Mr C. Corke - Site Admin Statement

The following statement was placed on the Old BBS by Mr Corke.
Many people did not believe important parts of it
Some were prepared to give him a second chance based on the assurance it was a temporary aberration never to be repeated.

It seems the more forgiving were very sadly wrong.

Original statement by Mr Corke below

 

The right to reply - Tommy Tyke

I've tried (successfully so far!) to restrain myself from responding to the various ill-informed comment made on this Forum during recent weeks, as I certainly have no wish to either prolong or re-ignite any debate on my misdemeanours. However, given the diatribe that took place on here last night (and no - I haven't deleted the relevant threads nor requested such deletion), I feel I ought to exercise my right of reply -on a strictly one-off basis - and make comment in an effort to clarify/rectify some statements that have been made.

FIRSTLY - to those on here who have felt it necessary to castigate/condemn/villify me for my actions, well, I consider myself to be a fair-minded person and I fully understand and appreciate your viewpoints, much as I also respect your rights to express those on this open Forum. I've always advocated free speech on here and that's not about to change just because I'm at the brunt end of it.

However, as the Bible says 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone' and besides - there is NOBODY more disgusted or ashamed of me than myself. The offences were totally out of character (given I have never previously shown any such tendencies) and occurred over a brief period of time (relative to my current life-span, 6 months is brief) and I had realised the error of my ways before my arrest. All that in no way excuses or justifies what I did, and I have never attempted to do that, as it was both inexcusable and unjustifiable.

Should I have been given a custodial sentence, as Oscar reckons? I'm not sure I'm the right person to answer that but, given the police, probation service and my solicitor all opined that a Community Rehabilitation Order was the likely outcome(and let's face it, they have far more experience in these things than the rest of us) - I seemed to be the only person involved who was convinced that a spell in prison was inevitable. If Oscar was indeed a magistrate then I take that fact at face value. In which case he should be well aware that magistrate courts have the power to sentence upto 12 months custody (not 6 as he indicated) and that there is well-founded precedence for a District Judge to deal with such cases as mine in that court evironment rather than remitting it to Crown Court - as the DJ himself stated.

Judge Rosenberg listened to the facts and evidence placed before him, examined the images and researched and considered over a period of 4 weeks before passing judgement yesterday - based on those facts and evidence and taking into account my previous good character, the pre-sentence reports and the low level of the images. He made it clear in Court that his sentencing was based on firm precedent and was within the parameters of sentencing guidelines for such offences of this type. He is a judge - he makes considered judgements - and we have to accept those, even if we don't readily agree with them due to the emotive nature of the crime. That is the basis of English Law which has served us well for a damned sight longer than any of us have been drawing breath.

Have I learnt a harsh lesson? YES. Will I re-offend? CERTAINLY NOT. Will I have to live with the shame and stigma for the rest of my life? YES. Do I expect any forgiveness? NO.

SECONDLY - whilst I have received e-mails from many BBS contributors over recent weeks expressing their opinions and positive words, I'm also aware that many have done likewise via this Forum. I've already replied to those who e-mailed me, thanking them for their concern, and it would be discourteous of me not to do similar to those on here. I do not deserve such understanding or support - but am extremely grateful to you for it, nonetheless. It certainly reflects well on the humanity of this BBS community.

FINALLY - my involvement with this site. As many of you know, this BBS has been close to my heart ever since I first got involved with it over 8 years ago. The Police, CPS, Probation Service and the Court all recognised that the site had absolutely no bearing on my crime or vice versa. It was the Chronicle that linked the two together - for reasons which only they can explain, seeing as no mention of fc.net or Tommy Tyke was made in court at any stage and the crime and court proceedings are what the paper is supposed to be reporting on. Be that as it may, the Chron's article has resulted in adverse publicity for the BBS and for that I am deeply apologetic to you all - given my actions instigated it.

The rest of the Site Admin team have insisted that I carry on being a member of that team, so I intend to do just that. The way I've undertaken that task has not altered in the past 12 months, nor has it been influenced by what has transpired. Should anybody feel it has then I'd be interested to see examples to back that up, bearing in mind three other people have the capability to monitor, delete, ban etc.,
If the rest of SA are happy for me to continue, then that's good enough for me. I fully recognise that not everybody will be happy with that decision, but maybe those people should ask themselves 'who provides this Forum to allow them to freely express their opinions?'.

As I said at the outset of this missive, I have no intention of commenting any further on this subject - hence the length of this post! What's done is done, I've been punished and I've got to get on with the rest of my life. If folk want to think 'once a paedophile, always a paedophile' so be it - although have they never heard of people learning from their mistakes? The next 3 years of Community Rehabilitation will certainly ensure I learn from mine.

In the final analysis - my family and close friends (many with young families of their own incidentally) have been understanding, compassionate, totally supportive and are standing by me, something I certainly don't deserve imho. To me that is the most important factor - and I shall be eternally grateful to them.

Tommee...