Those released under licence

[LHA]

I understand Gary Dobbie has been released from prison, I assume under licence. I doubt he is notorious enough for the press to take his photo or publicise his current whereabouts but you never know

[Nel]

I was one of Dobbie’s victims, though I believe there were some who suffered far more than me. He only abused me once.
I have heard that he has been warmly welcomed into the Catholic Church. If anyone knows anything about this, please let know on here or via a DM. The Catholic Church’s safeguarding procedures are not worth the paper they are written on. This is backed up by a recent report in The Guardian. I have already reported this to me Probation Victim Support but I don’t know how much she can do about it.
I have a friend who knows some senior men (of course men) in the Catholic Church and if we can find out which dioceses he’s in, we can warn them. Even if he’s not being welcomed as a priest (I have no idea, hopefully not), he may still use the church as a way to exploit vulnerable children, adolescents or even young adults. No one else deserves to be harmed by this man. I have tried tracking him down alone but failed.
Please note I am not a Catholic myself, in fact following my
time at CH I am absolutely atheist at best and despise most organised religions. Anything you tell me will be kept strictly confidential and I protect my sources more than most journalists. I am just deeply concerned about the amount of victims that came forward and those still suffering alone. I don’t want him to destroy any more lives and I believe my Catholic friend has the influence to get the right information to the right people and with any luck get him excommunicated. Many thanks.

[Nel]

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... can-report

Guardian report.

My friend’s contact is a Monsignor. Doesn’t mean much to me but I believe that is a position of a lot of power and influence who can hopefully get things done.

Thanks again.

[Kiff]

Dobbie was living in Albi in 2018 according to media reports

[marty]

Surely (hopefully) he'll be on the register which means he can't have any unsupervised contact with anyone under 18...?

[Nel]

Thanks so much for the replies. Sorry, formatting of message below seems a bit wonky?


********************* Trigger warning, contains description of the impact of grooming **********************

As he's only served half his sentence I think he'll have to stay in England for the next six years. Even after that, I don't know if France would allow him back in as a convicted sex offender.

Yes, Dobbie, Husband and Karim are all on the Sex Offenders Register for life. However, as I said, the Catholic Church's safeguarding processes are not worth the paper they're written on and any changes in the church are purely superficial. The Probation Services are massively overworked, overwhelmed, underpaid and Dobbie is enormously manipulative.

Look at how long he got away with offending for, and the headmaster at Shrewsbury school (and a couple of ex? CH teachers, notably Sheila Higgins (I think she taught RE?) and Peter Higgins (Chemistry)) even gave him a character witness in court.

He really has a way of coming across as a slightly eccentric, intellectual, harmless and even kind old fella rather than a recurrent child abuser, liar, and a man happy to groom children then destroy their lives for a bit of entertainment and sexual arousal then refuse to accept accountability for his actions and the terrible, lifelong impact they have had on victims.

Sometimes the grooming feels worse than the abuse event. Imagine being the poor, smelly, bullied kid all your school life, to return to poverty and abuse at home. Then this grown-up or two seem to think that you're interesting, funny, clever and have some value. Then after weeks or months or even years, when they've got you in the right place psychologically and you're now the age they're attracted to, they betray you in the worst way possible. You realise that all the time everything was false and all you were to them is prey they've enjoyed stalking but now you're ready for finishing and you become nothing, just a doll with the right private parts and holes for them to play with. It's such a unique mind-f**k and it never leaves you. How do you learn to trust anyone ever again?

I just want the church to be fully aware of the reality. According to my Probation Victims Support contact, he has done a couple of courses in prison but not everything that he should have done, and he still has to complete a number of courses now he's been released. This doesn't give me any comfort that he is now safe.

