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UK abuse victims ‘let down by institutional failings’ after police
‘distrusted’ their allegations against Labour peer Lord Janner
19 Oct, 2021 12:46
© REUTERS / Toby Melville
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) has found that UK children abused by late Labour peer Lord Janner were “let down by institutional failings,” with authorities “reluctant” to properly investigate their claims.
The IICSA’s report, released on Tuesday, investigated the response to allegations of child sexual abuse levelled against Greville Janner, later known as Lord Janner of Braunstone, receiving information from 33 alleged complainants, who said the allegations “spanned three decades.”
Having previously served as a Labour MP in Leicester from 1970-1997, Lord Janner had been accused of 22 allegations of child sex abuse against nine different underage boys between the 1960s and 1980s. He repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“The complainants in two police investigations (Operation Magnolia in 2000 and Operation Dauntless in 2006) into child sexual abuse allegations made against Lord Janner were let down by institutional failings,” the report concluded.
Alongside the failings in the police, Leicestershire County Council was accused of “a sorry record of failures in relation to the sexual abuse of children in its care in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.” The IICSA outlined how “almost all of the complaint core participants” who reported allegations to the inquiry were under the care of Leicestershire County Council’s residential care system. The council conceded to the IICSA that “it failed to take adequate steps in response” to concerns.
Leicestershire Police has previously offered a “wholehearted apology” for its failures, accepting that “earlier police investigations were not responded to as they should have been by police and other institutions.”
Lord Janner passed away in 2015, at the age of 87, having been deemed unfit to stand trial. His family stated in April 2015, in response to the decision by the CPS to not prosecute wrongdoing, that “Lord Janner is a man of great integrity and high repute with a long and unblemished record of public service.” The IICSA did not examine whether the allegations were true or otherwise.
The IICSA was established in 2014 by then-Home Secretary Theresa May to explore how abuse allegations were handled in the UK. It followed the investigations into Jimmy Savile and the subsequent concerns raised about the treatment of allegations made against high-profile media and political individuals. As a statutory inquiry, it has the power to compel witnesses to testify, implement legal safeguards, and impose limits on the government’s control over the inquiry.
Editor-in-Chief of Germany's Top Tabloid - Bild, Abused Junior Girls
Sexual Misconduct of Top Axel Springer Editor Has a Long History
Julian Reichelt has been ousted as editor-in-chief of Germany's largest tabloid, Bild,
after allegations of sexual misconduct. Foto: Marco Urban
By Marcus Engert, Katrin Langhans, Juliane Löffler, Daniel Drepper, Isabell Hülsen, Alexander Kühn, Martin U. Müller and Anton Rainer - der Speigel
As written, the messages could have come from a lover. Their author, though, wasn’t a boyfriend, but Julian Reichelt, the editor-in-chief of Bild, Germany’s largest tabloid. And the woman on the receiving end was just starting her career in journalism. The messages mostly came at night, though sometimes also from editorial meetings. And they were quite intimate. "Still awake?” one said. Or: "I want to feel your body.”
The fact that Reichelt’s interactions with younger colleagues is at least questionable has been known since March. It was revealed that month that the Axel Springer publishing house – which publishes Bild and owns both Insider (formerly Business Insider) and, since this summer, Politico – had initiated an investigation into Reichelt. DER SPIEGEL was the first to report on that investigation.
On Monday, half a year later, the publisher finally took action. As the company said in a press release, Axel Springer has stripped Julian Reichelt of his responsibilities, effective immediately. "As a result of press investigations, the company gained new knowledge in the last few days about Julian Reichelt’s recent conduct,” it said. Some of that reporting came from DER SPIEGEL, which confronted the company with new findings on Monday – on the heels of a damning story in the New York Times on Sunday. According to the Springer statement, the board learned that Julian Reichelt – even after the end of the compliance proceedings in spring 2021 – had "still failed to maintain a clear boundary between private and professional matters and was also untruthful to the Executive Board in this regard.”
DER SPIEGEL has learned that there was, in fact, another sexual relationship between Reichelt and a colleague subordinate to him. Sources at Springer say there were clear indications, and clear evidence, that Reichelt had lied about the relationship during the spring compliance proceedings and that he also did not end the relationship after those proceedings. That breach of trust is the reason given for the termination of his employment.
