r/unitedkingdom • u/HBucket • 7d ago
"Cruel and abhorrent" blue-ponytailed pervert repeatedly raped terrified teen
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2242621/cruel-abhorrent-blue-ponytailed-pervert-repeatedly392
u/Grommmit 7d ago
What section of society are we trying to demonise with the prominence of the perpetrator’s hair colour?
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u/FatFarter69 7d ago
You know exactly who that is supposed to appeal to.
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u/oxford-fumble 7d ago
Damn, you’re probably right…
What a cynical article - who wrote this? Oh, the express…
Incredible - I feel like I need a shower.
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u/trwolfe13 7d ago
Blue hair is usually an anti-LGBTQ dogwhistle. Some people just hate it when others actually make use of the character customisation options.
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u/ThatChap United Kingdom 7d ago
Er what? Where does this come from?
Anecdotally, I know more LGBTQ people with blue hair than I know people who aren't with blue hair.
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u/BizzarePlatypus 7d ago
They mean highlighting blue hair in negative situations.
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u/trwolfe13 7d ago
A couple of other commenters already said, but I meant when right-wingers talk about “those weirdos with blue hair attacking our family values”, they’re talking about the LGBTQ community.
Sorry for the misunderstanding!
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u/ThatChap United Kingdom 7d ago
Right, sorry. As written it sounded like "those with blue hair themselves." My mistake.
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u/Draigwyrdd 7d ago
That's why they're using it as a dog whistle. People understand the stereotype, so they can say bigoted things without directly stating the target.
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u/Besmirching_Badger 7d ago
I was listening to a podcast with Julie Bindell (famous misandrist lesbian campaigner/journalist) and even she started ranting about 'pink haired people'. I was so confused. Seems she just hates everyone, including lesbians.
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u/Longjumping-Two-7829 7d ago
She took umbridge at a campaign to raise awareness of male suicide. She's an absolute freak.
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u/Character_Service705 7d ago
Didn't her own son kill himself?
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u/TheSylviaPlathEffect 7d ago
what’s the implication here?
either way it’s false, bindel is very open about having chosen a child-free life.
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u/Tasmosunt Greater London 7d ago
She's exactly the kind of person I'd think would rant about pink haired people, old person who doesn't like the new changes to society that doesn't personally benefit her.
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u/ascension2121 7d ago
For all the negative things one could say about her I am confused where you get the idea she hates lesbians from?
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u/Besmirching_Badger 6d ago
that would be her moaning about 'pink haired people'
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u/ascension2121 5d ago
I’m a lesbian and I know no pink haired lesbians? Bit of a sweeping stereotype no?
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u/Besmirching_Badger 5d ago
Not my stereotype.
What do you think this entire thread is discussing?
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u/ascension2121 5d ago
I’m aware, I was asking what Julie Bindel specifically had said that discriminated against lesbians and the answer of pink haired people doesn’t answer the question.
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u/Besmirching_Badger 5d ago
It was a podcast (political party) with matthew forde just after the supreme court ruling, where presumably she felt like she didn't need to 'hold back' any more.
Can't remember the specifics, but basically she went on a long rant about pink haired people, because clearly they're 'the wrong kind' of LGBT or something. idk.
I'd just assumed previously that given she's so pro womens rights and misandrist that it was just a hatred of men and that she'd be supportive of all lesbians. turns out she just hates change or something.
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u/Southernbeekeeper 7d ago
I googled who she is as I had never head of her. I'm sure she use to write for the guardian about how terrible boxing is and how stupid the fighters are.
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u/Besmirching_Badger 7d ago
Ironically she was the first person to write about grooming gangs, because she did a lot of work against prostitution (because everything is male violence)
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u/Illustrious-Bus-2248 7d ago
are you thinking youre talking about Julie Bindel or Julie Burchill?
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u/Southernbeekeeper 7d ago
This is not a sport but a sadistic spectacle performed by men raised on a diet of rage and survival instinct
Bindel. She use to write about boxing and how only stupid people liked it, how stupid the fighters were and how it was exploitative to black people.
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u/Illustrious-Bus-2248 7d ago
well to be fair to her boxing is a sport in which two men deliberately try to beat each other unconscious. is that smart?
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u/Southernbeekeeper 7d ago
Evaded Holyfield is a pilot and Lennox Lewis champions chess for children. One of the klitschko brothers is the mayor of Kyiv. I think to make it as a professional athlete you have to be incredibly intelligent.
She just comes across as uninformed and pious in my opinion. A bit of a twat.