Sadly and infuriatingly, some of those in the church won't even believe that what he did was really abuse (I have been reading a lot of books about the abuse crisis in the Catholic church in England and globally). I am scared that he will be taken in and protected by these types as he was protected at both CH and Shrewsbury. Some people, especially the abusers themselves and their supporters think it's not really abuse if it wasn't a baby, or someone under the age of 10, or a teenager, or if extreme violence wasn't used, etc).

Also, I think that he may have been provided with some nice post-prison accommodation by the Church. My belief is that he's only halfway through his sentence and should be in some crappy halfway house or similar, surrounded with criminals like he is. Maybe this will put him in a position to gain a bit more insight into the damage he has done and continues to do, and that what he did is illegal for very good reason. I don't want him to think that this is over because it's not over for the victims, it's not over for others who were pulled into this (prosecution witnesses etc), or even the pupils who had a good time at CH and now have to live with the fact that it was also a cesspool of abuse and cover-up.

I'm so sorry for the ranting, I guess this has impacted me more than I thought. I hope I don't upset or trigger anyone.

Thanks so much again for the replies. Just knowing that there are old blues out there who still care and are listening is invaluable.

[scrub]

Surely (hopefully) he'll be on the register which means he can't have any unsupervised contact with anyone under 18...?

The register is only relevant if his future employers/sponsors care about/use it. State/government employers have to use it, but outside of that ...
Sadly, the only way a private organisation would care is if their funders or the press got wind of it and decided it was unacceptable.

[Chris Grady]

Rob Totterdell has asked me to post the following on his behalf:

"Nell, Please be reassured I am investigating the whereabouts of Dobbie and notifying the Catholic Church"

Rob is currently in hospital recovering from a stroke, learning to walk again a bit but with full marbles intact. He is meant to be not working on any of this...but...He has read this post.

Chris

[Nel]

Thanks Chris.

Bless him. Tell him I’m already on it, I have reported all my concerns to my Probation Victim Support Manager and she has passed them on to Dobbie’s Probation Officer. I have this willing Monsignor ready to push the excommunication process.
Tell Robert to get this additional stress out of his head so he can recover from the stroke and focus purely on getting well.
I knew he would understand my post about grooming and find it upsetting for many reasons, partly hence the trigger warning. I just had to get it all out I guess.
I’m doing everything that can be done I think, and I have checked this with a barrister and two Investigators.
Please Rob just get well soon. There is no immediate urgency to any of this.

Thanks again Chris.

[SandysJ]

Forgive me if you don't consider this tale relevant.
7 or 8 years ago I was driving along a main road, behind a bus.
It stopped to let an elderly gent off.
As the traffic started moving, I saw him stumble into a driveway but I was in a flow of traffic so had to turn around to go back to see if he was okay.
By the time I returned, he was not looking well but was quite lucid and at least sitting up, albeit on the drive.
No one answered the door but I established he didn't live there.
I started calling an ambulance but he got very agitated. He did tell me he lived in a nearby elder-folks residential village, so I drove him there and went into reception. It happened to be a Catholic facility.
They sent a carer out with a wheelchair and took him back to his accomodation.
I had only learned his first name but the Carer referred to him as Father something (I have since forgotten the name) so all's well.
When I had some spare minutes, out of curiosity, I googled said Father, I dont know why, except for being nosy.
I was taken aback to find newspaper reports of his trial for sexual abuse.
Reading this particular topic just brought it to mind and just made me curious as to how many similar ex-priests, are being accommodated in such Catholic establishments, presumably as part of their 'retirement' package!

[Mid A 15]

Rob Totterdell has asked me to post the following on his behalf:

"Nell, Please be reassured I am investigating the whereabouts of Dobbie and notifying the Catholic Church"

Rob is currently in hospital recovering from a stroke, learning to walk again a bit but with full marbles intact. He is meant to be not working on any of this...but...He has read this post.

Chris

Sorry to hear about Rob's stroke Chris.

Back in 2021 I had a serious stroke but have made pretty much a full recovery. Needs work to regain mobility but can be done.

Please give Rob my best wishes Chris should you be in touch with him.