Tommy Robinson and “Free Melanie Shaw”

An unexpected detail from Tommy Robinson’s preliminary court appearance at the Old Bailey yesterday was the sight of Robinson and Kevin Carroll holding “Free Melanie Shaw” posters outside the court building; Robinson also posted a photo of himself posing with the poster at a Tube station shortly beforehand.

Here, Robinson is presumably associating his own current legal predicament with other claims regarding “establishment” cover ups of organised child sex abuse: Shaw apparently spent her early years within the Nottinghamshire care system, and her supporters claim that she has been imprisoned on false charges and even held in solitary confinement to prevent her from speaking out about abuse she experienced and witnessed, and even about instances of child murder that she saw. Robinson presumably believes that this lends credence to his own assertions that his current charge for contempt of court (which comes after his earlier summary conviction in May was quashed) is also an abuse of process, orchestrated by the same “establishment” that does not want him “exposing” Muslim grooming gangs.

However, just as Robinson’s claim of suppression is difficult to credit given the extensive media coverage of grooming cases involving men of Pakistani heritage, it is hard to see why there would be a conspiracy to silence Shaw – in recent years, allegations regarding historical institutional abuse have been pursued vigorously by police forces, and even outlandish claims have formed the basis for extensive investigations (most notoriously, the case of Operation Midland). In Nottinghamshire, allegations relating to Beechwood Community House in Nottingham were first investigated by police as Operation Daybreak in 2010, which was followed by a wider investigation in 2015 called Operation Xeres and then Operation Equinox. Local media report that hundreds of statements have been taken (including one from the actress Samantha Morton), and also that a “major inquiry” is due to start on Monday, as it happens. This does not seem to be consistent with an attempted cover-up.

In Shaw’s case, it seems that there is something of an information void: a report about her in the Nottingham Post was removed at some point, which may indicate a reporting restriction; as such, I won’t go into details here. However, it can be said that the “Free Melanie Shaw” slogan goes back to 2014, and that her case has been heavily promoted on conspiracy websites – most notably, by Brian Gerrish at UK Column. Robinson’s support can perhaps be seen as further evidence of an increasing convergence between the British fringe-right and the wider conspiracy milieu.

30 Responses

  1. “….Robinson is presumably associating his own current legal predicament with other claims regarding “establishment” cover ups of organised child sex abuse:… Robinson presumably believes that this lends credence to his own assertions that his current charge… is also an abuse of process, orchestrated by the same “establishment” that does not want him “exposing” Muslim grooming gangs.

    However… Robinson’s claim of suppression is difficult to credit given the extensive media coverage of grooming cases involving men of Pakistani heritage…”

    Phew, glad you’ve cleared that up!

    For a moment there I thought this was all about serial mass torture, rape and even murder of children, aka “child sex abuse”, by Pakistani Muslims, being covered up!

    When in fact the public’s mistaken belief that roaming posses of Japanese hairdressers and Thai manicurists were going on the rampage, has now been corrected:

    It’s not about “Asian Grooming Gangs”:

    It’s actually all about innocent Pakistani atheists voluntarily going to the barbers for a quick tidy up!!

    No cover up there then, even after up to (more than?) 40 years of clearly false allegations!!!

    Oh, and I take it that “the British fringe-right” refers to the dryer end of the Tories rather than the usual insinuation of an extremist lunatic fringe far to the right of Hitler?!

  2. I looked into the Melanie Shaw case when it first started to be muttered about by lunatics / exploited by fraudulent posturers like Gerrish; it was a job of under an hour at the keyboard to dispel absolutely every mad claim being made (though no doubt these have since been added to).

    The arson & vandalism for which she was correctly found guilty took place. It was reported at the time & if memory serves the only anomoly was a spelling mistake or date mix up or summat which was beyond the grasp of the nutters who automatically think a ‘D-notice’ has been issued if what they are searching for doesn’t appear on the first page of Google’s results.

    (It was also reported prior to her arrest via, I think, the fire service’s Twitter account… it’s all such absolute drivel that I really can’t be bothered going back to check!)

    The criminal acts had nothing to do with the now-claimed ‘paedo conspiracy’ but involved neighbourly disputes. The wellbeing of the children who were awakened in the middle of the night to be evacuated from their home by the firemen apparently do not figure in the crazies’ calculations, though I doubt they slept well the next night… or the night after.

