Now this one made me angry!

Police are seeking a former Exeter cabbie, Noorullah Seddiqi, in relation to an incident of rape, and a series of sexual assaults on women. He failed to answer bail on January 9th, and has been unheard of ever since.

Now, as you might expect with a bail-jumping suspected pervert on the loose, old Plod was quite keen to get his hands on any information that might help find the said bail-jumping suspected pervert. So, it was decided to stage a reconstruction of the various incidents of which Seddiqi is accused, and put that reconstruction on the ITV programme "Manhunt", together with an appeal for any information. Sounds pretty sensible, doesn't it, even if it did take Plod six months to think of it.

Unfortunately, Plod had reckoned without the Devon Racial Equality Council (DREC, or should that perhaps be, drek). Now, as you might guess from the name, Noorullah Seddiqi is not a native of Devon. In fact he comes from Afghanistan. And the DREC claim that publicising the fact that an Afghan immigrant is a suspected rapist will lead those wicked white people to indulge in their favourite past-time, "racism". As evidence for which, they claim that when, in April (only three months after he went missing - well done lightning-quick Plod!), the police made an effort to publicise Seddiqi's alleged crimes, "twenty or so attacks and assaults" occurred in Exeter as a direct result of this. Quite how they can know that these attacks and assaults, if they actually occurred, were a direct result of the publicity surrounding Seddiqi is unclear. But they claim they do, and as a result they put pressure on Plod to cancel the reconstruction of the crimes, lest more "attacks and assaults" follow on from this. And Plod gave in.

So, because of the whining of a provincial branch of the race relations industry, the effort to hunt a man who is, in all probability, a serial sex offender, is to be undermined. Which might be understandable, if showing a reconstruction of the crimes on "Manhunt" was actually going to lead to pogroms, lynchings, and the total breakdown of society in every town and village from Dawlish to Barnstaple. But it wouldn't. Indeed, I doubt that any of the "attacks and assaults" which allegedly happened as a result of previous publicity surrounding the case actually amounted to anything more than verbal abuse, and spitting. If it did amount to more, don't you think the DREC would be screaming about it to high Heaven? And while spitting and swearing are not pleasant, they are nothing compared to rape. I would add, that in a city like Exeter, with a population of about 120,000, twenty minor assaults is really not that many.

The race relations industry has sunk to a variety of new lows over time, but I think that actively seeking to protect a suspected rapist - which is what they are doing - must be a peculiarly reprehensible action, even for them. I wonder if they feel proud?