Andrew Gilligan Times: 'Green high-flyer Aimee Challenor hid father’s rape charges' David Challenor 'A paedophile rapist posed a “major safeguarding risk” for almost two years'

[R0wantrees]

(extract)
"A paedophile rapist posed a “major safeguarding risk” to young Green Party members for almost two years because one of the party’s rising stars did not clearly tell colleagues that the man had been charged with serious sex crimes.

An independent investigation has found that Aimee Challenor, a transgender activist and candidate for the Greens’ deputy leadership, committed a “serious error of judgment” by appointing her father, David, as her agent at two elections even as he faced trial for kidnapping, raping and torturing a 10-year-old girl.

The inquiry, by the investigations consultancy Verita, criticised the Greens for treating the matter “primarily as a communications one” and “failing to see the safeguarding issues that arise”. The party’s “support for diversity” did not remove the need for someone like Aimee Challenor to have proper “training and support” in a leadership role, the investigators said.

A 17-page summary of the report was quietly published last week. However, the full 80-page report, seen by The Sunday Times, is more critical. It says Challenor, the Greens’ equality spokeswoman, had been guilty of a “serious omission” by not telling her local party and most national officials about her father’s charges.

Challenor blamed her autism for not doing so and told the inquiry: “At the end of the day you can’t go about telling every Tom, Dick and Harry.” The investigators said they found it “hard to understand some of Aimee’s actions and explanations”.

The omission allowed David Challenor to run his daughter’s office and mix with young activists and members’ children at events that included a picnic only weeks before his trial.

A jury at Warwick crown court convicted Challenor of holding his victim captive in the attic of the family home. He was jailed for 22 years for the series of offences." (continues)

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/green-high-flyer-hid-father-s-rape-charges-kdhrfhll3

current thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3474311-Veritas-report-due-tomorrow-Thursday-at-midday-re-Aimee-Challenor

There's a link to it on the Veritas thread.

Does anyone know when Aimee was appointed to the Stonewall Trans Advisory Group? Surely safeguarding must have arisen there??? Or not.

Just trying to establish if the ignorance about safeguarding “defence” causes Stonewall issues if it overlaps with when appointed by them.

Thanks for the share token.
It was a lot shorter than I’d expected and I thought it ended quite abruptly.
Agree with previous poster - I smell lawyers.

The lack of mention of Stonewall is telling.

It is. Stonewall have links to all political parties and so many organisations, including children's organisations.

There's a danger that this is just seen as a green party problem when it's much, much wider than that.

Is there any explanation of how autism in itself makes you unable to understand safeguarding, and what support in this regard A.C. is now expecting from the organisations they are now involved with?

Agreed I would usually have expected a political candidate with autism to be much more stringent than most about applying safeguarding rules. But I guess that's a stereotype.

The attic stairs picture I thought smacked much more of the Opositional Defiance Disorder that the candidate mentioned they had at one point been diagnosed with. A kind of 'eff you all' move. Not unfortunately a good reaction to such s serious matter.

I wonder if anyone with a share token would post a thread in Chat or AIBU? There are plenty of MN with links to guides/scouts who may never venture into here. I'm off to buy a Sunday Times at the garage.

Maybe there will be a follow up story looking at where AC has also provided advice.....

Redtoothbrush
Quietcontrarymary posted a link the other day. Hope this works! Am new to this
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/a3474311-Veritas-report-due-tomorrow-Thursday-at-midday-re-Aimee-Challenor#84022620

Amelia Womack, Green Party representative, at the Fawcett Society's 'Ask Her To Stand' conference Q&A July 2018

transcribed by Anlaf on thread:
"Audience member
Hello, I’m , my question is about the all women shortlists. Most of the all women shortlists are open to anyone who identifies as a woman. So in theory, taking this to this ultimate theorisable end, all women shortlists could be composed of all transwomen, which means parliament could see 50% male representatives, MPs and 50% transwomen MPs. Would everyone be happy with that as fair representation?

(extract)
AW : on the point of transwomen – I absolutely believe that transwomen are women as well, and if we begin our movement as women with eliminating and trying to sideline women as part of the movement then I don’t understand how we can enforce the systems that we ourselves have been victim to for so long on another group. Because when I work with trans women, when we work with women on an intersectional basis , we all have different experiences of what it is to be a women – a woman, and transwomen are just one section of the different experiences that every single one of us have , because none of us have experienced being a woman in this world in the same way, whether that’s because of our intersectional aspects of being working class or being disabled or being a woman of colour, we all experience the patriacrchy, we’ve all experienced these issues in very different ways, and that’s why it’s important that every single aspect of engaging women is intersectional and engages trans women as well."

This was when Sal Brinton LibDem answered she woould be happy with the aspirational 50/50 parliament split being 50% male MPs and 50% male transwomen MPs

also on the panel, Dawn Butler (Labour), Maria Miller (Conservative). Sophie Walker (WEP) Alison Thewliss (SNP)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3310443-Fawcett-Society-Live-stream-from-5-30pm-Courage-Calls-Ask-her-to-stand

I would like to hear more of the critical parts of the leaked report.

