In 2018, some on the right disgracefully tried to smear Keir Starmer, then Shadow Brexit Secretary, using the Warboys case. They were wrong and had to retract.
Sadly, some on the left are now repeating those old smears to try to score points today.
The police were found guilty of bungling the initial investigation, refusing to believe those reporting assault. The police appealed, unsuccessfully, supported by then Home Secretaries May and Rudd:
3./
Warboys was finally arrested & in April 2008 was charged with 23 offences. He was convicted of 19 the following March.
Starmer only became DPP in Nov 2008.
Here, the CPS explains the prosecuting decisions & makes clear he had no involvement in them:
Of 83 initial complainants, only 14 saw their cases brought to trial.
Why?
If the evidence isn’t quite there to be sure of winning, and it’ll make no difference to the final verdict, it’s *right* to spare people the trauma of going to court, and of potentially losing.
5./
When people fake complain about all the cases that through lack of evidence weren’t charged, remember they could still be brought NOW.
Would it be right today to make these survivors undergo the trauma of court, risking losing, with no difference to Warboys staying in jail?
6./
Warboys received an ‘indeterminate’ sentence - there was no fixed end-date to it.
Potentially, he would *never* be released, unless it could be *proved* he was no longer a danger.
BUT, in 2012, the Tory government changed the rules, as too harsh:
Parole was suggested in Jan 2018, to a huge outcry. Two of the survivors went to court, and, in March, the decision was quashed, and the parole board chief apologised and resigned.
So if you wonder why some on the left are now tweeting the likes of the Spectator, or using Guido Fawkes as a template to attack to Starmer, this is why.
They aren’t interested in the truth, or, in fact, the survivors - who, remember, ALL deserve their privacy respected.
13./
It’s especially unfair, since his record as DPP, in changing the culture around prosecution of sexual assault cases, was good - introducing a presumption of belief in victims, mandatory reporting of CA, transparency about prosecuting decisions, etc
No-one is perfect, and he had a tough job dealing with the most difficult cases, but I think he’s one of the good guys.
But if you think he’s the one to lead Labour in future or not, let’s have that debate without trying to destroy each other, or by spreading Tory lies.
17./
Finally, after the botched parole, more charges were brought against Warboys last year. He confessed to further crimes *while he was in jail*. Last December he was convicted of offences against four more women & given two more life sentences.
The offences Warboys was convicted of last December were not any of the old ones, but NEW ones from NEW victims who came forward AFTER the publicity of the botched parole, with NEW evidence - not least the fact that Warboys confessed AFTER he had been jailed.
• • •
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My 3rd thread on who else might be involved with the Laurence Fox Party.
Some clues are in the first follows of its new Twitter feed.
My guess is Reclaim will have its first Parliamentarian as soon as the party officially launches in November:
Lady Claire Regina Fox
(thread)
First, the first 14 follows:
Looza
Darren Grimes
Peter Whittle
Titania McGrath
Claire Fox
Calvin Robinson
Journals/ists:
Spiked
The Critic
The Epoch Times
Christopher Hope (Telegraph)
Tim Shipman (Sunday Times)
Harry Cole (Sun)
Tim Montgomery
Julia Hartley-Brewer (talkRADIO)
This thread is going to concentrate on these particular first follows:
We laugh at Lozza ‘Loser’ Fox but we’ll have to take this seriously, I’m afraid.
Not him. Those behind him.
He’s just a figurehead.
They have the cash - £5 million up front - and a plan.
The expertise, experience & contacts too.
But who are they?
Read on & pls RT
[thread]
This is Culture War Commander Fox’s temporary and modestly named website for the new party - as he waits for the Electoral Commission to agree to the party name ‘Reclaim’