I read this bracing myself for the usual kafkaesque story of somebody jailed for months or years on a groundless charge, going through endless sloppy trials, hysterical sentencing, and the predictable tragic consequences on career, relations, together with the trauma and abuse of being jailed.
But this case happened in the UK, not the US. After he was "arrested" this man appears to have spent a grand total of three weeks "living with his mother". After these three weeks, his laptop was returned to him by the police and he had been cleared from all charges. However, he laments that "because of what happened" he's suffering of PTSD and he's unable to go back to work. That during the three weeks he was away, his younger son would cry. That the £60k compensation he received from the police for the mistake it's not enough, since he "didn't even get two and a half years' wage". That he hasn't had his day in court, and he needs the world to know he's not a paedophile. The events happened six years ago.
I might be underestimating the impact on one's life and mental health of this kind of things. But this story smells of trying to get a better deal or of some deeper personal issue.
> Lang was bailed, but under strict and devastating conditions. Social services had visited his partner at home while he was being interviewed to conduct a “safeguarding assessment”, and it was decided he could not live at the family home, visit his son there, or have any unsupervised contact with his son anywhere. “Not being able to look after my kid, it was heartbreaking,” Lang recalled.
> He also has a grandson who was 14 months old at the time and was due to undergo a major brain operation while Lang was on bail. He said he felt unable to help the boy’s mother due to the strict conditions. “It was a really fucked-up time. I couldn’t give them any support.”
> He was working as a drug recovery worker helping troubled teenagers at the time, and when he informed his employer what had happened, he was suspended immediately.
> Their son, meanwhile, suddenly saw his father as unreliable, Lang said, and would cry, not understanding why he had disappeared and couldn’t come home for three weeks.
> He remembers his young son asking: “‘Why can’t Daddy come home?’ That brought me to fucking tears. I’m welling up now thinking about it.”
> Today, neither he nor his partner is working. Lang is effectively a full-time carer for his disabled mother, and in the years since his arrest his partner developed ME, something they blame on the stress caused by the whole ordeal.
He got his career torpedoed, got publicly accused of being a pedo, and had relationships with multiple members of one's family get fucked up, and his father died before he got exonerated.
Career and family and relationships with friends -- having all those sources of meaning in your life get instantly eviscerated (in a way that was impossible to predict and that is very difficult to find sympathy from others for) seems like it would induce pretty deep dysfunction in most anyone.
It sounds like mental health issues torpedoed his career. He "felt unable to go back...[to] work" (emphasis mine) because he "became fearful of working with young females." This made him "paranoid". Nowhere does it say he was fired.
Mental health issues are serious, and I do not want to minimize the suffering Mr. Lang subjectively felt. While the police bear some blame for that suffering, they seem to have corrected their error as quickly as reasonably possible, exonerated him and paid him restitution. I think the restitution should have been higher, but that's a separate issue from saying they "torpedoed" his career.
That's not really as simple as mental health issues. False allegations of sexual misconduct are a significant risk for any man who works with underage females on a routine basis.
If a hostile addict (which, let's be honest, are probably not rare, since these programs are frequently court-ordered) learns that an employee's background may make him more susceptible to such allegations (e.g., a past accusation of pedophilia, justified or not), it could spell a lot of trouble for everyone involved.
If it becomes widely known, just the PR cost ("this rehab center employs pedophiles! Use ours instead!") would make his return infeasible. So while he wouldn't be technically barred from returning to work, practically speaking, it makes sense that he wouldn't be able to go back.
I agree, however, that the story appears to be a play to exert public pressure on the police force, perhaps to offer a larger compensatory package or settlement (to be honest, I didn't read far enough into the article to see if there is an active lawsuit ongoing).
The core issue is that our justice systems badly need some type of modernization. I understand how scary that is, but I think it's approaching time that we face the music. The world has changed at an unprecedented rate over the last 100 years, and it's time to shed some of the baggage we've carried over from centuries past.
He spent a total of four hours in a police station. Four hours. Then three weeks (three weeks!) at his mother's waiting for his laptop to be scanned. And that's it. Daddy can't come home because he's on a holiday, or on a business trip, and he'll send you a postcard, and now off to bed. Employer, same thing: "horrible mistake, accusing me of something I haven't done, in three weeks I'll come clear" and that's exactly what happens, with excuses from the police. If this has impacts on your work, then you don't have great colleagues for sure.
