:00:10. > :00:14.Hello from Somerset, where we have discovered a teacher accused of
:00:14. > :00:20.being a paedophile seven years before he was eventually brought to
:00:20. > :00:26.justice. This man was the first to speak out, but did he go about
:00:26. > :00:32.things the wrong way. I sincerely believe I did have the right thing.
:00:32. > :00:36.Also, their top speed is only eight mph but with accidents on the rise,
:00:36. > :00:42.campaigners are demanding compulsory training to use mobility
:00:42. > :00:49.scooters. And an exclusive look at an unseen
:00:49. > :00:53.interview with Bomber Harris, films 30 years ago. If I had the same
:00:53. > :01:00.time again, I would do the same thing.
:01:00. > :01:04.The East is Inside Out West. -- and this is.
:01:04. > :01:09.A former teacher at a Somerset school has been sentenced to ten
:01:09. > :01:14.years in jail for sexual offences against a 14-year-old boy...
:01:14. > :01:19.This is Keith Ruby, a former teacher jailed for ten years for
:01:19. > :01:23.abusing a pupil. He was only sentenced last month, more than
:01:24. > :01:29.seven years after being exposed as a paedophile by this man. When that
:01:29. > :01:33.guilty verdict came in I felt that justice had finally been done. I
:01:33. > :01:37.felt totally vindicated. Andrew Counsell did the right thing when
:01:37. > :01:42.he reported Ruby to the police, but he was also a serial complainant
:01:42. > :01:49.who made a series of unfounded allegations against his former
:01:49. > :01:55.school. For that he paid a heavy price. I have lost my job, friends,
:01:55. > :02:03.I could lose my home. A nightmare. So does Andrew Counsell deserve to
:02:03. > :02:09.be recognised as a whistle blower at all T--? Certainly not,
:02:09. > :02:13.according to a tribunal. Yet without his help, Keith Ruby may
:02:13. > :02:17.never have faced justice. Andrew Counsell provided us with
:02:18. > :02:22.information that led to this investigation. The investigation
:02:22. > :02:26.has been very valuable and I do see him as a whistleblower. Andrew
:02:26. > :02:30.Counsell and his wife, Susan, have lived at their home in Weston-
:02:30. > :02:37.super-Mare for more than 30 years. They raised a family here and every
:02:37. > :02:42.room is full of memories. They now face losing it all. We could not
:02:42. > :02:47.believe that things are spiralling out of control to the point they
:02:47. > :02:51.were. High Court injunctions coming through and finding out the boat
:02:51. > :02:55.�75,000 was just devastating. is the outstanding cost of the
:02:56. > :03:03.legal action taken against Andrew Counsell by his former employer,
:03:03. > :03:06.Sidcot School. The private Quakers school in north Somerset went to
:03:06. > :03:10.court in 2011 to stop him harrassing its staff and parents.
:03:10. > :03:14.wanted them to know that Ruby had been arrested, and let them know
:03:14. > :03:19.that these allegations have come forward again and police were
:03:19. > :03:24.launching a second inquiry. Andrew Counsell had been sick -- sacked by
:03:24. > :03:29.Sidcot School in 2006, dismissed for gross misconduct for making
:03:29. > :03:32.public a long list of unfounded claims against the school. But
:03:33. > :03:38.among them was an allegation that Keith Ruby had been sexually
:03:38. > :03:43.abusing a pupil and asking others to strip naked. Ruby had left the
:03:43. > :03:49.school in 2005 but eight months later, a group of pupils had come
:03:49. > :03:53.to Counsell with the allegations. A police say they are investigating
:03:53. > :03:58.allegations of abuse... At that time, the police
:03:58. > :04:03.investigation failed to bring we be to justice. When no charges were
:04:03. > :04:09.brought I just could not believe it. I felt everything I had done was
:04:09. > :04:15.for nothing. I had so much sympathy for the pupils. It was just unreal.
