(Sorta-OT story relating to the Internet and pedophile hysteria:)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1035315/Father-branded-pervert--pho=
tographing-children-public-park.html
Father-of-three branded a 'pervert' - for photographing his own
children in public park
By David Wilkes
Last updated at 1:46 AM on 16th July 2008
When Gary Crutchley started taking pictures of his children playing on
an inflatable slide he thought they would be happy reminders of a
family day out.
But the innocent snaps of seven-year-old Cory, and Miles, five, led to
him being called a =91pervert=92.
The woman running the slide at Wolverhampton Show asked him what he
was doing and other families waiting in the queue demanded that he
stop.
Picture of innocence: The photograph Gary Crutchley took of his sons
Cory and Miles
One even accused him of photographing youngsters to put the pictures
on the internet.
Mr Crutchley, 39, who had taken pictures only of his own children, was
so enraged that he found two policemen who confirmed he had done
nothing wrong.
Yesterday he said: =91What is the world coming to when anybody seen with
a camera is assumed to be doing things that they should not?
=91This parental paranoia is getting completely out of hand. I was so
shocked. One of the police officers told me that it was just the way
society is these days. He agreed with me that it was madness.=92
Father-of-three Mr Crutchley, a consultant for a rubber manufacturer
from Walsall, West Midlands, was with his wife Tracey and their sons
when the pleasant Sunday afternoon out turned sour.
He said: =91The children wanted to go on an inflatable slide and I
started taking photos of them having a good time. Moments later the
woman running the slide told me to stop.
=91When I asked why, she told me I could not take pictures of other
people=92s children. I explained I was only interested in taking photos
of my own children and pointed out that this was taking place in a
public park.
=91I showed her the photos I had taken to prove my point. Then another
woman joined in and said her child was also on the slide and did not
want me taking pictures of the youngster.
Gary and Tracey Crutchley with Cory, left, and Miles
=91I repeated that the only people being photographed were my own
children. She said I could be taking pictures of just any child to put
on the internet and called me a pervert. We immediately left the
show.=92
Mrs Crutchley, 37, a teaching sup****t assistant and qualified nursery
nurse, said: =91I was shocked by the reaction of those women.
'It is very sad when every man with a camera enjoying a Sunday
afternoon out in the park with his children is automatically assumed
to be a pervert.=92
The slide was run by Tracey Dukes, 35, whose father Malcolm Gwinnett
has an inflatables hire company.
Mr Gwinnett, 58, a LibDem councillor in Wolverhampton, said: =91Our
policy is to ask people taking photos whether they have children on
the slide. If they do, then that is fine.
=91But on this occasion another customer took exception to what the man
was doing and an argument developed between those two people that
continued without any further involvement from staff on the slide.=92
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