A Risky Gamble

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) was formed in April 2006, and was absorbed into the NCA on 7 October 2013 by the UK Crime and Courts Act 2013.  The predecessor to CEOP was the Paedophile Online Exploitation Team.

Until March 2010, this was headed by Jim Gamble - he who called for a "panic button" for the public to report suspected paedophiles, to be installed on the main profile page of every Facebook user,  thereby planting the suggestion that every single Facebook user is also, potentially, a paedophile.  And of course inviting millions of aggrieved teens, or even older, to treat them as flippers on a pinball machine.

The common word in both CEOP and it's predecessor is, of course, "online".

Mr Gamble, now so-called "self employed", keeps himself very busy online, particularly on Twitter.  Here is a small selection of his microblogs.

Mr Gamble has also been involved, with the McCann case, right from the start.  Even though there is zero suggestion that Madeleine has been involved in any nefarious online activity; and zero evidence that she has been abducted by paedophiles.

Yet Mr Gamble has thrown his entire person into the fray.  He has blocked every single person on Twitter who has even remotely questioned the McCanns' version of events, including many who have never even interacted with him.  He has publicly stated that persons with a contrary opinion should not be allowed to give broadcasts on the radio.  He very visibly applauded Sky's Martin Brunt for doorstepping one dissenter, on the very day that that lady's probable suicide was announced.  He is now actively attempting to prevent independent journalists from writing, or broadcasting, about the case.

One has to wonder why Mr Gamble is so passionate and involved over this one particular case, when there is absolutely no reason for himself or his former agency to become involved at all.

We must also ask how Dr Gerry McCann came into possession of several hard-backed CEOP internal manuals, as early as 2007; Mr Gamble tells us that "they can be downloaded by anyone from the Internet".  He seems unwilling, however, to provide any links, or explain how a digital download can suddenly transform itself into a hard-backed book.

Or how a former senior policeman has apparently, suddenly transformed into one of the "haters" and "trolls" that he claims to despise so much.

What A Difference A Day (or two) Makes

Reliable sources inform us that no reporters were present at the Judge's hearing in Lisbon last week.  It did not stop press agency Lusa from writing their "story", however.

"Kate and Gerry McCann win court ruling" - headline in the Daily Mail (and others), 22/01/15.  Clearly the reporter on this occasion must have been Mystic Meg, as the Judge's final ruling is not expected for some two months yet.

A couple of days later, several newspapers furiously backtracked, having discovered - no doubt to some embarrassment - that simply counting the words "proven" and "not proven" is not necessarily a reliable guide as to how this particular legal wind is blowing.

A number of amusing and colourful pie charts were produced by various parties, to help illustrate the Judge's findings, one of which (from the "Madeleine McCann Debate Group"), is reproduced below.

The purpose of a pie chart, of course, is to convey useful information in a visual format.  So for any persons who are incapable of counting the instances of the phrases "proven" and "not proven" in a given text, this would be an invaluable tool.  Perhaps Dr Gerry McCann could use this for one of his Powerpoint presentations.

In other news, the captain of the Costa Concordia - so professionally represented by one Clarence Mitchell, prospective parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion -is facing 26 years behind bars.

Maria Navarro accuses Francesco Schettino of never apologising and saving own life ‘without even getting shoes wet’.  Clarence does seem to attract them.