Welcome to Oldham Part V
Where those that protect children are outcast and punished, whilst others are rewarded with positions of high office
Preface
I must apologise for the delay in publishing this latest part of my Welcome to Oldham series. Much has happened since I first shared with people Part III, where I brought to public attention a dossier of correspondence between a Police Chief Inspector, the now deceased Micheal Meacher MP, Jim Mcmahon (whilst Leader of Oldham Council) and various Council Officers including the now Chief Executive, Carolyn Wilkins.
After Oldham Council Leader, Sean Fielding, initially claiming there was nothing to see, we are now aware of two separate investigations. The first one, led by the Police which we still know very little about. The second one, now seemingly downgraded to an internal Council Review, is already attracting criticism from both inside the Council and the wider public. Whilst the Council has commissioned Dr Mark Peel to carry out an independent review of historic safeguarding processes in Oldham, they have failed to share how much they are paying Dr Peel or who was involved in his recruitment. They also omit the controversy regarding Dr Peel’s actions in neighbouring Huddersfield where when undertaking a similar task, Dr Peel came under severe criticism for scheduling secret meetings with politicians. Furthermore, Sean Fielding and Oldham Council in their wisdom have restricted their review to a time period of just one year. Conveniently, this is the year after the ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, Shabir Ahmed, was already imprisoned.*
*UPDATE - Since originally writing this, Dr Mark Peel is refusing to carry out the work that he was hired for and Oldham Council are also refusing to clarify why he has stepped down. Oldham Council Leader, Sean Fielding, however, has run to Andy Burnham to undertake what is now being described as an ‘Assurance Review’ . Unfortunately, the terms of reference for this latest stage in this fiasco excludes key dates, times and venues where grooming has been proven to have taken place. Go figure!
The Shabir Ahmed reference is significant. Since the original publishing of Part III, it has come to light that around the time that Shabir Ahmed was grooming, trafficking and raping children in Rochdale, he was both an active member of Oldham Labour Party and also an employee of Oldham Council. My understanding is that Shabir Ahmed worked in a role that allowed him access to vulnerable children and their families. I regret having to share this news as I understand the anxiety that it naturally causes. I am fully aware that concerned parents and grandparents have reached out to Sean Fielding to obtain clarification and perhaps reassurance that this paedophile did not groom, rape and sell children from Oldham. I am deeply saddened by the adolescent Council Leader’s response where he dodges answering questions raised to him and his subsequent take to social media mocking those who are concerned.
The delay in publishing Part V has been a consequence of Sean Fielding, Jim McMahon and Oldham Council’s reaction to my stories. During all this time, Oldham Council have had the means to contact me directly. Though they have not, I am aware that they have a team in the Civic Centre to manage me. I have no idea how much money this is costing the local taxpayer.
Sean Fielding has contacted me, in an email sent to me in the evening he spent considerable time ranting at me describing how he was going to punish those who were supplying me with information. He then also took to social media to gloat at the taking down of a petition calling for an independent investigation and the censorship of my Medium pages where I originally posted my revelations. It has taken me considerable effort to get this website up and running. Hopefully, censoring my voice here will not be so easy.
Those of you who have been following the various exchanges on Facebook will also be aware that in addition to censorship I am facing opposition from multiple sources. Jim McMahon MP has used the power he wields over the local press to claim that my stories are ‘defamatory’ and the adolescent leader of Oldham Council, Sean Fielding, has taken time away from sharing his underpants and describing his sexual fantasies quick to claim that I am being sued.
Beside these powerful politicians there is a myriad of Cartel foot soldiers that have mobilised to attack me. Some have taken to social media to sling mud, others like QASIN LENNY are more dangerous. This self styled Editor of the Facebook Group, OLDHAM NEWS AND MEDIA, has made a series of posts that I believe is a call to Jihadists to murder me. More recently he has been joined by a Solicitor from the respected local firm LONGFORDS. Tahir Mushtaq (brother of the senior Labour Cllr Shahid Mushtaq) has taken to social media to accuse me of having a sexual relationship with a 14 year old child (in the world where I come from, that means raping a child). Instead of reporting this and his other malicious allegations to the Police, as a person in his position is meant to do, he has been mobilising a mob on Facebook. The consequence of his actions have been fresh calls from people to harm me. Attempting to navigate these various issues has also delayed Part V.
By now, all of Oldham will be aware of Jim McMahon’s refusal to respond to two simple concern raised from revelations in Part III. What did he exactly know at the time about the Grooming Gangs? And the details of why he used Lee Rigby’s funeral to keep reports of a network of paedophile Shisha Bars hidden from the people of Oldham? When Jim McMahon finally responded, it was to sling mud at me. He took to his Facebook page where his post backfired spectacularly resulting in many posts being deleted for only asking him a question. He then took to safer ground, the Oldham Evening Chronicle, where he launched his election campaign by attacking me. I can confirm that I am in the process of taking legal action against the Oldham Evening Chronicle for the false information that they published regarding myself.
It will not have gone unnoticed to the people of Oldham that the Council and the politicians are extremely powerful at controlling the news that reaches the people of the town. At first refusing to bring to public attention these concerns, when finally forced to act both the Oldham Times and The Oldham Chronicle have failed to ask any of the questions that have been raised. Instead they appear to have operated as a PR tool for Sean Fielding and Jim McMahon. Even so, there is something to be taken from what McMahon and his pet press have printed.
In his attack of me (I’m flattered Jim, I really am), Jim McMahon states that he is ‘setting the record straight’. Unfortunately, Jim McMahon fails to respond to a single one of the concerns that every Oldhamer wants to know about. On his disastrous Facebook post, Jim McMahon even confirms that he will not be responding to these concerns. What record are you then setting straight Jim? Unfortunately for Jim, I have a quote from him buried in the Chronicle. Let me share it and share my thoughts on it.
Throughout my time as a councillor and latterly as council leader in Oldham I acted in the public interest
My instinct is that this is actually an admission from Jim McMahon that knowing of the grooming gangs operating out of Shisha Bars whilst he was leader of Oldham Council he still decided to convince the BBC Journalist, Kevin Fitzpatrick, to not run with a news story and keep hidden reports of a network of paedophiles operating out of Shisha Bars from the people of Oldham.
His reasons, as detailed in the leaked BBC email I shared in Part III included
that he had ‘limited knowledge’ (not sure what that actually means as the dossier of evidence that I have released where he was copied in to where the evidence is extensive)
the potential impact on ‘community relations’ because of Lee Rigby’s funeral (I read that as the Far Right might get involved so best not talk about it or let people know what’s going on)
Could this be what Jim McMahon means when claiming he acted ‘in the public interest’? That he considered it the public interest to keep this news from us? If he did, surely keeping this news from us put our children at risk?
We may never know, as Jim McMahon MP not only refuses to answer these questions, my sources confirm that a heated debate is currently taking place in the Council regarding their Review. Would it surprise anyone if the at time leader of Oldham Council, Jim McMahon did not face questions?
Which brings me to where I now find myself. I have always believed that in a democracy we are allowed to ask questions of our politicians and public officials. It doesn’t matter who is asking the questions or what their motivations may be. Politicians and those that run our civic institutions must answer. And when they fail to answer, well, I have come to believe that failures to answer simple questions are answers themselves.
Raja Miah MBE