PETITION

1.       We, the undersigned, call on each charity and not-for-profit organisation counting Dame Esther Rantzen DBE as a trustee or ambassador/patron to sever all ties with her as an unsuitable person.

BACKGROUND & RATIONALE

2.       Children have been exposed to harm/risk of harm in consequence of Dame Esther's defective judgments over many years. Considered cumulatively, the catalogue of reported incidents suggest a clear pattern of behaviour on her part. Too many vulnerable persons have suffered harm or been left exposed to potential danger as a result of Dame Esther's actions or lack thereof.

INCIDENTS

3.       Dame Esther's erstwhile partner, the late Sir Nicholas Fairbairn MP, was part of a predatory paedophile ring with the late Robert Henderson QC.  Robert Henderson's daughter, Susie Henderson, has stated that Sir Nicholas raped her when she was a young child. Susie found the courage in 2000 to report Sir Nicholas to police. Separate evidence suggests that Dame Esther's erstwhile partner also raped further children at the Elm Guest House 'child brothel' in Barnes, southwest London. For Dame Esther to have chosen as her boyfriend a serial predatory child rapist (regardless of whether their relationship ended after six months as she claims) raises real questions about her ability to judge character and make sound child safeguarding decisions.

 4.       Dame Esther protected a paedophile teacher whom she *knew* to be guilty of child sexual abuse, the People has reported.  The newspaper said that Dame Esther protected a paedophile teacher, Alex Standish, because he had helped her to expose abuse at Crookham Court school where he once worked. Dame Esther felt 'indebted' to Mr Standish, according to the People, and on that account protected him from exposure by not notifying his next school of her suspicions and concerns. The People 'rammed home' its allegations against Dame Esther in an editorial that accused her of being a hypocrite and a liar. Dame Esther was awarded damages: but not before the impression had been created of a celebrity lacking in judgment and integrity, and without the necessary commitment to protecting children from risk of abuse and harm.

5.       Dame Esther made the hugely controversial decision to select Valerie Howarth as ChildLine's inaugural chief executive.  Valerie Howarth had served as Director of Social Services in Brent from 1982-1986. As Brent's director of social services, Howarth was at the helm when a small girl was horrifically murdered in the borough in 1984, occasioning an inquiry. The parents of Jasmine Beckford, 4, had chained her to a bed, tortured her with vicious beatings, cuts and cigarette burns, and ultimately starved her to death. Ms Howarth had shockingly neglected her elementary duty to alert Brent's chief executive and social services committee as soon as she discovered that Jasmine had been seen only once by a social worker in the 10 months preceding her murder. At the time, Jasmine was suffering from at least one bone fracture. Separately, the social services committee of Cambridgeshire County Council wanted to know why Howarth had failed to mention the horrific case of Jasmine when interviewing for the position of head of social services at Cambridgeshire. Dame Esther swept aside the entirely valid criticisms of her choice of Howarth to run ChildLine, declaring: "My sister Priscilla Taylor is a social worker and I asked her advice. Valerie Howarth had trained Priscilla when they both worked in the London Borough of Lambeth [Howarth worked for Lambeth from 1963-1982]. My sister reminded me that in spite of her notoriety Valerie was a skilled and experienced social worker." Dame Esther's professional judgment and commitment to child safeguarding is once again called into question.

6.       Dame Esther is an NSPCC trustee and Peter Wanless its CEO. This alliance understandably raises questions and concerns among abuse survivors with long memories.  For on 13 November 1994, the Observer reported that Mr Wanless was being "adopted and groomed" by Michael Portillo MP. One year later, a journalist on a different publication alleged that Mr Portillo was, or had been, linked to a network of paedophile parliamentarians. https://www.scribd.com/document/294012179/Knives-out-for-Portillo-protege and https://www.scribd.com/document/258934529/Letter-to-Frank-Dobson-MP

7.       Dame Esther's home in the New Forest ('Bloodoaks Farm') provided a venue for child sexual abuse to occur.  Robert Gillings sexually assaulted a small girl in Dame Esther's swimming pool. Dame Esther was said not to have been home at the time. She had reportedly invited the child's family to spend a holiday at her home in the New Forest. Mr Gillings, now a convicted child sex offender, remarked: "The mother used to work for Esther Rantzen. It is probably her who has put her up to this." Robert Gillings was found guilty of two charges and sentenced to 18 months in prison. The incident, like so many others, raises concerns about Dame Esther's ability to make reasonable judgments about people. For Dame Esther had chosen as a trusted friend and employee an individual whose partner was a dangerous child abuser bold enough to assault a small girl in broad daylight.

8.       Dame Esther's home in the New Forest was also the venue for a highly sexualised party at which children were supposed to have been under her care and protection.  A former child actor, Ben Fellows, states that, as a 15 year old child, Dame Esther invited him and other children and adults to a highly sexualised party at her New Forest home. Fellows says:

• Drugs and alcohol featured heavily at that party to which numerous children (himself included) had been brought. 
• Sex occurred between various guests, yet Dame Esther never lifted a finger to protect or remove the children from the highly inappropriate environment to which children had been brought on her invitation and initiative. https://youtu.be/CMC_QLaoqMo

Dame Esther, then, was seemingly oblivious to the patently obvious: That her reported party, allegedly characterised by excessive alcohol, narcotics and promiscuous sex, did not constitute an appropriate environment for hosting children.

9.       Dame Esther shrugged off grave warnings about the predations of serial child sex offender Sir Jimmy Savile.  In the 1990s Shy Keenan alerted Dame Esther to the abundant paedophile rumours surrounding Savile, according to Keenan's subsequent testimony. Dame Esther says she met Savile "half a dozen times" when she worked with him on the Jim'll Fix It programme. She claims that she recalls herself or one of her researchers speaking to a girl called 'Peeta' about being abused by her father (Shy used that name at the time). But Dame Esther has denied ever being told about specific victims of Savile. In a documentary made after Savile's death, Dame Esther failed to explain her shameful inaction, saying: "We all blocked our ears to the gossip". In view of Shy Keenan's testimony, Dame Esther's excuse rings hollow. Reasonable people question why Dame Esther – who has always encouraged children to report sexual abuse to trusted adults such as herself – was unheedful of their reports about her BBC colleague whose predatory conduct was notorious.

10.       The numerous instances of poor judgment and questionable conduct fit a pattern.  On multiple occasions, children have been put at risk or in potential danger because of Dame Esther's demonstrated inability to judge character or safeguard the vulnerable (children among them).

We call on each charity and not-for-profit organisation counting Dame Esther Rantzen DBE as a trustee or ambassador/patron to sever all ties with her, as an important step toward maintaining the trust of their service-users and the physical safety of vulnerable children and others.