Trial of Gary William Dobbie

[scrub]

I believe that during Karim's trial it was made very clear (by Liz Cairncross IIRC) that, while Poulton was HM, staffing issues were his domain. The SMT all had specific roles, but the final word on staff matters was Dickie P's.

[Otter]

This all makes me very curious as to who could be reading this and sweating:

- Staff who were approached for help by victims but ignored it, told victims they would be named publicly if they pursued complaints, told them to get over it, failed to escalate complaints, gave abusers a positive employment reference because they were a “CH success story”, etc.
- Staff who did not commit any abuse themselves but knew (or should reasonably have known) it was happening, covered up for paedo colleagues or deflected complaints about them, allowed their homes to be used for “parties” ...
- Staff who directly committed abuse and have not yet had that knock on the door.

[richardb]

Recruitment is irrelevant.

What matters is knowing that you will be protected once you are there.

[AMP]

This is the tip of the tip of the iceberg

[richardb]

Find out who organised and was at the cycling shorts parties and all falls into place. Someone must know.

[sejintenej]

I believe that during Karim's trial it was made very clear (by Liz Cairncross IIRC) that, while Poulton was HM, staffing issues were his domain. The SMT all had specific roles, but the final word on staff matters was Dickie P's.

Very much an aside

Surely in any school it is the headmaster who is ultimately responsible for accepting or rejecting proposed staff? OK so he might have underlings who vet potential staff - underlings whom he has appointed/accepted as competent in that role but the buck stops with him over teaching quality and overall control.
Whatever we might think about him, POTUS cannot be personally criminally responsible if some border guard roughs up a Mexican illegal immegrant but he is responsible for the actions or inactions of people he puts in overall command of that type of control. It is a question of how far down the ladder the event occurs and in CH the degree of remoteness is one simple layer - not 50.

[AMP]

Find out who organised and was at the cycling shorts parties and all falls into place. Someone must know.

From the latest trial evidence I suppose one can assume the police have had the names for sometime now

[richardb]

Find out who organised and was at the cycling shorts parties and all falls into place. Someone must know.

From the latest trial evidence I suppose one can assume the police have had the names for sometime now

Hopefully.

[scrub]

Surely in any school it is the headmaster who is ultimately responsible for accepting or rejecting proposed staff?

Not necessarily. Depends on the management structure of the school, whether it's state, public/private, religious, etc. My folks have worked at a number of schools in both the UK and Aus, in some the first point of contact was the HM, in others they never even met them until after they'd started. In some places, hiring/firing is the sole domain of an 'independent' HR division.

The key difference between your example and the Karim trial was that, according to Cairncross's statement, the HM was hands on and the sole decision maker. There were no layers, information and opinions (?) were given to him, but his decision alone was the final one.

[richardb]

Poulton may have made decisions, but problems may have been sidelined before ever reaching him.
A weak HM with dominant deputies, for example, is an ineffective HM.
Remember what was said in the Karim case - if you pursue this, your name may end up in the papers.
Problem solved, no action needed by HM

[AMP]

I remember being interviewed by Baker at The Royal College of Surgeons.

Not for a job - I was 10 at the time - but as part of a day of competitive examinations.

Other former staff on here have mentioned being interviewed by Baker.

It would seem that in those days the HM had the final say on everyone who came through the school gates.

Did he interview the cleaners as well?

[richardb]

You are missing the point.

It's the friendships they forge once at the school and the protection those friendships can give. Those are what matters.

[scrub]

Poulton may have made decisions, but problems may have been sidelined before ever reaching him.
A weak HM with dominant deputies, for example, is an ineffective HM.
Remember what was said in the Karim case - if you pursue this, your name may end up in the papers.
Problem solved, no action needed by HM

For sure, although there is also the flip side to that whereby a dominant HM tells their subordinates to 'make this go away' so that they never need to appear to have to take action. Both scenarios are fairly common.

[AMP]

Could a consecutive sentence on top of concurrent sentences for last year's convictions be on the cards?

Presumably they will want to lock him up for as long as possible given those types of offenders remain dangerous well into old age

[richardb]

He has now been convicted of offences against nine pupils in the grossest breach of trust.
The modern way is to decide an overall sentence and then give sentences for the individual sentences which are less than they would otherwise be in order to make them all fit.
In overall terms I would expect the overall sentence to be 2-3 longer than it would have been without this trial.
Burr was determined to be a dangerous offender. I don't think any of the others were.
The length of adjournment suggests that the judge has called for a probation report which can only be for the purpose of assessing dangerousness. Dobbie will continue to deny responsibility, and is likely to be found dangerous.
If he is dangerous then he won't get out much before the age of 80.