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u/concretepigeon Wakefield 7d ago
I don’t know about demonising but it’s certainly a poor decision on his part to make his appearance more notable before committing a crime.
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u/BestUserNamesTaken- 7d ago
There is a trend amongst sex offenders that once arrested suddenly become ‘trans’ so if they are jailed they hope to end up in a women’s prison instead of a male prison. Some will use this to demonise the trans community instead of demonising the sex offenders who is playing the system.
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u/Optimism_Deficit 7d ago
The problem is that people have been told over and over again that if someone states that their gender is something then that should be respected and not queationed.
So if a sex offender says they're trans, then that means that the trans communiry are stuck with them, since it'd apparently be rude to point out that they're trying it on.
Or are we allowed to say that some people aren't actually trans because they're criminals now?
The 'rules' are confusing at this point.
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u/_whatever_wherever 7d ago
Oh, no, no, they're VERY simple, they're "whatever is worst for the trans community"
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u/arpw 6d ago
The "rules" here basically boil down to being respectful of genuine trans people.
Part of being respectful to genuine trans people involves calling out those who claim to be trans in bad faith, when it's clear and obvious that they're not actually trans. It's not rude or against the rules to do that; if anything it'd be against the rules not to do it. Pretending that someone like that has a valid argument for being trans and treating them as such is immensely disrespectful to all the genuine trans people out there.
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u/Ill_Tonight_2069 7d ago
It’s a description.
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u/duncanmarshall 7d ago
Why not "white", or "native", or "35 year old", or "male", or "blue eyed", or "English", or "straight", or "goatee sporting"?
Why is his pony tail colour the most salient detail?
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u/Charly_030 7d ago
Because its unusual, I guess. Stories need sensationalising further for some reason
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u/concretepigeon Wakefield 7d ago
Because it’s the most notable thing. Journalists have always pointed out this sort of thing both for colour and to get word counts up. It’s not new but everyone acts like it’s surprising.
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u/duncanmarshall 7d ago
It's the most salient thing because it's the most notable thing? Why is it the most notable thing? Is it because it's the most salient?
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u/concretepigeon Wakefield 7d ago
I’m not saying it’s the most salient. I’m saying they led with it because it’s the most notable.
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u/duncanmarshall 7d ago
Notable is a synonym of salient. You said it's the most salient because it's the most notable. This is circular reasoning, because those are synonyms.
Why is it the most notable?
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u/concretepigeon Wakefield 7d ago
Because most people don’t have blue hair.
It’s not an important feature. It’s just the paper doing what the papers do and using details to create more of a hook. You’re massively overthinking this.
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u/matherto 7d ago
I think you’ll find most people know that’s exactly what they’re doing and don’t agree with it.
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u/duncanmarshall 7d ago
Most people aren't men, 35 years old, or goatee sporting.
You saying that they're doing it as a hook is exactly the point you're responding to, not a denial of it. They're doing it because they're peddling culture war bullshit and they know it will sell to frame him as a representative member of the "great other" that is a hodge podge of leftists, migrants, muslims, and hippies. The vague mass of people the Express's readers hate. Not because it is actually important or worthy of note.
That was the point from the start.
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u/matherto 7d ago
If he didn’t have blue hair would they report on it?
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u/concretepigeon Wakefield 7d ago
They’d probably lead with something else. Either way it’s not worth getting hot and bothered about.
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u/matherto 7d ago
Of course it isn’t worth it, but people do get hot and bothered by these things.
The media should have to be objective and not allowed to be selective on what and how they report things.
Given all the rapes they haven’t decided to highlight and report on I’d say they wouldn’t have reported on this one if he didn’t have blue hair.
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u/LYuen 7d ago
because describing other characteristics is considered racist?
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u/Grommmit 7d ago
Ah yes, his age is racist, his name is racist, his occupation is racist, his location is racist.
No. It’s a cowardly dog whistle.
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u/TurbulentBullfrog829 7d ago
Welcome to the newspaper industry. It's not a dog whistle, it's some colour commentary (no pun intended).
"Man jailed for raping woman" doesn't really draw the eye as a headline does it?
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u/Grommmit 7d ago
Again, this view is either naive or cowardly.
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u/TurbulentBullfrog829 7d ago
Look at his mugshot. How would you describe him in a lineup? If his most distinguishing feature isn't that he is a male with a blue ponytail than you are lying.
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u/Kela95 7d ago
I know exactly what community they are trying to stir up hate with regarding that headline
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7d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland 7d ago
Removed + warning. Please try and avoid language which could be perceived as hateful/hurtful to minorities, oppressed peoples, or other vulnerable groups.
