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tv   Disclosure  BBC News  July 19, 2021 1:30am-2:01am BST

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the headlines: the tokyo olympics get under way this week but there is already a growing number of athletes testing covid—positive or being forced to self—isolate. despite the strong public opposition to the games, the governor of tokyo has told the bbc it would have been worse to cancel the games. the german chancellor, angela merkel, has visited the region of western germany hit by devastating floods. she says the world must hurry in its fight against global warming and pledges aid for rebuilding the area quickly. more heavy rain has caused further flooding in southern germany and austria. nearly all of the coronavirus restrictions in england have been lifted for the first time since march last year. most social distancing rules are relaxed and face coverings are no longer required by law.
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now on bbc news: as many women come forward to make anonymous complaints of sexual violence on campus, is this scotland's #metoo moment? a warning — this programme contains content that some viewers may find upsetting. it started with a flood of anonymous complaints... the next thing i remember, it's dark and he's on top of me. - he started undoing his belt, his button and zip. and at that point ijust said, like, "can you please let me out?" a #metoo moment for scotland's universities. every time i felt like i'd helped one person, or maybe closed off one avenue and offered support somewhere, something else popped up. why are so many young women fearful of talking openly about sexual violence on campus? she was asking me questions that felt accusatory orvictim—blaming. and how well are universities supporting those who say they've been assaulted? so, i made that complaint, and i was never contacted
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again by the university. tonight on bbc disclosure, we investigate sexual misconduct on campus. hi! how are you doing? i'm hazel. hi, i'm nikki. hi, i'mjenn. she was just walking home. she should have been safe. the rape and murder of sarah everard earlier this year horrified women everywhere — and spurred many to take action. when we found out that they'd found sarah's body, i think there was a general feeling of, like, anger and frustration, so there was a reclaim these streets facebook page that was created down in clapham, and we found
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ourselves on it trying to organise something for glasgow. nikki and jenn formed reclaim these streets glasgow and organised vigils across the city. they are now cataloguing the scores of letters, messages and stories of sexual violence left by the women who took part. some were from students assaulted by fellow students on campus. one in particular was from a girl at glasgow university who said that she was sexually assaulted in her first year at university, and she's now in her fourth year and he's still there. i think that sentiment is echoed quite a lot in terms of what women have gone through. in a 2018 survey, seven of out ten female students across the uk said they'd experienced sexual violence at university. in scotland, over the last two years, complaints of sexual misconduct on campus are up by almost a fifth. i want to find out what is happening on campuses across the country. our story starts here.
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the university of st andrews is the jewel in the crown of scotland's education system. princes and politicians have studied here. fees can be as high as £32,000 a year. st andrews is your quintessential university town. it's got a population of around 17,000 people, around two thirds of them are students. a year ago, this place was rocked by revelations which sparked our investigation. injuly 2020, an account called st andrews survivors appeared on instagram. it shared anonymous stories of students who said they'd been sexually harassed, assaulted and raped by other students at the university. it's really unpleasant. it's basically story after story of horrendous experience and the trauma of living with that afterwards. yeah, it makes for really horrendous reading, actually. a #metoo moment for scotland, the anonymous reports just kept coming.
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i've spoken to many of the women sharing their stories of coercive control, sexual violence and rape. three st andrews students told me their stories. they've asked to remain anonymous. i met him basically the first week of school. he was in the year above me. he went to private school, all— boys school. i have never spoken - to him, kind of, outside of seeing him at university. he was just saying everything that i wanted to hear. he was like, "we won't have sex, don't worry, i won't do anything, we won't do anything," and that made me feel really good.
