Harvey Proctor’s press conference was nothing but a one-sided stunt
It’s all very well for the disgraced former MP Harvey Proctor to have cried and claimed that his life had been ruined at a press conference yesterday but one fact remains: The police asked him for a voluntary DNA sample and he refused.
Proctor – a man convicted of gross indecency for taking part in spanking and cane beating male prostitutes aged between 17 and 21 in 1987 – may be entirely innocent of assault and murder but in attempting to manipulate the press and public in advance of any criminal charges, he is entirely wrong.
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No representative of the complainant or police was present yesterday and this one-sided stunt was nothing but that. Harvey Proctor should be ashamed of himself.
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21 comments
Good point…..and this show of crying as well as the press conference is just too much.
He thinks becuase he’s an ex MP and employee of a duke he is entitled to some sort of protection.
He’s admitted he likes inflicting pain for sexual pleasure so the police are entitled to check him out
Without Max Clifford’s stage management skills; it’s ALL a bit sad duckie
He is going down.
Headick, that lot voted out our the DEATH PENALTY. “Going down” to me, is the long drop, and for what is claimed he did, it would be well deserved. I want the killers of Madeleine McCann brought to book and that whole episode of protection for the influential exposed. That’s in my book. Clean the dirty effers out completely, at whatever price.
His trouble is a credible witness saw him beat a boy to death, and inflict multiple fatal stab wounds on another who was then used for anal sex, after 3 victims refused to vote on who would be murdered. The witness said he was to be the third one until Ted Heath intervened. Given Proctor’s previous conviction, and I won’t prejudge any police action or prosecution, I can see a distinct pattern. I am confident it will all come out and the police will get the men responsible. Proctor should not be bleating about any attempts to find those responsible for such reprehensible crimes.
The police asked him for a voluntary DNA sample and he refused. Has anyone asked him why he refused, as he’s so vocal saying he is completely innocent? I’d go to the end of the earth to prove my innocence, if it was me. I wouldn’t hesitate. In fact I would have asked the Police if I could take a voluntary DNA sample.
This is complete nonsense – as are the ignorant comments. The photograph of the former MP is not of him crying, but wiping the sweat off his brow as the small space was sweltering with heat from the crowd in the room and the TV lights. I was there filming the whole thing for my own organisation and dripping with sweat myself. This is a blatant attempt by people who dislike Proctor, a gay former ‘right-wing’ Tory MP, to prejudice readers through the dishonest use of a misleading image. The FULL recording of the press conference, including the full Q&A session, can be found here:
https://youtu.be/RLm7rdRBOF4
The so-called ‘investigative news’ website Exaro who were present at the press-conference and put a number of aggressive ‘bees-in-their-bonnet’ questions to Proctor, have published a transcript but, I am told, have left at least one bit out which made them look bad. The voluntary DNA issue mentioned above should be easily understood by those aware of the loss of trust in the integrity of the police in recent years. The Daily Mail crime journalist Stephen Wright recently received the Paul Foot Award for his work on the notorious Stephen Lawrence case and the ignominious role played in it by the police. Not surprisingly, Stephen Wright has interested himself in this ‘VIP Abusers’ case and fears grave miscarriage of justice, much of it caused by police mismanagement and stupidity. Yesterday, in a front-page exclusive, he publicly stated the “grave doubts” at senior level over ‘key witness’ claims by an anonymous individual known only by the pseudonym ‘Nick’ for whom Exaro is acting as spokesman. After an inquiry into allegations of an hallucinatory nature that has already cost over one million pounds, officers have not found a “shred of credible evidence”. Not surprisingly, Exaro and their excitable, conspiracy-theorising left-leaning supporters are panicking as the danger of being mistaken increases and they are lashing out in every (mostly irrelevant and dishonest) way they can. Their apparent dupe, Det.Sup. Kenny McDonald, so quick to parrot Exaro’s claim that their ‘witness’, the anonymous ‘Nick, was “credible and true” before actually interviewing those accused still alive, among whom Mr Proctor, has since been remarkably silent with Scotland Yard refusing to confirm that McDonald stands by his claim. You can read the article here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222908/Grave-doubts-claims-key-witnesses-VIP-sex-abuse-inquiry.html
Whether you accept what Stephen Wright says or not, I think you will admit that there are serious doubts about the reliability of Exaro’s case. The people who run it, and their political and police friends, being up to their necks in it can hardly be regarded as unbiased in their own cause. Proctor has asked to be arrested if the police have any sound evidence. He can then force them to produce it in court and have this ‘Nick’ character judicially cross-examined and professionally assessed for mental stability instead of whispering non-credible foulness from under the wing of Exaro. Proctor’s DNA can be formally taken, stored and examined UNDER JUDICIAL SUPERVISION, and not as a voluntary donation to a bunch of rozzers. How strange that people flouting ‘left’ credentials (and I include certain Labour MPs) appear blind to the concerns of a gay man cornered by anonymous accusers. I suppose it is because he is a political opponent. Shame on you.