:04:15. > :04:19.It looked like Andrew Counsell -- Andrew Counsell may have got it
:04:19. > :04:24.wrong about Keith Ruby, and it was also clear he wanted to hit back at
:04:24. > :04:32.the school. He had a long history as a see real complainant at the
:04:32. > :04:37.school, making allegations over the years. His letter to parents
:04:37. > :04:47.mentioned again some of those unfounded claims. An employment
:04:47. > :05:15.
:05:15. > :05:19.tribunal backed his dismissal, Sidcot's head teacher at the time
:05:19. > :05:24.said... The dismissal meant that Counsell
:05:24. > :05:29.was effectively blacklisted and never worked as a teacher again. He
:05:29. > :05:33.still refuses to acknowledge he did anything wrong. I believe that I
:05:33. > :05:38.followed the correct procedures, from the time of reporting the
:05:38. > :05:43.abuse to the time I wrote a letter to parents, to tell them these
:05:43. > :05:49.things had happened and that their children were in a group which
:05:49. > :05:55.meant they could be victims. In the meantime, Rudi was free, to
:05:55. > :05:59.continue working in education. -- Keith Ruby. Keith Ruby portrayed
:05:59. > :06:04.himself as a particularly committed teacher but in my view, his actions
:06:04. > :06:08.were aimed at achieving 1-1 contact with children, and the ability to
:06:09. > :06:13.take advantage and then followed that up with abuse. DCI Richard
:06:13. > :06:20.Kelvey is the officer who eventually brought repeated justice.
:06:20. > :06:26.He said the investigation failed in 2006 for a very good reason. -- is
:06:26. > :06:30.the officer who eventually brought Keith Ruby to justice.
:06:30. > :06:36.Unfortunately, the officer in charge at the time was not at a
:06:36. > :06:39.point in his life where he could disclose everything. For the police,
:06:39. > :06:46.their hands were tied, but Andrew Counsell's Information Board
:06:46. > :06:51.welcomed. He is evidence of men, and now, it was of value to us.
:06:51. > :06:58.Andrew Counsell remains an outsider because of his actions. Today we
:06:58. > :07:02.brought him back to Sidcot School. How does it feel being back here at
:07:02. > :07:08.Sidcot School? It is a strange feeling. Do you regret speaking
:07:08. > :07:17.out? I do not an hour but certainly speak out again. As a parent of
:07:17. > :07:22.five children, I would wish to know if my child was in a group at risk.
:07:22. > :07:27.But did Andrew Counsell go about things in the right way? The school
:07:27. > :07:31.and the employment tribunal were clear he did not. They say when he
:07:31. > :07:35.publicised his wide-ranging allegations in January 2006, he was
:07:35. > :07:41.not acting in good faith. The law says even employee cannot prove he
:07:41. > :07:45.acted in good faith, he cannot be protected as a whistleblower. But
:07:45. > :07:52.it is a law someone changed. think there is a problem for the
:07:52. > :07:57.law. Motives should not matter if someone is raising a concern that
:07:57. > :08:01.is valid and right. Kathy is the chief executive of Public Concern
:08:01. > :08:05.at Work, which advises would-be whistleblowers. She knows how
:08:05. > :08:09.quickly relationships can break down between an employer and a
:08:09. > :08:13.would-be whistleblower. We find that the individual who has raised
:08:13. > :08:16.the concern becomes part of the problem and the organisation is
:08:16. > :08:22.looking at the messenger rather than listening to the message. If
:08:22. > :08:26.we are talking about abuse, that simply is not good enough. A school
:08:26. > :08:34.needs to act immediately, letting the whistleblower note that that is
:08:34. > :08:41.the case. So was there a delay in the allegations between -- of Keith
:08:41. > :08:47.Ruby being investigated. It is agreed that Counsell first put his
:08:47. > :08:53.concerns in writing in the October. But the police were not notified
:08:53. > :09:00.until three weeks later, and only then by Counsell. The police had no
:09:00. > :09:04.problem with him coming directly to them. Here made the information
:09:04. > :09:08.known to us and that is commendable. North Somerset Council also says it
:09:08. > :09:14.had no problems with POW Andrew Counsell raised the allegations. In
:09:14. > :09:24.fact, we have discovered it had concerns about the way the school
:09:24. > :09:28.
