Educaring, Part 2
In a nutshell, anyone who genuinely cares about children finds it very hard to imagine how evil and how subtle child molesters and pedophiles really are. I think that is probably why many teachers and parents just do not know when a pedophile is "grooming" a child and why they often do not believe it, even when confronted with the unpleasant truth.
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| Michael Green at Windlesham House School |
It was during my time in Shenzhen that an old friend sent me the news about Michael Green's first conviction: nine years in prison for molesting children. Recently I found out that he had been convicted again, this time for offences that he must have committed while he was at Windlesham, and he was given a further twelve years.
Is my judgement of character really so bad? It is no comfort to me to remember that, at the time, everyone else at Windlesham thought that Greenie was a great guy, including the parents of many of the children, as well as the headmaster and his wife, Charles and Elizabeth-Ann Malden. In fact, Greenie had a rather grovelling and overdone respect for the Maldens. (On reflection, perhaps this should have been a warning that something was wrong, but nobody really took any notice.) Even now that his crimes have been made public and those whose lives he ruined have finally told their stories, I still find it hard to believe that Michael Green really was (and is) a pedophile, a child molester and a criminal.
And here is the article that appeared on the BBC.
Hove sports coach sex attacker jailed for second time
A former sports coach has been jailed for a second time for a string of sex assaults on boys under the age of 16.
Michael Green, who is now 80 years old, was already serving a prison sentence for sexual offences, when he was found guilty of further abuse towards young boys as far back as fifty years ago. After initially denying these new charges, he was found guilty and after a nine-day trial, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison in 2022.
These new charges have been brought as a result of abuse that was carried out against four more boys aged 13-16 years old between 1973 and 1993, and it will be the third time that Green he has been convicted for similar offences. These survivors came forward to the police after hearing about Michael Green’s initial conviction.
We commend the courage it must have taken for the survivors of this horrific abuse to speak out, and we hope this new sentencing provides a sense of closure for them after dealing with the aftermath of Michael Green’s actions for all these years.
Sports coach, Green, was first imprisoned in 2014 for one count of rape and two different indecent assaults in the 1980s, and more victims later came forward which led to the second conviction in 2018. The judge in 2022 said that jurors had "seen though his web of lies and deceit", after he was found guilty.
A PERVERT ice hockey coach and sports teacher has been sentenced for a third time for another series of historic sexual offences against young boys.
Michael James Green, 80, previously of Neville Avenue in Hove, denied 12 counts of buggery and indecent assaults when he appeared at Chichester Crown Court but was convicted on July 7 after a nine-day trial.
The offences against four boys took place between 1973 and 1993 and came to light when the victims saw publicity about his previous offending and contacted police.
At the time of the abuse, all of the boys were aged between 13 and 16 years of age.
Green, who was also a friend and mentor of Sarah Payne’s killer Roy Whiting, met two of the boys when he worked as an insurance salesman in Brighton.
Green was already serving time in prison, having been sentenced to nine years in September 2018 after being convicted of 17 indecent assaults between 1980 and 1994 against seven boys aged between 12 and 16, in addition to another nine-year sentence imposed in 2014 for four counts of sexual offences against four young boys.
Your judgement of character really is so bad. I was at that school and all teachers from the Maldens down turned a blind eye. Green was not the only one either...Randall, Chilvas..dont you know you? You are either an idiot or a liar.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that I am not a good judge of character. Perhaps I was not the only one who was fooled or tricked by Michael Green. Being mistaken or being tricked is not the same as "turning a blind eye". In the three years I was at Windlesham, I never heard any staffroom gossip or suggestions that "Old Greenie" was molesting children.
