to believe that this man should not be allowed to live at Student Halls?

[Sep200024]

At Cardiff University, one of the largest Halls of Residence, housing mostly first year students, is called Talybont.

At Talybont this year, a man (Sean Hughes) who has recently been released from prison for strangling a woman, has been given a live-in safeguarding role at the Halls.

His crime was to attack and strangle a young woman, and he is currently out on license after being released from prison in May of this year.

His role at the university is to live in the Halls of Residence as a ‘life assistant’, where his role is to “support vulnerable students and manage crisis situations”.

AIBU to think that this should not be allowed? How on earth have the application and vetting procedures at Cardiff University allowed this to happen?

Newspaper article here

I don’t think there is any such cause & effect link between remorse and applying for a student job at Uni for while you are a student there.

Quite right. The very fact that he applied for the role is a huge red flag.

Just read the article. And whilst I still don’t think he should be in the role I was under the impression he had murdered a woman.

He disclosed his conviction so he’s been 100% honest and this situation isn’t really his fault imho.

Would you not self-exclude, though, and not apply in the first place? Whatever your own future good intentions might be, you would know that you've 'blotted your copybook' (to severely underexaggerate it) and so you would not be a suitable candidate straightaway, without needing to apply or consult anybody else in the first place.

If good, innocent men with no nefarious intentions whatsoever will nevertheless carefully cross the road at night to avoid frightening a lone woman who has no way of knowing they pose no harm, you would expect somebody who has done time in prison for strangling a woman to instantly realise their thorough unsuitability for this role.

If he's 100% reformed, he would now realise the clear honourable thing to do in protecting people's sense of safety and security in the light of his documented past. Reformed doesn't mean that the past didn't happen.

If he's not 100% reformed, well, how much more obvious could it be?

X-posted with others there.

The very fact that he applied for the role is a huge red flag.

THIS

Does anybody know the best course of complaint for this?

I would like to see that Cardiff University make tangible changes such as revision of policies and/or removal of key decision makers from their posts.

The fact that he declared his convictions and somebody thought it okay to give him this role cannot be left unadressed.

It has taken a journalist to bring this to light.

Otherwise, all the students living there would still be none the wiser.

Who on earth thought this was a good idea?! Are they just waiting for something awful to happen and then mutter an apology?
Absolutely shocking.

Jesus Christ. If my DC were at this university id be taking them straight out.

How on earth did this person get such a role after what they did?!! Talk about giving the fox access to the henhouse?!?!

I think, if you put your hands around somebody's neck in the first place, to the extent that they fear for their life, then whether they die or survive is often much more a matter of chance and circumstance, rather than any lessening of your own culpability or evil intent in the act.

Sounds like he tried and she survived ffs. Can you imagine how she feels knowing he is around young women, would you want your daughter there ? I’d be protesting and ensuring everyone had a handout on him including his photo, women matter!

I think that how people might react isn’t entirely predictable to someone who has spent 4 mos in prison on an ABH conviction…their only conviction in their life. It’s also not predictable which employers will find hiring a convict acceptable or not.

What we think is “honourable” or “common sense” a lot of people sadly lack and are genuinely oblivious to. So, I’m not going to ascribe nefarious intent on so little evidence. This man isn’t a career criminal with a long conviction sheet who has been in and out of prison. It’s more likely he is only now learning the impact of the conviction on his employability and future prospects.

IMHO, if he had nefarious intent, he would not have disclosed his conviction when he applied.

None of this changes the fact he should not have been hired for this role, and as a student he should be required to live off campus in a private rental- he should be excluded from mixed gender halls of residence.

Wtf people on here saying well he didn’t kill her, he just put his hands round her throat, ffs what is wrong with some people. Would you want him supporting your DD if she was feeling vulnerable?

surely safeguarding is to protect students from people like him?

Jesus christ I can't believe it.
What next Convicted pedophiles working in nurseries. 😡

He absolutely should not be in that role.

Someone at the university knew about his conviction and still approved this. That should never have happened.
The article didn't say (or perhaps I missed it), who the woman was. Was this a random woman he met walking down the street, or in a bar? Or was it someone he was in a relationship with?
I can imagine someone at the university saying something like "Well, he's done his time and the incident was part of a domestic involving his girlfriend so not likely to happen again with one of the students" if it was indeed something like that
I don't agree with this at all - he's dangerous and should not be in that role. Just trying to work out what the thought processes were that led to him being appointed to this role.

He really shouldn't have applied either. The judge said he needed psychiatric help and that there had been things in his difficult past which could have led to this happening and perhaps behaviours were coming out now which he had controlled well before the incident.

Wtf

Would you not self-exclude, though, and not apply in the first place? Whatever your own future good intentions might be, you would know that you've 'blotted your copybook' (to severely underexaggerate it) and so you would not be a suitable candidate straightaway, without needing to apply or consult anybody else in the first place.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll
Students taking on this role in Halls of residence pay vastly reduced rent. HOR are usually only available to 1st years but if someone takes this role they can usually stay on for 2nd and 3rd year too. He's likely done it secure his housing going forward.
But yes the typical student job in retail or in a pub would have been much more appropriate!

This was my exact thought. Hopefully they advertised this clearly at all the open days so parents and teens looking round were well aware from the very beginning and could make their choices with all the information available to them. You know ‘hmm Manchester Uni would involve having to bus to some classes as it’s an open campus, Lancaster Uni is a bit far out on that little campus so we’d have to travel for any nights out… but Cardiff have a known woman strangler working in the halls were I’d be living. Yes I’ll definitely cross that off.’

And regardless of the hows and whys of his conviction it really just does not matter. There’s so many people to choose from. Choose somebody who had never strangled any woman, not someone who did strangle a woman, but it was their girlfriend and they had a bad childhood.

You don't pass or fail a DBS check, your convictions are listed and your employer uses that to help decide whether to employ you or not.

This is outrageous.

Fair points, Discovereads.

Then again, all career criminals have to start somewhere, so we don't know whether it will be a one-off for which he feels extreme remorse or just the first of many.

But this one should surely?

Totally agree. This is outrageous!

Yes, agree which is why he should not have been hired and not be allowed to live in student halls of residence. I think the person who hired him should also lose their job- not just him. They have clearly had a lapse in judgement and that should not be overlooked.