:09:28. > :09:33.had dealt with the claims. A The school insists Andrew Counsell
:09:33. > :09:39.did not give them enough in -- time or information to investigate the
:09:39. > :09:49.claims properly. His motives are again of concern. A spokesman from
:09:49. > :10:18.
:10:19. > :10:24.And the head at the time, John Why it was not out to harm the
:10:24. > :10:28.school, the staff, the parents or the children. You find yourself in
:10:28. > :10:33.this position, it is thrust on you from nowhere, and you have to make
:10:33. > :10:36.a decision on what to do. I know we can all look back in hindsight and
:10:36. > :10:40.say, I would have done it differently, but you're caught up
:10:40. > :10:45.in the moment and you follow your conscience and principles and you
:10:45. > :10:50.make a decision. Sidcot School and Andrew Counsell are never likely to
:10:50. > :10:53.agree on what led him to make the decisions he did, and it is clear
:10:53. > :10:58.he have motivations that were not those of a valid whistle Blower,
:10:58. > :11:02.but it is undeniable that his initial action was the first step
:11:03. > :11:07.that was to lead to the conviction of Keith Ruby for 16 offences of
:11:07. > :11:12.child abuse, and while Andrew Counsell may not accept what the
:11:12. > :11:17.employment tribunal says about much of his conduct, he feels, he says,
:11:17. > :11:21.that in the conviction of Keith Ruby, he can take some comfort.
:11:21. > :11:29.think that whistleblowers are on their own. It is a very lonely
:11:29. > :11:35.place to be. If the situation came around again, I would do it again.
:11:35. > :11:42.Coming up: Bomber Harris in his own words. Exclusive interview footage
:11:42. > :11:52.from 1977. The bombers kept well over one million feet Germans out
:11:52. > :11:58.
:11:58. > :12:01.of the German army because of the For many disabled people mobility
:12:01. > :12:05.scooters give an opportunity to get scooters give an opportunity to get
:12:05. > :12:09.out of the house, but as more people use them, the amount of
:12:09. > :12:19.accidents are on the rise. Now it is said that they should have
:12:19. > :12:21.
:12:21. > :12:26.compulsory training, mobility scooters, owners. For many,
:12:26. > :12:31.mobility scooters are a lifeline and for others they are a menace.
:12:31. > :12:37.At eight miles per hour going full pelt, you can do damage. Graham
:12:37. > :12:41.knows the dangers of mobility scooters. A quick trip to the shops
:12:42. > :12:47.ended in hospital. Battered, bruised and broken, he is the
:12:48. > :12:53.latest victim of a mobility scooter accident. As I stepped out of the
:12:53. > :13:00.shop on to the pavement I got hit. It was by a mobility scooter. It
:13:00. > :13:07.was quite a shock and not to be eight feet. I broke my hip and my
:13:07. > :13:13.left shoulder. I have had an operation. While Graham was taken
:13:13. > :13:18.to hospital, the scooter ended up here, among the reds in the police
:13:18. > :13:24.garage. It is being checked to see if the speed setting was at 4 mph,
:13:24. > :13:29.the legal limit for pavement use. They can go up to eight miles per
:13:29. > :13:36.hour on the road. It is common with scooters becoming more popular, a
:13:36. > :13:42.condition with these things on the road and pavement. Unfortunately,
:13:42. > :13:46.this ways in excess of 140 kilograms. With the driver on top
:13:46. > :13:50.of that, it is a considerable weight on the pavement.