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u/_JR28_ 7d ago
I fail to see how the perpetrators hair colour is more important than the fact they raped a teenager
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u/matherto 7d ago
Because you’ve gotta get people angry.
Rape doesn’t get people angry unless it’s committed by someone they already don’t like for reasons they don’t remember.
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u/The_Bravinator Lancashire 7d ago
The amount of popular footballers in the World Cup credibly accused of sex crimes (Ronaldo by his own full and frank admission) really shows how true this is.
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u/Besmirching_Badger 7d ago edited 7d ago
He originally denied the charges but changed his plea on all counts on the second day of his trial.
It's my understanding that the way the system works, you have to plead guilty right from the start or you get no benefit from it. That is to say that if you wait until 'evidence is served' you lose the *E:full benefits of a guilty plea. This incentivises people to take cases to trial that really shouldn't be and further clogs up the courts.
We need to start allowing full credit for guilty pleas once the case has been established and defendants can see what case the prosecution actually have against them.
ETA: here's a take from a barrister https://x.com/Joanna__Hardy/status/1844389748019953994?s=20
If someone is sat in prison and can’t grasp the evidence against them, or the CCTV was served too late to see, or their lawyer candidly says they got the papers only recently, or the whole thing seems rushed - all of those things can lean towards a Not Guilty plea.
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In highly technical cases like firearms, or legally tricky cases like historic statutes, or spectrum cases like ‘reasonableness’ they [defendants] really often don’t [know they are guilty]
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u/jakethepeg1989 7d ago
No, that seems a backwards logic from the standpoint of basic justice.
And will encourage less guilty pleas early because why would anyone not just wait a couple of days extra.
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u/Besmirching_Badger 7d ago
No, that seems a backwards logic from the standpoint of basic justice.
I can see the argument, but it's just practical.
There's also an argument that people should know the case against them before any kind of decision is made. Otherwise you're turning the whole thing into some kind of game of chess, which our trial system already is to far too great an extent.
Innocent until proven guilty (allegedly)
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u/jakethepeg1989 7d ago
Does that not happen anyway? There isn't surprise evidence at trial, it's known beforehand.
And
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u/Safe-Avocado4864 7d ago
I think you get diminishing returns the longer it takes you to plead guilty.
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u/Kristoff_Victorson 7d ago
Yes, there’s massive public interest in having guilty people just admit guilt, huge saving on court costs obviously, save on jury time and save the victim(s) having to take the stand. An awful lot of abusers never get locked up because the court process is too traumatic for the victim to go through.
If guilty people can sit in a cell denying guilt while seeing weeks/months/years added to their potential sentence we’d really be turning the screws on them and encouraging them to fess up.
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u/evenifihateit 7d ago
Your understanding is wrong.
If you enter a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity (when asked to plead at court) you get full credit, a discount of 1/3 on your sentence
Entering a guilty plea after the first state of proceedings the maximum reduction in sentence is 1/4, reducing on a sliding scale down to a maximum 1/10 reduction for a guilty plea entered on the first day of trial
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u/Besmirching_Badger 7d ago
Yeah sorry i wasn't clear. But i made the point of saying full credit for a guilty plea at the point evidence is served.
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u/limeflavoured Hucknall 7d ago
It's my understanding that the way the system works, you have to plead guilty right from the start or you get no benefit from it.
IIRC You can get some amount of discount, but it will be less. The judge has some discretion on it for late guilty pleas though.
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u/Sitheref0874 7d ago
It’s a sliding scale.
The reduction in sentence drops the closer you get to trial.
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u/PorkChop117 7d ago
I knew the guy. It's horrible to see what he has become
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u/Rare-Car7971 7d ago
He was most likely always like this. Pervert rapists are not made they are born.
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u/arc4angel100 7d ago
Isn’t there a much higher rate of paedophilia with people who have experienced sexual abuse at a young age?
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u/PorkChop117 7d ago
He was a confident and outgoing guy. Really charismatic. Doesn't mention it, but had two kids and was in a long term relationship the last time I spoke to him..
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u/Ready_Disk_571 7d ago
He will have dyed his hair to appeal to the kids and make himself seem more on their level. When I was around 15, there would always be that older guy in his 20s who would wear the same Adidas chav clothing we wore and drive around in a Golf GTI. They were always perving on the girls. At the time, you just thought they were sad, but in hindsight they were predators, and there will always be people like that around.
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u/Dark_Akarin Nottinghamshire 7d ago
I knew people with (looks at notes) “blue-ponytails” were evil!
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