mothy wrote:
Guilty or not guilty?
The Metropolitan Police have instigated a criminal enquiry into this. They obviously have some basis for doing so but, of course, that they have done so neither proves nor disproves his guilt. Maybe some facts will arise to shift the balance of probability one way or the other.
mothy wrote:
Guilty or not guilty?
The number of accusers have risen sharply recently.
Why wasn't he exposed when he was alive?[/quote]
From what I have heard, mostly on local radio, he was very litigious. And he had the financial clout to take anyone to the cleaners if they decided to make a complaint.
And, given that what he has been reported to have done is not really likely to have had witnesses, it would have been her word against his.
It reminds me a bit of the Roman Catholic Church scandal on the sexual abuse of those their care.
The outcome of any complaint was unlikely to go well for the complainant regardless of its validity.
mothy wrote:
How many of these accusers are after money?
That was one of my immediate thoughts. I'd mentioned that to Mrs B when when we were listening to news reports on our way to work. Later information came out that there is no financial compensation that will be available to those who claimed to have been subjected to his indecent attentions. The guy is dead.
mothy wrote:
Why the media attention?
Simple. It sells. It appeals to a voracious public appetite for the sensational.
My views...
My initial take was much like yours. If anything, I'd have taken his sexual preferences to have been homosexual rather than heterosexual with no better basis than that he didn't marry and had no reported dalliances with members of the opposite sex.
So, my thoughts were that it it was a trumped accusation with a view to financial gain.
Later information suggested otherwise, if it is true, that the complainants will get no financial compensation.
I mentioned that we heard much about this on local radio. Stoke Mandeville Hospital is in our local county radio region which is maybe why it got the coverage it did with personal statements from callers.
At this point I don't see it as improbable that his actions were were entirely innocent.