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he blurred the lines between consent and emotional intimacy. i didn't feel like i had the control over the situation. the next thing i remember, it's dark and he's on top of me. - he pushed me up against the wall and anally raped me. and i was in shock, i guess, because i couldn't move, and i didn't know why i couldn't move. at some point i started i to kind of feel a fog start to lift off my brain, - i push him off me and i go to the bathroom just i to collect my thoughts. i said to him, "if i don't draw the line here, where will i draw it?" and he told me, "well, i'll never hit you." and i put my clothes on right away, and he, kind of, just looked at me and laughed a bit, and i ran to my
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room and i cried in the hallway for hours. a year on from the launch of st andrews survivors, the page now has almost 300 allegations of sexual misconduct. good afternoon, fife rape and sexual assault centre, mairi speaking. how can i help? here they offer support to hundreds of survivors of sexual violence every year. how much can you remember? what can you remember? the service is in huge demand. despite taking on more staff and volunteers, the waiting list is the longest it's ever been. so, have you had a think about what you would like to do? they cover all of fife, and that includes students from the university of st andrews. it's hard to kind of put a number on it because it changes from month to month. but a lot of the calls we get are things have happened weeks, months ago. immediately after
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an event, they cope. they pretend it hasn't happened, or theyjust manage. and actually the pressure of studying can be the thing or... and st andrews is quite a unique place, it's a very small place. if the person who's assaulted you is also a student or even lives in st andrews, if it's somebody you've met in town, there's no getting away from that. it's notjust living alongside the men who've assaulted them that can make students fearful of coming forward. for some, there's a lack of confidence over how the university will deal with the claims. megan — not her real name — told someone at st andrews student services last year that she'd been raped. she basically was asking me questions that felt a little accusatory or victim—blaming. you know, she asked how much alcohol i'd had that night. and just when i stated what had happened, i felt that her response was pretty hopeless sounding. basicallyjust in the sense that, "here are your options, but it's been a while,
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you're feeling safe now." and, you know, the woman i was working with is not to blame, i think it'sjust a very bureaucratic system. she says the meeting led to her decision not to go through with a complaint. i did not end up reporting. after my meeting... ..i felt...as though it wasn't going to do anything for me. a spokesperson for the university of st andrews said it "did not recognise...this complaint", said its staff would "never ask questions about...alcohol" consumption, and said it would "never discourage anyone" from making a complaint. this woman — who we're calling hayley — did report her rape to the university, but they initially failed to correctly record her attack as rape. they didn't write it upl completely accurately, and they called it my.
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statement, even though i never even knew that - something had been written up and i never signed it. and ultimately that statement did not describe rape, - and it made me very distrustful right away, because they- misconstrued my words - and then called it my words. and if that hadn't been - corrected, they could have come back and said, _ "you've contradicted yourself." she says they made mistakes with dates and wrongly called the first report her statement. errors that were then corrected, but that first experience undermined herfaith in the whole process. they've been ok, but not... ..not incredibly kind, - or they haven't treated me in a way that i think survivors of sexual assault and rape i should be treated, . because it doesn't... ..it doesn't take very much to be kind and empathetic.
