To think someone should have told us!! (Angry)

[cricketmum84]

So I read in the local news this morning about a local council employee who has been found guilty of installing secret cameras in the changing rooms and girls toilets of the local swimming pool, printing off images and also assaulting a little girl. The time frame of the offences was the same time that I was taking my DD for lessons at the same pool, getting changed in those changing rooms and (now his name has been reported) being taught by this man!!!

AIBU to think that someone should have informed us that there is a chance my daughter could be in those images? That she could have been filmed in the toilets or changing rooms? That she was taught by a registered sex offender?? I am absolutely raging mad that I've had to read about this in the local press!

I don't think YABU at all, but I don't know how you would go about finding the answers to your questions - is there anything on their website? Your Local Safeguarding Children's Board may be able to help, you can find their contact details online.

you have been informed, through the local press.

I'm really sorry this happened to you. Must be a terrible thing to read something so hideous on the news.

Yes, I do think you should have been contacted as your daughter was also taught by him and I'm quite surprised you weren't. Even if the police didn't contact you as part of the investigation, I would've thought it would be part of the swimming pool's crisis management procedure. Perhaps they weren't allowed to as the investigation was ongoing, and now the news has got in before them?

They can't tell you before the trial as it could prejudice it. Now he has been found guilty the details have been released.

YANBU
Make contact with the swimming pool, police and local authority. I would thibk they are expecting a flurry of concerned parents to call now this has broken and there should be a procedure in place to deal.

It seems a bit surprising that they didn't want to talk to pupils to find out whether he'd assaulted them.

That is awful. I am sure it has been a huge shock. I would be seething and panicked.

I assume you know your little girl was never alone with this man as you haven’t mentioned that as a concern. I would contact the police - they are the only people who have all the details. Explain your concerns and ask if your daughter is in any of the material recovered. Also find out if there are any other concerns with this man and if a specialist team should speak to your daughter.

I am so sorry this is happening

you have been informed, through the local press.

What a helpful post!

trouble is if they find the film how would they identify the children concerned? It is horrific & I think I would feel sick with horror at the thought so I think you have every right to feel as you do op. I would contact (phone) the local police & ask them the swimming pool itself may not be allowed to talk about it at the moment but I would certainly send a letter of complaint & a request about further information & whether your dc could have been affected (do copies of this & send on to other organisation as suggested by others.

YANBU. I think that parents should have been sent a letter by the swimming pook to inform parents what was going on. The police may have advised them not to do this though, but I would have thought that the police would have tracked down anyone that they could to see if there were any other cases.

YANBU to feel the way you do

It’s not in Plymouth is it

Op. I sympathize with you.

When I was a teen we had a very dodgy teacher in our school. We all told our parents and we’re told not to
Be daft. He was our scout leader too

I found
Out ten years ago he had been rigging cameras in the girls
Toilets and at camps. It was the same time
I was there and a scout. I’ll be honest I didn’t want to know if I was in any pictures. There’s nothing I can do about it now

I went swimming on Sunday and noticed that our recently renovated unisex changing rooms have already had holes drilled in some of the changing cubicles.

There were also ceiling panels removed directly above the shower I was in. I couldn't seen in side but there could easily have been a camera up there.

It's grim , I hate sharing with men/boys.

Its lessons - they will have had the name of every child on a register etc with contact details. They should at the very least have written to the classes and advised them that there had been an issue, the perpetrator caught and prosecuted and that it was about to hit the press. It sounds like they had the evidence they needed so in the letter they should also have been clear that all materials other than that needed for court had been destroyed or that it was destroyed afterwards. I think I would be complaining simply because it has been poorly handled and for any future cases they perhaps need a process review to do better next time

The one I talk of was a school drama teacher and swimming teacher in the local school and then moved away and got caught in Plymouth doing the same again.
There are lots of issues relating to reports to the school at the time been ignored and of course were proved after the full investigation to be true.
The school acted very badly over the reports dismissing them without any real investigation and the head teacher has now gone overseas in shame.

He Just got a 22 month prison sentence sadly not long enough

I thought that they would tell all the people who are identifiable on the recordings? They did at a relatively recent school incident that I know of.

that's disgraceful, yes you should be told if there was any chance that your DD was filmed, omg, what a horrific thought.
I'm not sure how you do this, but I would start with the pool managers and then the investigating officers on the case, its a crime isn't it to film without knowledge? and especially for those reasons - a bit more than a privacy invasion in these circumstances

The police would have had to identify the children in the images surely? I would hope that meant your daughter was not one of them. It's horrible to find out that someone could have put your child at risk and it's shit that they didn't inform all parents what had happened. I would contact the police with your concerns and ask for reassurance that there were no images of your child.

YANBU. How awful, I agree you should've been told. I'm not sure who you could complain to about this - maybe your local Councillor or MP could find out?

I understand how horrific this must feel for you but I am not sure that they could tell you.
As soon as he came under suspicion then I assume he stopped working in his role - I can't imagine they allowed him to carry on once the images had been found.

They may have felt that it might prejudice the trial to have informed potentially hundreds of people about what they had found. As he abused a child the view might have been that it was more important to ensure that the trial for that was not prejudiced than to inform all parents of children who may have been in an image.

That just doesn't make sense, the police usually get in touch with all the parents of children a predator had regular contact with, in this case his swimming pupils. They are potential witnesses if not actually victims themselves. And definitely the pool management would have had to provide the police with names of class members and their parents, otherwise how could they identify who was in the images?

It's not prejudicial to talk to witnesses, it's only prejudicial if the witnesses then talk about it to the press and the press publicize what they've said prior to a trial. How would they ever get evidence and witness statements to identify victims if they don't expand their enquiries to other vulnerable people the perpetrator had access to? Even if he pleaded guilty thus negating the necessity for witnesses to appear at trial, they should still have been informed.

Definitely contact the police, OP, this seems very wrong.

Sorry for radio silence! Just at the hairdressers. He was a council employee so first step I think is to contact the local council for some more information. I understand that they wouldn't inform every potential victim until he was found guilty but it's been a few weeks since the verdict.

Will update once I know more - no it's not Plymouth.

@GoatWoman

That's really worrying, have you brought it to the attention of the management?

You're not being unreasonable! Once he's been found guilty I'd expect you to be told. I would contact the council too. Sorry you found out like this.