A high-ranking police officer has been charged with sexual offences against a child, his force said.
Inspector Russell Dew from Nottinghamshire Police is accused of two counts of sexual activity with a child which are alleged to have taken place in Newark, Notts, over the past year.
The 44-year-old, who is based at Mansfield police station, was arrested on Thursday.
He will appear at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on Monday, Nottinghamshire Police said.
Press Association
All action girl: Natalie Cassidy keeps herself occupied – and in shape – on holiday in Turkey with jetskiing, swimming and yoga
By Jody Thompson
Jet set: The former EastEnders star has decided she needs cheering up after her former fiancé Adam Cottrell’s conviction for assaulting her
She’s had one of the most traumatic years of her life – and former EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has got away from it all on a last-minute holiday to Turkey.
The soap actress has gone on the break with a friend and baby daughter Eliza to stay in a five star hotel in the south of the country – and to escape everything surrounding her 31-year-old former fiancé Adam Cottrell’s conviction for assaulting her.
Heartbroken Natalie, 28, who has suffered from yo-yoing weight over the years, looked like she had shed the pounds too during her recent ordeal – and appeared determined to keep it off whilst abroad too.
via Natalie Cassidy stays in shape on holiday in Turkey with jetskiing, swimming and yoga | Mail Online.
There was a deafening silence at the dinner party in Istanbul’s trendy Cihanger district last Friday night. The half dozen guests abruptly stopped talking when a new guest arrived and announced what had happened in Norway. The first question asked hinted at the fear that filled the room: “Was it a Muslim?”
Geert Wilders: Academics studying Islamic radicalization warn that the success of the extreme right in Europe is a bad sign of things to come
Robin Utrecht/Pool/AP
At the time, the answer was still unknown. But, according to the messenger, this was what all the newspaper reports were saying: A bomb had gone off in the heart of Oslo and, said the “experts,” the likely culprits were Islamic extremists. “But is there any proof?” another guest asked. There was none, of course, and this fact ignited an intense debate over media responsibility, Islamophobia and the future of Islam in Europe.
A day later, when it emerged that the suspect in the attack was a not a Muslim, my Turkish friends and colleagues breathed a collective sigh of relief. But solace turned to anger at the Western media for initially speculating on jihadist motivations for attacking Norway. That their speculation was wrong is little consolation to Muslims in Turkey. The damage is done, they say. The dark heart of the West is revealed: If there’s a violent attack, the West seems reflexively prepared to blame it on those crazy Muslims.
Linking acts of terrorism with Islam has become trope to the 21st-century journalistic tragedians. But there’s a larger narrative. The emerging portrait of Anders Behring Breivik, the man in custody for carrying out both the bombing and the shooting rampage at a youth camp, reveals a man deeply immersed in hate. Writings found at his home and posted on the Internet are a profile of a violent psyche awaiting a trigger to act.
Those triggers are plentiful in Europe these days. The alarming pace at which Islamic and Christian right-wing verbal clashes have escalated has set the stage for the violent fringe to justify their murderous outbursts. And the rhetoric has reached dizzying heights. Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician recently acquitted on charges of inciting hatred, is warning that a “tsunami of Islamification” is threatening the Netherlands. One of his party’s key demands – one that Mr. Breivik has voiced – is an end to immigration, particularly Islamic immigration. He goes so far as to propose that Dutch Muslims who don’t “assimilate” be stripped of their citizenship and thrown out of the country.
European Muslims have confessed their growing frustration with politicians such as Mr. Wilders, as well as their fears that the confrontational atmosphere will lead to more violence. Academics studying Islamic radicalization also warn that the success of the extreme right in Europe is a bad sign of things to come.
“It’s a self-propelled spiral into confrontation and violence,” Markha Valenta, a researcher in history at the University of Amsterdam, told me. “Study after study shows that violent extremism – Christian or Islamic – begins with words and the environment words create. In Europe, the discourse between Muslims and non-Muslims has shifted into a dark place. We need to quickly reverse that trend or face the consequences.”
Norway’s response to Friday’s events is a first step. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s promise to use the aftermath as motivation to promote “more democracy, more openness, and more humanity” sends the right message: Extremists can’t hijack the discourse. Muslims will have to play their part: It’s incumbent on them to reach out to Europe’s moderate majority, share in their suffering, and confront the violent fringe with a united front.
Adnan Khan is a writer and photographer based in Islamabad.
via In Norway, a trigger for discourse – The Globe and Mail.
Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, and Crown Prince, Haakon Magnus, have visited an Oslo mosque in a sign of national unity. Muslims in Norway say they share the pain of their Christian compatriots after the massacre.
