A little while ago we published a page called Extra Wanker about a man called Gregory Carlin. Subsequently he wrote to us, and we recorded this on another Grumpy Page.
Since then we have done a little research about Mr.Carlin, and have come to the conclusion that he is, in the words of a correspondent to a Lib-Dem website, completely "Dagenham" (i.e. two stops down the line from Barking). Carlin had muscled his way into the long and interesting Lib-Dem discussion, but it didn't take the other correspondents long to weigh him up. They pressed him for personal details, but although he claimed to be a "civil rights lawyer" (elsewhere he describes himself as a "Catholic lobbyist") he steadfastly refused to give his CV or qualifications.
Nor would he provide any information about the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition which he claims to run from his small semi-detached house at 4 Downfine Walk, Belfast, BT11 8NX (valued, according to the Land Registry, at £62,500, Property Size 57 square metres. It has central heating but no garage, and if you're obsessive enough you can see it clearly on Google Earth. We were. Obsessive enough, that is). His Email address is info.iatc@ntlworld.com, his phone number is 02890 963064 and his mobile 07891 334930.
He did claim that "I was part of discussions between Washington DC based NGOs and the Lib Dem HQ. The party is apparently going to dilute the SOA 2003 and legalize some child pornography. That is seemingly the policy of the Lib Dems", which can't have pleased many of the correspondents.
But it wasn't just the Lib-Dems he had his knife into: "At a practical level the Labour Party definitely did open up Jobcentre to sex traffickers, pedophiles and other dangerous criminals."
One of Carlin's many fixations seems to revolve around the city of Hull, for some reason: "I am very interested in anything connected to Hull", he says. "If this turns out to be a political set-up based in Hull, there will be a very bitter revenge".
The Lib-Dems, evidently an acute and literate bunch, didn't take these dirty-minded smears lying down. Angus Huck demanded: "You are sputtering out a mixture of facts and opinions in a somewhat inchoate fashion without actually telling us who you are, what your organisation is, and what it is that you know … would you please be so kind as to tell us … (1) who or what is the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition? (2) What is it that you know about Councillor Bayes and his arrest" (the issue that had sparked the original discussion - GOS) "that has not been reported by the major media outlets?"
Another correspondent, F.W., was less charitable: "Wow, this thread has really brought the fruit-cakes out…" which apparently miffed Carlin because he replied "The Lib Dems are the party of the dirty old teacher who thinks he has a right to use schoolgirls as a sexual resource".
After 80 postings, mostly incoherent rants from Carlin, the administrator closed the topic. If you are interested to see the workings of a deranged mind, do take the time to have a look.
Meanwhile, one or two choice snippets from our own correspondence with Mr.Carlin …
We asked him why it was that there are so few male teachers in primary schools, and why scouts and other voluntary organisations are having such difficulty finding staff, and suggested "It's because of you, Gregory Carlin. It's because you, and people like you, believe that all adults are a danger to children. Your dirty little minds are so obsessed with tales of child abuse that you want to stifle normal child-adult relationships, institutionalise them, control and regulate them, to blacken the names and reputations of anyone foolish enough to enjoy working with children - except yourselves, of course.
And in the course of this blackguardly crusade, you're happy to bend the truth, twist the facts, and throw mud indiscriminately in the certain knowledge that some of it will stick".
He wrote "I came to goodness after a long career, my entire life as it would seem, in showbiz. One day I woke up and ventured forth on the enlightened path of philanthropy".
"The Brits free passed some of them until the FBI/RCMP obliged them to do it" (oh, he does love his acronyms. His pages are sprinkled with them in an attempt to dazzle us with his importance - GOS). "That was the Edmonton & Graham Conridge et alia issue, his web-site is still up" (Yeah, but HE's in jail. Incidentally, he was a music teacher and we all know what they're like. He still has a page at www.sibeliusmusic.com - they've been told, but haven't removed it - GOS).
"A single man with no children" (no, he's married. What's this, Carlin, are all single men paedophiles now? What's your own marital status? - GOS)
In response to our suggestion that "Figures show that around 6,000 teachers have been accused of abusing children in the past 15 years. The NASUWT said that of the 2,210 allegations it had investigated during this time only 88 had resulted in a conviction" he replied "In the USA they do 12 every 24/48 hours, so what does that tell you?"
