| Flowers in Gods Garden
- Articles |
23/08/02
- 'I've seen inside a sex offender's mind'
Whittlesey news
MESH 29 are the talented pop duo from Whittlesey who
hope to make it big in the pop world. Their musical
ability is unquestioned. However, it was their choice
of manager, Bernard O'Mahoney, which caused raised eyebrows
last week when the Whittlesey Times revealed details
of his connection and a glimpse into his past.
Mr O'Mahoney says his past is just that - and one he
felt our article failed to convey properly. Here then,
in his own words, is his view of life in general, his
'road to Damascus' and a thought-provoking article.
IN my view, the abduction and murder of any child for
sexual gratification should not be considered a crime."
That view will undoubtedly shock and horrify many, if
not all decent-thinking people. It may shock people
even more if they hear it coming from a man such as
myself, a once stereotypical thug who gained infamy
for being a leading member of an Essex gang known as
The Firm'.
Thugs tend to revel in stories about what they would
do to sex offenders; most are too awful to read in print.
I used to think the full weight of the law should be
brought down on them but over the years my views have
changed.
As a teenager in the mid-1970s I immersed myself in
football hooliganism and street robberies, and as a
result was convicted of more than 20 offences. During
the early eighties, having lied about my past to enlist,
I served in the army in Northern Ireland during the
hunger strikes and the worst rioting the province has
ever seen.
It was a man's world, where death and suffering were
commonplace. It certainly wasn't a place for 'do-gooders'
and bleeding-heart liberals. Having left the army, I
moved to London, where I descended into a life of crime
and senseless violence.
After committing two vicious woundings and serving two
prison sentences. I washed up in the county of Essex
where I began work as a nightclub bouncer. My work 'colleagues'
were not unlike myself; hard, ruthless people whose
lives revolved around themselves.
Their stock-in-trade was drugs, intimidation and mindless
violence. To my shame, I excelled at my job and within
a very short time my colleagues and I controlled most
things illegal to the east of London. My 'road to Damascus'
came in 1995.
Like everything else in my life, it came in a bloody
and violent form. High on a feeling of 'power,' my business
partner. Tony Tucker and a friend. Craig Rolfe, murdered
a young man without mercy because he had crossed them
on a drugs deal.
Shortly afterwards, teenager Leah Betts, celebrating
her 18th birthday, took an ecstasy pill that had been
supplied by Tucker and bought at the nightclub where
I was head doorman. Leah collapsed and later died.
Then, two weeks later, Tucker, Rolfe and another man,
Patrick Tate, were lured to a country lane. Sitting
in their Range Rover expecting a drug deal to go down,
a gunman leaned into the car and shot each of them three
times in the head with a shotgun.
I look stock of my life and concluded I was at best,
heading for an early grave or a long prison sentence.
I wanted out. I'd had enough. I had witnessed and been
part of so much misery, death and suffering. I also
wanted to somehow make amends.
I decided I would employ my criminal know ledge for
good in the future, rather than bad. I read in a newspaper
that a seven-year-old boy had been abducted. Sadly,
he was later found murdered. Like all people, I despised
'nonces' (sex offenders) and those who harm children.
A man had been arrested and charged but he refused to
co-operate with the police. I decided, using a pseudonym,
to befriend him and learn the truth. For 12 months I
wrote to him and visited him in prison, gaining his
trust and extracting answers the police had been unable
to find.
One week before his trial was due to start, the man
confessed to murdering the boy in a letter to me. I
gave the letter to the police and when confronted with
it, the man pleaded guilty to the boy's murder. He is
currently serving a life sentence.
I have used the same tactic to befriend others and two
have confided in me that they have committed murders,
one a man who abducted, raped and murdered a three-year-old
girl and another who murdered three people including
a pregnant woman.
Again they confessed in letters. Again I handed them
to the police. And again, both are serving life sentences.
This close contact and 'friendship' with those who abduct
and murder children has given me what I believe to be
a unique insight into the way they think and view their
own crimes.
Most abusers have, at some stage, been abused themselves.
The public pours its heart out to the young victims
of the child abuse, but that same victim often becomes
the latter-day monster whom the public loathes.
It's this 'transformation' normal, everyday people cannot
comprehend. These victims offenders may have problems
which arise from their experiences. It may be they suffer
from some form of post-traumatic disorder that caused
them to commit the very crime they have suffered.
If that is not the case, and they presume, one still
has to ask the question: what rational adult can look
at a child and have feelings of desire? Whether good,
bad, the former or the latter, you don't need to be
a psychiatrist to deduce the problem clearly lies within
their minds.
I've been in prison; I know how these people are kept.
They are segregated from other prisoners for their own
protection, which means they are locked up 24 hours
a day with people who have the same tendencies as themselves.
They have no shame among their own. They exchange experiences
and information about children which may be of use upon
their release. By the time they are released back into
the community they are so aroused they are literally
walking time bombs waiting to re-offend.
I am totally convinced that any such man or woman who
views a child as a sexual object cannot be of sound
mind. They should not be treated as criminals; they
should be sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
In prison a prisoner has the right to refuse medication
and treatment. A person sectioned under the Mental Health
Act cannot. Therefore, a sectioned sex offender could
be forced to take drugs or have surgery which takes
away their sexual urges, but, more importantly, they
could never be released until they are deemed cured
both physically and mentally.
History confirms that under the current system, sex
offenders serving prison sentences as 'normal criminals'
can never be cured and they are being. released back
among our children to continue committing their vile
acts of inhumanity. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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