It was allegedly carried out by anti-Islamic extremist Anders Behring Breivik. He gunned down people at an island youth camp and bombed an Oslo government building killing a total of 76 people. Norway’s Muslim leaders noted that Breivik’s violent call for Europe to shun Muslims could actually bring Muslims and Christians closer together.
Jehangir Bahadur, President of Oslo Mosque, said, “We have taken this initiative because of the incident on Friday. The people of the nation are in mourning. It is a difficult time and we wish to project a message of hope, warmth, generosity and peace.”
Jonas Gahr Stoere, Norwegian Foreign Minister, said, “20 to 30 years ago we would never have had these gatherings in our country. Norway is a nation in change and historians tell us that only change is continuous. How shall we together meet fear and worry when some turn to hate when met with the change? I believe we find the hope in meeting these challenges on safe, common ground.”
CCTV
Searchlight Press Release | Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Anders Behring Breivik was in contact with the EDL, supported their aims and was involved in the Norwegian Defence League, Searchlight can reveal.
Only months before he went on his murderous killing spree he exchanged several messages with EDL supporters using his internet pseudonym Sigurd Jorsalfare, the name of the 12th century King of Norway who led one of the Crusades.
In one message on the EDL forum, dated 9 March 2011, he wrote:
“Hello. To you all good English men and women, just wanted to say that you’re a blessing to all in Europe, in these dark times all of Europe are looking to you in surch of inspiration, courage and even hope that we might turn this evil trend with islamisation all across our continent. Well, just wanted to say keep up the good work it’s good to see others that care about their country and heritage. All the best to you all Sigurd”
Asked by EDL supporters if he was active in the Norwegian Defence League, Breivik replied:
“I was but, the site has been put down now. There was to be a demo in Oslo on the 26 of February but after the police security service put us on the “danger-list” the the internet site was sadly shut down.”
He went on to describe his hatred of society in Norway and specifically picked out the Norwegian Labour Party for his criticism.
“The biggest problem in norway is that there is no real free press, there is a left-wing angle on all the political topics so most people are going around like idiots. And offcourse with our norwegian labour party beeing in power for most of the last 50 years dont help. but i i think there is an awakening now atleast i hope so. Do some of you know the truth about what happened to the ndl, there was some clames that neo-nazis had hijacked the organisation, but on the ndl site i cant really say i noticed anything like that. So may guess is that there were some kind of police pressure to stop the movement. Anyone here heard anything?”
In another posting he attacked the British society and expressed his interest in joining an EDL demonstration:
“i’ve seen with my own eyes what has happened to england, i was in bradford some years ago, me and a friend walked down to the football stadium of bradford, real “nice” neighborhood, same thing in the suburbs of london. well thinking about taking a little trip over the sea and join you in a demo. would be nice with a norwegian flag alongside with union jack or the english flag, that is if a norwegian would be welcome offcourse?”
This message appears to confirm the rumour that Breivik once lived in the UK. His father was a diplomat and is believed to have been based in London for some time.
Breivik was told by EDL supporters that he would be most welcome, to which he replied:
“I hoped so:) it’s our common struggle against the islamofacists.”
EDL supporters were keen to have his support. An EDL forum member, username ‘Concerned’, replied: ‘Bravo sigurd admire your views and courage. no surrender and welcome.”
Breivik then went quiet. A few days later he shut down his facebook site, went offline and began the final countdown to his killing spree.
Friends
Breivik was Facebook friends with dozens of EDL supporters and even some BNP members.
Norwegian Defence League
Anders Behring Breivik was a supporter of the Norwegian Defence League and was known to Ronny Alte, from Tensberg, who created a NDL Facebook group with some friends. The group gathered more than 500 members, including convicted nazis and exiled Russians belonging to the banned Slavic Union.
One of the Russians is Vjoteslav Datsik, who walked into an Oslo police station in 2010 and applied for political asylum while waving a handgun. Datsik is in custody awaiting extradition to Russia, where he is wanted by the police after absconding from a mental hospital.
The group’s reputation was tarnished publically after the involvement of these nazis was revealed, but despite claiming they had been expelled Alte had difficulty explaining why his group still included Datsik, as well as the convicted nazi bank robber Werner Holm and violent nazis such as Johnny “Light” Olsen”, Morten Andre Serensen and Dariusz Arnesen, all previously connected with the now defunct Norwegian ‘Blood and Honour’ network.
Ronny Alte, who knew Breivik under the name Sigurd Jorsalfare, remains one of the administrators of the Norwegian Defence League sites.
In his internet exchanges with the EDL, Breivik makes it clear that he did not believe that there was any nazi involvement in the NDL despite the clear evidence to the contrary.
British links to the NDL
The English Defence League has close links with the NDL. The NDL facebook site is administered by Jeff Marsh, a leading EDL organiser and football hooligan. Marsh was once given a two-year prison sentence for stabbing two Manchester United fans.
