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PURPOSE OF THE REPORT The purpose of this report is to support a previous member of the Glynneath News and Views Private Group, a young vulnerable mother, who was removed and banned from the Glynneath News and Views Facebook group by the former admin Stephen Karl Hunt without just reason while he was the Neath Port Talbot Council Leader. He did this during the period when the group was archived for 8 months when no activity was allowed on group, he un-archived the group, then re-archived it. It was therefore, impossible for the member to make an action that broke the rules of the group. The reason therefore for the removal and banning of the member must be related to the political or personal life of Stephen Karl Hunt and as a public official who uses 'social media' extensively. As the Safeguarding Officer for the group I have concerns about the welfare of our former member and the potential for other inappropriate actions by the Council Leader. All public-office holders are required to abide by the ‘Nolan Principles’ also known as ‘the Seven Principles of Public Life’ and I provide this information to South Wales Police, Wales Audit Office, Neath Port Talbot Council, Glynneath Town Council in line with Stephen Karl Hunt's role as a public official and the Nolan Principles 1 and 4. Having looked in depth into the additional information posted on-line by the removed member I believe there may be potentially Statutory Offences relating directly to Sexual Grooming which are found in sections 15 and s15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. (Section 15A was inserted by s67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 which came into force on 3 April 2017.) The remainder of this report is extensive with illustrations so I have uploaded it to an unlinked page for easy access to this information to the pre-mentioned organisations. Information is only redacted to prevent public access. I will be happy to provide further details on request. http://www.walk-around-wales.com/SKHU-statement3.htm
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/15A Nolan Principle 1. Selflessness
- Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the
public interest. Previously I have reported Stephen Karl Hunt to South Wales Police and information that could save lives has been withheld by Inspector Sweeney of Neath Port Talbot police. Following on from this I have agreed protocol for reporting Corporate Manslaughter and Child Abuse to DS Peach who refuses to complete the agreed protocol steps. Further investigation into the information surrounding the action of Stephen Karl Hunt has shown that potentially the action is covering up offences that are governed by UK laws. Statutory offences relating directly to Sexual Grooming may have been committed against the young mother while she was 13 years old. The action of removing this young mother from our group taken by Stephen Karl Hunt who was at the time, and still is the Council Leader, I believe to be unethical, inappropriate and may relate to potential unlawful activity. At the time of this incident, Stephen Karl Hunt was the NPTCBC leader and as such he has a duty of care to all the people of Neath Port Talbot, including the young mother he removed from the group. INTRODUCTION My name is David Richards and I am a company director, a former world champion athlete and international sportsman. I am well known in the County Borough of Neath Port Talbot as a business owner (Rugby Relics Ltd), sportsman, sports coach and administrator and part-time actor. I spent 10 years in the UK Armed Forces and am the author of the book "Understanding the Origin and Evolution of Sport". I am the father of 4 children and grandfather to four. Presently, I am the Reform UK Prospective Parliamentary candidate and spokesperson for the Neath and Swansea East Constituency, although in this instance I do not represent Reform UK. (this communication is made in my role as the Safeguarding Officer of Glynneath News and Views Facebook Group.) I do voluntary work in the community supporting vulnerable residents at risk from toxic waste poisoning. I am chairman of the political group Glynneath Residents Against Contamination and I am supported in this role by residents, academics, former public officials and industry specialists. Another of my roles is at act as an 'admin' on the Facebook Group: Glynneath News and Views, a role I took over on 4 February 2023. The group currently has close to 4,000 members and it is the largest group of its type within the Glynneath area. As well as being an admin on the site, I am also the 'Safeguarding Officer' for the group. It is in the role as the 'Safeguarding Officer' on the Facebook page Glynneath News and Views that I make this statement in relation to what I believe may be potentially criminal offences by a serving public official covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and also the offence 'Misconduct in Public Office'. STATEMENT I swear on