    If there was any evidence to support Shaw’s supposed claims of child murder, etc., it’s difficult to understand why her supporters would need to rely on such obviously false assertions. She is quite possibly being detained in the wrong setting but she’d hardly be unique in that, and wasn’t immediately imprisoned as she surely would have been had she really been a ‘danger to the UK establishment’ (“Judge Michael Pert QC was satisfied Shaw suffered from mental illness and told her: “Because you are ill, I’m not going to send you to prison.””)

    But now Timmy Robinson is on board – a true confederacy of ‘patriotic’ dunces! I despair…

  3. It seems to me that we do need to do more to expose the real nature of Islam, or Mohammedanism, to give it its right name, and to show that Mr Robinson is really a nice kind of chap.

    • Is this you, Robert, or a namesake with a similar worldview?
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_West_(politician)

      • I think that you need to get your facts right and to focus on them: it is Mohammedanism which is the evil which is afflicting our society – you only have to read the reports of what is happening to Coptic Christians in Egypt to realise that. Once your world view is aligned to reality, then maybe you will be able to do some good, like I am, and Mr Robinson.

      • I do believe that, you are now asking for the impossible. I don’t think he would know the truth if he tripped over it!!

      • The best way of getting one’s facts straight is often to ask straight questions and hope – and pray! – for a straight answer.

        I’ll have to take your obfuscation as confirmation that you are indeed “the BNP’s religious affairs spokesman”, albeit one with “ambiguous” credentials.

        But I’m filled with joy at the thought of UKIP, BNP and Timmy Robinson’s band of terrace-banned clowns all committing whiteface harikari together, championing a mentally ill arsonist & child frightener. I’ll lead the service afterwards if you like. Damp down the ground. Then maybe a little dance…

      • I dare say that you are dancing around the LGBT agenda too, and you say that I am ambiguous?

      • Aye, in omni-sex dungarees fashioned from bits of skin & discarded organs – all totally kosher, of course!

        Must dash as have a ‘spa experience’ booked:
        https://www.bbc.com/news/health-43429933

  4. Malicious and threatening behaviour
    Arson
    A long history of stalking and harassment
    Multiple restraining orders

    • Judging from the comments left beneath this video on YouTube such a clear explanation – with an admirable absence of malice – is not going to convince the ‘campaigners’…

      ‘Tis a shame the judge couldn’t give Gerrish and his goons a lifetime restraining order to keep ’em away from Shaw. Best of luck to the family.

    • Why wasn’t this interview recorded professional in studio by recognised professionals if it’s to be believed

  5. What extensive media coverage of Pakistani grooming gangs?
    What planet do you live on?

  6. It is notable that no one has been able to explain why Melanie Shaw is in prison NOW, or for what offence. That is what her supporters are trying to establish, with no help from most of the commenters above.

    • If someone is in prison and does not know the offence or alleged offence, or contempt that they have been arrested, detained, or convicted of: then that would seem to be unlawful and against a writ of habeas corpus.

  7. The media black-out continues!

    “Jury decides that Beechwood whistleblower Melanie Shaw set fire to her cell three times”

    https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/jury-decides-beechwood-whistleblower-melanie-2114818.amp

  8. Someone forgot to file the D-Notice!

    “This is the female prisoner who Tommy Robinson wants freed”

    https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/melanie-shaw-tommy-robinson-leeds-15287342

    Some cracking comments from the crackpots…

    • The problem is that you are trusting the media, maybe a little too blindly, and that you are just accepting their slant on things. This can mislead. For example, is Islam a religion of peace: according to most of the media, yes; but according to many of the facts within Islam – Jihad and Sharia, honour murders and so on – no. You need to become less biased: difficult, I know, but necessary.

    • Nottingham Post and Examiner Live?!

      Hardly the Sun and the Mirror never mind the Mail and the Independent and Telegraph and Times!

  9. Bandini no one at the BBC knew anything about j savill not even captain pugwash or Rodger the cabin boy

    • It’s said that ‘Who’s a pretty boy then?’ can often be heard emanating from Puggers’ cabin. He is not known to own a parrot.

      Not sure I’d set too much store by his denials – too many rumours of pegs being polished & stumps being oiled for my liking. He’s an able bodied semen after all.

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