In April 2011 the NDL held a demonstration in Oslo. Speaking at the event was Tower Hamlets-based EDL activist Darren Lee Marsh. Marsh has been a steward on EDL demos and is close to the EDL youth leader Joel Titus. He also claims to be a member of UKIP. Marsh’s facebook friends include several EDL organisers, including Jack Smith (the London EDL organiser), Paul Prodromou (aka Pitt) (the Essex EDL organiser), and Guramit Singh, who was the EDL’s press officer until recently.
Shared ideology
In addition to their contact, Breivik and the EDL both share the same ideology and worldview. There are numerous references in Breivik’s 1,500 page book and internet postings to Fjordman, a Norwegian anti-Muslim blogger and writer. Fjordman is a strong supporter of the EDL and an acquaintance of Alan Lake, the Christian Fundamentalist who helped set up and funded the EDL.
Breivik is also influenced by other anti-Muslim bloggers and websites, several of which openly back the EDL. These bloggers and websites push the idea that Western Europe is under threat from Islam and that unless drastic action is taken we will be taken over by militant Islam.
EDL and violence
The EDL claim to be a peaceful organisation but its actions and views of its supporters prove otherwise. Here is a selection of comments made by leading EDL supporters in recent weeks:
Dave Davis: “Ratkoa Mladic is our friend. He killed 8,000 Muslims.”
Bill Baker: “know [sic] we need to kill or be killed and no mercy for anyone once it kicks off. Die or leave is the only choice they should have.”
Bill Baker: “If our Government won’t act against Islam and terrorism then we must arm and protect ourselves.”
North West Infidels: “East Belfast is up in flames, our loyalist brothers certainly know how to riot. Imagine [if] we could that against militant Islam.”
Roger Firth: “Something has to happen mate (and I don’t give a shit if the old bill are clocking this). For too long we have let ourselves be penned, while this scum do as they please, patriots being arrested, well today was the final straw, time to get violent.”
Hope Not Hate
Friday’s horrendous attacks in Norway raise the inevitable question: Is the man who has admitted them, Anders Behring Breivik, a one-off psychopath or is he the start of something frighteningly new in Europe?That there are those in Europe who, like Breivik, are fanatically opposed to immigration, detest multiculturalism and have a particular hatred of Islam is known. These are the hallmarks of the far right across Europe (not to mention the US, Russia and elsewhere). But is the far right in such places now prepared to kill, as he has killed, in furtherance of these bigoted, twisted ideas?
That he acted alone in planning and carrying out his murderous rampage seems to be the case although he admits to contacts with similarly-minded fanatics in the UK and there is a possible link with the far right in Poland. But he also says are 80 sleepers in Europe, prepared to murder thousands of people in pursuit of eradicating Islam in Europe and to make it a monocultural continent — something it has never been. These claims cannot simply be dismissed as the ravings of a fanatic. They have to be thoroughly investigated.
In his 1,500-page online manifesto, uploaded just before Friday’s killings, he makes it clear that his aim is not only to “cleanse” Europe of Muslims but also to eliminate all who promoted or supported multiculturalism there and opened the door to Muslim immigrants — its politicians, journalists, lawyers and others. His potential targets included the UK’s Prince Charles, its former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and members of all its political parties, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso (popularly known as Durão Barroso in Portugal), former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and politicians in Belgium, France, the Netherlands. It was not only Europe’s political establishments he hoped to destroy. Targets also included oil refineries and nuclear power plants. His plan was to attack the very core of Western society which he sees as corrupted by liberalism and socialism. This is fanaticism on a scale of insanity not seen since the demise of the Adolf Hitler.
That he calls himself a modern-day Knight Templar, a successor to those commandoes of the medieval Crusades, proclaims him a fantasist. This is the stuff of a Dan Brown novel. But while he is not the first person to imagine himself a Templar, he is the first to cross the divide between fantasy and reality. His is a fantasy soaked in the blood of almost a hundred people, a fantasy made real by a frightening dedication to his hatreds.
Here is Europe’s Al-Qaeda. Anders Behring Breivik and Osama Bin Laden are two sides of the same coin: a fanatical belief that their cultures must be purified, that the political establishments which have overseen their degeneration must be destroyed and that anything “alien” rigorously excluded.
Just as there have been those in the Muslim world who followed Bin Laden, copied his methods or sympathized with his objectives, it is entirely possible that there will be those in the West who will regard Breivik as a hero to be emulated. The language he uses is chillingly reminiscent of Al-Qaeda. He refers to the supposed 80 sleepers across Europe as “martyrs”. Are there going to be other bomb attacks, other killings? We hope that Breivik is a one-off. But we dare not assume so.
