The offending photograph.
Posted on 02/28/2010 2:27:27 PM PST by Eyes Unclouded
A father was told he was not allowed take pictures of his four-year-old son at a Sunderland shopping centre because of fears he could be a paedophile.
Kevin Geraghty-Shewan, of Kent, was challenged by a security guard at The Bridges after photographing his son Ben on a children's train ride.
He was told he could not prove Ben was his son and later quizzed by a police officer called to the centre.
Bosses at the shopping centre have apologised for the "misunderstanding".
Mr Geraghty-Shewan, 48, of Gillingham, said they had visited the shopping centre after Ben was given £10 from his grandfather to buy a toy.
His wife had suggested taking a picture of their son on a mobile phone camera after the "train obsessed" youngster boarded the ride.
A security guard then approached and told him it was against the centre's policy and that he "could be a paedophile".
Mr Geraghty-Shewan said: "He said there was no way of proving what I was doing was innocent.
"I told him Ben was my own son and that he was blowing everything out of proportion.
"Five or 10 minutes later a police officer approached and asked for my name and address.
"I raised my voice, as I was getting a little annoyed by this stage, and he threatened to arrest me for breach of the peace.
"I could have understood if I had been observed hanging about but I had walked up with my wife and son.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Would this have taken place ten years ago in the UK? Will it happen here in ten years?
The offending photograph.
With all those muslims marrying little girls and they worry about a father taking his sons picture.
A whitey, so it’s politically OK to pick on him.
This would have been the opportunity to make a complete fool of myself.
If he had just jabbered something about “Alla Akbar”, they would have left him alone.
The media hysteria on pedophiles is no different than the media hysteria on drug addicts.
The media hysteria creates stupid zero-tolerance laws based on emotion that end up hurting everyone in the process.
What proof can be provided? Maybe the kid running up to him and saying "daddy"? Good grief.
The only creepy guy here is that face on the front of the locomotive! :)
Sooner. Parents have been arrested for "baby taking a bath" pictures.
If the Brits are so incompetent in making this call I wonder how they’ll do with a north African exchange student?
Wait a sec. Ordinary child nudity is not even illegal.... weird
I would be outraged, but just recently that guy was taking pictures of young boys at a wrestling clinic, pretending to be a dad. IIRC he killed himself after they confiscated his
PC and external drives. Filled with photos he took himself.
The British bulldog is now a poodle.
Statism writ large. Everyone is guilty until innocent and government is entitled to interfere in the most basic and natural family activity.
I can see why that guard flipped out over there. The guy apparently refers to the kids mom as his “wife”. I haven’t seen that term published in the past dozen or so articles. It is ALWAYS “partner”.
Perhaps the poor guard thought the term “wife” was some kind of a pedophile code term...I’ll give him a pass here.
What are you talking about?
>> A security guard then approached and told him it was against the centre’s policy and that he “could be a paedophile”.
This reminds me of the incident where three guards recently watched the vicious assault of a young girl and did nothing.
In this case, would the security guard restrict picture taking, but allow the man to walk away with the boy?
Reason castrated by liability.
If this photo arouses you sexually...seek help.
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