oath that the information I present in this statement is factual and not fictional. Images may have been enhanced to make them more presentable and names where appropriate have been redacted. However, the actual relevant information within the images has not been altered or changed in any way shape or form. I am prepared to appear in a UK court of law to testify that the information I record in this document is factual correct and truthful. CHILD ABUSE IN GLYNNEATH Soon after I took on the role of main admin at the Facebook Group Glynneath News and Views, a suspected paedophile was arrested in Glynneath. It was noted that the suspected paedophile was also a member of the Facebook group Glynneath Chat, which is similar to ours. This raised concerns amongst myself and other admins. We decided as a group that I should undertake an audit of the activity and membership of our group with a view to safeguarding our Facebook community. GROUP HISTORY The group Glynneath News and Views was created by a local sports coach on 5 January 2017 and Stephen Karl Hunt was made an admin on 4 February 2017 by the group founder. GROUP ACTIVITY INVESTIGATION On checking the Group Activity Log, I immediately became aware of suspicious activity by the current Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Leader, Stephen Karl Hunt. The Group Activity Log lists the actions of the admins from the beginning of the group to present day. At the end of June 2022, the group founder archived the site, and while the group lay dormant, the public were unable to interact with the site. On the 18 August 2022 at 22.53, Stephen Karl Hunt, un-archived the site with the sole reason to remove and ban a young mother from the group. He then re-archived the group. This was the only activity on the group between June 2022 and February 2023 as can be seen in the image below.
From the perspective of group activity, there can be no
valid reason relating to the group activity why Stephen Karl Hunt would
do this because group activity was not allowed at the time.
Therefore the reason for the girl's exclusion must be
external and unrelated to our Facebook group, Glynneath News and
Views. The activity was therefore against group ethics and
generally that of social media. Stephen Karl Hunt is the Council
Leader and almost all of his Facebook activity can be regarded
as of a political nature. This action I would therefore suggest
breaks all seven of the Nolan Principles which all government
officials should abide by: To date I have completed a partial, not exhaustive audit of the group activity log and so potentially there may be more revelations to follow. This was not the only inappropriate action by Stephen Karl Hunt that I found. Several other purposeful actions by the current Council Leader lead me to question his ethics as a self defined 'People's Councillor' and are contrary to the Nolan Principles which public officials should follow. These include the removal and banning of his fellow NPTC councillors from the group. and declining the membership of Neath Port Talbot Council. Stephen Karl Hunt used the following Facebook account on Glynneath News and Views to make actions in his role as a councillor. We can see from the title that he refers to himself as "People's Councillor"
My first contact with Stephen Karl Hunt was when he sent me a friend request soon after I joined Glynneath News and Views in April 2020. I had no contact with him previous to this and I had to undertake research to find out who he was.
Then on 19 October 2020 Councillor Stephen Karl Hunt removed a post and banned me from Glynneath News and Views after I posted information relating to a document that identified planning department malpractice at NPTCBC. At the time Stephen Karl Hunt was a member of the planning committee and had received the document in relation to this role. My removal from the group and subsequent banning was clearly a political move by Stephen Karl Hunt to cover up council corruption. The majority of his posts were shared from government sources. He has clearly used Facebook as a platform and a tool to further his political career and still does to this day.
It should be noted here that Stephen Karl Hunt is not from Glynneath, he is from Seven Sisters which is approximately 7 miles away, he runs a similar group there . He also runs several other Facebook Groups including Neath Constituency Voice for Everyone. A group which at one time had 5 admins, all of whom are Stephen Karl Hunt in one form or another. Other inappropriate actions in the Glynneath News and Views Group include Stephen Karl Hunt declining the Neath Port Talbot Council press office twice on the 13 & 19 August, thereby disallowing information posts about funding opportunities and Covid pandemic information to Glynneath residents. In August 2021 alone, a total of £475,000 of grants were advertised by the Neath Port Talbot Council press office which were blocked from appearing on the Glynneath News & Views facebook page during this month by Stephen Karl Hunt.
