Court case

[Mick Norris]

Do I need to close this one off before we descend further?

The brave women who gave at times harrowing evidence in court deserve better than some of the recent posts on this thread.

Absolutely, it is easy to forget that there are real people involved when reading stories like this, especially when they seem like something out of a bad novel

[Jonathan Bryant]

Do I need to close this one off before we descend further?

The brave women who gave at times harrowing evidence in court deserve better than some of the recent posts on this thread.

Indeed. I don’t object to funny. Nor even "failed attempt to be funny" for that matter. Crass, whether intended as a 'joke' or otherwise, is another matter.

I would hope this thread isn’t locked. The issues around the court case are rather important for chess. In my local area at least.

[Mick Norris]

I gather that Mike Gunn is the SCCA spokesperson on this matter and that MG has briefed the ECF CEO.

Have the SCCA made a statement (or the ECF for that matter)?

[Neil Graham]

I gather that Mike Gunn is the SCCA spokesperson on this matter and that MG has briefed the ECF CEO.

Have the SCCA made a statement (or the ECF for that matter)?

I don't think anyone should be making any statements until after sentencing. As Mr.Curtis wasn't a director of the BCF at the time of his arrest, I don't see that making a statement will be of any use anyway. David obviously attended court - as far as I can see from the publicity the indictment dealt with members of the Coulsdon Christian Fellowship and whilst the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship has been mentioned, there is no indication of any wrongdoing involving chess members. If anyone should be issuing a statement it should be the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship.

[Martin Crichton]

all joking aside this is a major embarrassment for the ECF... I did not realise the guy was a former BCF director. I think going forward this makes for a good case for vetting people in responsible positions..... Once you have done the vetting and something like this occurs later you have covered all bases.

[NickFaulks]

all joking aside this is a major embarrassment for the ECF... I did not realise the guy was a former BCF director. I think going forward this makes for a good case for vetting people in responsible positions..... Once you have done the vetting and something like this occurs later you have covered all bases.

A more recent ECF President says that he once killed a homeless beggar. As soon as Rev Curtis has paid his debt to society I imagine he can look forward to a lucrative second career as a TV personality.

[Neil Graham]

all joking aside this is a major embarrassment for the ECF... I did not realise the guy was a former BCF director. I think going forward this makes for a good case for vetting people in responsible positions..... Once you have done the vetting and something like this occurs later you have covered all bases.

The person concerned was the BCF Director of Management Services for a short period in 1999-2000 to my recollection. The matters in court do not refer to this period; the BCF make a proper appointment at the time. Vetting wasn't brought in till after the Bichard Report of 2004. In this instance the defence pointed out that he was a man of previous good character. This is not a major embarrassment for the ECF - but it is a matter of interest that can be discussed post sentence.

[Jonathan Bryant]

If anyone should be issuing a statement it should be the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship.

Perhaps they should, but:-
"We do not have any current plans to make any further statement and do not have much information to enable us to add anything."


As quoted here :-
http://lostontime.blogspot.co.uk/2016/0 ... f.html?m=1



I don’t quite understand your last point about it being possible to discuss the case after sentencing. It’s been reported in the local and national press. Why can’t we talk about it here at this point?

[Peter D Williams]

I used to go to the chess club on a monday night with Peter and to some of the events held at the weekend from what i saw it was not run as a cult Religion was never mentioned to me the chess club was run in a friendly way and Scott Freeman is the best chess officer i have ever know his events run like clockwork and you can hear what he says at the start of an event!
I did not know Howard that well but did chat to him sometimes and he never come across to me as leader of cult he never mentioned his views to me on religion i was quite amazed to hear that the court had said he run the church like a cult of course i only went to the chess events.

[Matthew Turner]

Yesterday when I searched for Howard Curtis some allegations/charges from the case came up which I felt were of a somewhat different order to the ones I'd seen before. I got the impression that we were better off with this guy behind bars, so I would definitely echo David's Sedgwick's comments about the brave women giving evidence in the case.
I have just searched for Howard Curtis again and I cannot find the same reports as yesterday and I notice that it says some links were removed under European privacy law. Not sure who is being protected here.

[Jonathan Bryant]

I have just searched for Howard Curtis again and I cannot find the same reports as yesterday and I notice that it says some links were removed under European privacy law.

Does it specifically say that? As opposed to "Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe." which is standard for all google searches, I think.

[Matthew Turner]

Jonathan, thinking about it you might well be right, but I am almost certain some results have been omitted. There simply don't appear to be as many results for Howard Curtis (in the news) as there should be.

[Martin Crichton]

Matthew and Jonathan
you are probably both right...this could well be soon swept under the carpet....already people talking about not discussing this case until after sentencing....who knows...guy might get banged up or a tap on the wrist with a suspended sentence?
I just find it an interesting story....(not knowing any of the people involved.) Is it a case of a mad cult leader or a case or a world gone mad with political correctness? These days you can expect a prison sentence if you are foolish enough to pat a woman on the bottom! Remember the furore with JH several years ago when he merely reminded his opponent it was her move? In hindsight I think J was lucky that he did not get 10 years in prison! having the game aborted when he was a queen up was a very small price to pay.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Remember the furore with JS several years ago when he merely reminded his opponent it was her move? In hindsight I think J was lucky that he did not get 10 years in prison! having the game aborted when he was a queen up was a very small price to pay.

No, I don't remember this - refresh my memory, perhaps?

(and knee jerk invocations of "political correctness" always set my teeth on edge, tbh)

[Martin Crichton]

Matt (sent you a pm)
back to the matter in hand... I am not aware of any court gagging order so let the discussions commence! adding some more levity to such a serious matter...some people (not me I hasten to add) would pay good money for that kind of thing.... I think the reverend might find a new source of income if his flock leave him lol