We are all aware of the scale of crime, with 90% of sexual crimes being unsatisfactorily investigated and 90% of reported crime going un-prosecuted. We hear all too often about heterosexual sex predators, and predominantly about female victims, but seldom do we hear about homosexual ones. Within the LGBTQ community, significant levels of crime, be it IBSA, chem sex assault or whatever, remain unreported, because many victims desire anonymity, or fear reprisal from those who they report or repercussions for their own relationships or careers. Even in 2021, many remain reticent about ‘coming out’ to family or employers.
Several years ago, I reported that someone had attempted to infect me with HIV. Years later, I reported a further sexual assault that resulted in a visit to the Royal Victoria Hospital. Antrim Police were magnificent, kindly vetting a warning on an app that alerted the public to a dangerous sex predator in the Crumlin/Antrim area. Two gay drug dealers were raided, due to their implication in this sexual assault.
Within days, I was forewarned that I was to become the target of a sophisticated vendetta. This would begin a few years down the line, with the passage of time designed to obscure any connection between any originator and the actual events. This in itself demonstrates the inherent cowardice typical of those who predate on others. It would involve:
Monetised maiming by the tearing of the colon during ‘rough sex’, well-known in metropolitan London as a common form of assault by gay predators
Revenge Porn (Image Based Sexual Abuse) - the release en masse of intimate images across the web. The plan was also to send these to a former professional association (which, when alerted, was supportive).
Contrived civil cases, and criminal charges to bring about a custodial sentence
The aim of this nastiness is to send a message to the wider community that a gay man has no right to report a gay sex predator. Many gay men allow themselves to be subjected to this deficient alternate standard and believe that gay sex predators have the right to predate with impunity on any gay man they choose, for the reasons listed above, and perhaps also because the police were historically ‘always the enemy’ of gay men and distrusted.
Clearly, most police are modern-thinking and have professional integrity. LGBTQ men and women no longer need to operate on the assumption that all police are the enemy. They do not need to and must not accept IBSA, and sexual assault, at the hands of sex predators, any more than do heterosexual victims. Nor should they tolerate intimidation.
I have had 23 abusive experiences, with over a dozen attempts to maim or kill, by inflicting massive internal wounds. These attempts were driven by the prospect of financial compensation for the assault. These would have led to colostomy or death. I have also endured image-based sexual abuse, and drugs have been planted in my vehicle. I have been stalked on apps, in the street and whilst driving. In just one 10-day period in September 2020, after a failed IBSA/maiming event, I acquired 24 new stalkers.
Such targeting of one journalistic individual, who is by nature a meticulous record keeper, has had a surprisingly positive outcome in that it has exposed the names of dozens of sex predators and their tactics. I have thankfully been able to capitalise on the stalkers’ desire to ‘maim for money’; each approach equates to another predator voluntarily outing himself.
One would think this should have occurred to anyone of average intelligence, but it took some time to see the number of stalkers dwindle. They abruptly ceased when I began publishing details of the vendetta in the press.
The communications of each and every stalker have been timestamped and cross-referenced in a database. I have passed to ’the Press’ and the police the identities of 200+ men who appear to have thought that stalking me was a good idea, or who have encouraged maiming in a streamed show. Nearly 1,000 pages of material, 3,000 screenshots, and 1,000 emails, tip-offs, and so on, have now been made available to various agencies and sections of the Press.
One aim of those engaged in IBSA is to sap the victim’s confidence and discourage them from meeting anyone again. That will not happen. I will meet whoever I choose and if a sex predator succeeds in injuring me at some point, there will be press coverage, whether charges are brought or not.
Aside from the fact that the police and other agencies are aware of the context of there being a vendetta against me, the rough sex defence has been curtailed in the recent Domestic Abuse Bill, and so the possibility of charges being brought is very real.
Warning others of a predator leads other predators to target the person doing the warning. I therefore thought I might test the outcome of keeping silent, thinking logically that it might end the vendetta. However, the targeting continued unabated, with around 250 gay sex predators in Ireland and overseas becoming involved through networking on social media.
This demonstrated that there is no value to not reporting, any more than reporting.
Other innocent gay men could be injured if I take the cowardly approach and do nothing. Many live in fear that, if they speak up, they will be subjected to the same as I have been....but that is not the right thing to do. Neither is it even true. The more people who speak up, the better it is for everyone. Allowing oneself to feel intimidated is not an option, unless one chooses to play the role of victim. Adopting the behaviour of a victim, hiding and engaging in self-pity, only permits the continuance of predation within gay society.
Reporting is a form of affirmative action. In my case, every new stalker gets a mention in a police database and these names will be flagged up if any of these individuals are involved in any complaint by any future victim. This is already making things safer for all, because sex predators seldom act if there is a strong likelihood of recognition, repercussion and publicity.
I achieve great intellectual and emotional satisfaction from identifying sex predators, discovering the tactics they deploy, and collating the mistakes that they make. I am more experienced and knowledgeable now than many of them.
After 22 abusive events, I drew my line in the sand by publishing in PinkNews, Sunday World and the Antrim Guardian, but there's more to come.
I am determined to see good come out of my experiences and I have alerted the PSNI, MLAs and some members of the Policing Board, and other services and agencies, to a number of recommendations that I hope might help other victims in the future. I am also involved in work with the University of Birmingham and in discussion with a documentary filmmaker. A book entitled ‘Outing the Enemy Within…..’ will expose the activities of gay sex predators, of which IBSA is a constituent part. And of course, I am contributing a series of articles for David Canham's support initiative, in the hope that aspects of my story may help other victims to recognise the strength that lies within them. Although it may take them some time to see this fact, perhaps knowing something of my story may ease, and accelerate, that journey.
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