Oh you have got to be kidding me!! Rolf Harris on sex charges???

[Trollheart]

BBC News - Rolf Harris charged with indecent assault on girls

There go a whole lot more childhood memories! Stand by for the jokes: "Tie me kangaroo down"... "Can you tell what it is yet?" and of course "Two little boys"!!!

Seriously, is EVERY childhood presenter from my past gonna turn out to be a fucking pervert? What the hell is wrong with this world?

Discuss.

[Cuthbert]

'Did you think I would leave you crying'. Yes, it appears he would.

[Burning Down]

Ughhhhh. Everyone has a dark side it seems. Gross.

I haven't heard of this guy (obviously he is only British), but I'm assuming his program was similar to Mr. Rogers. So he's entertaining preschoolers and then carrying on like this behind the scenes.

[butthead aka 216]

is there no statute of limitations or w/e the hell thats called?? i think it would apply in this case if this was a US case but im not 100% on that. i think its a 10 or 12 yr maximum to report such things here

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by Burning Down

I haven't heard of this guy (obviously he is only British), but I'm assuming his program was similar to Mr. Rogers. So he's entertaining preschoolers and then carrying on like this behind the scenes.

He's an Aussie who's been decamped here in the UK for almost 50 years and has never managed to lose his annoying Aussie accent in that time (not that I've anything against an Aussie accent)

Originally Posted by butthead aka 216

is there no statute of limitations or w/e the hell thats called?? i think it would apply in this case if this was a US case but im not 100% on that. i think its a 10 or 12 yr maximum to report such things here

Yes there is a statute of limitations here, but it doesn't involve sexual crimes.

[Trollheart]

Nor should it. A sexual crime, especially one against a child, doesn't get less serious with time. In fact, lives are totally ruined and sexual development can be seriously stunted or skewed, so it would not be fair to say "oh it was ten years (or more) ago, let's forget about it". Not that I'm saying anyone here is saying that. But there has to be an exception, and I think in the cases of paedophilia it doesn't matter how long ago it was, you need to pay for your heinous crimes, if you are guilty. And I'm also relieved (would have said glad but that somehow doesn't seem an appropriate word to use) that celebrity does not protect those who engage in this evil behaviour.

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Nor should it. A sexual crime, especially one against a child, doesn't get less serious with time. In fact, lives are totally ruined and sexual development can be seriously stunted or skewed, so it would not be fair to say "oh it was ten years (or more) ago, let's forget about it". Not that I'm saying anyone here is saying that. But there has to be an exception, and I think in the cases of paedophilia it doesn't matter how long ago it was, you need to pay for your heinous crimes, if you are guilty. And I'm also relieved (would have said glad but that somehow doesn't seem an appropriate word to use) that celebrity does not protect those who engage in this evil behaviour.

For these reasons above it's not included in the limitations act, but I'm not so certain of other European countries in regards to this. The problem I've got with all this though, is that the whole thing does feel like a witch hunt against a certain element of the UK entertainment industry. Jimmy Savile opened the floodgates and then we had Jim Davidson, Dave Lee Travis, members of the Coronation Street cast and now goody two shoes Rolf Harris. If the accused are guilty, then all good and well that they've been found out and their victims should get justice, but it's amazing how a trickle of accusations has become a flood of accusations in the last year or so. Are the victims here, legitimate victims who should get justice, or false victims looking to get on a band wagon?

[GuitarBizarre]

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

For these reasons above it's not included in the limitations act, but I'm not so certain of other European countries in regards to this. The problem I've got with all this though, is that the whole thing does feel like a witch hunt against a certain element of the UK entertainment industry. Jimmy Savile opened the floodgates and then we had Jim Davidson, Dave Lee Travis, members of the Coronation Street cast and now goody two shoes Rolf Harris. If the accused are guilty, then all good and well that they've been found out and their victims should get justice, but it's amazing how a trickle of accusations has become a flood of accusations in the last year or so. Are the victims here, legitimate victims who should get justice, or false victims looking to get on a band wagon?

Lets be fair here, the torrent of arrests was largely due to operation Yewtree, which wasn't an investigation into Saville persay, it was an investigation into whether management or other figures within the BBC knew it was going on, to what extent they knew if they did know, and whether the management permitted it to continue based on Saville's power and sway within the BBC.

As a result, there has been a lot of digging into who knew what, who allowed what, and who may have participated in what, based around the BBC as a whole, it's not surprising that a lot of arrests have been made of people who worked together here, and I don't believe most of the arrests have been made solely or even at all because some anonymous "victim" came forward without being asked for or searched out - more likely the wider scope of Saville's ring has led to the police uncovering witnesses and evidence leading to more.

[Unknown Soldier]

Originally Posted by GuitarBizarre

Lets be fair here, the torrent of arrests was largely due to operation Yewtree, which wasn't an investigation into Saville persay, it was an investigation into whether management or other figures within the BBC knew it was going on, to what extent they knew if they did know, and whether the management permitted it to continue based on Saville's power and sway within the BBC.

As a result, there has been a lot of digging into who knew what, who allowed what, and who may have participated in what, based around the BBC as a whole, it's not surprising that a lot of arrests have been made of people who worked together here, and I don't believe most of the arrests have been made solely or even at all because some anonymous "victim" came forward without being asked for or searched out - more likely the wider scope of Saville's ring has led to the police uncovering witnesses and evidence leading to more.

I've been looking at Operation Yewtree in more detail and the scope of it is actually bigger than I thought with the amount of identified victims. The scope of this case, suggests that it will drag on for a number of years.

[Trollheart]

I think the UK police would want to be VERY sure of their case before accusing any celebrities. The last thing they want is bad publicity or, as US noted, this being accused of becoming a witchhunt (shouldn't that be warlockhunt, as the accused are all males?), so I'm satisfied that if charges are brought there's a bloody good reason for them and reams of supporting evidence. The cops are not going to just, for instance, go on the word of some 20/30-year old who says Rolf or anyone else interfered with them when they were kids. They'll know that there will be the inevitable bandwagon-jumpers and those who think they can make a quick buck out of this, sadly, or who are desperate for any kind of attention, and I would have to believe such claims would be quickly and effectively weeded out, leaving only the solid cases to answer.