat with him if I could and we always had a great laugh great chats.

I would have loved him to be my boyfriend because he had such a great sense of humour, was very laid back, and very happy go lucky so it always felt good to be with him.

However he was in a long-term committed relationship with another woman in our workplace, so I just enjoyed his company as a friend and knew it could go no further.

After a while I left that workplace and went to live in a different town. After about a year imagine my absolute shock and horror when I saw on the news that he had been convicted of murdering her, yes, the colleague that he was dating when he and I were workmates and friends.

He became known as "The Weakest Link killer" because as he battered her to death he said "you are the weakest link, goodbye."

When I was in the police, I worked with a sergeant who I thought was a really nice bloke. One of my favourite people to work with, the kind where you knew it was going to be a good day and the shift would go quickly.

Well turns out he was part of a massive paedophile ring with other senior officers from the Met - it had been going on for years. We worked in a really small team and there were absolutely no signs at all. I know these people hide in plain sight. He's now in jail thankfully.

The postman where I used to work. He seemed like a normal friendly chap who liked to talk football with the receptionist.

Then we got a new postman who told us, some time later, that the old one had been arrested for having photos of child abuse. Seems to be a theme in this thread.

A work colleague made and planted bombs. Very hard to get your head around as he is genuinely lovely and caring now.

Yes, I used to work with someone who shot his pregnant wife with a crossbow. He was a nurse.

I agree, but you can't say "guilty of possessing child assault". How should you express it?

Guilty of possessing images of child sexual abuse

Teaching in a University after murdering someone?

Yes I have, I thought a lot of the person and they were helpful to me too.

Someone close to me also had a colleague, very good natured and friendly guy, popular at work, who was convicted of having child porn - a lot of it. When it was rumoured he was being investigated for that, hardly anyone believed it, they liked him so much.

These people hide their proclivity very well indeed and are extremely plausible, cultivating loose 'friendships' as a cover. Yet they never form really close friendships, they can't.

You never know, even the most discerning people are duped.

Wowser

A ex-partner had a friend whose wife had drowned their two very young children in the bath. She spent over twenty years in a psychiatric hospital and he visited her during her whole time there. She moved back in with him when she was finally released. I met her socially a few times and honestly just felt very sad about the whole tragic situation.

Many years ago, I went on a visit to a prison as part of my degree. We got to go into the category a section. One of the prisoners seemed pleasant enough, he got chatting to me and gave me some of his art work (his art had been displayed in the town’s art gallery, so he was proud to give me it).
After I’d finished chatting with him, I was told he was in for killing an elderly lady, raping her dead body then setting fire to it.

I have met lots of paedophiles but five that I knew personally. Two teachers, one guy from my pub quiz team, someone I used to go out drinking with in my twenties, and a college friend.

I have also met a double murderer who has turned his life around and appears now to be an ok guy.