INVESTIGATION INTO THE REMOVAL OF A YOUNG MOTHER FROM GLYNNEATH NEWS AND VIEWS I investigated further the information surrounding this action, extending the investigation to the information made public on Facebook by the young mother. We see from a statement made by the young mother a couple of weeks later after her removal (18 August) on 9 September 2022 that she is holding the 'darkest secret about someone which could ruin their whole life' which is 'a massive weight on her shoulders and which still weighs her down to this day'. This is a vulnerable young mother who is clearly suffering from anxiety, other posts on her timeline show her to be under a huge amount of stress during this period of her life. If we refer to the statement "It is a massive weight on my shoulders which still weighs me down and still to do this day it drags me down" it gives some idea of the mental turmoil caused by a particular unnamed person. Facebook post 9 September 2022. - "After the absolute shit you have said about me and the lies you have spread and what you have put me through over the last 7 years I still hold that darkest secret about you which could ruin your whole life yet I still keep my mouth shut only a matter of time before you push me so far and it will all come out. It is a massive weight on my shoulders which still weighs me down and still to do this day it drags me down but not anymore." If we refer to the information in this post, at the time of writing, the girl is 20 years old and she has been in a relationship with someone for 7 years and she "still hold's a dark secret about a person that could ruin their whole life", this would make her 13 at the beginning of the relationship. That 'dark secret' could potentially be 'sexual grooming'.
If we refer again to the group activity in the Glynneath News and Views Facebook group, it is impossible for the young mother to have made an action within the group because the group has been archived and the public are unable to post or comment on anything in the group, even historical posts that predate the archiving. Therefore the reason behind Stephen Karl Hunt's action of removing the girl from the group must be external and not related to the group. This action must be considered to be inappropriate and unethical. The purpose must be to prevent the girl from adding information to the site. From information contained on the girl's timeline and in particular relating to her child, we believe that the reason Stephen Karl Hunt has removed the young mother from Glynneath News and Views is to potentially protect someone who has groomed the girl as a child from the age of 13. The grooming of a 13 year old child is a criminal offence covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Statutory Offences relating directly to Sexual Grooming are found in sections 15 and s15A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Section 15A was inserted by s67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 which came into force on 3 April 2017. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/15A
FURTHER INFORMATION - RELEVANT BUT NOT LINKED It is a general opinion of several members of
the public that I have spoken to that Stephen Karl Hunt should
be investigated in relation to his on-line and physical
activities. I was
directed by one serving councillor who had made cursory investigations into his activities,
to his Twitter account and I must state at this point that I am
not familiar with the workings of Twitter. However I was told to
look for young Thai and Filipino girls, I found what I have
assumed as four young girls that he was following without making
an exhaustive search of his account. There were additional links
to pages within each account that I was not prepared to follow.
Another public official identified that he had been involved in
a pornography scandal a number of years back.
Thumbnails of pages Whilst not linked I believe this information to be relevant, particularly as he runs a FB account "Engaging with the Youth of Neath Port Talbot" which he manages on his own.
CONCLUSION - The Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council Leader, Stephen Karl Hunt can be seen to have made several inappropriate actions in relation to his role as an admin on the Glynneath News and Views Facebook Group. One of those inappropriate actions, targets a group member and can only have been made as a cover up or to prevent information being made public. This action made by Stephen Karl Hunt whilst he is the Council Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council is against a vulnerable young mother of a child aged 3. From information the girl has posted on her facebook page, it looks to that she may have been groomed by a sexual predator from the age of 13. We see from Stephen Karl Hunt's Twitter account that he possibly has a liking for young girls and we see that he has the sole propriety rights over a council information page that deals mainly with teenagers. I believe there to be sufficient evidence in this statement for a full scale investigation to be made into the private activities and the on-line social media accounts run by Stephen Karl Hunt. ******* In view of the failure of South Wales Police to investigate my previous reports of Manslaughter and child abuse I reserve the right to make this information public to support those in my community at risk of toxic poisoning and the children of Glynneath at risk of abuse. In the words of the former Glynneath Town Clerk and Councillor whom DS Peach refused to investigate.
"At no point did I say there were no pedophiles in Glynneath" "I know as do many others that there are other sex offenders in Glynneath" |