The summary they released was weak as anything and easily shown to not be thorough enough as it took at face value things which Aimee said which could be shown to be lies within 5 minutes on Google.

Does anyone know when Aimee was appointed to the Stonewall Trans Advisory Group? Surely safeguarding must have arisen there??? Or not

September 2018 thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3355712-Aimee-Challenor-Stonewall

Comment from thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3355084-Aimee-Challenor-Quits

"There is a summary of the AC story. together with sources and illustrations.

It covers the family background, political career, involvement in trans activism, evidence of sexual proclivities, links to Stonewall and aftermath of the public "outing". In other words, the details and full picture.

infogalactic.com/info/Aimee_Challenor#Family_Background

I note that there has been a collective sharp intake of breath from members of the Green Party, once they have seen it and shared it on Twitter.

And there are still some who are screeching and telling people not to read it because it was written by a transphobe."

6/9/2018 Janice Turner The Times
(extract)

"Double standards
Here’s a scenario. What would happen if a Tory parliamentary candidate employed a close relative as his election agent who he knew was about to stand trial for a ghastly crime, the rape of a ten-year-old girl, for which he is subsequently jailed for 22 years?

I’d guess it would be a political scandal. Conservative HQ would demand to know why it wasn’t told. For bringing the party into grave disrepute, the candidate would be expelled. Moreover, when the crime details emerged — that the child was kidnapped and tortured with electrical cables in an attic — company boards and charities would scrub the candidate’s name from their letterheads. His political career would be dead.

This exact scenario happened in the Green Party, as the candidate and trans rights activist Aimee Challenor kept silent about her agent/father, David. But it took days and much public pressure before the party even gave her a no-fault suspension. (She later quit, meaning she won’t have to co-operate with an internal inquiry.)

So what of Stonewall? Will the LGBT charity keep Challenor on its trans advisory panel? Surely someone capable of such a grotesque misjudgment should not be formulating official policy. I asked and apparently she will: “Aimee,” said Stonewall, “is a valued member of this team.” Why do the usual rules of probity and decency not apply?"

thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3357271-Janice-Turners-column-in-the-Times

Perhaps he could take it further and list the charities, lobby groups and institutions that Aimee (who clearly has no knowledge of safeguarding) has had hand advising policy on

Maybe we could put our own list together - if we haven't done it already?

www.filehosting.org/file/details/775409/Final%20Verita%20report%20-%20January%202019.pdf

Full report is also here

29/8/2018 Left Foot Forward article by Josh Mortimer:
'Greens launch investigation after former deputy leader candidate’s father convicted for child rape
Equalities spokesperson and deputy candidate appointed father as election agent after he had been charged with multiple offences.'
(extract)
"A former party worker said spokespeople were asked to declare anything that could bring the party into disrepute when they were appointed in 2016.

Some Green party figures have questioned Aimee Challenor’s judgement, both in appointing her father as agent and failing to inform the party of the charges he faced.

Richmond councillor Andree Frieze said on Twitter: “I hope the victim will be able to recover from these horrendous experiences and am thankful she was brave enough to speak out. I am deeply concerned about Aimee Challenor’s lack of judgment regarding David Challenor.”

A party staffer told this site: “If this was happening with any other party then we would be calling for resignations. Instead we are ‘supporting’…the individuals concerned.”

The Young Greens – of which Aimee is a member – and the Young Liberals (the youth branch of the Lib Dems) offered her their ‘solidarity‘, arguing some had used the issue to promote transphobia."

leftfootforward.org/2018/08/green-party-launch-investigation-following-rape-conviction-of-deputy-leader-candidates-father-aimee-challenor/

Could someone link to the photo of Aimee posing on the attic stairs?

chatty

Here is the link. The original Twitter post was accompanied with a girl guides badge, or motif, (can't quite remember).

mobile.twitter.com/lilylilymaynard/status/1045326441553031168

www.instagram.com/aimeechallenor/p/Bn6ryAfhVHG/

Or instagram post. I'm not on either. So saw it elsewhere entirely.

I’ve definitely seen a different photo from that one datun with a girl guide badge. So it would seem AC has recreated that photo more than once
I would have liked to see all of ACs other roles mentioned esp links to stonewall but as others have said maybe there are legal reasons why this hasn’t been mentioned. It really should be though.

OrchidInTheSun

What was the link from that picture to the girl guides? I definitely remember it, but it was a little opaque, if I recall correctly. But it's not on that Instagram post.

If anyone wants to get the full lowdown, kiwi farms have an extensive posting. Take wine.

Could the Greens remind us who has lost their senior position in the party as a result of the appalling findings of this investigation?

Apart from Green Party electoral agent David Challoner? who is now serving 22 years in prison for rape and sexual torture of a child, conducted in his family home over a period of time- all thanks to the unimaginable bravery of the child who reported it, and the police, who found the evidence?

What have the Greens themselves actually changed as a result of this?

Theswaggyotter

Yes, I'm wondering if they have changed the photo. It wouldn't be surprising.

Yes I think there was a girl guide badge in the corner of the photo or something. It is probably on kiwifarms - they are scrupulous about backing stuff up (but yes take brain bleach - I was awake for hours the other night reading some of the threads on there)