Police have dropped charges - how do I 'forget' about all of this?

[WoodlandElf1]

I have to be a bit careful in what I say here but really tricky situation. Someone I work with, work associated with children, was accused of some terrible sexually abusive, grooming and rape crimes against a child. The police launched an investigation, but 6mths later said they felt the case wouldn't stand up in court. He will now return to working with me.
I don't believe he is innocent. Due to my connection to the case I know far more details than any other colleagues, and my logic, gut and everything in me tells me he is lying and has gotten away with this. I believe in innocent until guilty, I really do, but I also know the shocking statistics of actually how many paedophiles end up in court! When he was accused he kept changing his story and talked about it with such a sense of superior arrogance, it felt like seeing a completely different person - someone I'd never met, as if the mask slipped. I can't explain it I just know there is so much more to this than he says, and I believe the family. But I need to now set that aside and work with this individual again, I act in a type of mentor capacity - and I just can't do it if he returns. I cannot wilfully let him work with children again and I cannot support it. I know IABU - it's not my place to decide if he is guilty or not, but I am not an irrational person, or an overly emotional person, but nothing about this sits right with me. What do I do?

I haven’t had time to read full thread but given the details on page 1 and as hard as it may be I don’t think you should resign.
You will be in a position to watch him like a hawk and report him anytime you feel uneasy. Has his machine at work already been checked?
Sounds like the manager is hoping this will all go away for an easy life- you need to be the organisational memory of this is the case. What this man wants is for people like you who are on to him to not be around don’t play into his hands if you can make his life difficult do it.
In the meantime yes check with any organisation that might be able to help with professional advice.

If he is a paedophile, he will have EVERY reason to want to return...

Hi OP, just another thought. Sorry if it's already been covered.

Does your org hold any sort of liability insurance covering the activities of staff working with the public?

If so, this issue should be reported to them & they will advise if they will still offer insurance covering this person.

It may be that they will, but with an increased premium that the org can't justify out of current funding.

The directors / trustees would need to decide how to proceed given the increase in costs, but they may decide they can't employ this person.

I suspect all that will happen is that he'll need to be leant on...

As in....

given the recent police investigation into your risky behaviour around children. We can no longer employ you due to this and the consequent changes in your enhanced dbs status. Further we would not be able 5o get liability insurance to cover you even if we believed this appropriate.

Sincerely

@TatianaLarina, it was in the code of conduct for those in receipt of CRB info (CRBs not DBS at the time) that we HAD to be fair and consider if the criminal record was relevant. We had to have a written policy about this. And we could be held accountable for unfair employment practices if not fairly applied.

If someone applied with a trespassing conviction from when they were 11yo, or shoplifting or drunk+disorderly caution when they were 17 yr old, we had to be fair in arguing why that might be relevant to a job application when they were 28 yrs old. We couldn't exclude them for having any record, we had to justify that their individual record was relevant.

You might be shockd how many teachers at your school have something on their record; 30% of the population have a caution or conviction in their history. Rarely for sex offenses, but often other records.

May comfort some to know that it's an offence (or was, anyway) for someone on the SRO or sex-related offences to merely apply for a job working with vulnerable people. That category of offence gets special rules.

Even the small amount of info given by OP has me convinced he's a peodophile And that is why OP needs to follow the safeguarding rules!

We can't have trial by 'gut instinct' in the same way as this man cannot be simply left to back to work without further safeguarding issues being contemplated by the relevant people

OP WILL have a hard time of it, it is an awful position to be in. But she can only follow the guidelines, including registering her issues with her boss. But she can't act as some posters are suggesting. If she does she will be causing all sorts of legal issues, including possibly messing up any future enquiries/actions by the police.

Thankfully, OP seems to realise this and I wish her well of it. I know how hard it is!

Stats for false allegations are less than 1%. According to this source, the stats stand at 0.64% that a false allegation has been made.
www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-men-are-more-likely-to-be-raped-than-be-falsely-accused-of-rape