As doors slam shut in Rob's face and behind SOC, a new door opens for the next Archers editor. Are we expecting some New Tricks, or just Archenders?

[PseudoBadger]

Welcome one and all. No spoilers please!

Children's services would have initiated care proceedings if they had sufficient evidence to meet the threshold for Henry to be removed from Rob.

Catching up re outrage at sl contradictions and legal intricacies...

The legal system is a cumbersome and inflexible machine in rl. Now there is a whole body of evidence / a fuller picture the court can make ano informed decision.

In my experience the scenario is perfectly credible even if far from perfect. In the immediate aftermath of the stabbing an emergency snap decision must be made. When challenged and with space and time then the decision to leave H with his stepfather (the victim) in his own home with step granny helping as an interim measure based on a review of the available info at that time - pending further enquiries and a full hearing once the outcome of the criminal case is known is believeable too.
The final decision couldn't have been made prior to Helen's acquittal.
It would be very difficult for social services to bring care proceedings for the same reasons - the harm to H being considered as long term emotional harm - his removal would be difficult without a full hearing- and for better or worse a court had ruled and made a decision about the interim arrangements...
Hope that sort of explainstuff!

EXPLAINS!

It was quite a while before there was any evidence that R was abusive and anything other than the victim of an unstable wife. SWs get slated if they remove kids from innocent parents, don't they?

Very helpful Giddu. I was asking my mum about Henry yesterday as I was very surprised that Rob didn't get supervised visitation with Henry. She was a child protection SW for years and she said if she suspected pycological harm she would have to provide evidence from a child pycological who would have used play therapy to get the full picture out of Henry .

could school have played a role in henry's assessment?

The thing is, though, that the judge referred to there being a lot of evidence of damage to Henry and a number of instances of it in the social worker's report, which strongly suggests that the report must have referred to more than came out in the criminal trial, which in turn strongly suggests they knew about the evidence before the criminal trial. Surely they would have prepared a report well in advance of the residence hearing so that it would also have been available before the trial?

I would have thought also that the first thing the social worker would have done after the criminal trial was over would have been to go to see Helen to find out more about the rape allegations, and there's no suggestion at all that she's done that.

hah!
delicate!
unfortunate!

Ffs Pat, continue to infantilise Helen and perpetuate Rob's abuse why don't you?

Well that episode was frustrating! How can Justin still consider giving Rob a top management job?

And why isn't Pat encouraging Helen to get normality back again? Arghh!

Well I guess having Rob keep his job at Damara is one way for the SW to have Rob stay on in Ambridge.

I can see how Justin the businessman might not care about whether his employees like Rob or not, and also not care that he has lost custody of his stepson because he is a potential danger to him, but I thought this was a man so keen on being popular in the local area that he employs Lilian as his social secretary. 🤔

So presumably something is going to happen between now and mid-November when Rob is supposed to start at Damara? Either that or he's going to start there and it's all going to unravel about fiddling the books, Stefan etc etc.

Yes Cold Tea, I really didn't understand the whole thing about Pat discouraging Helen from driving again.

It's as if part of Pat is still Pat Bot

Did pat say 'but Helen, you know you're not quite capable of driving. Rob agrees with me...'

when Justin was talking about unspent convictions I thought Rob's assurances were rather over-eager

I guess Rob hasn't been charged with anything officially. Rob will presumably be on probation so could be got rid of easily enough

It's just bizarre that Justin is happy to employ someone who has been accused publicly by two women of coercive control and multiple rape. Even more so when he's in a relationship with the aunt of one of the victims. But with any luck something will happen before Rob starts the job, like a charge of coercive control or Charlie asking WTF and spilling the beans.

Have I got this right?

Pat or Tony (or both) are going to have to give up three hours every Sunday to supervise Rob's contact with Jack?

Sounds like hell to me. Won't they ever be able to go anywhere else?

I agree Lady. Not to mention putting him in a managerial position over the cousin of one of the victims........

Just hope Jennifer will have something to say to Justin regarding his choice of manager. I've given up on Lilian.

pearfruit I just meant it would have been fantastic trolling on Kirsty's part. And only the beginning of payback for leaving her at the altar. I know she is mature and above all that. Clearly I'm not though ;)

Justin isn't a fool. Rob is almost certainly disabled under the equality act, has not been found guilty if anything or even charged. He would have a potential discrimination case against damara if Justin withdrew the offer.

I think Justin has stalled pending further developments - he is playing the long and smart game in my opinion.

So that bit of the Rob/Justin conversation about lack of criminal convictions is a clear indication that something will come to light in future. Am I right in thinking that cautions only stay on your record for three years? And presumably Canadian convictions wouldn't show up on a CRB.

Is Rob's op to remove the stoma? Being able to do farm work a month after that is ambitious I think. Also he's now dropped Henry completely from his calculations 'I'm here for my son' (singular).

I like any eps with Rob - he's such a good actor and hearing him grovelling to Justin was great.

Yes, so much for Rob's love of Henry. He doesn't seem to miss him.

Good point Bertrand. Rob managing Adam. Hmmm.

Yes, Rob's a bit like 'Henry who?'. And why doesn't Pat want Helen driving? It does seem a bit controlling