:13:50. > :13:56.inspector found the driver did not break the debate. Police have
:13:56. > :14:02.limited powers to prosecute because mobility scooters are classified as
:14:02. > :14:11.a medical devices and not vehicles. They are outside the law. They are
:14:12. > :14:19.not covered by the Road Traffic Act. We are limited, if any powers, to
:14:19. > :14:26.deal with anyone involved. Jo found it out to her horror when she was
:14:26. > :14:33.hit by a scooter on holiday in Cornwall. Mice and called the
:14:33. > :14:38.police when the accident happened - - my son. Having said to my son, we
:14:38. > :14:43.are not really interested because it is not a traffic accident. His
:14:43. > :14:49.reply was, my mum has been knocked over. What are you going to do
:14:49. > :14:54.about it? She had stopped to look in an art gallery when the accident
:14:54. > :15:02.happened. I felt a tremendous pressure on me, something pressing
:15:02. > :15:06.me. I turned and shouted. I glanced and then was a gentleman in an
:15:06. > :15:11.invalid carriage. The next thing, I am on the ground and my leg had
:15:11. > :15:16.been caught under the chassis. had numerous operations and a skin
:15:16. > :15:22.graft. She could not move her leg for three months. She wonders
:15:22. > :15:28.whether the man who injured Hirst should -- injured her should have
:15:28. > :15:33.been driving. He looked blank, almost unaware of where he was. He
:15:33. > :15:38.apparently suffers from a disease that is degenerative, which is very
:15:38. > :15:43.sad. Some of them seemed to go too fast and they are not terribly
:15:43. > :15:49.aware of other pedestrians. I am conscious of them and I give them a
:15:49. > :15:53.wide berth. Avon and Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire
:15:53. > :15:58.police do not record the accidents as different from any other vehicle
:15:58. > :16:06.collision. Unlike cars and motorbikes, there is no restriction
:16:06. > :16:11.on who can buy a scooter. This man in Somerset is using his as a
:16:11. > :16:17.carpet career. Some safety campaigners think that more
:16:17. > :16:21.responsibility should lie with those who sell them. I recall a
:16:21. > :16:27.competitor selling a mobility scooter to a blind person. It is
:16:28. > :16:32.fairly obvious when someone is not able to use a piece of equipment.
:16:32. > :16:39.Robert from Bristol make sure that his customer can drive their new
:16:39. > :16:44.scooters safely. You are looking for a new scooter to replace one of
:16:44. > :16:50.your scooters you have already? It is essential that whoever will be
:16:50. > :16:56.using the scooter knows how to use it and is physically able to. We
:16:56. > :17:03.carry out of assessment as to their limitations, what medication, if
:17:03. > :17:07.that has an effect. Digby Bradley has bought a scooter from Bob
:17:07. > :17:15.before. He is having refresher training, just in case the stock
:17:15. > :17:20.even getting out of the shop is a challenge. -- just in case. Being
:17:20. > :17:25.able to travel on the scooter has given did be a new lease of life.
:17:25. > :17:31.He used to be a builder and he loves gardening. Deteriorating
:17:31. > :17:36.joint mean he cannot get around unaided. More a wife was quite
:17:36. > :17:41.upset because she used to go on walks by herself and I could not
:17:41. > :17:48.accompany her, I would walk a few yards and sit down and wait until
:17:48. > :17:55.she came back. It was not a good thing. We looked to our first
:17:55. > :17:59.scooter and I have not looked back. But it has not been plain sailing.
:17:59. > :18:04.I was in a supermarket cafe and because the floor was highly
:18:04. > :18:13.polished the scooter went backwards and hit a lady sitting at a chair.
:18:13. > :18:18.She was very good about it, but it could have been a problem if her
:18:18. > :18:27.coffee had scalded her. Some of these scooters are about 70
:18:27. > :18:35.kilograms. They'd take double that in terms of the user. At eight
:18:35. > :18:39.miles per hour, and you can do some damage. Your only recourse would be
:18:39. > :18:47.to the potentially sue somebody for whatever damage or injury they
:18:47. > :18:53.caused. That is because there is no insurance requirement. I think that
:18:53. > :18:57.is irresponsible. Joe was able to get compensation because the driver
:18:57. > :19:02.of the mobility scooter that hit her could claim through his
:19:02. > :19:07.household insurance. Others have not been so fortunate. At the
:19:07. > :19:13.moment, there are three petitions campaigning for the Government to
:19:13. > :19:19.introduce compulsory insurance and proficiency training for drivers.
