Campaign update 28 August 2018
So much to report this week.
Firstly, Anna Rowe's petition to make catfishing a crime has now reached 43,617 signatures. This is only three more signatures since last week's update - we can do better than this!
Over the next week or two I expect two more adult grooming case studies for the blog - one for a lady in Gloucester who was lured into a very odd and very damaging relationship, and a second from a woman in Reading who was grooming other women online whilst she was still in a relationship with him.
I am unsure how much I can say due to legal action, but suffice to say that the man who groomed me, and - surprisingly? - his wife are now threatening me* with civil action for harassment if I don't remove campaigning materials. The letter contains all kinds of false accusations about things I'm supposed to have done. It's sending me back into a really bad place emotionally, but once I'm back home I'll try and get some legal advice.
I repeat here, as I have elsewhere on this site, that although my experience at the man's hands was the inspiration for this campaign, it's not about him. It's to earn protection for other women from men like him and like 'Antony Ray'. There is no current protection for adult sexual grooming in law - they have done things wrong morally but not legally, and remain free to continue their despicable behaviour.
On a more positive note, I had lost access to the Twitter account to accompany this campaign, which was frustrating. A new one has been established: @CAAGed.
I have also been looking at the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and at the findings of Operation Sanctuary, which, although it was primarily about the grooming of youngsters, made specific reference to the grooming of adults and need to protect them - I shall blog this as soon as I've absorbed the findings.
Minor changes to this site this week include a further clarification that there is no implication whatsoever on this site or elsewhere to suggest that the man who groomed me - the inspiration for this campaign - has groomed children.
(I have previously, away from this blog, raised concerns about why he should not be allowed to lead them or offer advice to anyone responsible for them, but these do not include pedophilia.)
This site is, and remains to be, about the grooming of adults - not children or vulnerable adults, who already have legal protection.
I hope you'll join the campaign.
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