Sources say that Reichelt was confronted by the board directly and relieved of his duties. Reichelt declined comment on the new allegations.
The allegations against Reichelt were already rather significant this past spring: abuse of power, the mixing of professional and personal relationships with colleagues, the abuse of power in his relationship with women employees at Bild. But after an approximately two-week absence, Reichelt returned to his job to the bafflement – and, in some cases, horror – of many people on the editorial staff. The only visible change: Reichelt had been relieved of his job as chairman. And he was joined by a co-editor-in-chief.
There is much more on this story at Speigel International.
Champ boxer jailed for violating probation over assault on
woman in nightclub by skipping booze treatment program
22 Oct, 2021 11:31
© Instagram / abthewavegod
Twelve days after being arrested as a fugitive, a troubled ex-boxing champ has reportedly been jailed in the US for failing to join an alcohol treatment program as part of his probation terms for assaulting a woman at a nightclub.
A judge in Cleveland put former four-division world champion Adrien Broner behind bars for the probation violation following a hearing earlier this week, according to Cleveland.
But there could be more trouble around the corner for the 32-year-old, who challenged Manny Pacquiao for the WBA welterweight title in 2019 and was last seen in the ring in February during an unconvincing points win over Jovanie Santiago that ended a two-year hiatus.
On October 26, another judge at the same court will decide whether or not to detain him in contempt for failing to co-operate in a civil lawsuit the same woman is said to have filed against him.
In that case, an arrest warrant had to be issued for Broner after he failed to show up for a deposition this summer and a contempt hearing, while failing to co-operate with discovery orders.
Broner, whose ring name is 'The Problem', was arrested less than two weeks ago in Kentucky as a fugitive over warrants pertaining to each case.
In the criminal case, the woman accuses Broner of forcibly kissing her while partying at a Cleveland nightclub.
Broner faced several felony charges for the alleged act in 2018, but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault while receiving probation.
Last year, he spent a seven-day stint in jail for a probation violation after being charged with driving under the influence in Florida.
The woman then hired a lawyer to file a civil suit against Broner, but the boxer never showed up to the proceedings or appointed a lawyer of his own.
As a result, the accuser received a default judgment, which saw the judge order Broner to compensate her more than $800,000 in damages.
Claiming to only have $13 to his name in filed documents, Broner was chastised by the judge and told "the jig is up" – despite flaunting cash on Instagram while claiming to be broke.
"It is getting sent to me [by] my friends," Broner claimed of the wads of notes he was seen with.
"I can ask Gervonta Davis, Al Haymon, I can ask Stephen Espinoza, I can ask anybody for money.
"They are sending it through the bank and it’s coming into my account and I’m spending it. I don’t got no money, I get sent money and spend it. I gotta spend it on bills," he protested.
Between these episodes, Broner also had sexual battery charges against him dropped in 2019 after being accused of groping a woman stood outside an Atlanta Louis Vuitton store in February 2019.
Once thought of as a potential threat to Floyd Mayweather's legacy as a modern-day great, Broner had won championships in three weight categories by the age of 23.
Losing his unbeaten record and WBA welterweight strap to Marcos Maidana at the end of 2013, he was crowned in a fourth division when he won a lightweight title in 2015.
Broner has now suffered four defeats, winning 34 and drawing one of his other fights.
I wonder if he's been punched in the head a few too many times.
Sheldon Kennedy calls for systemic change amid Chicago NHL
sexual assault investigation
The Canadian Press ·
Posted: Oct 28, 2021 3:24 PM ET
Former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy says he thinks the Chicago NHL team's response to allegations of sexual assault is an example of how an organization's "systemic response" needs to change.
Reached today in Lucky Lake, Sask., Kennedy says hockey needs to get to a point where winning at all costs "isn't the No. 1 priority."
Beach told TSN that he felt "alone and dark" in the days following the alleged sexual assault and is only now beginning the healing process.
Kennedy, who played for 10 years in the NHL, is a co-founder of the Respect Group organization, an online provider of prevention education related to bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination.
He has been a leading voice for sexual abuse victims following his own experience of being abused by his coach, Graham James, for five years during his time as a junior hockey player.
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