Parents please beware - gumtree shocking news

[hinnigan01]

Parents please be very wary about looking for a nanny privately on sites such as gumtree etc. Its sadly quite easy to fake references, especially if parents are unsure of what to look for : here is the shocking article, the comments below the article from people are very true.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2237486/Red-Saunders-Chilling-words-paedophile-advertised-babysitter-Gumtree.html

But hisnprevious offended would have shown up on a CRB check- why did parents accept "it's on it's way"?

Nothing to do with gumtree- nasty person, stupid employees.

This has got nothing to do with Gumtree.

If you employ someone to look after your children without checking their references or their CRB, you're an idiot.

What a shame and disgrace

makes it harder for people to use gumtree (not to blame) and for genuine childminders.

We can't jump to conclusions on the little information we get from the news article and presume the parents were stupid. He could have easily said that his CRB was being processed or awaiting from an agency and given a false number/name of agency that was really him? he did give references and they were all false, again this is sadly easy to do. Gumtree has to be blamed partly as it is unregulated and no prior checks are done on any nanny on there. So parent who are in-experienced with hiring , may miss something. Bad people like this can be very cunning , clever and charismatic and easily fool parents who are not used to recruiting. If he gave numbers for everything and the right answers, some parents would be fooled.
It has something to do with Gumtree as in experienced Agency recruiters would have found him out no doubt and secondly he wouldn't have gone with an Agency for this reason. So un-regulated sites like Gumtree allow these horrible people gaps in the net to slip through and they take advantage of parents naivety/in-experience to hiring nannies.

Nice.

The parents are already suffering from having allowed this 'man' into the lives of their daughters.

Do we really have to call them stupid?

They were naive, perhaps and too trusting. And I'm sure they blame themselves already.

The person to blame is the bastard who committed the crime. Not the parents.

'He could have easily said that his CRB was being processed '

Well then you don't employ him until it comes through. Simple.

'he did give references and they were all false, again this is sadly easy to do'

Check references. Simple.

'Gumtree has to be blamed partly as it is unregulated and no prior checks are done on any nanny on there'

Gumtree is quite clear that they don't check references or anything like that. It is for use by people that want to check CRB's and references themselves and not pay an egency to do it. If you don't want to/can't check yourself don't use Gumtree, but you can't blame them if you take on the task yourself and then can't/don't do it properly.

Your child, your responsibility.

Yes he was devious etc. However, recruiting a random person off gum tree without taking up references and without crb check is not advised. He is a horror but sadly the children were put at risk through poor decisions made by their parents.

Gum tree are not to blame but it is probably best to recruit nannies through more appropriate route eg nanny resourcing specialists.

very harsh response .

we don't know what he said to get himself that job, I'm sure the parents felt they did everything they needed to do , to enable them to offer him the position.
They did check his references and he had friends or himself providing fake references, he could easily have done the same with pretending to be an agency who is holding his CRB.
Some people are just a bit too trusting, doesn't mean they are stupid. Recruiting a nanny to look after your children isn't as easy as it sounds. There are alot of loop holes that you can do if you are not the person who you are trying to say you are. You can not blame people for being succumbed by these nasty, often clever people.
Yes, most people know not to employ someone unless you have seen their CRB, but who knows what story he spun?
Its just scary and shows we have to be more careful when recruiting people to look after our children.

sorry meant to say harsh response from OutragedfromLeeds

The Daily Mail can't talk : how long is their sidebar of shame, and how creepy and leering-at-young-flesh is it?!

If the DM had carried the advert would they be blamed?
Can publishers really be blamed, they provide a service to display adverts. As long as the advert is legal, the publisher can't be blamed - can they?

'You can not blame people for being succumbed by these nasty, often clever people.'

Maybe not, but you definitely can't blame Gumtree.

'Its just scary and shows we have to be more careful when recruiting people to look after our children'

True. Again not the fault of Gumtree.

'harsh response from OutragedfromLeeds '

Harsh response to the idea that this is in any way Gumtree's fault. My sympathies are with these children and their parents. Blaming Gumtree is ridiculous and deserves a harsh response.

I recruit staff to work with vulnerable older people. If you are employing someone for a role with children or vulnerable adults it is absoloutely essential you have a full life time career history with no gaps that cannot be accounted for and verified. you should ask for references and contact all employers directly over the previous 10 years. You should also have an enhanced CRB check prepared before the person starts work. Gumtree is just an advertising vehicle, you might not do any better with The Times.

outraged with Leeds, were your sympathies with the parents when you called them 'stupid'
I'm not blaming gumtree fully for the horrible situation, I'm saying where gumtree on any other private adverts are to blame, is aslong as there are un-regulated websites allowing parents to find nannies for there children privately, then nasty people with bad intentions will always find loop holes to be able to do such horrible acts and this unfortunately may not be the last case. There will be parents who are in-experienced and not sure what to look for or who will be cleverly bluffed by such people whilst this way of recruiting is available. Gumtree is great for selling your tv, settee etc, but maybe not the place to find childcare?? although not everyone can afford Agencies , so I understand there is a use for such sites. It's just how to keep them safe?. Also CRB's aren't going alway's prevent this as it could be the person's first offense.

apologies OutragedwithLeeds, you weren't the poster that called them stupid, it was idiots you called them

'outraged with Leeds, were your sympathies with the parents when you called them 'stupid'

Firstly, I said if you employ someone to look after your children without checking their references or their CRB, you're an idiot. I don't know that's what they did. If they did that they made a stupid mistake and yes I have sympathy for people who make stupid mistakes.

'where gumtree on any other private adverts are to blame'

They are not to blame. We have to assume responsibility for ourselves.

'Also CRB's aren't going alway's prevent this as it could be the person's first offense. '

So a nanny from an agency could also be a paedophile then? So your argument about Gumtree/private ads is nonsense?

This isn't Gumtree's fault.

The man posed as his brother and used his brothers details to gain crb and what every registration he needed.

Not gumtrees fault
Not the parents fault
Not the brothers fault

This is the mans fault for doing what he did and possibly could look at how someone living in our communities with pasts like this are not listened and have their movements restricted indefinitely.

I'm not blaming gumtree, if you read over my posts you will read where I'm saying how gumtree because it is an un-regulated site someone had slipped through the net, it's not gumtree's fault and you are right they are most certainly not to blame for what happened, but it is why it was possible and did give this guy an opportunity to prey on naive families. I don't believe he would have been accepted by any reputable nanny agency due to experienced recruiters spotting the fake references or like I said , he would not have gone through an agency. Sadly anybody could be a paedophile. You just have to be as careful as you can when recruiting a nanny for your children . In my opinion nanny's who choose agency's to represent them are the least unlikely to be anything other than they say they are and if they do , I believe they will be found out? but that's just my opinion.

ahhh, that answers the question of how he got a CRB. thanks for clearing that up.

you're right TET

it's scary how they can live openly in our communities

'In my opinion nanny's who choose agency's to represent them are the least unlikely to be anything other than they say they are and if they do , I believe they will be found out? but that's just my opinion. '

You should watch the episode(s) of panaorama where they did secret filming in nanny agencies.

I would argue it is best to recruit privately because then you know that they have been checked (because you've done it yourself), you have seen their CRB yourself and you're not relying on someone else to check for. There are good agencies certainly. There are also agencies who don't bother to check/don't bother to check properly. How do parents know which is which?

Reliance on CRB checks is arguably even more stupid than hiring a nanny via gumtree, if we are portioning blame.

I don't think we should blame anyone other than that sick individual.

That report is sickening :( poor family