Companies that tolerate an employee not showing up for three weeks, and especially because they're under suspicion for child pornography, are exceptionally rare!
Look at it from the flip side... nobody knows that this man is innocent. So while the law might be innocent until proven guilty, usually acquaintances aren't so kind. "Where there's smoke there's fire" and all that.
Nope, I don't. But when I think that there's people living through the horror of wars, and then read about somebody who can't cope with three weeks at his mother's and his child crying because daddy isn't at home, and then, quite openly, asking for more money- well, I get some sort of bad reaction.
Ah, and just to get some more downvotes- this guy is supposed to be helping troubled teenagers. But he doesn't seem to be able to cope with three weeks of fear and uncertainty.
Public support is a factor. No one tells the wrongly accused that they are heroes and thanks them for their enduring fight against injustice. Obversely, I know people who wear their military uniforms off duty when they're feeling under-appreciated and want a little recognition, most of whom have never been involved in combat. I've known guys who came home from Camp Buehring who described their biggest problem having to choose between steak and lobster each night. Do you think they correct anyone who thanks them for their service?
Control is another. Becoming known as a pedo because the police wrongly arrested you on suspicion of it is pretty out of one's hands. You don't just say, "Sorry, you have the wrong person, I'll be leaving now" and walk out, and you'd be lucky if the news spends the weeks following report of your exculpation saying anything similar to "where there's smoke there's not necessarily fire". And you could be locked up through your trial and beyond if the system fails and your family turn their backs on you. No one knows for certain how long something like that can last.
If you were in that circumstance, you'd have to weigh the very real possibility of never getting to watch your child grow up or play a part in their life, of having them suffer outside of their control because of you, and the possibility that they will grow up to have doubts about you because of how others responded. You might never get to know your child, and they might never get to know you, and they might decide they don't want to.
And troubled teens need someone they can trust and rely on, not someone they think is only trying to help them because they're secretly trying to take advantage. Think of all the people this guy might have helped or interacted with who suddenly got accused of being molested or having sex for help by other kids. Hurting the people you want to help is pretty close to a worst nightmare for someone in that position. Coming up with these points was a pretty basic exercise in empathy.
Journalists also have a tendency to report on these things causing all kinds of damage and then rarely retract their statements. Even if they do retract them, the damage is done. The guy will always be known as a pedo by people who read the story, regardless of how untrue it was.
You keep saying "three weeks" but the actual process of exoneration took years -- not "three weeks". It would behoove you to look up the details of this case before making grandiose claims about this case.
When you work with troubled youth, an accusation of child pornography is almost as bad as it can possibly be. Since the police didn't give him an explanation for the mistake up front, I'm sure he lived under a cloud of suspicion after that, hence the concern about being alone with young women.
For 3 weeks everyone around you assumes you're guilty. How do you prove the absence of pornography in your life when the police have all your equipment?
Yes, it could have been much worse. No, I'm not shocked that it was devastating.
(Update: forgot to add, I imagine there's a very real fear during those three weeks that you'll be permanently separated from your children.)
> For 3 weeks everyone around you assumes you're guilty
It sounds like it was worse than that. After 3 weeks they gave him back his laptop because they found no evidence on it, and stopped pursuing charges.
But the police never explained why they suspected him, nor did they uncover their own mistake regarding the IP address.
So, at the end of the 3 weeks he went from being actively under investigation for child pornography to no longer under active investigation for child pornography.
That's a small step forward - now not-quite-everyone around you assumes you're guilty.
It took years before his solicitor uncovered the error and there was enough information available to demonstrate that he should never have been a suspect and it was all due to a police screw-up.
And even if cleared, everyone still thinks he's guilty.
Ask a random person on the Left about the Duke lacrosse players. Even though they were exonerated... not just found not guilty... and the prosecutor was put in jail, and the accuser is now in jail, most progressives still think something happened, and their lives are ruined.
Ok, but the police cleared him of the charges. Then he hired a solicitor and thanks to him the mistake was made clear, and he got a totally justified, and very handsome, compensation. One would think that this should be enough to put at rest any possible suspicion. Three weeks are not such a long ordeal, especially when you know from the start it's all a mistake.