:19:19. > :19:25.Later this month, a mother from Derby whose son was injured by a
:19:25. > :19:29.scooter intends to take victims to Downing Street. Some action must be
:19:29. > :19:36.taken to ensure standards are maintained in terms of safety of
:19:36. > :19:41.the vehicles and that basic training should be undertaken.
:19:41. > :19:46.Alison Seabeck has headed the call to make mobility scooter use safer.
:19:46. > :19:51.She has had one success with police now having to record accidents
:19:51. > :19:56.involving the scooters. They will be accidents on the road, they will
:19:56. > :20:01.not necessarily take account of those on the pavements. There will
:20:01. > :20:05.be some reporting which will help identify the nature of the problem.
:20:05. > :20:11.Meanwhile, Graham has learned the police are taking no action against
:20:11. > :20:16.the woman he knocked him down. something happens, you have to deal
:20:16. > :20:22.with it. The irony is that it is me who now needs a mobility scooter!
:20:22. > :20:27.It is serious. Some body could be killed. The Department of Transport
:20:27. > :20:35.is now looking at bringing in a test for the new users. Campaigners
:20:35. > :20:38.believe it is the only way to take the liability out of mobility. Now,
:20:38. > :20:40.his extraordinary leadership of RAF Bomber Command during the Second
:20:40. > :20:46.World War earned Cheltenham-born Arthur Harris the nickname Bomber
:20:46. > :20:48.Harris. His ruthless implementation of the Government's saturation
:20:48. > :20:54.bombing policy, laying waste to German cities like Cologne and
:20:54. > :21:00.Dresden, made him a hugely controversial figure. In 1977 he
:21:00. > :21:10.gave a rare post-war interview that has remained unseen, until tonight.
:21:10. > :21:13.
:21:13. > :21:17.Here is Steve Knibbs. We shall never extent of the German and
:21:17. > :21:22.Japanese level, but if anybody likes to play rough, we can play
:21:22. > :21:26.rough, too. Cinema newsreels fired steely words, forged in the heat of
:21:26. > :21:36.war, to weld a nation together. Tonight we have a rare film to show
:21:36. > :21:38.
:21:38. > :21:41.you. All but forgotten, after 35 years collecting dust in the RAF's
:21:41. > :21:44.film archive, Retired Air Vice Marshall Tony Mason tracked down
:21:44. > :21:49.and persuaded the Ministry of Defence to let us show you a piece
:21:49. > :21:55.of history he played a key part in. It has never been seen by the
:21:55. > :22:01.general public, until now. This was 1977 and there sits a young, newly
:22:01. > :22:11.promoted Group Captain Tony Mason. Opposite sits the most senior RAF
:22:11. > :22:11.
:22:11. > :22:14.officer you could imagine. May I welcome you to the RAF Staff
:22:14. > :22:23.College and thank you for agreeing to discuss with us the bomber
:22:23. > :22:31.offensive in World War Two. Jeremy Paxman it was not. I was
:22:31. > :22:37.deferential. I hope I was not sycophantic. I was very nervous.
:22:37. > :22:44.This was a key figure of World War Two and the RAF wanted a lessons
:22:44. > :22:49.learned interview, navigating his career directing bombing raids from
:22:49. > :22:53.1942 until 1945. He was a controversial figure and associated
:22:54. > :22:59.with what came to be called area bombing. There was a fair
:22:59. > :23:05.proportion of the population who were not happy with the way Bomber
:23:05. > :23:10.Command and the US Air Force targeted cities. That was the
:23:10. > :23:20.target of the first question. A when you took over, were New given
:23:20. > :23:21.
