AIBU to think that if you email a pic of your genitals to a child, then you are indeed a "sick paedo"?

[MmeLindor.]

I am shocked that the Times journalist Graham Spiers's posts on Twitter.

GrahamSpiers Graham Spiers
Everyone condemns what Craig Thomson has done. But he is no ?sick paedo? and the rest of it. This is what the internet does to kids today.
3 hours ago Favorite Undo Retweet Reply

GrahamSpiers Graham Spiers
I feel sorry for Hearts? Craig Thomson, as deplorable as his actions have been. This kid, in the internet age, took a dire wrong turning.
3 hours ago

He later said that he is not defending the Hearts player, who has been put on the sex offenders register for emailing young girls story here

From that article it is clear that the footballer was grooming the girls, that he knew for sure how old they were. How can anyone say that he "took a wrong turn".

This is the article Saltire linked to which outlines quite how much Hearts did not give a shit about any potential victims.

I'm generally not a 'OMG there are paedos everywhere' person as I hope people know but this has really angered me.

that article is an eye-opener about how elite athletes (including footballers) are put on a pedestal and can do no wrong

sickening

ChristinedePizan
Thanks for link. It's not good. Don't they have policies in place for various forms of misconduct? It's beyond belief that they would ignore it. Children attend the bloody matches, get parents to spend money on merchandise. Aren't they suppose to be child-friendly?

OMG!! Compare that attitude in that article to the one Toscana describes. how could they possibly justify continuing to send him in to teach underage children PE?

Farking hell

The sad thing is that he shows absolute typical paedophile behaviour.

• being in a position of trust and authority

• deliberately seeking positions where he would have contact to young children

• contacting impressionable children who would be blended by his "fame" and not want to rock the boat by saying anything to their parents

• grooming the girls over a period of years

One of the reports mentioned another girl, but he was not convicted on those charges. Wouldn't surprise me if there were more.

We had a fascinating talk by members of the Child Porn/Abuse Police Squad when I was in Germany, and these are some of the methods that they described.

The dirty old man flashing kids is not your typical - or even the most dangerous - paedophile.

He is an absolutely classic "dirty peedo" isn't he?

I'm not that surprised that attempts are made to minimise his behaviour though. Professional football isn't exactly a place that's full of respect for women or children. Using prostitutes, having orgies, grooming children... you can do anything to a woman or a child, as long as you can kick a ball in the net. We must get our priorities right, after all.

It beggars belief that the club knowingly exposed children to this peadophile.

If he'd been grooming boys, I suspect they wouldn't have.

What a fucking creep.

And I cannot believe anyone would defend his actions! Shocking that his club were initially 'behind him'. Bastards.

Of course he is a paedophile. A sick and horrid man and a danger to children. Twat.

But Herbex grooming boys is a scandalous crime. Grooming girls: a mistake.

There must be a huge aspect that is financial. A club invests money in a player and hopes to reap the future financial rewards and that is prioritised ahead of everything. Football as a sport is all about the money now, I suppose. Hearts isn't a massive club but it is a business. But it's hard to understand why they wouldn't want to avoid negative publicity like this even if the bosses didn't care about the actual facts of the case.

Oops.. X-post. That was directed at HerBeX not you dittany

Graham Spiers, should actually be questioned by police re his comments defending a convicted paedophile, because make no bones about it, he 'was' defending him.

The other frightening thing in this case, is the fact that Spiers refers to 'taking a wrong turn' which is very very worrying indeed, as Spiers is fully aware that Thomson ''knew'' his victims, and 100% new exactly what age they were.

For an experienced journalist to make this statement is actually quite astonishing, and begs an obvious question . 'has Spiers himself taken a so called wrong turn before?'

Not an accusation in any shape or form...but most definately a relevant question based on the fact that this man has been convicted of a crime, has admitted it, it did involve very underage children, he has been put on the sex offenders register, and he did know the ages of his victims, in fact not just their ages, but knew them..

I think Spiers is treading on very dangerous ground here, and at the very least, he has taken a major 'wrong turn' even if maybe only in journalistic terms.

So Mr Spiers, i think you should think very very hard about where you end up over this piece you have written, and correct your 'wrong turn' by making an almighty U Turn before it's too late.

KT