UKC

Reading the reports of how a disabled man was beaten to death then had his body set on fire, because the murderer thought he was a paedophile, does anyone else feel slightly uneasy at the implication in some reports and reaction that the tragedy is that he in fact wasn't a paedophile, which kind of suggests that if he had been then the crime would in some way have been less horrific?

One quote in the Independent today from a neighbour said "at least they (the murderer) has done the right thing and pleaded guilty" as if they've made an honest mistake and they're decent lads really!

In reply to andy: says quite a lot about society I Think.

In reply to andy:

I have not read any coverage, so I cannot judge the tone at all, but the quote you have given can be interpreted very differently to the way you have.

In reply to The New NickB: that was one example, and agree you could read it differently, but loads of the coverage has focused on how he was wrongly accused as opposed to how he died.

In reply to andy:

Maybe that's because we largely accept that beating someone to death is the wrong thing to do but some members of society aren't too careful about who they accuse of what.

In reply to andy:
I must say thay this case really boiled my piss when mentioned on R4 yesterday. Disabled man, tormented for years by local scrotes despite family complaining to police and local authority. Guy takes photo of scrotes vandalising his property, scrotes label him a paedophile and call the police. Plod then come screaming round and arrest him. Local 'community', (and I use the term loosely), gather round chanting "peedo". Estates like that need nuking from orbit.

And breathe. Coverage I've heard hasn't really implied it would be fine to toast a paedophile, but has rightly stressed the man was innocent of the allegations.

In reply to Ridge: maybe i'm being a bit too sensitive about it - i'm maybe a bit quick to assume that stressing he wasn't a paedophile was suggesting that if he had been then beating him to death would have been understandable. There was an opinion piece today pointing out that some of the media have been a touch 'understanding' of vigilantes in child abuse cases.

In reply to Ridge: I heard the R4 piece on PM. Eddie Mair sounded like he was having to focus on containing his anger about it.

Very sad case.

In reply to Ridge: +1, as they say.

In reply to andy:

I haven't really got the same feel from the coverage. Media are always interested in the mob-mistakenly-beating-up-non-paedophile storyline, ever since the famous paediatrician/paedophile thing.

Not clear to me what gross misconduct the police are supposed to have been guilty of. Arresting him in the first place?

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Like I say - probably me being over-sensitive to a media that has in the past at least passively encouraged vigilante behaviour towards paedophiles.

In reply to andy:

I am with you and Ridge on this one.

I tend to have all the emotional range of rhyolite, but this one made me well up.

I think the Leicester case with the mum who took hers and her disabled daughter's life is the reason whye the plod are being called into question.

If it is any consolation, the woman in part responsible for the mob paedo fury was in the dock today ........

In reply to John Rushby:


I immediately thought of that case when I heard about this one. Generally my emotional response to most things is weary indifference, but cases like these really get under my skin. Maybe it's because there's no other motive than sheer, unrepentant malice in targeting the harmless and vulnerable.

In reply to Ridge:

I just hate bullies.

Having been bullied at school (I solved it by picking up a chair and beating him senseless with it) and at work, no chair it was a woman, it gets my blood up.

In reply to John Rushby:

You picked up a woman and beat a bully senseless with it?! Respect.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

I see how that may read.

It's down to the (poor)punctuation, that's the stuff you lot leave out of the 99 page ground leases we have to read day in day out.