[News] Army in Child Sex Scandal

[AWESOMEUS MAXIMUS]

Few days late with this;
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/her...ex_scandal.php

Army child sex scandal
MoD admits 32 child sex offenders in armed forcesBy Helen McArdle

THE MINISTRY of defence has revealed there are 32 registered sex offenders currently serving in the British armed forces ... after the Army failed in a bid to keep a paedophile private out of jail.

Senior commanders in Scotland's Black Watch regiment tried - and failed - to persuade a sheriff not to send the self-confessed paedophile to jail. Senior officers offered to take him on a tour of duty to Afghanistan, and to monitor his behaviour.

The sheriff rejected the intervention, and jailed the soldier, 22-year-old Private Callum Sandeman, for abusing two children. The attempted intervention, and revelations that convicted sex offenders have a safe haven in the armed forces, has now prompted accusations the Army is attempting to act "above the law". There are also fears that sex offenders could use their employment in British regiments to abuse children in conflict zones.
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Sandeman admitted walking drunk into the home of a fellow soldier at Army quarters in Inverness and indecently assaulting his nine-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter in their bedrooms in November last year.

Five high-ranking officers, including the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland Lt Col Stephen Cartwright, as well as a captain, two majors and a lieutenant, wrote letters of support for Sandeman, together with an NCO, describing him as an excellent soldier and offering to monitor his conduct if he was allowed to continue to serve in the regiment.

Highlands and Islands MSP Mary Scanlon welcomed the custodial sentence on Sandeman and described the Army's attitude to the case as "unbelieveable". She said: "The Army seems to think it's above the law. They clearly tried to keep this soldier, who had committed in the sheriff's own words reprehensible' acts against innocent children, out of prison. I am pleased the sheriff gave an appropriate sentence and sent this man to prison."

During the case at Inverness Sheriff Court, procurator-fiscal depute Ron Phillips told Sheriff Alexander Pollock that the character references put forward by Sandeman's officers contradicted the views expressed by social workers, who claimed the accused showed little remorse and even "gives the impression he projects responsibility on to his victims."

Phillips said he had "rarely seen such a weight of references before a court from men who hold fairly senior positions". He added: "They are better intended than they are well informed".

Scanlon said the Army's offer to monitor and support a convicted child molester was "the most worrying aspect" of the case. She said: "The Black Watch are now in Afghanistan. Although it may be possible to provide that support here in Inverness, how could they expect officers to provide support 24-7 when serving abroad?"

But a spokesman for the MoD defended the possibility of sex offenders being deployed abroad. "I don't think it's necessarily harder to keep track when they're in Afghanistan. There is a structure and a daily routine, it's not as if they're wandering around unguarded so don't see what being out there makes any difference.

"Yes, they will come into contact with children on patrol, but they wouldn't be alone. You have to look at the wider context. There are 180,000 serving in the British military, and only 32 are registered sex offenders."

The MoD said soldiers convicted of sex offences but not given custodial sentences would only be retained in the Army "in exceptional circumstances". The spokesman explained: "They are monitored and subject to notification requirements under the Sexual Offences Act.

"A panel assesses the soldier's employability and risk to others before any decision is taken as to whether they should be retained."

But questions are being raised over the judgement of Army commanders for attempting to retain a soldier facing a custodial sentence for serious sexual abuse on children, when governments both north and south of the border have repeatedly stressed that child protection must be at the centre of all policy.

One high-profile Scottish psychologist suggested it made a mockery of attempts to deal with child abuse when the body charged with defending and representing British interests abroad would willingly take a convicted paedophile under its wing.

Mairead Tagg, Scotland's only expert court witness on the abuse of women and children, said: "For me this is exactly the kind of collusion that per petuates sexual abuse. I think the MoD really need to be held to account for this. If they attempted to retain this soldier, and there are already 32 convicted sex offenders in the Army, you have to wonder what in God's name we've sent out to these countries. I'm sickened and appalled."