:23:21. > :23:31.a specific directive? O'Connor yes, I lived in a shower of directives.
:23:31. > :23:39.-- yes. But the directive when I took over was the one that I wasn't
:23:39. > :23:45.to specifically aim at anything unless ordered to do so. In the
:23:45. > :23:52.interview, he shoots down the myth that area bombing was his idea. It
:23:52. > :23:59.was government policy. I felt that the man I was interviewing, he was
:23:59. > :24:09.older, but he was still that man who had commanded Bomber Command
:24:09. > :24:09.
:24:09. > :24:15.for the three incredibly important years. Hitler has sown the wind,
:24:15. > :24:22.let them reap the whirlwind. At 86, Sir Arthur Harris was relaxed and
:24:22. > :24:29.his resolve was as strong as ever. Tony saw the qualities that Winston
:24:29. > :24:34.Churchill valued. The value of this film is clear to historians. It is
:24:34. > :24:40.done at a time when there have been interpretations about Bomber
:24:40. > :24:48.Command. And about Harris. Why was he ordered to blast cities rather
:24:48. > :24:54.than specific targets? Tony was able to find out. They were not
:24:54. > :25:00.hitting very much and they had not got much to hit things with.
:25:00. > :25:04.night after night they rolled out heavy bombers. The missions cost
:25:04. > :25:13.55,500 m men their lives. One question had to be asked and Harris
:25:13. > :25:20.did not let the subject of what many still regard as a city too far.
:25:20. > :25:24.RAF heavy bombers assist. The target is Dresden. About half a
:25:24. > :25:34.million people died in the British and American air raids on German
:25:34. > :25:39.
:25:39. > :25:43.cities. 25,000 interest and. -- 25,000 in Dresden. The bombers kept
:25:43. > :25:49.over 1 million Fitch Germans out of the army because of the bombing.
:25:49. > :25:57.Making the ammunition and doing urgent repairs, especially trades
:25:57. > :26:01.men. The attack on Dresden disfigured Bomber Command's
:26:01. > :26:08.fantastic three years of contribution. There is no
:26:08. > :26:16.explanation of why Dresden had been mounted in the first place. That is
:26:17. > :26:21.what I am trying to get behind, on why a Dresden? Harris clarified
:26:21. > :26:26.that Dresden was one of three he was ordered to destroy to help the
:26:26. > :26:31.assault on Germany. The great thing about the interview is the length,
:26:31. > :26:37.the subject settles down, you get a sense of emotion and the real
:26:37. > :26:42.person. I thought many times since I interviewed him, what was by
:26:42. > :26:50.summary of the man? Did the interview changed my view of him?
:26:50. > :26:55.It did. Ruthless in the pursuit of a objectives. The primary concern
:26:55. > :27:03.was the interest of Britain. And aware, as he said, reaping the
:27:03. > :27:10.whirlwind. But beneath that, there was an awareness of tragedy. There
:27:10. > :27:20.was an awareness of what damage he inflicted. There was enormous
:27:20. > :27:23.
:27:23. > :27:26.sensitivity about the lives which he had commanded to be lost.
:27:26. > :27:36.Harris's recall and resolve were on show throughout the 90 minutes, but
:27:36. > :27:41.regret was not. The if you had the time over which you do anything
:27:41. > :27:46.differently? If I had the same time over again, I would do the same
:27:46. > :27:51.thing. I would hope not to have the same time over again. I thought the
:27:52. > :27:57.response was astonishing. I have to say I did not expect him to do
:27:57. > :28:04.anything differently because he is not that kind of man. What I liked
:28:05. > :28:10.was his after comment. I hope it is of value to future generations.
:28:11. > :28:20.Even if it only helps them to keep out of these sorts of riots. They
:28:20. > :28:25.never do anybody any good in the end. That is all we have time for
:28:25. > :28:34.tonight. You can keep in touch with what we are up to it and join in
:28:34. > :28:41.the discussion. If you would like to e-mail us the addresses... Next