A man, a plan, a canal, Panama


Many of you will have been following the news about the memory-losing,
death-defying, money-grabbing canoeist and will, no doubt, have been
intrigued by the 'lies and deceptions' revealed in court.


Well, what did you expect? Here's what the British Canoe Union (BCU)
leadership have to offer as role models:



# The Chief Executive, PAUL OWEN, failed to tell the truth to David
Train about the make-up of a disciplinary panel. Some would say he
LIED which is fair enough, what he said was not the truth and is
despicable. (It' all in writing). He's not even honest enough to admit
his mistake and apologise. Plenty of other instances where he has
misled, too.



# The ex-BCU Chairman and now a Vice President, DAVID GENT, is a
'known liar' (retrospectively written AGM minutes have him down as a
'proven liar' but that's another story).



# Another current Vice Prez, ex BCU Chairman, ex Marathon Committee
Chairman (are you following a patterrn, here?), ALAN LAWS, has a
number of black marks against his name for untrue and defamatory
remarks whilst hiding behind his committee status, but he is most
infamous for an outrageous LIE at a BCU AGM - the Police say it's not
true (in writing) and it's now recorded in an official BCU report,
following an investigation including enquiries with 'the relevant
statutory authorities' as a LIE, so no wriggling out of that one, no
matter how wriggly and squirmy you are. You probably don't get to
hear much from Laws because he is a slimy worm that gets others to do
his dirty work.



# The current Chairman of the BCU Board, BRIAN CHAPMAN, LIED to an
email group of concerned coaches and parents, claiming he had reported
2 people on that group to the Police for harassment and had a crime
report number to prove it. It was a lie. No-one had been to the
Police. There was no incident report number. He compounded his
equivocation by trying to implicate senior police officers in his
deceit who denied any contact with the BCU 'for months'. It's all in
writing. The group of coaches and parents, by the way, was formed to
discuss Child Protection issues which the BCU didn't want them to know
about. They even threatened the organiser of the meeting with the
sack if it went ahead. All of the above was done to frighten members
away from discussing Child Protection issues. How corrupt is that?



# Probably the worst to date (at least of those about whom we know) is
MIKE DEVLIN, stand-in for the Chief Executive, Child Protection First
Officer and Director of Coaching - he LIED to and DECEIVED the BCU
Board. Not only was this appalling prevarication, but it resulted in
the expulsion of a well-respected BCU member for *allegedly* (ie it
isn't true!) reporting a Child Abuse allegation. Yes, report a Child
Abuse allegation and you get expelled - even if it wasn't you who
reported it, all because the Devlin-disguise Child Protection Officer
doesn't like it when a squad coach - a member of Devlin's sleazy
system - has a number of allegations made against him. And has been
caught doing similar things subsequent to the above, which the BCU
have also ignored. When he lied to and deceived the BCU Board
regarding Police investigation(s) into Child Abuse allegations, that
is such a gross violation of morality in my book, it puts him in an
untenable position. He is a shockingly deplorable and unpleasant man.
Child Protection Officers need to be honest and trustworthy - Devlin
isn't.



There you have it. The BCU will do anything to protect their pervert
coaches, their sleazy system and public funding. You can't get rid of
them because they're all in it together. No formal complaints against
them get even cursory consideration or acknowledgement. They have, so
far, expelled 2 people just for raising Child Protection issues. No
trial. No hearing. No warning. No formal complaint as required under
the constitution. And no appeal.



But they're not the only victims of these liars:


# No child is safe in canoeing.

# No informant can guarantee they won't be victimised.

# No informant can guarantee anonymity.

# No employer can guarantee that the canoeing coaches they
recruit are not perverts protected by the Devlin system.



Makes you feel safe, eh?



So, I propose a new Darwin Award for the most outrageous liars in
canoesport. Or, perhaps they could all go and live in Panama.