She added that it was virtually impossible to know the severity of crimes committed by those on the Sex Offenders' Register, since only rape was likely to guarantee a custodial sentence. "It's so difficult to achieve convictions that the charges are often watered down in an attempt to obtain a guilty plea."

Few quotes straight out of left field on the WTF scale here;

after the Army failed in a bid to keep a paedophile private out of jail.

?????

This being a particular gem.
I think the Black Watch have ticked every box on the scum questionaire imaginable now.

Discuss.

[Largest of Als]

However shite it may be when anything like this happens.. they've still got a fair bit of catching up to do on the Catholic Church...


Al

[Campestral]

i read before that the army attracts psychopaths because it's a license. sex offenders is a new thing but makes sense, if your country tells you it's ok to violate another people then that's a license too, they were asking for it!

[AWESOMEUS MAXIMUS]

Originally Posted by Largest of Als

However shite it may be when anything like this happens.. they've still got a fair bit of catching up to do on the Catholic Church...


Al

Sweep sweep.

[ladysavage]

When i lived on an RAF base when i was 13 my best mate (also 13) was knocking boots with a 19 year-old who worked on the base, he wasn't her first either. Happened quite a lot due to the high young male ratio to naff all young female ratio, meaning the only girls around to hump were the teenaged daughters of fellow servicemen. not that i remotely condone the vile behaviour of people who do exploit and distress the young and emotionally incapable

[Posh]

Only 32, eh?

[endless psych]

Doesn't tell you all that much though does it. People get slung on the sex offenders register for a range of things ranging from a guy caught shagging a bicycle to kiddy fiddling.

[Jaemi]

Originally Posted by Largest of Als

However shite it may be when anything like this happens.. they've still got a fair bit of catching up to do on the Catholic Church...


Al

Eh?!
What an entirely strange remark.
Continue..

[Old Man]

I've no doubt that what endless psych has said has some merit, not all of these will be monsters who raped a child but still, that said, if even one serving soldier is then that's one too many. If what that report says is gospel and the bloke is a self-confessed paedophile then it's nothin short of disgusting that they attempted to sway things in his favour.
I can, however, assure you that the army is in no way a safe haven for criminals of any type, let alone sex offenders. I have unfortunately came across one similar case in the past and quicker than you could blink the guy was ejected from the army and thrown into a civil jail for 2 and a half years. Still not long enough in my opinion but I do hope that illustrates that we are in no way a safe haven for people like this.
Hope he rots in jail.
Omm

[Dyno]

I love Big_Chris's hate for the army, pure nonsense!

[LesMTS]

Originally Posted by Largest of Als

However shite it may be when anything like this happens.. they've still got a fair bit of catching up to do on the Catholic Church...


Al

How many Catholic priests are on the sex offenders register for offences involving children?

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by LesMTS

How many Catholic priests are on the sex offenders register for offences involving children?

More then one?

[LesMTS]

Originally Posted by endless psych

More then one?

More than 32? I really dunno.
I guess we'd have to look at it as a percentage to compare, though. But I still don't think it's a given that catholic priests are way, way ahead. Tends to be big news when a priest gets done, and I can't remember all that many.

[endless psych]

Originally Posted by LesMTS

More than 32? I really dunno.

We only actually know of one member of the armed forces who is on the sex offenders register for offences against children.

I guess we'd have to look at it as a percentage to compare, though. But I still don't think it's a given that catholic priests are way, way ahead. Tends to be big news when a priest gets done, and I can't remember all that many.

It tends to be big news whenever someone in a position of trust gets done for abusing that position, especially when it involves child abuse - even more so for child sex abuse. I can tell you without needing to look that there are a shit load of academic studies dealing solely with sexual abuse within the catholic church. That number may be disproportionate to the relative rates of abuse however I have never seen a studie about the army and child abuse.

But the two are in no way comparable. The priests who offended had access to children, most folk in the army do not.

[LesMTS]

Originally Posted by endless psych

We only actually know of one member of the armed forces who is on the sex offenders register for offences against children.

The subheader in the article says "MoD admits 32 child sex offenders in armed forces".

But, yeah, they probably aren't comparable but Al was equating them anyway.