Andrew Gilligan and MESMAC

[Popchyk]

Anyone seen this?

Sounds like something is going down:

twitter.com/mragilligan/status/1002245637872766976

Trying to summarise:

MESMAC is the sexual health charity in Leeds which also helps survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Heathcliffe Bowen, convicted paedophile, was a trustee of MESMAC.

MESMAC was criticised recently for saying that it was okay for staff members to have sexual relations with clients who came to the charity for help.

Andrew Gilligan is reporting today that Project Blast, for boys and young men affected by childhood sexual abuse, has been closed down by MESMAC.

Phil Mitchell, leader of the Blast project, who was warned by police about his harassment of a female academic who was critical of the project's methods, seems to be looking for another job today.

I suspect that we will be hearing more of this.

West Yorkshire Police - primarily known for their huge failures in the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. Can add that to the list as well.

"To all #Trans+ folk, who may be feeling angry, scared or attacked after last nights #GenderQuakeDebate Remember @yorkshiremesmac has got your back."

I know Rotherham was South rather than West Yorkshire but can it go on the list too please.

You watch Red Riding and think, surely they're exaggerating the extent of police corruption a bit, but then you start looking at the real place and if anything it looks like the author may have understated it.

If Green's ex was indeed on that force then that's interesting information to have.

Thanks for that post Popchyk good to have it all in one post! I was vaguely connecting the dots myself Leeds/Yorkshire/Savile/Ripper/Rotherham definitely seems to be a culture around that area that needs challenging!

Er, what's Red Riding?

Does anyone have a share token for this?
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/abuse-survivors-charity-yorkshire-mesmac-hit-by-sex-scandal-xbqb3hqbv

Red riding is a series on four (I think?), I've seen it mentioned a few times now - I do believe it has just come onto on demand, so I was planning on watching it.

Originally it was a series of books and then a TV series:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Peace#Red-Riding_Quartet

Very gritty stuff.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/abuse-survivors-charity-yorkshire-mesmac-hit-by-sex-scandal-xbqb3hqbv?shareToken=e534131a26136105657cdf427f34f5f5

Thanks beyond and naut

Ooo seen been is in it! Gonna stick it on my sky q right now...

The original article hasn't been changed. States that Mitchell was "warned by police about his behaviour". Which is exactly the language used by Staffordshire Police in their email to Jessica Eaton.

But this was subsequently added to the end of the article:

"After this article was published, Staffordshire police wrote to Phil Mitchell saying that he had received “advice” from them and not a formal warning. Mr Mitchell was asked, not ordered, by Mesmac to apologise to Jessica Eaton."

Not sure what Phil Mitchell is hoping to achieve here. By quibbling over the use of the word warned (which was the word used by the police in the email), he is just drawing attention to the fact that police were involved in his harassment of Eaton and that clearly he had something to apologise for.

AngryAttackKittens Our Netflix algorithm recently suggested 'Prime Suspect' & I've been slowly re-watching it. Its definitely worth it, an important reminder.

I'm halfway through 1980 now...

Thanks Popchyk

Private Eye might be very interested in this