former Dragon's Den panelist trial

[onceuponalurker]

AIBU to not see all the threads about this now acquitted Dragon? Where is the outrage?

It isn't rude for a shopkeeper to ask for ID. Nevertheless, sometimes they don't. And when they do, the ID is fake. And people younger than they should be are served alcohol. It's possible to make a mistake with someone's age.

I feel so sorry for his kids. His wife not so much.

And the ID being fake is a defence if they are prosecuted - they followed procedure and requested it. I expect this would be a mitigating factor for any prosecution.

Doug Richard's job is assessing the claims that people make and seeking evidence to support or refute them. And we all know not everyone on the internet is what they seem and you should take precautions when meeting a stranger.

To suggest he is too stupid or polite seems unlikely!

Andrew, I assume that would be similar to an English "small age difference/close to age of consent/no coercion" case ie not in the public interest to prosecute.

Even if his wife was complicit in it, I don't think she would have chosen the life she has.

You can't help but think of the money. Did she sign a prenuptial agreement?

Or maybe they are both having affairs? And it was just a marriage of convenience.

Yucky situation however you look at it.

What makes you say his wife "must have" known?

It just isn't usual to ask to see ID, so it can't be expected of an ordinary person to do this. It's reasonable to expect that you aren't being sold a heap of bollocks by someone you meet.

What makes you say his wife "must have" known?

Now that you question it, I don't know. I suppose it is just a guess. It seems that this is quite a big double life that someone as intimate as a wife wouldn't have known.

Owl. Why are you intent on allowing this man to be completely blameless for this abuse and that if his wife?

really Owl

I think it is widely known that hook up sites, dating sites and so on are full of people lying

regardless he wanted a young looking teenager, he got one who looked young and is tiny I would expect that it caused suspicion but what did he care when the look was right

Perhaps it's just me but I think it is beyond the pale to post pictures of children in a thread discussing if a 57yo man could legitimately believe a child was over 16 and using those pictures of children to try and prove a point

well she certainly knows now and has done since his arrest last year

and decided to stand by him and humiliate herself how sad for her and for her children

His wife wasnt on trial.So the type of marriage they had is no ones business.Hes being villified waht about the girls parents.She was 3 years underage for sex.Where were they.

needsasockamnesty good point, it is a bit gross.

I don't think he is blameless. I think what he is done is absolutely disgusting, whether he thought she was any age over sixteen. It's vile.

But he has been tried in court. And it is possible to make a mistake in a person's age. He has been found not guilty.

If he wanted to sleep with a thirteen year old, would he not be more discrete? Would it not require more calculation? He went to an adult website. That's not the obvious place to look for underage girls.

I agree it is totally vile.

But a jury found him not guilty of these accusations.

Of course he's being vilified. He had sex with a 13 year old girl!

It sounds like the girl's parents were majorly lax and have made major parenting fails but he put his penis in a 13 year old girl.

I understand what he has done. But could you put an age on a bunch of random teenagers. Could you say, oh this one is fifteen and this one fourteen? Of course not. Would you know my age if you saw a photograph of me? Do you know the ages of everyone you talk to? Even your friends, are you certain of the ages of everyone you know within three years? I'm not. I don't know these things. I can't tell the difference.

When I was 14 I was getting into over 21 clubs I don't think I ever got ID'd but the second I took my kit off despite having double g boobs you could tell I was a child.

I would have expected any decent bloke to realise

Right if the 13 year old hadnt of put her profile and pic up in an adult website,he wouldnt have found her.

She had choices,not to join website,not to meet him and not to have sex with him.

"He put his penis in a 13 year old girl" who he thought was older,you know her being on an "ADULT" website.

Plus if he wanted someone younger he wouldnt have joined an adult website,he could have just joined some gaming site and pretended h he was 12 or something.

Personally, I could not pick out a thirteen year old and an eighteen year old with absolute certainty.

Well yes, quite. Which is why a FIFTY FUCKING SEVEN year old man should have steered clear of the whole thing altogether. What was wrong with having sex with, ya know, his wife?

'Right if the 13 year old hadnt of put her profile and pic up in an adult website,he wouldnt have found her.'

If I hadn't walked down the street that time I wouldn't have been mugged.

13 year old children do stupid things.

dustarr

She is a 13 year old child. It does not matter if you like it or not that makes her a child and not subject to the same responsibilities we expect of adults

He was not convicted because a jury decided it was reasonable for him to have thought she was over 16 not because her conduct meant she deserved it.

I think it's disingenuous to pretend teenagers pretend to be older than they are.

Teenagers don't pretend to be older than they are.

I understand what he has done. But could you put an age on a bunch of random teenagers. Could you say, oh this one is fifteen and this one fourteen?

No probably not. So stay away from putting your.dick in teenagers!

Jeez, its not rocket science!

He wanted a young looking teenager and that's exactly what he go.