Proctor is not the only person whose life has been seriously blighted. In what has become almost an epidemic of blind moral panic following the Jimmy Savile revelations, many innocent and valuable people have been hurt in the appallingly clumsy efforts to round up the bad eggs. At the very least, justice and equity require them to be publicly and loudly cleared rather than simply mumbling that insufficient evidence could be found to justify a prosecution. And the unethical relationship between the press and police tip-offs is a disgrace to a civilised nation and as morally bad as phone-hacking.
Paul Gambaccini, a gay man and a talented, superbly professional and well-liked broadcaster, was almost crushed by the treatment he received at the hands of the unholy police-&-press alliance. Here is his story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3223622/Diary-witch-hunt-words-Paul-Gambaccini-reveals-pain-denounced-sex-attacker-demonised-police-fantasists-claims.html
Harvey Proctor has made a brave and admirable statement which seems to have dragged the whole festering subject into the light. He should be thanked for that. He is an honourable man and has behaved with characteristic dignity. His historical ‘crime’, which petty journalists hang round his neck at every opportunity, was that in the 1980s he had unknowingly broken a law which has since been changed to a more realistic rule. He had been set up by a conspiracy between a low tabloid journal and an unscrupulous youth whose lies the newspaper found entirely morally acceptable and worth paying for. Furthermore, the legal system as it was then denied gay men the defence allowed to heterosexuals: that one party had lied about their age. Odd, but true; the Law is sometimes an ass. Today Proctor’s actions would be entirely legal, indeed quite unexceptional compared to the stunts tabloid readers slaver over, but his political opponents in their nastiness refuse to grant him the generosity and understanding given to other victims of homophobia, entrapment and oppressive law. Fortunately for Oscar Wilde, Alan Turing and Sir John Gielgud, they were never in politics.
Well said. Far too many people believe the first thing they read from shallow journalists with transparent agendas. Many journalists don’t give a second thought for the person they aim to destroy or their families. It’s truly shameful. Having watched his statement in full it’s obvious that it’s a stitch up. All those ignorant comments above show it’s not only journalists who need to seriously find some integrity. Again, well said for being a voice of reason.
So are you going to ask him why he refused to give a voluntary DNA sample then …..
You should apply to work at the Daily Mail. They have done some rubbish articles over the last few days or so. You’d fit in well. Bye
Firstly, why are you banging on about right wing haters, when exaro have exceedingly well, investigated claims of child sexual abuse inflicted by LABOUR, yes that’s right LABOUR ex mp Lord Janner amongst other lefty MPs, so your accusation based on a target of the right wing is yes that’s right BOLLOX, the problem survivors have, is a well understandable problem with the establishment as a whole, left or right makes no difference when either or have inflicted in humane attacks on innocent defenceless children or covered up and ignored these sick crimes, also the little sheep (you) that run around pathetically embarrassing yourselves, defending monsters that have bought their titles and status by exploiting their power and children.
Secondly it’s not the survivors running scared, where is your dear friend Harvey proctor now?, where is the DNA samples he was willing to give voluntarily?
Finally, homosexuality does not mean a person can not be a paedophile or murderer, in fact that is rather, what’s the word, BIASED, of you to assume that only straight people can be paedophiles, biased or not however, the gay card lets just say is irrelevant, and just to inform you the claims made by survivors including ‘Nick’ are against illegal sexual ACTIVITY not SEXUALITY, it’s a desperate move in my opinion to even try homophobia excuse as an attempt to defend himself against the claims.
I could go on but I can not be bothered to educate you on the truth in which you most likely already know, or otherwise foolishly and ignorantly, consider the fact that these claims are actually true.
Conflating homosexuality and child rape is what child rapists do. Gambacini knew about Savile and said nothing till it was too late.
