On a tragically regular basis, the sexual abuse and murder of children is only propelled into the news and into our minds when celebrity status is involved.
Prince Andrew, Michael Jackson, Gary Glitter, Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris, Phillip Schofield, Huw Edwards, all have put child sexual abuse in the spotlight … for a while. These headline grabbing cases are then followed by silence. This silence is a concern for me and a gift for those who we have not yet reached the headlines. Having worked for decades with men and women who sexually abuse children, I know for certain that silence is always a gift to those people who abuse.
High profile cases are useful in providing a disturbing reminder. I guess though, that such is the nature of this disturbance we are relieved when such a moment of time is over, and we can again… forget. Our wish not to know, our ability to forget, to remain silent is however in this context incredibly dangerous.
Sexual crime is not just about what happens at a given moment. The actual sexual crime is a very small part of a much wider and more complex picture which does indeed occur over time. A sexual offence does not ‘just happen’ many other dynamics, feelings, thoughts and behaviours are operating and often for many years leading up to the commission of an actual offence. It is this wider picture that is often missing in the polarised responses we tend to gravitate to.
In the 80’s we were faced with a whole series of high-profile sexual abuse cases. Consequently, I spent the following ten years doing nothing else but conducting investigative interviews with both victims and perpetrators. We did not know back then as much as we know now. We worked on the principle of identifying all the indicators to support the view that abuse had happened and then painstakingly we would, for each indicator, identify all the reasons why it should not be counted as an indicator. Once that picture was complete, we would then search for evidence on any remaining indicators, eventually that would inform an outcome in one direction or the other.
The process of elimination was very much victim led and not much consideration was given to the accused in terms of their behaviour, history and thinking. Over time of course that changed and many of us who had previously worked with victims started to work more closely with the accused and guilty. Eventually, the experience of both victims and perpetrators have informed a highly skilled and informed investigative and assessment process such as we have today.
Much has been learned from the men and women who commit sexual crime, and it is to their minds we must go if we are continue that learning.
The resistance to go into the mind of the paedophile I certainly appreciate, such a place it is not a nice place to be. I can also assure you, one is seldom welcomed. Our resistance to going into such a place is, in the face of such perversity, a healthy response. But also important to recognise that such resistance to thinking the unthinkable, although deeply uncomfortable, is essential in preventing further abuse and in achieving justice for victims.
The biggest obstacle to a victim speaking out about an experience of abuse is the fear that they will not be believed. This belief has, in nearly every situation, been instilled in them by the abuser. An abuser will go to extreme lengths to secure the silence of their victim. Silencing the victim is a crucial part of the grooming process. One victim I worked with was shown pictures of his mother and father which the abuser would then set alight in front of him, stating that this is what he would do to the boy’s parents should he ever tell anyone. Needless to say that child remained silent for many years.
It is not only the victim that is groomed, parents, siblings, relatives, friends, teachers etc can all be subject to the grooming influence of an abuser.
The environment will also be groomed to minimise the risk of discovery and to create a setting that will appeal to a child and look benevolent to others. In the case of those that have status such a professionals and super stars, they will also groom the public. The act of grooming is a process of control and all who come under its influence are impacted by the abuser’s power. There is never one victim there is always many.
Over many years, Michael Jackson and the high profile others systematically groomed all those in their reach. They created a childlike persona, an environment, connections and facilities to gain ultimate access to the most intimate occasions of childhood.
Their most effective tools of grooming; power and status, enabled extreme bizarre behaviour that would never have been accepted by any other individual to go unquestioned. So far reaching was the impact of their grooming, so effective was their grooming that others justified indicators of concerning behaviour to the extent that each did not need to utter a single word in his defence.
One of the most disturbing denials that we witnessed in relation to the Michael Jackson case, came from the mother of James Bulger, Denise Fergus, who publicly and viciously attempted to discredit one of Jackson’s victim’s. Few would recognise the truth that informed her denial. Fact is her murdered son had been totally obsessed with Michael Jackson. For Denise Fergus, to recognise the truth would surely mean yet another painful reality for her to bear. But her self -protection can never be a reason to deny another their painful reality and such self-interest can never be allowed to stand in the way of justice.
It is my assessment that each person advocating an ‘innocent’ Jackson, Andrew, Harris, Glitter .. whoever …. in every way becomes another of their victims. When in the face of overwhelming evidence, it remains possible for others to ignore this and declare ‘innocent’ then personal autonomy for individual perspective and thought has been overwhelmed, has been distorted and corrupted into what the likes of Jackson et al wish to determine. In recognising this, how many victims are these men responsible for? …
Thousands!
The silence that then follows is once again deafening and the forgetting is once again immensely dangerous. Let us take care never to forget.
Br Stephen Morris FCC