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hayley asked the university if she could give evidence in person to the panel investigating her complaint, but was told that wasn't an option. i don't have any rights in this policy, because i'm not - the student who's been reported~ _ and because of that, - he's allowed to know what i've said in my statement, but i can't know- what he's said in his. he's allowed to appear live | before the decision—making panel and speak with them, but i'm not _ i would only have my words written, which is a lot- less personal and quite dehumanising. - hayley is still awaiting the outcome of her complaint. a spokesperson for st andrews said its procedures are "based on a trauma—informed approach" which gives the reporting student "agency over how they disclose" misconduct. they said that the conduct officer in this case
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had been "professional, helpful and attentive" throughout. they confirmed hayley did "query the accuracy" of her statement, but was given the "opportunity to update and correct" it. other women have had a more positive experience with the university. lisa — also not her real name — has felt supported during her complaint. they seemed to be supportive of my decision to want to report. a disciplinary officer told me that a non—contact would be able to be put in place, which was obviously very reassuring. they did repeat to me multiple times that if i were to want to report to the police, i could do that at any time and they would be supportive of me as far as possible in doing so. lisa learned last week that her abuser had been expelled. st andrews doesn't publish figures on the number of assaults reported. through freedom of information, we found there had been 29 complaints against students in the past two years. st andrews�* principal, professor sally mapstone, told us she'd "never been more confident" st andrews was taking the "right approach" to gender—based violence. she said it was the first university in scotland to "introduce a compulsory
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consent module" for all students. she said if mistakes are made, the university would "learn from it", but the claims put by the bbc of poor case—handling are "without foundation". following in the footsteps of st andrews survivors, similar social media accounts about campus assaults appeared at universities across scotland. they're a sobering reminder of the scale of the problem across the country. professor lesley mcmillan researches sexual violence at universities. is there an acceptance across all institutions as to the real scale of this problem? no, i don't think there's an acceptance across all institutions. i think some institutions have accepted it and are taking active steps to deal with it. universities are concerned
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to some degree about institutional reputation. and maybe people haven't been so ready to want to talk about it or acknowledge it because of, maybe, fears or concerns around how it might impact institutional reputation, but the crucial first step is to accept there's a problem. professor mcmillan is part of fearless glasgow, a collaboration between universities and colleges in the west of scotland. it's launching a pilot scheme for an online tool called report and support, designed to better assist survivors. the system also gathers data to help institutions tackle the problem collectively. all universities in the area have signed up... ..bar one — the university of glasgow. in the summer of 2019, rumours began to circulate around campus about the behaviour of a high—profile former student who was then
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employed by the university. holly was in second year when she first met him at a sports association event. he was just very handsy, and i think at the time i was almost flattered because he was, like, so high up and experienced and i wasjust a second year at the time. i'd had kind of another experience with him, erm, where he'd made, like quite explicit comments about my body and had, like, slapped me across my bum and stuff a few times, er, in different situations... this is the man in question, paddy everingham. he was a student at glasgow and, at the time of the claims, was president of the sports association, or gusa, a full—time position paid by the university. holly told us about a sailing club holiday to croatia in 2019
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that paddy everingham was also on. i remember one evening, him making really, actually, just, like, derogatory comments about my bum again, but this was in a group situation where there's loads of people there, and itjust made me feel so uncomfortable. and, actually, there was a lot of complaints about him on that trip from different women. several women complained to the sailing club alleging he'd behaved inappropriately, making them feel uncomfortable. as a result, the sailing club wrote to him, making him aware of the complaints, and refused him a spot on the following year's trip. paddy everingham told us he "strenuously denied" behaving inappropriately in croatia and that "no action has been taken" against him in respect of that trip. he says he was "not given a reason" for being left out the following year's holiday. holly says she initially didn't complain to the university about what she says happened to her until she heard other stories from fellow students.
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you know, my experience with him, i had just kind of been able to brush off asjust a guy being a bit creepy. but then when i started speaking to all these other women, and i realised, actually, that's not the case for a lot of women, and a lot of women were really genuinely upset by it and were feeling really insecure and anxious and scared. i think that's, kind of, when i decided i wanted to do something about it. 0ne allegation holly heard stood out. rachel — not her real name — became friends with paddy everingham at university. she wants to remain anonymous. 0n nights out, he would buy me drinks and, kind of, try and encourage me to drink as much as i could as quickly as i could. i remember them just being kind of inappropriate with what they would say, you know, how attracted they were to me. and then, eventually, that kind of led to them, kind of, groping me on nights out and things like that. and just doing it... ..doing it probably in spaces where it was quite public, but it couldn't be seen. rachel says paddy everingham's
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harassment escalated until one incident in february 2019. he was very drunk and, kind of, stumbling towards me. and he came up and grabbed me. ijust, kind of, said, "that's enough, have a good night," sort of thing. and then he turned around and told me that he would show me how much he fancied me, and i told him i didn't want him to. rachel says he followed her into a toilet cubicle, closing the door behind them. yeah, so, he started undoing his belt, his button and zip. and at that point ijust said, like, "that's enough. i don't want this," kind of, "could you please get out?" he didn't listen to me, just continued with what he was doing. sort of started sighing, saying, "oh, come on," like, "what's wrong with it?" ijust said, like, "that's enough. can you please leave? i want out." still wasn't letting me out of the toilet cubicle. started, kind of, coming towards me and made an advance towards me. and i said, "can you please let me out?" rachel says someone coughed loudly in another cubicle
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and she managed to get out. he stayed in the cubicle that we were in. he took his phone out and he exposed himself and started trying to video himself and trying to show it to me. i was really stressed, i didn't really know what to do. ijust, kind of, froze a little bit, almost, especially afterwards when i was out of the cubicle. ijust, kind of, stood in shock, not knowing where to go, like, not knowing what to do. i didn't want to be one of those people with a story, so ijust, kind of, ignored it until the rumours really started to go around and none of them were about me. and that's when i realised, like, this is really serious. in october that year, rachel reported it to the university, and an investigation was launched. around the same time, other women were raising concerns about paddy everingham's alleged behaviour. phoebe reilly was the welfare convenor for the sports association. i think the common theme that came up was that it was a pattern of behaviour.