To be clear -- the police exonerating him took three years ("5 April 2014 he received a letter from Hertfordshire constabulary"), which is rather a long ordeal, especially because he had no idea why he was targeted until then.
The "three weeks" just refers to how long it took for the police's forensics people to search his laptop and find nothing. After those three weeks the police was like "oh we can't find proof of those illegal images on your laptop, welp, gotta let you go", not "we typoed an IP address and kicked down the wrong door, you are completely innocent and utterly unconnected to this".
> One would think that this should be enough to put at rest any possible suspicion.
But, it wasn't. People were still suspicious - and in his working with kids it doesn't make sense to "take a risk" on an allegedly exonerated pedophile.
What should happen and what did happen as a result of his three weeks of suspicion was starkly different. Certainly we don't need to blame anything or anyone in particular to understand how awful something like false charges can be regardless of how awful they ought to be.
> Three weeks are not such a long ordeal, especially when you know from the start it's all a mistake.
He didn't know it was three weeks at the time, he didn't know if he would be able to exonerate himself or if he was being framed or whatever - it's not like he's just sleeping it off when law enforcement already got one thing wrong enough to falsely arrest.
> People were still suspicious - and in his working with kids it doesn't make sense to "take a risk" on an allegedly exonerated pedophile.
England has a "Disclosure and Barring Service". People who work with children and vulnerable people will apply for a DBS. It will return information about arrests and convictions. Some people need an enhanced DBS, and that will sometimes return police intel.
If you pay any attention to the news, there's been numerous cases where innocent people spent years or even decades in jails before they were found not guilty.
What happened to him was terrible, but I tend to agree that he received adequate compensation. My armchair judge verdict: calls for further compensation should be strongly discouraged, but the lesson this story teaches of how devastating a sex crime charge, particularly a child sex crime charge, is, should be spread far and wide, and anyone who goes through ordeal similar to Nigel's should be similarly exonerated in a very public way.
I agree with no further direct monetary compensation... but I can see how this would literally 'break' him.
He is no longer the calm, re-assuring, blissfully ignorant individual he once was.
He should probably be re-evaluated for current aptitude and skills, receive refining education towards a promising related career field and live a reborn life. I don't know, does the UK actually do the right thing (unlike the US)?
He may subconsciously sabotage his own rehabilitation because doing so could net him even more compensation. I strongly believe that now that he's received compensation and full public exoneration, he should be expected to return to supporting himself. There are a lot of people who are in much more difficult circumstances than him. We cannot provide unlimited aid to every person who's been wronged or suffered trauma. It has to be proportionate and within society's ability ability to support.
You don't understand. He was arrested for being a pedophile. All of his friends and family will know about it. Everywhere he goes people will be looking for suspicious behavior involving children.
Forever.
He had a career working with children that he had to abandon. If a single child or parent made a false accusation, it could confirm everyone's suspicions about him and his life would be over. His neighbors would demand he move. His wife would probably leave him. He would probably never see his kids again. Every day he has to live with knowing he did nothing wrong but that other people have the ability to destroy his life on a whim at any moment.
Sorry, but I think you're commenting the wrong story. He didn't have to leave his job, he chose to leave. While the idea of peadophilia might linger in the minds of his colleagues and acquaintances for some time, the mistake is clear enough for everybody to shake it off immediately. He got cleared of any charge, then it was even made clear that the mistake was due to a typo. What makes him different from any other random person walking the streets? Absolutely nothing. Get over it.
> The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).
[...]
> Referrals are made to us when an employer or organisation, eg a regulatory body, has concerns that a person has caused harm, or poses a future risk of harm to vulnerable groups, including children.
> In these circumstances the employer must make a referral to the DBS, though this is not obligatory for regulatory bodies.
If he had an enhanced check:
> Standard (£26)
> This checks for spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings.
> Enhanced (£44)
> This includes the same as the standard check plus any additional information held by local police that’s reasonably considered relevant to the role being applied for.
It's likely this arrest would have prevented him from working with vulnerable young people.
