Child abuser transitioned in prison and wiped his criminal record

[ArabellaScott]

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The very brave Ceri-Lee Galvin interviewed by Andrew Gold.

Content warning: CSA.

Ceri-Lee's abusive father was imprisoned, and transitioned while in prison. He gave permission for his daughter to be told:

'Had Bundy not given permission for Ceri-Lee to know his new identity — more power-play, and an example of his coercive and controlling tactics — neither she or the rest of her family would have had any idea that Bundy had “disappeared”, replaced by a woman called Claire.'

Bundy gained early release due to his transition, and shockingly, his new identity as a 'transwoman' meant that his crimes were erased from his record:

'Ceri-Lee wants the names of Clive Bundy and Claire Fox to be linked on official records. But the law requires us all to pretend that no such link exists — that, essentially, the convicted serial child sex offender no longer exists.'

https://unherd.com/2023/05/i-will-never-call-my-rapist-father-a-woman/

Thread from last year.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4809394-interview-with-ceri-lee-galvin

Article from Claire Fox, whose name Bundy took:

https://www.compactmag.com/article/a-trans-pedophile-stole-my-name/

More on the campaign to close the DBS loopholes:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transgender-applications

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-03-02/debates/ED5E97A9-95A3-47F2-9220-83EAC62AA856/ChangeOfNameByRegisteredSexOffenders

https://www.thesafeguardingalliance.org.uk/research-sex-offender-name-change/

Ceri-Lee is formidable. I admire her so much for waiving her right to lifelong anonymity as a child victim of serious sexual abuse to talk about the very serious issue of convicted offenders concealing their criminal records with a simple bit of admin and a charity shop blouse.

Well done to Andrew Gold for giving Ceri-Lee the opportunity to speak to a large audience in an extended format.

What an amazing person. Not being able to understand the cruelty of anyone who can do this to a child - well, that’s a normal reaction for most people. But then there’s the legislative cruelty of a state that backs these people to the hilt - that’s a whole other level of incomprehension and anger. I remember reading about Sarah Champion’s bill and wondering if stories like this lay behind it. If Ceri-Lee gets this law change she’s calling for, that will be an amazing achievement. But why on earth should she have to go through this?

I didn’t think the info on the DBS is correct. When completing a dbs (I did DBS checks for Girlguiding) you are meant to give your former names. Of course if you don’t then that’s when the system fails. But at least notionally there’s space for you to provide that info. For people claiming to be trans though they get to contact the DBS team and go through the ‘sensitive applications route’ so the organisation requiring the DBS doesn’t know what info is provided, and you won’t receive anything about previous names or registered genders. And if they don’t at that point provide DBS with their previous names? Then it fails. The big issue with the DBS system is the onus is on the sex offender to notify the authorities of any name changes so then it can be linked to their record. So of course they don’t. The second issue is that providing your NI number is only optional. If it was compulsory then it would negate all the issues around providing previous names as even if you change name or sex your NI number never changes. So it would be harder to hide previous convictions.

Keep Prisons Single Sex report on Trans DBS checks:
https://kpssinfo.org/dbs-checks-identity-verification/

DBS sensitive applications:
www.gov.uk/guidance/transgender-applications

Thanks, mb, for the clearer explanation of the DBS issue.

The curesnt situation renders a DBS check pretty much redundant. It absolutely needs reform.

You need the Irish system where everyone has a unique PPS (personal public services) number that is used on everything that interacts with the state: birth and death certificates, medical records, payslips, banking, taxes, driving license, criminal record, whatever. It does not change if someone self-certifies into a different gender.

Our government has done an awful lot wrong, but at least they got that right.

It's unbelievable isn't it.

If I were a headteacher and I knew about this loophole, this would make me extra wary about any trans male applying for a job (I'd be somewhat wary about any religious fundamentalist obvs, because schools aren't the place for proselytising).

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12295543/Daughters-fury-transgender-paedophile-father-quietly-released-prison.html

Here's an article picturing him. I hesitated to post because it is horrible to read men like this being referred to with female pronouns. However, if I lived in the Welsh Borders I'd want to know that a rapey paedo who should have never been released was living there.

KPSS recommended that a DBS uses a persons NI number, not just their name. There's no good reason not to implement this policy.

I've been saying this for years.

So many other countries insist on citizens and residents having a number and using it for pretty much everything, including the USA with its Social Security number.

Arguably this loophole is a very good reason for simply choosing not to hire someone you know is trans for any role requiring DBS clearance.

Sickening to read. And equally sickening to read DM constantly refer to him as ‘she’
Do they have to do this?? And says crime committed whilst ‘identifying as a man’
WTF
Ceri-Lee you brave brave woman. Thank you

I’m wondering if this has yet become law?

“A ban on sex offenders in England and Wales changing their name to avoid detection will be brought in, the government has confirmed.
Last year the BBC revealed more than 700 sex offenders had slipped off the radar of police over three years, many due to an identity change.
Labour MP Sarah Champion has been campaigning for the change, which has now been accepted by the Home Office.”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68986710.amp

The thing is, that even if sex offenders were banned from changing their names, you can bet your life there would be an exemption if they were trans.

Unfortunately there is a good reason not to do this, because despite what most people think, national insurance numbers are not unique. I don't know how many duplicates there are, but I have seen some and they lead to no end of issues.

So the UK system is crap not very well run.

Yet the USA, with a population of almost 336,000,000, has a Social Security number system that works.

In addition, you don't get one automatically, at birth (far as I know). Loads of people have to start working and use a temporary one.

Just watched this... It made me so angry! That woman is an absolute trooper.

NINOs are issued in the 3 months before you turn 16. By letter. We could use NHS numbers if the NHS didn’t let people pretend they were able to change sex 🙄

I can't find any if the articles/threads on this but I'm pretty sure the motion that went through parliament didn't directly address the trans issue, or left a loophole, or similar

https://unlock.org.uk/call-for-evidence-dbs-checks-transgender/

This does sound as though historic offences are disclosed, unless I've misunderstood? Which is what I was expecting to happen.

Does the DBS not catch people who've not included previous names? I feel like that's a major failure of the system if people known to be dishonest (convicted) have to be honest for us to be able to confirm their convictions.

You would think trans people would want this loophole gone, otherwise it would be wise to never trust DBS checks on trans people.

Ceri-Lee is so brave.

I'm so sorry she has to do interviews like this, because I'm sure it takes such a toll on her, but I admire her so much for fighting to protect other girls and women. The State is letting her, and others like her, down very badly.

I have lost count of the number of times I have told people a DBS check is only as good as the person being checked is honest. And criminals gonna crime. NINOs are only kept by HMRC and DWP, no other Government Department has access. Changes of name are logged, but again criminals gonna crime. If you want to hide or disappear, it is much easier than most of us honest people realise.

To clarify the OP: a new identity does not wipe a criminal record as held by police. That, as far as I'm aware, isn't affected by name changes.

The problem is with a DBS check, which may not show up crimes recorded under a different name.

This would be such an easy fix. Why don't they fix it?

So if these monsters who have committed abuse then want to live as women surely that is the absolutely perfect time to remove their genitals? Maybe if thats what they want one of the criteria is they lose their bits that make them a man?
Im so glad this poor woman who had to go through all of that has the strength to make this perverts sick game public.
But jeez he was an damn ugly man, he's an even uglier transvestite.