Well I had what I would think would be my last meeting with the newly appointed assistant District commissioner last week I agreed to this meeting after a fair amount

Of pressure from my family, My wife as a cub leader my son as a scout leader and my youngest son as an explorer scout, To put this to bed and for myself to get back into one of the things I have missed greatly “Scouting”

I will never forget buzz I got when a scout that never swam or liked water ended up competing in our swimming gala and learnt to kayak as well and knowledge that the scouts that we took to Switzerland, Australia and France are still communicating some years on with friends made from all over the world and to see some of the older ones that are now working and are very polite well turned out young people with skills that we taught them that will be with them for life.

Sadly the DC had passed this problem on to his new assistant which I feel was unfair as the assistant is a good friend and we have spent a great deal of time together in recent years both at district camps and abroad in Switzerland and Australia he is also the group scout leader at the group my son is a leader at and between the both of them had been trying to get me to help at due to the success of the group and escalating numbers so he has a vested interest in sorting this out.

I went to our local campsite for the meeting and to help put up some tents for the camp that weekend that my son was running, The ADC and myself spoke he asked what I wanted out of this so I explained that at the time it happened I felt like I wanted to rip the mans head off and then after I had calmed down I thought at the very least he would be suspended pending investigation (that never happened) and at the least a formal warning, perhaps warrant removed.

Sadly over the last year my resolve has been worn down by the fact that I remain unable to work with the young people and pressure from the rest of the family to get it sorted out to the point where I resigned to the fact that a face to face meeting with the GSL of that group giving an apology and recognition that all that any of the 5 leaders from that group had to do is say NO and it would never have happened would be the best I could hope for.

The ADC told me he could not get that all he could get was a letter of apology from the group as the Group scout leader still says he was not there at the time although three witnesses (one adult and two young people) say he was still say they have not been interviewed.

By the Gsl saying he was not there and that he went to bed at 10.30 PM he is accusing my family of lying and that I will not stand for.

  I know he was there at 11.45pm and still there at 12.15pm but all of that aside if they are saying he was not there then who was the responsible adult there and why have they not been identified dealt with and apologized

No other person has been put forward all that has been given is a denial of the Gsl being there.

The ADC has said that he will  ask these witnesses and if they have indeed not been spoken to then he will ask for the investigation to be reopened ( I have asked for this so many times I wont hold my breath).

 I replied that Essex county scouts wrote to me after their investigation agreed that the young people in that tent were INVITED to drink alcohol by adults present and that I would be getting a letter of apology from the group in question, This never happened then and if it were to happen now it would be because they were told to do it now both you and I know saying sorry because you are told to means you are not sorry at all.

As G K Chesterton said ‘A stiff apology is a second insult’.

And lets just remind ourselves here at this point that It has been agreed that leaders from this scout group did INVITE young people under 18 to drink alcohol to a point where at least two of them were ill now apart from immoral this is against the scout alcohol policy and adults supplying alcohol to minors was I thought illegal unless by parents.

 Now in the letter to me from Thurrocks District commissioner I was told that my son should take responsibility for his actions well yes I would agree if he had gone and purchased the alcohol but he did not it was supplied by adults and as agreed by county INVITED by those same adults

This is an excerpt from wikipedia about children’s rights

As minors by law children do not have autonomy or the right to make decisions on their own for themselves. Instead their adult caregivers, including parents, social workers, teachers, youth workers and others, are vested with that authority depending on the circumstance the child is in.

Now those adults had a duty of care and quite clearly breached this duty of care.

Quote from child protection services

Breach of duty of care is concerned with the standard of care that ought to have been applied in the situation. Therefore, if the conduct of the individual or organization fell below the standard that a reasonable person would have expected, they will have been negligent in their duty.  

The ADC Then told me that Scout Headquarters had seen this web page and were not happy with it and then the final straw came, He then told me that they are saying if I did not remove this web page which is now becoming an embarrassment to them then they would exclude  me from scouting permanently!!!! So much for wanting to sort this out.

And yes they should be embarrassed at the situation

Well that was the final straw I will not be returning to scouting so they now have no lever over me to back down.

All I have done is work as leader giving time and experience to young people over the last 8 years and where necessary reported as procedure yellow card incidents as per scout association policy any issues to do with child safety (Sadly far too many) And also voiced my opinions when the district team have been in my eyes unfair to the young people or parents.(see alcohol incident page 1) 

Parents would expect no less from any person they leave their most valuable possession with.

If this happened at a corporate event School or outbound center  ect. the people in charge of that group would have been suspended immediately pending investigation and I would think heads would roll.

During the course of talking to the people from Essex county scouts I can quote one of the investigators as saying alcohol incidents were their most common problems to investigate

The Law !

I did contact local police and was advised by them to see a solicitor as they effectively were not interested as it was a private campsite and leaders have parental consent when you sign a camp form so over 5 years old they can give your young people alcohol without fear of prosecution !!!!!!!! And apparently without fear at all from Scout Association if they are leaders.

From my experience it looks as though the only people with something to fear are the honest hard working leaders with a squeaky clean record that dare report anything and suggest that they are unhappy with the outcome of a clearly biased investigation.

It has been suggested that I was told this as a way to get rid of me and therefore potentially the saving of 5 reported crimes with young people and alcohol not having to add to the many they get so helping to keep numbers down? Also the Essex county commissioner new that the police were not going to follow this up before I did and told me in a letter that the police were not interested yet it was me that reported it so how did he get the information before me surely if I report something it should be confidential ?

If you are shocked to hear that potentially your child can be given alcohol by youth leaders, teachers , ect without breaking any laws then please fill in this form and quote this case and ask for it to be forwarded to the chief constable

http://www.essex.police.uk/authority/contact.php

Similarly if you think this case is as outrageous as I do then please tell the scout organization by filling in a form by following this link too quoting this case.

info.centre@scout.org.uk

Finally

I can only apologize to the many thousands of adults involved in youth work that this may embarrass

It has been a year since it happened and I have tried very hard to avoid this becoming public but as the leaders in question and the district and in fact county people who seem happy to let this go on I feel parents have a right  to know what my child and several others were put through that weekend and the results of the complaints of first and foremost a parent about this event and then as a scout association member when this happened and indeed the several times before most of which were alcohol related

and also the appalling way that it has been handled you would not have Essex Police investigate itself for a complaint against themselves would you?

This should have been dealt with by people that were from out of the county not people that probably went to school /scouts ect together and are now all leaders together in the same district and county.

Sadly the people that will lose out the most are the young people of Thurrock.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and taking the time to reply to the links

Bob Murphy ex scout leader 6^th Grays scouts Thurrock

[Home] [About Us] [Catalog] [Services] [FAQ] [D M S CARS] [Alcohol incident] [Alcohol incident 2] [The Final Straw]