London bombing victim Garri Holness has been dropped from turning on Christmas street lights after he was exposed as a convicted rapist
BBC News:
He was one of seven men found guilty in 1985 of raping two 16-year-old girls in Brixton, south London.
Mr Holness, 38, who lost part of his leg on 7 July, had been due switch on the lights in Streatham, on Saturday.
A Lambeth Council spokesman decided he would be inappropriate after his convictions were revealed.
Mr Holness has been seen as the figurehead for a campaign to get more compensation for the victims of the London bombings.
In October, he joined other survivors and relatives of those killed in delivering a 10,000-signature petition to Downing Street demanding better pay outs.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed newspaper reports on Thursday which revealed Mr Holness, from Streatham, south London, had been convicted of the sexual assaults.
Mr Holness was known as Gary Linton when he took part in the attack on the teenagers on the Stockwell Park Estate in January 1985.
A Lambeth Council spokesman said: "Since the recent revelations about Gary Holness' criminal conviction, we think it is no longer appropriate for him to turn on the Streatham Christmas lights."
The switch-on will still go ahead with the Mayor of Lambeth, Daphne Marchant, doing the honours.
Rape secret of 7/7 victim
Taki’s New Top Drawer
posted by Adam Lawson @ 2:31 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
So I guess that name change wasn't as beneficial as he was probably hoping.
This guy is a joke! He is impudent, arrogant, and can't have an ounce of morality.He should be taken to court once again for being fraudulent. How can anyone stand displaying a placard so ironically phrased when he himself has brutally victimised and burgled AND to add insult to injury, covertly turned himself into a messiah-like figure in order to furnish a sizable chunk of compensation. The girls he terrorised are scarred for life mentally..so indeed "WHAT about the VICTIMS?"
He says people from the Caribbean are reared to respect others but what example has he set hiself?
Is THIS the ultimate role model for young black kids in London? Surely they can do better?
Forget about his limb loss...others lost limbs and entire lives on 7/7. Some say other victims were not angels either but i'm sure none had a past as nefarious as his which caused him to change identities.
Everyday score of innocent Iraqi kids get maimed, tortured and mutilated. Who gives them compensation? Or are they less worthy than this charlatan?
Hasn't this man got a conscience? He's almost saying to the public " I am so humble I am PROUD of it!!" How can he be so barefaced..displaying irreverent "forgiveness" for his assailants when he all the time has been harbouring a clandestine past. He wasn't the only one maimed on 7/7. Maybe he thought people would forget his past and have sympathy for him..but what goes around comes around! What an embarrassing representative for the victims of 7/7 the media has chosen. A total embarrassment to himself and the black community.
He should've kept quiet in view of his past circumstances. Did he think he wouldn't be found out? Was he stupid & arrogant enough not to ascertain that with the media, today you are a hero, tomorrow a coward and barefaced liar!
My heart goes out to those innocent young girls he raped as well as the victim of his burglary only three yrs ago. Today these poor victims of his have to watch his arrogant and hypocritical claim to fame and false heroism.
He should use the rest of his time on this earth to reflect upon his stupidity.He should realise he has been spared and learn humility and put away feelings of elevated self importance.
Just to add to all this.
My name is Garri Holness I was teenager just turned 17 and not a man (as all the tabloids press misrepresented) when this unfortunate event happened.
Let me start by saying I have mixed feeling about everything, I was beaten up in police custody and force to sign a confession of something I didn't take part in although i was in the vicinity.
At a time when the country was very right wing the media coverage was racially motivated and disgusting, the girls were never held at knifepoint or rape 45 times that was Police and Tabloid HYPE to feed into racist and bigots.
The Judge at the Old Bailey when sentencing me, made it sound like i was going be aquitted AS THERE WAS NO DNA EVIDENCE Linking me to RAPE, but then he switched bringing in the law of Joint enterprise. (where by if your friends are guilty of committing a crime you are also guilty by association )
Please don't get me wrong I do empathise 100% with the girls. If anything of such nature happened to any female member of my family or friends i would be devastated. i
certainly would of stop it sooner had I realise what was actually happening.
I strive to be a better person everyday mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritual. I do hope this explanation resolves some of the bad feeling your holding against me.
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