DeleteHi Simon did you teach English? I think you taught me. I once sat on Mr Greens lap and watched tv. He liked the boys who lived abroad. Blond haired boys. They didn't go home at the weekends or see their parents as much. I went with Mr Green and another teacher to the speedway course. We met some of his friends their which may have included the murderer. After that we drove in the school van to his mums house. We waited outside in the van with the other teacher whilst he went in with one of my friends to meet his mum. We waited a while. When they came back my friend was crying. Mr Green said he was homesick. I think we may have all gone and had tea with his mother after that but I'm not sure. I don't think my friend was homesick. Not sure who I should tell about this or if it would add anything. There was another time when Mr Green came into the changing room after some sport. I was having a shower. He sat in the middle of a bench in the room took off all his clothes and got into the shower near me. Everyone in the shower got out including me. I didn't know anything but it didn't feel right. He was there quite a while showing naked in a room of boys around 10 years old.
ReplyDeleteYuck! What else can I say? Yes, I was an English teacher at Windlesham House School for about three years, if my memory serves me rightly. No one at the school - children, parents, staff, the Maldens - ever said anything to me about Michael Green doing anything that he should not have been doing. As well as Charles and E.A. themselves, there were plenty of senior staff who seemed to like Michael Green and spoke highly of him: Bernard Lelliott, Leonard Robinson, Richard Martin, the Goodharts. Parents often invited Greenie to their homes. Looking back on this now, I believe that those in charge were appallingly complacent, lax and careless. But who, apart from Michael Green himself, was really responsible? Although I doubt if he will ever get out of prison, Green should never have been allowed to carry on molesting young boys for years and years. Even if I had, at the time, heard a rumour that he was doing what he did, would those in positions of responsibility at Windlesham have made excuses for him, ignored the problem or covered it up?
DeleteBulk@carter42.com please get in touch would be interesting to talk
ReplyDeleteI attended Windlesham from 1998-2003 and even then, we all knew Greenie was a weirdo. He played the trumpet and would often ask students if they’d want to “go down to the music school for a blow.” Although nothing happened during my time there (that I know of) it was a pretty open secret that he was a creep- he would literally sit and watch us boys shower after sports practice. My friends, one of whom sent me the link to this blog, and I were not at all surprised when he was convicted in 2014.
ReplyDelete“We all knew Greenie was a weirdo"? Yes, I am sure that some of the students knew very well, but the staff did not. I can only repeat what I have already written. Like all of the other teachers, I thought that "Greenie" was a bit of an oddball and a joker, but nothing more than that. To the best of my knowledge, no one on the staff ever said anything about Michael Green being a pervert and a child molester. I left WHS in 1990, so maybe everyone realized what he was really like after I left. I do not know.
DeleteEven if there had been a rumour about his crimes, would those who were in positions of responsibility have done anything? Would there have been a thorough investigation? Would the Police and the Social Services have been contacted? I would like to think that someone (Charles and E.A., the Goodharts or Richard Martin) would have done something, had they suspected what was really going on.
It is frightening to think that Michael Green was able to carry on doing what he did for such a long time. I just do not understand why it took so long for the truth to come out. What went wrong? Why weren’t the students protected from this evil man?
I’m a female who attended Windlesham also and we all use to call him creepy green he was a strange man who loved boys all the boys use to say he was weird and made names about him being creepy just feel for the poor victims though an awful situation
DeleteWhat can I say that I have not said already? I was only at Windlesham for less than three years, if I remember correctly. In all that time, I never heard anyone, staff or student, say anything about Michael Green sexually molesting children. Yes, the teachers thought that he was a bit of a joker, a rather larger-than-life character, but nothing disgusting or perverted. On a number of occasions, I did hear senior people, such as Richard Martin, Bernard Lelliott, Leonard Robinson and even Mr. and Mrs. Charles, say some positive and complimentary things about Michael Green. (Mrs. Charles, I recall, was one of his biggest "fans".) I know that on a number of occasions, Windlesham parents would invite Michael Green to have dinner at their homes. Michael Green was an evil, manipulative pedophile. He fooled me, he fooled all of the staff and he fooled the parents into thinking that he was a friendly, kind and harmless person. Maybe that is why not one of the boys who had been assaulted wanted to come forward to tell someone in authority what was really going on.
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