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what worried people was that there was, in this instance, someone in a position of power who potentially had access to a lot of people who might be charmed and then would find themselves in situations where they were hearing things they didn't want to hear or potentially being touched in ways they didn't want to be touched. it felt like whac—a—mole. like, every time i felt like i'd helped one person, or maybe closed off one avenue and offered support somewhere, something else popped up. four different women came to phoebe with complaints about paddy everingham. she says the university left it to students like her to support women and investigate the claims, without offering any formal help. even though there were people that i was sat in a room with every month who, you know, were involved in the university, like, leadership team, that i'm sure they knew about it, they never reached out to us and said, you know, "we've heard about this, we know this is going on," like, "we'll take it from here..." it was certainly, like, i'm not sure the adults are listening,
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so the children are just going to have to deal with it ourselves. after rachel made her formal complaint, holly followed suit. and this wasn't the first time the university had been made aware of concerns about his behaviour towards female students. disclosure has learned that a member of the student representative council spoke to a senior university official in may 2019. they alerted the official that they were aware of concerns about paddy everingham and said they were worried about the safety of women on campus. a few weeks later, we understand paddy everingham was spoken to informally by the university and that no further action was taken at that point. despite this, when formal complaints were made against paddy everingham, the university decided not to suspend him. he continued as gusa president and remained on campus while the complaints were investigated.
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rachel says that he repeatedly intimidated her in that time. i would go to events, and as soon as he was there, i had to leave. i was in at an event, and everyone that i was with watched him walk past me and put his hand on my lower back as he walked past, even though he's not allowed to talk to me. there's an end—of—exams christmas ball called daft friday. he came across the room and stood shoulder—to—shoulder right next to me. just smirked, didn't say anything. it took the university five months to investigate rachel's allegations, and she says she only learned the outcome after pressing them for an answer. the university's investigation was inconclusive, but the bbc understands paddy everingham was given an official warning. nearly a year and a half later, holly says she's still waiting for the outcome of her complaint. so, i made that complaint, and i was never contacted again by the university to say how the investigation went.
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so, you made your own complaint in 2020, and then you never heard anything after that? no, i've never heard anything else. despite the complaints, paddy everingham was allowed to continue in his role as gusa president on full pay until the end of his term. in fact, the university extended his contract by a further month. a spokesperson for the university of glasgow said it was unable to comment on individual cases, but "takes all allegations" of sexual misconduct or harassment "extremely seriously". they said it was "expanding its provision" of "confidential and personal support", including "online reporting facilities". they added the university was "providing more training" for "managers investigating. . . cases" of "harassment or misconduct". last week, lawyers for mr everingham served a writ on the bbc in a bid to stop us from telling these women's stories. because of the public interest in revealing these serious allegations, the bbc went to court on thursday to defend the action. in the end, a sheriff
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dismissed everingham's claim on several grounds and found in the bbc�*s favour. in a statement, mr everingham told us an "internal investigation was conducted" within the university and he was "not found guilty of any wrongdoings". he said that he "strongly" denies all of these allegations. back with nikki and jenn, and for the first time they're seeing the scale of the problem laid out before them. it's very overwhelming. ithink we've... ..we've gone through them bit by bit and actually visually seeing it, this isn't even everything. this box is barely empty. yeah, it's quite, quite hard. for many women, their journey is far from over.