Well, what it tells us is that the US is a big place, and lots of kiddy-fiddlers live there.
He goes on to say "We polled the police, since 2002, false allegations are close to nil, many force areas have never had any", an interesting claim. He "polled" the police, did he? How did he manage that? He really wrote to every police force in the UK and got a reply? We don't think so, Gregory. You just made that up.
Speaking of Kesgrave High School in Ipswich, which banned girls from wearing skirts, he claimed "Drunken pupil/teacher parties if I recall, and also that male teacher thing … I would prefer to see Kesgrave High School closed". He's half right. A female teacher did go to a party that included some pupils, and did get drunk. She was sacked - but for being a rotten teacher who couldn't be bothered to cover the syllabus, not for being drunk. The "male teacher thing" was another school entirely, a boys' boarding school called Kesgrave Hall, long closed.
He went on to say "Kesgrave High School … schoolgirls complain to international feminist groupings". Be specific, Gregory - how many complaints? Who to, exactly? You made this up as well, didn't you?
Kesgrave High School is still open, highly regarded in the neighbourhood, and an excellent institution. Tricky things, facts, Gregory. Not that you'd know.
In quite another place - because Carlin certainly does put himself about - he writes "There are a couple of hundred people like Neil Challis in front of the classroom". Readers need to know that Neil Challis is either ...
(a) a paedophile teacher jailed recently for child abuse,
(b) a freelance software developer,
(c) Head of Mathematics at Sheffield Hallam University, or
(d) the co-author of an academic textbook.
The last two may be one and the same. Either way, if you're (b), (c) or (d) it might have been helpful if Carlin had bothered to distinguish between them - but we suppose that would have put a bit of strain on his tunnel vision.
Other sweeping accusations include "Japan and Australia are awash with child pornography produced in British primary schools". Really? Can Carlin prove this? We doubt it. And how could he know unless he has seen it? Oh, yes, we remember - he used to be in show business. We've all heard about show business personallities who access child porn "just to see if it's there".
"The rate of offending in relation to male teachers is greater than 1/1". Wow! Leaving aside the idea that in this context any proportion can ever be greater than 1 to 1, this appears to suggest that ALL male school teachers are paedophiles.
"We now have a situation with greater than 100 child sex crimes per 100 male teachers per annum". So again, ALL male teachers are paedophiles?
"that's why primary schools are very high risk. The safe option is home-schooling". Given that most child abuse occurs within the home, this seems an extraordinary statement. About par for Carlin's course, really.
Just for the record, we carry no torch for paedophiles. Child abuse is serious, damaging and detestable - in fact, it's far too serious, damaging and detestable for the fight against it to be left to the whims of individual self-appointed campaigners whose indiscriminate and unfounded accusations can do nothing but harm to the real issue and to public perceptions about it.
We did end by telling Carlin that we wouldn't devote another page on this website to his dirty-minded drivel, but on reflection we think it's worthwhile. Not because we enjoy taking the piss out of the afflicted, but because we think this man is dangerous.
When the NAS/UWT teachers' union raised concerns about the way the law on pupil-teacher relationships is formulated, Carlin contacted the newspapers and received copious publicity for his claims that they were trying to legalise sex between pupils and teachers, and even between foster-parents and their charges.
We all know that newspapers tend not to evaluate their sources very carefully if there's an attention-grabbing headline to be had. It's unfortunate, but when someone writes to the papers claiming to represent a body like the "Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition" they tend to be taken at face value. Yes, eventually reporters will find out that he's just a friendless, disfunctional weirdo in a dirty mac hunched over a laptop in a Belfast semi, but by then the damage is done.
So, Gregory Carlin, you've achieved yet another distinction - not one but THREE entries in the august ranks of Grumpy's Wankers. For being a sad, vicious, deluded oddball who spends far too much of his time obsessing about sex with children, you ARE our Wanker of the Week.
Goodbye.
either on this site or on the World Wide Web.
Copyright © 2008 The GOS
This site created and maintained by PlainSite