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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is out and out wrong and could have huge implications for an innocent person ?

44 replies

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 30/12/2010 11:18

A 19yr old man near me has been prosecuted for sexually harassing an underage girl (fair enough)

His father is a teacher/ head of year at the rather rough academy (he was also an old teacher of mine wayyyyy back)

For some reason the local rag NAMED the teacher, the school he worked at, occupation etc along with his son on the front bloody page. Is it just me or is that very wrong ? I can only imagine the impact it will have on his career and the hassle he will get off certain pupils. Xmas Angry

I hope he sues the bottom out of their arseholes

OP posts:
TheMonster · 30/12/2010 11:19

Yes that's wrong.

NinkyNonker · 30/12/2010 11:20

Very wrong. And odd too.

LaWeaselMys · 30/12/2010 11:21

Poor man! It's not his fault.

Write and complain at the very least they should be printing a suitably groveling apology.

fayc84 · 30/12/2010 12:00

It depends on the circumstances of the case I think. If the son met the underage girl through his father and his work for example then it would be relevant to name him. However, if his father is in no way involved then I don't see why they would mention him or his occupation. Naming someone who has been convicted and the details of the offence (but not details of victim in the case of sexual assault/underage) is standard.
Difficult to think of grounds to complain though if there are no factual inaccuracies in the story itself. If there is a suggestion that the father is somehow complicit and that was not a case made in court then he could sue for defamation (in Scotland, libel in England/elsewhere in UK).

I'm a journalist for a 'local rag' thus having the media law knowledge. I wouldn't mention his father or what he did for a living unless it was connected to the case and nor would my editor allow that. Seems strange, though like I said I'm not sure what recourse there could be. You could always write a letter in objecting to their mention of the father and see if they would print that but if there are no mistakes in the report then I don't think they'd apologise.

Original poster
ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 30/12/2010 12:01

I sent a snotty email for the good it will do. It drives me potty when the media drag families of perpatrators into the spotlight.

OP posts:
Original poster
ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 30/12/2010 12:26

No indication he taught the victim, it said she was a family friend, bloody wrong anyway.

OP posts:
theevildead2 · 30/12/2010 12:29

Surely if he were connected to the case a good journalist would have mentioned that though?

Maybe they just thought it more interesting to throw in a teacher to the mix as it involved a young person?

Seems pretty unethical to me

Georgimama · 30/12/2010 12:51

Not to mention identifying the perpetrator and his family could lead to identification of the victim, which is the whole reason for not identifying offenders in these cases.

HappyHECmanay · 30/12/2010 12:56

how stupid.

now the particularly thick will of course go after this man. Hmm

He's been named in the paper in the same article as someone who has been convicted of sex with someone underage.

The spectacularly stupid will go into full blown peado hysteria. As always, it will be 2 + 2 = 45

HappyHECmanay · 30/12/2010 12:57

Hmm prosecuted for sexually harrassing someone underage.

must read properly.

trixie123 · 30/12/2010 15:29

He has been prosecuted - not yet found guilty? Thats makes it even worse. If he is acquitted he and his father will have a great deal of utter crap to deal with.

confusedeasterbunny · 30/12/2010 15:54

'It drives me potty when the media drag families of perpatrators into the spotlight.'

he hasn't yet been found guilty!!!

Arion · 30/12/2010 16:17

Don't worry Hec - as per previous thread "I agree with Hec" Grin

MadamDeathstare · 30/12/2010 16:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 30/12/2010 16:31

Blush i'm also on the thicky bench, I thought perpetrator was just the guilty person Xmas Blush

Yes, he's been found guilty, he got 6 month on sexual offenders register and a 6 month conditional discharge, i'll try to find a link in a mo

OP posts:
Original poster
ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 30/12/2010 16:36

there you go

OP posts:
charliesmommy · 30/12/2010 17:00

It would be interesting to know what the girls age was.. there are plenty of immature 19yr old boys, and plenty of very forward 14/15 yr old girls.

Had he been 29 I would have viewed it very differently but I think it is a very harsh conviction on a teenage boys record for something that really wasnt all that serious. IMO.

I also think identifying the father is out of order too.

Ephiny · 30/12/2010 17:06

Sounds stupid and wrong to me, assuming the father had nothing to do with what happened. He's not responsible for his adult son's behaviour.

tooposhtopost · 30/12/2010 17:08

I doubt that the father could sue the papers for anything.....the picture showing the dad, and the information about him should not make any reasonable person think less of him (the definition of defamation)...it's just that there are a lot of UNreasonable people out there!

It is odd that it is in the paper if the boy has been charged but not yet convicted - I would have expected that to be Sub Judice which means that there would be full reporting restrictions. Has he in fact been convicted?

If so, then, sorry, reluctantly I think the publicity is fair game.... other victims may come forward, or victims of other sexual abuse might be emboldened to see that justice is sometimes possible. It is bad luck for the teacher, of course, but that is possibly the least of his troubles with a son like that.

Incidentally, sexual harrasment is not acceptable at ANY age, just worse if the girls were young. Sexual harassment is not consenting sexual behaviour (for which there is indeed a "young man's defence" in certain circumstances).

sharbie · 30/12/2010 17:11

yes indeed tooposh and i would think it relevant if a teacher at my child's school had this going on in their family

charliesmommy · 30/12/2010 17:12

When I was 14/15, me and the vast majority of my mates were boy mad.. I doubt things have changed that much... and we tended to fancy older lads, viewing lads our own age as being too immature...

When I was 15, my bf was 18.. nobody had a problem with that.

But if any lad had said to me "give us a blow job".. I wouldnt have gone running to the police.. I would simply have told him to feck off.

GrimmaTheNome · 30/12/2010 17:13

YANBU

The paper is trying to blow up something that isn't all that much of a story.

CommanderDrool · 30/12/2010 17:22

"Not to mention identifying the perpetrator and his family could lead to identification of the victim, which is the whole reason for not identifying offenders in these cases."

Newspapers will always endeavour to name and shame offenders but will not identify any relationship between offender and victim (if there is any)to prevent the victim identified.

There us usually uniform agreement on this, between news providers, to prevent 'jigsaw identification'

I worked as a news editor in local newspapers and I think I would have been a bit uncomfortable about dragging his father into it. It's a tricky one, but I don't think it's ethical. But I have to admit on a slow news day I would run it.

StuffingGoldBrass · 30/12/2010 17:26

This whole thing sounds an absolute storm in a teacup in that the perpetrator sent one smutty text to a girl he presumably thought was not underage. It's also more than likely that the girl didn't mind until her mother or father found her phone and went beserk. WTF it has to do with his father I cannot imagine.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 30/12/2010 17:31

I did wonder about the constant reference to her as a pupil that implied to me that she might be a pupil either at the father's current school or his previous one.

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