Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Does anyone have a link to the back issues of this amazing publication.

This link doesn't seem to work

https://web.archive.org/web/20150418181 ... ey.4t.com/

I have very kindly had some clarification of how the sentence was broken down. The judge imposed a total sentence of 4 years for the second trial, which seems to me to be about right. For the first trial she imposed a total sentence of 8 years to run consecutively to the 4 years from the second tri...

This sentence is disgracefully low and I'm just so sorry for the victims. Remember the Court of Appeal increased the sentences on Burr and Webb- the process can work. If anyone can appeal the case reference number that would help as you are asked to give as many details a possible but Gary William D...

Can anyone post the article?

People might wish to know that Sheila Higgins appears to have attended both of Gary Dobbie's trial to provide a character reference on his behalf. At the second trial he was of course already a convicted sex offender. Sheila Higgins who taught at CH for many years, is now an 'Assistant Priest' at a ...

Am I right in thinking that a relationship with a pupil wasn’t illegal until 2003? I guess grooming a girl over the age of 16 until she consents to sex wouldn’t have been an offence prior to that date. Speaking in very general terms and about nobody in particular, of course. That is actually a very...

To be fair Richard McDonald was acquitted. No idea how the system works in Switzerland but it is important to note that the matter was widely publicised, and he has since returned to being a headteacher for many years. RE Michelle MacDonald. That is very concerning and must have been awful. Please c...

you would still be able to remove him if so, however I assume the great majority of people on there either don't know what's happened (which shows how important publicising these cases is) or have forgotten they were friends with him. The account is hardly likely to be much use in the decade or so t...

Not sure. Cairncross retired last year. So did Neil Flemming. Odd that. Not sure where other chaplains fit in all this i.e. the one who gave evidence in one of last year's trials. Bob Sillett does 'good works' for charities etc which might be hampered if his name was publicised for not co-operating ...

The trouble is that no enquiry could force people to attend or witnesses to testify. There would be no incentive for those involved to be truthful and it’s hard to see how effective it could be. I don’t know what the answer is, but I get angry every time I think of Poulton’s smug face at the trials...

With the exception of Burr and Webb, the perpetrators are all quite different. Burr and Webb appear to have preyed upon their victims in secret. Husband committed very serious offences against one person, while Karim's offences - vile though they were - appear to have been more indecent rather than...

I hope they survive prison. I also hope that eventually they come to some sort of realisation of the trauma they have caused their victims, and the hurt they have caused the wider relationships around the victims, their own families and friends. That work is painful and difficult and time-consuming...

I can imagine there are fair pickings in some parts of Africa. He definitely went to Kenya as far as I understand. Just keen to know if he's still there or he came back? Given RM taught previously in Kenya and likely still had strong connections at the school, I wonder whether that’s where McCall t...

It is very rare - but not completely unknown - for a jury to decide dangerousness on the basis of the offences themselves, ie that they are so inherently wicked that the offender must be dangerous. Otherwise probation have to do the necessary assessment. What's the provision for a jury decide dange...

Very interesting and informative, thank you. Yes, probation report, didn't think of that. Had assumed Judge would go straight to sentencing as she has had 10 months to work on it, and assume they prep for both outcomes during a trial. Also - rightly - she would want to enable victims from the first...