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

For those who are minimising by saying he didn’t actually kill her so it’s all ok, he damaged her eye and neck if you read the link.

Sounds like a cock-up which the university is in the process of rectifying.

It always seems to me that universities think they are bullet proof and don't need to have any regard for - well - anyone. Look at Warwick. I hope the mainstream press picks up on this - even the Daily Mail would be welcome in this instance ...

YANBU!! This should never have been allowed to happen.

Strangulation is a very personal and deliberate act of violence - it's not like (forgive me - I'm not trying to minimise any assault) punching someone, or even randomly stag=bbing.

For strangulation he has to be in close physical contact, and exerting a great deal of physical force for a length of time, against someone who is literally fighting for their life. It is deliberate and horribly intimate.

This is a very dangerous man

*stabbing - sorry, dog knocked my arm

Whoever employed him should be sacked and permanently banned from working in education themselves.

Sorry to ruin your day @Cantthinkofanewnameatm but you evidently haven't read about the Mermaids scandal. Not wishing to derail this thread but there's currently a major problem with the lack of safeguarding children and young people from all sorts of highly dodgy people:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4656455-mermaids-being-investigated-by-the-charity-commission-thread-3

Or even about Educate & Celebrate's charmer (Jordan Gray) who they think is appropriate to talk to 4 years olds in primary schools about sexual identity:

twitter.com/cheesycuban/status/1584082381874421760?s=46&t=BziyNG6ZgvrmHOLryNQOOw

The situation for women in our universities is grim.

YANBU. A risk to all students, especially at times of vulnerability. And what a role model to male students! Thank you for bringing this to our attention, OP.

And one conviction does not mean this is the only time he has assaulted someone. I'd go as far as to say it is very unlikely to be the only time.

Getoff People often get less intolerant as they get older I find, you say he's forty maybe the women before this poor women fawned over him and did what he wanted. Maybe she was the one to stand up to poor behaviour for the first time and he didn't like it. What if it's a precedent what if a women he considers difficult does the same? Young students can be wonderful but also annoying and needy at times! Oh and it certainly wasn't a game for his victim. She could even have ongoing lifetime eye issue, while he been getting preferential roles, all care of Cardiff Uni

My daughter wants to go to Cardiff. She's autistic, and would most likely be seeking support.

This is a disgrace, that someone who is clearly a danger to woman is part of the support system.

His conviction isn't even spent, and he still has an active injunction against him. What are the university thinking.

What I am saying out loud.
Very very glad my dd did not take up her offer from Cardiff.

I was a psychology lecturer. A friend of mine ditto in criminology. We always get some students who, when on the course, turn out to be doing it for personal reasons.

On both courses they have unresolved issues and believe that the degree will magically cure them. Or that they will gain a deeper understanding of why they are the way they are or why they did what they did. Many who started for these reasons drop out when they discover it's a difficult academic programme which doesn't spend three years dealing solely with their issue. Or try to dominate every tutorial turning it round to themselves. Though some do get into it properly and can end up being very successful.

My guess, based on my experience, is that he has had a 'come to Jesus' moment and believes (note I say believes) that what he did has given him greater insight than most people into what it means to be vulnerable. Or similar.

I wouldn't have employed him and would have made a lot of noise if I'd worked there.

I don't get the thought process for whoever appointed him to this role. Like, they must have thought 'yes, this is him, this our man for this role'.....

There's pressure in some public sector areas to recruit prison leavers (not actively asking about convictions at recruitment stage).

I work in a large central government department that now recruits with that approach and there is someone new in our team that some of us feel uneasy around. Could just be his different personality or could be more sinister but we have no way of knowing.

At the uni I work at this role wouldn't be DBS checked. Residential assistants are students themselves and do about 10 hours a week on average term time only taking on this role.

As he was a student, they may not have known about his previous conviction, he should have declared it on his application form, but he obviously didn't I would assume, and you can't mitigate for that if you are not requiring DBS checks.

Let's hope Cardiff Uni now sack his arse!

We went to the summer one too...took us about an hour to rule it out and head off for lunch and have heard several worrying things about the place since.

Quick tip for anyone still doing open days - try and get a copy of the student magazine or newspaper as they are written by the students and not trying to sell the place.

One that we picked up had a front page article about poorly the uni had dealt with student who reported a serious secual assault during Freshers Week the previous year. We rules it out for other reasons but that certainly didn't help.

How many stranglings would be too many, in your view ?
i would hazard a guess that the fact this is his first conviction for violence against women , even though he is 40, is his luck, rather than a first incidence of violence . Vanishingly unlikely that he has only now, in middle age, taken up violence against women as you so nicely put it “a hobby”.
ffs

Sorry sexnotgender the quote I am referring to is the one you are also commenting on, rather than your response, which I totally agree with.
It looks as though I am criticising you !

How on earth has he gott the job? Have they ignored enhanced DBs checks?

(and the Pres and Vice Pres of the SU could barely string two words together - I sat there astounded they were considered the brightest and best..)

The vast majority of students don’t care about student politics so they are picked from a very small pool of interested students who are normally very woke. The local uni a few years ago couldn’t manage to get enough students to stand for most officer positions at their SU and the few there were stood unopposed. However, don’t be surprised when the two specimens you saw enter mainstream politics....

Jesus Christ. They’ve just totally disregarded the safety of young female students. Women don’t matter do they?

This is soooooo out of order I don’t know what ANYONE at Cardiff university was thinking of.

I know, as a university lecturer, just how widespread sexual harassment and assault are in universities. Young women need to feel safe in their home.

The fact he even chose to apply for this type of job in the first place would suggest that, at the very least, he has a staggering lack of self-awareness or remorse and at the worst he deliberately wanted to enter a role where he had access to women as potential future victims.

This.

wtf?

I'm all for rehabilitation and fresh starts, but this has got "re-offending" written all over it.