Geoff Broome

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

True of all Educational Authorities, Bobby in those days. Also true of priests, nuns, youth workers and social workers. I remember visiting a Quarriers Home in Scotland where the staff were friendly, the kids were unfailingly polite and eager to please. Within a matter of months it was part of that big investigation into terrible abuse by staff. The way these things were hidden and covered up beggars belief to us nowadays.

Indeed, this was about 1989 and some of the younger staff members of the authority were beginning to agitate for something to be done but the older ones had that 'it's just the way it is' attitude. And this was a local authority, not exactly at the forefront of modern HR practices.

Rumors about him came out quite a few years ago about his behavior. I played for his SolarGlass team in the early to mid eighties, disgraceful behaviour by someone who was in a position of trust.

Quoted from Spidey

Rumors about him came out quite a few years ago about his behavior. I played for his SolarGlass team in the early to mid eighties, disgraceful behaviour by someone who was in a position of trust.

I don't think there were just rumours. Without being prurient, he had some kind of public issue (might have been a police warning or even placed on the sex offenders register) for some low level 'abuse' in the showers after games. He defended himself saying it was post match high spirits, the authorities didn't buy that. I think that was late 80s or early 90s but I could be wrong, I only have a vague recollection.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

Indeed, this was about 1989 and some of the younger staff members of the authority were beginning to agitate for something to be done but the older ones had that 'it's just the way it is' attitude. And this was a local authority, not exactly at the forefront of modern HR practices.

Sometimes people were sacked but prosecution was hard to do then when it was the word of an adult v child. Even sacking was a difficult job because there was no CRO then and the unions were very much on the side of “prove it” as they were with any form of incompetence at that time. Endless reports, statements, independent inspection …….. appeals galore. The Children Act made it easier but still depended on the victim coming forward and being honest. Even with CRO look at how Huntley slipped the net.I remember going on a course in the 80s where the leader said a child MUST be believed which is obviously tripe and has got in the way of dealing with a lot of people like these football coaches.

I've been reading about this and it's shocking that he was ever allowed near kids after his conviction in 1988. It seems the majority of authority figures didn't want the fuss of trying to stop him.

I think Geoff Bartholemew deservers a huge amount of respect for successfully fighting to get him banned from working with children back in 2001.

Quoted from Marinerdan

I think Geoff Bartholemew deservers a huge amount of respect for successfully fighting to get him banned from working with children back in 2001.

I wasn’t aware of this at all. Kudos to Mr B!

I heard that years back, someone bought their way onto the Scunny board for the sole purpose of outing Broome from SUFC. Paid however many thousands of pounds of his money, got on the board, tried to get the club to stop having anything to do with him. But the rest of their board wouldnt have it, and despite knowing about what he'd already been involved in up to that point, just decided that he could still work with their juniors as long as there was another adult present. The individual who'd got on their board to rid their club of him just got himself out in disbelief.

Do i need to say "allegedly" again.
I was told of this story about 5/6 years ago before all this recent court case.

Quoted from Tommy

I heard that years back, someone bought their way onto the Scunny board for the sole purpose of outing Broome from SUFC. Paid however many thousands of pounds of his money, got on the board, tried to get the club to stop having anything to do with him. But the rest of their board wouldnt have it, and despite knowing about what he'd already been involved in up to that point, just decided that he could still work with their juniors as long as there was another adult present. The individual who'd got on their board to rid their club of him just got himself out in disbelief.

That was mentioned in the Mirror piece which was published over the weekend. As regards his involvement with GTFC, I'm not clear from the article just what his involvement was. Regardless of whether or not he was ever officially on the payroll, it seems obvious to me that the club ought to make some sort of comment on the matter. I was surprised to read that we and Scunthorpe hadn't responded, but it would also be interesting to know when they were actually asked.

Spent 13 years as a senior social worker in a child protection team ,it happens in all strata of society,thing is forget the stereo typical image of a paedophile the most successful are very charismatic likeable individuals,that is why they fool everybody.

Quoted from friskneymariner

Spent 13 years as a senior social worker in a child protection team ,it happens in all strata of society,thing is forget the stereo typical image of a paedophile the most successful are very charismatic likeable individuals,that is why they fool everybody.

It’s always boggled my mind that people are easily sucked in to the stereotypes of sexual offenders.

My Masters research was centred on juvenile sexual offenders and since then I’ve been involved with MAPPA at a strategic level. The serious sexual offenders, as you say, are almost always charismatic and often ‘normal’. They certainly don’t look weird or wear an anorak. Many are also incredibly manipulative; I visit Full Sutton prison maybe once/twice a year and the average length of sentence is about 12 years - the wings holding the sex offenders is very different. I’d argue that whilst they are usually more talkative and happy to chat I wouldn’t trust any of them, almost always looking for an angle or something to benefit them. The standard wing might be more volatile in a different way and there’s some serious nutters but I know which is rather be on.

People like Broome are often very clever and exploit their positions of authority. They also ruin it for other folk, it makes people weary of things and drives people away. Thankfully, the system finally caught up, after years of essentially ‘hiding’ the truth. We’ve seen similar in social care with the Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford CSE stuff, we’ve seen other organisations doing similar...surely putting your head above the parapet to protect children trunks everything?

He’s now in jail, his victims, many likely middle aged with a family will still be working through whatever trauma they faced, there will also be some that weren’t directly effected but will be asking questions, could they have said something, did they see something and so forth. Sadly, the victim supper available, whilst very good is somewhat limited.

There will also be people who worked with or came in to contact with Broome being annoyed at themselves because they didn’t spot it, they couldn’t do anything...whilst some blame can be apportioned to people who heard or knew of the earlier conviction etc, ultimately, the only person responsible is Broome. Will he reoffend upon release? Will he be sorry? Were there more cases? Only he knows and it very much depends on the model of rehabilitation you believe when it comes to sexual offending.

He is finally in jail, small mercies perhaps but he is.