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Friday 4 July 2008

Harmless fun...not.

This clip of Channel Four News' Sue Turton having her bottom pinched has become infamous.

What amazes me is that the police's decision to try to find the culprit, and to see him punished, is being described as 'controversial'. The Mail reports that:

To the disgust of local taxpayers, police have mounted an investigation to trace the phantom tweaker and hand him an £80 fine for breaching public order.

Disgust? How about some disgust at what was an assault on Ms Turton? Who are these people who with one breath complain that we are a nation of yobs and with another moan about the police investigating and pursuing yobbery?

As Thames Valley police put it:

We are taking this seriously. We just think it was particularly stupid and obnoxious behaviour and the individual concerned needs some kind of sanction.

According to the man's wife:

Rufus does not go around pinching women's bottoms, but he does see the funny side in every situation. It seems a crazy use of police resources.

Except, of course, that he does go around pinching women's bottoms. He did just that, and was caught on camera.

I've no desire to punish this man through the courts. But I did wonder if I accepted such behaviour without complaint what hope do women who are groped in public in this way have of any recourse? I personally found the matter quite humiliating and somewhat disrespectful to the plight of those I was reporting about. Some may say I'm being prudish. I've been in much more threatening situations throughout my reporting career, but they were in far-flung places. Male reporters would never be treated to a public goosing.

Quite right. If this idiot isn't guilty of, at the very least, anti-social behaviour - randomly groping a woman in the street - then who is?

(I've edited this post slightly to include some extra quotes.)

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