Mark Michaels

I know mate, it's pretty bleak. For most cases that fall under 'suspected abuse', it will change the thinking in some cases of "I might lose my job if I accuse this person, I'll turn a blind eye, etc" to instead "if I don't report it I might be prosecuted - but I will be protected from losing my job also by law." In countries it has been introduced for decades now it has been proven to gain more convictions and lower the amount of abusers out there. While it doesn't exist here in the UK, kids will continue to be abused each day where a proper reporting system may have removed the threat already. Pretty frustrating and even more so as it seems way off happening with much of the public being so unaware of such an important tool that can help so much. Anyway that's what John and others hope to raise awareness for, might take a while but hopefully it pays off in the end.

Sorry if I'm misreading Bender, but do you mean you can't believe there is not a law in place that covers witnessing a child being sexually abused? As it stands there is not. So someone can literally watch it happen and turn a blind eye. More so if they do choose to, in some cases, risk their career to tell the police they have zero protection by law. Almost all other countries worldwide have some form of this law, we don't. Here is an explanation from Mandate now website: "If you work with children, and see one of your charges being sexually abused or even raped, you might think you and your employer had a legal obligation to report it to the authorities. Not so. There is no legal requirement on anyone working with minors in England (Wales or Scotland) to report such incidents and concerns to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), children’s services or in the event of a ‘known’ crime, the police."

Just to add John gained permission to hand the letter raising awareness for the protection of children from abuse directly into n.10 on the day. In other news Nicky Campbell is also backing the letter now and it's going to be part of a documentary so is being filmed on the day. Anyone around the south / London area, best place to meet is probably the Ace Cafe, due to leave there around 2:30pm on Saturday. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/motorcycle-ride-to-london-to-help-protect-children-from-abuse-tickets-658668413957

Hi MB, that's the exact point of the ride mate, the governments proposal is not a properly designed mandatory reporting law, it won't protect children properly at all. The whole panel of the government inquiry into child abuse are also signing the letter calling for a properly designed law, not the very weak one proposed, so they are essentially going against the governments proposals which is pretty huge. You can see loads of information about the proper law proposed on mandatenow.org You're right in that respect though that it could be clearer on that point. Also though even if this was a properly designed law that would really help protect children, they have been kicking it down the road for the past decade and to those involved the consultation is them just doing the same again. One of the main purposes of the ride is so John can help raise awareness as so many people don't know how unprotected children are in this country compared to others, and as we know like with anything the more the government are pressured by the public the more chance they will do something other than kicking the can down the road for the next decade again. So hopefully the more people that know about this cause the more it will help to save so many kids from being sexually abused in the future. There's quite a lot joined up so far so hopefully the more the better. John also has a load of Cymru Knievel bikers joining who are fully dressed up as Evel Knievel riding down with him as well, so it should be fun seeing that!

Mods hopefully it is ok to post here, if not please let me know. My mate John Taylor is doing a ride to Downing Street to help gain attention for a law that will help protect kids from abuse. Some of you may remember John from the 1980's, he done several world record motorcycle stunts including his infamous rooftop to rooftop jump over high rise flats in Liverpool. We are riding from Liverpool to Downing street on 15th July with joining points all the way down. It's backed by The Survivors Trust, lots of broadcasters, public-figures and academics, etc. So just seeing if people would like to help John and come along on the day to show support? The events page with all the info about everything is below (if that's ok to post here mods?). It's free, for a great cause and to help support a fellow biker so the more joining along the better! Should be fun so hopefully see some of you there. Let me know any questions and if anyone wants to share around the events page please feel free to do so. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/motorcycle-ride-to-london-to-help-protect-children-from-abuse-tickets-658668413957