—————————————– STATEMENT BY THE COMMITTEE ————————————————-
It has come to the Committees attention that there are rumours being circulated that could not only be having a detrimental effect on the club and its activities but that are defamatory of the existing committee members .
In April 2017 Malcolm Blackmore , the Chairman of the previous committee , was found guilty at the Old Bailey of 8 counts of child abuse and was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment .
The gist of the rumours that have been circulating within the club are that members of the current committee “set up” Mr Blackmore on these charges and have therefore been the cause of a miscarriage of justice .
The current committee stepped in to enable the club to continue when all but 3 members of the previous committee resigned at the AGM of September 2015 .
The irony is that the current committee were actually unaware that Mr Blackmore was under investigation when they took up their position . The current committee subsequently learnt that UKA were aware , as was at least one of the outgoing committee at that time , but no one informed anyone on the incoming committee .
In fact it was only by chance that the current committee discovered that Mr Blackmore had been suspended by UKA as they had been made aware of the police investigation .
In June 2016 a check was made by the C.C.S.O.(Club coach and support officer) at the request of the committee on all coaches listed as coaching for the club to ensure that all licenses including DBS checks were up to date . On that list Mr Blackmore was shown as having his license suspended . The committee requested the C.C.S.O to check with England Athletics if this was an error . The general secretary then received a call from an employee of E.A. to request whether Mr Blackmore was still coaching and if so what age groups . The general secretary declined to give the information . On the 10th August 2016 the general secretary was informed by the C.C.S.O. that following his enquiries his license had been suspended by UKA . The club contacted E.A. for any further information and on 1st September 2016 received the details from UKA of the original UKA and police suspension which dated from 10th August 2015 and was sent to the previous president . The suspension notice also requested that any breach of the terms of the suspension to notify UKA . The club replied to UKA advising of all potential known breaches of the suspension and were advised no action would be taken on these breaches .
So the situation existed that Mr Blackmore had been suspended from 10th August 2015 and the president of the club at the time was advised . The majority of the committee then resigned at the September 2015 AGM and the current committee stepped in . No one on the previous committee or UKA informed the present committee of that suspension which by then had been in place for over a year before it was discovered by the present committee . This had potentially allowed Mr Blackmore to breach the conditions of the suspension during that time .
Needless to say the current committee had taken issue with UKA that they had been in the dark on the matter .
Accordingly it is utterly absurd to seek to make any allegation that anyone on the current committtee had anything to do whatsoever with Mr Blackmore being investigated by the police and subsequently charged .
As for a ‘miscarriage of justice’ obviously the current committee had absolutely nothing to do with the evidence presented against Mr Blackmore or the verdict reached . If Mr Blackmore’s legal representatives had any concerns with the judgment they would presumably seek to appeal but again that has nothing to do with the current committee .
The current members of the committee are deeply hurt by these unfounded rumors and will be quite prepared to defend their reputation by legal action for defamation if any specific instances of these untrue allegations are brought to our attention .
20th November 2018