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i ended up going to therapy after what had happened for ptsd. and, yeah, i don't think i ever thought i'd have that story. i don't think i ever thought i'd be one of the people you'd hear about where that's happened. idon't think i did . give consent, i think understanding that wasl definitely a progression. initially i would have just referred to it. as i was really drunk- or pressured into something, but the more i thought - about it, it went from pressure to coercion to assault to rape potentially. . it's something that has shaped me and it will always shape me, and it's a burden that will always be there. and even though you can move on, you can never get over it, or it never ceases to affect
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your life every day, and every day since i was raped, i have thought about it. universities and institutions everywhere are doing more than ever. but what we've found, and what's laid out before us, suggests there's still a long way to go. it's just the extent, you just think about how much trauma is contained in all the words, like the stories of what's happened to students or older women, children, teenagers, everybody.
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hello again. sunday was the hottest day of the year so far in both england and wales. cardiff saw a maximum temperature of 30.2 degrees celsius — the new highest temperature of the year for wales. but it was a bit hotter at london's heathrow airport, at 31.6, and that's the highest temperature we've seen in both england and the uk as a whole in 2021 so far. now, if you're heading outside over the next few hours, chances are you'll come across clear skies. the exception — northern scotland, where we could see an odd spot of rain for the western isles and the highlands, but otherwise it's dry. the other thing i'm sure you'll notice is just how warm a start to the day it's going to be. now, looking at the week ahead, high pressure�*s going to stay dominating the weather picture, and that means lots more of this hot and sunny weather, like it or not.
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now, there will be one or two isolated thundery showers building through the latter part of the afternoon, and evening time, and after hot weather by day, it will stay very warm overnight as well. monday morning, then, sunny, warm start to the day. the exception — northern scotland, where we'll see some patchy cloud, but even here there will be some sunny spells. one or two thunderstorms p°pping up during the afternoon, not many of these. you'll be able to see the clouds from a mile away. but if you're unlucky, you could see a downpour. the highest temperatures — england and wales, high 20s to low 30s. and looking at the jet stream pattern, well, this explains why our weather's not going to change. we've got this blocked pattern. the uk's underneath this ridge, and that is what's causing us the fine weather. this kind of pattern isn't going to change very much day—to—day. and that means tuesday, we'll see more of that fine, sunny, very warm if not hot weather. but again, there could be one or two isolated storms popping up as we go through the afternoon. temperatures again high 20s to the low 30s, the heat wave continues. but it's starting to get a bit hotter again in
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northern ireland and also into parts of scotland. and that warming trend across these northern areas will continue into the middle part of the week again. so, plenty of sunshine around, one or two afternoon storms just about possible. most of you, though, will have another dry day on wednesday. and those temperatures, high 20s to low 30s, cardiff this time seeing some of the hotter weather. 26 in belfast, and 27 there in glasgow. as i say, this weather pattern�*s not going to change very quickly, but eventually low pressure will likely move in to bring some thundery rain. but there's a lot of uncertainty when exactly those cooler conditions will arrive.
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welcome to bbc news. our top stories: athletes continue to arrive in tokyo ahead of this weeks 0lympics. more test positive for covid. as further flooding hits western europe, german chancellor angela merkel expresses horror at the devastation. a major media investigation reports the targeting of human rights activists, journalists and lawyers by authoritarian governments using spyware. and as covid restrictions are lifted across england, there are warnings it could be too much too soon.

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