Sunnyclaribel obviously can’t read – or is too mired in her prejudice to understand what is explained above. I’ll spell it out again: Proctor and his legal advisers don’t trust the police who have treated him so unfairly and unethically, who arranged to tip off ‘Nick’ and Exaro about the raid on his property (the police & BBC were roundly condemned for the same unethical behaviour before the raid on Sir Cliff Richard’s home), and who clearly have a vested interested in finding something against him to justify an investigation that so far hasn’t produced a shred of evidence. If Sunnyclaribel had not been inattentive or too lazy to watch the press conference video and, in particular, the Q & A session where the DNA issue was raised and answered, she would know that Proctor would welcome arrest – whereupon he can unmask and challenge his accuser in open court, demand a professional assessment of his accuser’s mental condition, and DNA samples can be ordered by the court to be taken, split between prosecution and defence, and examined independently ALL UNDER JUDICIAL SUPERVISION – not in the sole control of a bunch of police of questionable judgment. Almost any black or gay person would understand the regrettable distrust that hangs over the police who have a sorry record of incompetence, prejudice and venality across the country. The Stephen Lawrence case is a notorious example. Proctor suggests in his statement that the level of education in the higher echelons of the police is inadequate for the role they play in society, and I completely agree with him. It’s a sad but actual state of affairs and shaming in the country renowned for ‘British justice’.
I’m not going to explain it again, so I hope Sunnyclaribel, hiding like so many under a pseudonym, has grasped it at last.
Naughty, naughty me being a campaigner for survivors and kids. I’m a very naughty woman and I won’t get an apple from Father Christmas. If I’d been Harvey Proctor I’d have asked the Police if I could give a voluntary DNA sample. There again, I have nothing to hide. Ho hum. I must carry on being ‘naughty’ sticking up for kids WHO CANNOT DEFEND themselves and hope more survivors find the courage to speak out. I don’t need someone like you to be proud of me, as I am proud of myself. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
If the police already have a DNA specimen from what they believe is a crime scene, they only have to lodge it with a reliable, agreed, neutral body – and then Mr Proctor would have nothing to lose (or would he?) by voluntarily giving his own specimen. I would have thought it was necessary, anyway, to put to one side those who might otherwise be considered suspects. Mr P would welcome that.
Yes, I’m sure that’s why he declined to give a voluntary DNA sample. Sorry mate, I wasn’t born yesterday. Bye
Paedophile apologists coming out in force now. Not surprising after 50 years of VIP paedophile cover ups is it. It was bound to happen. Luckily more and more people who have had their childhoods destroyed are finally finding the courage to come forward. Hopefully kids, who are being abused as I speak, will also find their voices too, as most of them have taken it to their graves.
sunnyclaribel …. The morons are out in force i see.Has any of them explained why Proctor,a convicted sexual offender, and who lied to the press prior to his conviction,failed to give a DNA sample ? I would have insisted they did if it was me that was being accused.
Paedophile apologists are going to come out of the woodwork, now that survivors have found their voices, after being ignored for the last 50 years. If people want to stand up for scum, let them. It won’t stop the truth coming out. Too many people out there, who are sick to the back teeth of kids’ childhoods being destroyed and b….. all being done about it. About time children came first in this country. Can the Queen do a speech about the ‘Crime of the Century against kids’ or aren’t they important enough? David Cameron is a wet blanket. Well I might just be a small woman, who had her childhood destroyed by a pervert, but I won’t sit on my backside and not speak out for every kid and survivor out there who deserve justice and protection. I’m hoping everyone will say ‘enough is enough’. Kids come first, not paedophiles. Where are the ‘human rights’ of the kids, who are unable to defend themselves against monsters? They even let paedophiles out of jail to get at more children. Call that civilised? I don’t. It’s the kind of thing you’d think you’d read in a horror story, but its happening right under everyone’s noses and our justice system doesn’t seem to give a damn about it.
Child sex abuse suspects crying “witch hunt”, and deriding victims, witnesses and whistleblowers as “Walter Mitty” fantasist is all very much part of the standard deflection smear technique deployed whenever powerful interests are threatened.
Exactly the same thing happened to Colin Wallace, Kincora child abuse whistleblower, who was the victim of a dirty tricks campaign so extreme he actually spent 6 years in jail for a manslaughter he never committed.
He has since been exonerated, and further witnesses have come forward to confirm his story.
People commenting here should be very careful who they rush to support over child sex abuse allegations.
Much of the media commentary is part of the “smear the victims” campaign. Don’t believe what the Mail tells you, or the Spectator, or many of the other articles crying out for anonymity and protection for suspects.
The vast majority of child sex abuse allegations are NOT false.
But the majority of child sex abusers falsely deny their crimes.
Look at Cyril Smith. Look at Jimmy Savile.
Well said Bea. Couldn’t have put it better. Nothing to add.