I was supposed to start a one-year contract with a large financial company in London - went there for two weeks, just got back. They asked me if I had any problems ("any civil suit" or something like that) and I told them "yes, I had a copyright violation 15 years ago, it got settled out of court". That led to an immense scandal and my agency is still trying to convince them to accept me anyway, because their immediate reaction was "no hire". This despite the fact that they are desperate for people (seriously, they want eight more people besides me and can't find them) and despite the fact that everyone agrees that my experience is perfect for the role.
The reason they're so stubborn about it? "What if something happens and I am asked why I accepted him despite knowing he had problems? Then I'll lose my job". People love CYA.
I think you're severely undercutting the affect it can have when one is accused of being a pedophile. It can ruin your entire life even if it's discovered to not be true immediately. Once it's out there it's pretty much impossible to remove.
Thanks to the society that tears everyone suspected and doesn't mind reporting or judging on minor crime feelings. I see what Ubik tries to bring to this thread, but noticed years ago that cultural differences effectively disallow that sort of communication.
In simple words: Social justice over real justice. It is $subj's society that is wrong, not police officers.
Police CAN do mistakes and WILL do them and they can take LONG time to fix. That's because police does actually a lot of work instead of doing nothing. It is okay to spend few time in PD for everyone. It is okay to be suspected, because every crime has several suspects, filtered out by evidence collected over time. It is also okay to take a compensation for your time and inconvenience.
What is NOT okay: to live in stupid society that does ruin your life when you're charged.
Single data point, but pretty common in my country: I was locked for 4+ hours so many times in my life that I cannot remember the exact count. I was suspected at least in stealing things, threatening and robbing people (well, I did things, but nothing of that). Sometime you get half-day off because an investigator asks you out on a date. It is no big deal at work and many relatives make jokes on that.
But for $subj people I am probably a monster. Their laws and principles exist in theory, but do not actually work because of themselves, not because of database records.
>That during the three weeks he was away, his younger son would cry.
You seem to conflate the story as retold by the journalist, with highlighted parts and observations for flourishing, with the impact such an allegation had on the person, his friendships, public standing, work relations, etc.
>I might be underestimating the impact on one's life and mental health of this kind of things. But this story smells of trying to get a better deal or of some deeper personal issue.
I find it hard to believe that if this happened to you, you wouldn't too have screamed bloody murder.
You are underestimating it. Being accused of something by authorities and not being believed is dreadful, even when you KNOW you are innocent. They double down on you even though they caused all the problems and are responsible.
This is currently happening to me with the Australian mental health system. For the last 10 months they have lied in writing and verbally, denied violating written policies and state law, and brought me to a point where I very nearly committed suicide. They continue to do so.
I have now been trying to get basic justice for 10 months. I finally might have them admit what they did to me was wrong. Once I have them admit it, I'm going to take the fuckers to court. The lawyers can keep all the money for all I care, my goal is to crap all over them and give them a taste of what it feels like to be powerless and humiliated.
My anger is enormous, and after they've said sorry I will make them say sorry for at least 10 months after. And I will make the fuckers pay.
While I agree I was expecting a more visual story from the synopsis, I strongly recommend the movie "The Hunt" with Mads Mikkelsen to get a feeling of what he may have gone through. It's a really good movie.
It's actually one of my favourite movies from the last few years. But that story is very different, at least because he's accused by the children themselves, whose parents happen to also be his closest friends. Anyway, really excellent movie.
The standard of life and suffering doesn't revolve around that of United States, just because you have an unimaginably fucked up _justice_ system doesn't discounts the struggle and suffering of others.
Well whatever the exact impact it can't be that the police can't be bothered to validate the main evidence trail. Or not type shit by hand that is electronic in nature in the first place for crying out loud! There's just no excuse for such mistakes. What if they raid a wrong house because someone put in the GPS coordinates wrong!?
But this case happened in the UK, not the US. After he was "arrested" this man appears to have spent a grand total of three weeks "living with his mother". After these three weeks, his laptop was returned to him by the police and he had been cleared from all charges. However, he laments that "because of what happened" he's suffering of PTSD and he's unable to go back to work. That during the three weeks he was away, his younger son would cry. That the £60k compensation he received from the police for the mistake it's not enough, since he "didn't even get two and a half years' wage". That he hasn't had his day in court, and he needs the world to know he's not a paedophile. The events happened six years ago.
I might be underestimating the impact on one's life and mental health of this kind of things. But this story smells of trying to get a better deal or of some deeper personal issue.