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The Queensland government paid child-sex predator Bob Montgomery to help 'protect' children

Bob Montgomery was jailed in 2020 for multiple child sexual assaults.

A celebrity psychologist now in jail for child sex offences was hired by the Queensland Government for years to assess the risk of paedophiles to children in its care.

ABC's Background Briefing has revealed Bob Montgomery was commissioned by Queensland's Department of Child Safety as an expert psychologist more than 20 times before he was jailed last year for raping boys in the 1960s.

A former child protection worker said case managers did not want to use Montgomery because "his reports always returned a 'low risk' to children", but he was one of the few experts in the field.

Documents obtained by the ABC under Right to Information laws show the one-time Big Brother psychologist charged up to $5,000 a report, receiving almost $70,000 from the department between 2009 and 2016.

Max*, who was raped by Montgomery at the age of 13, said it was "a hell of a lot of money paid by the government to this fellow who was actually living an incredible lie and deceiving everyone".

'Max' was raped by convicted sex predator Bob Montgomery at the age of 13.

An improbable rise

A Background Briefing investigation has traced Montgomery's improbable rise from undetected serial predator and psychiatric patient to one of Australia's most influential psychologists and a go-to expert for authorities on sex offenders.

"I'm perplexed as to how he, with any degree of conscience, could navigate his way through that career and deceive so many people along the way," Max said.

"It's absurd that someone should even contemplate doing that and thinking they could get away with it."

Background Briefing has also found Montgomery was recruited to head up Bond University's psychology department in 1994 by another high-profile academic who was later jailed for child sex offences, the criminologist Paul Wilson.

Montgomery was also president of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and a Family Court-appointed expert in custody disputes involving child sex abuse claims.

A prolific media commentator who once boasted to a newspaper "my IQ is actually beyond measure", Montgomery appeared on TV shows including Big Brother, the Biggest Loser, the 7.30 Report and the Don Lane Show.

He is also the brother of James Alwyn Montgomery, a fraudster, bigamist and military impostor. By examining James' history, a psychiatrist in the US found him to have strong psychopathic traits.

Psychiatrist Warwick Middleton, one of the world's leading experts on trauma who has treated victims of high-profile Australian abusers, told Background Briefing that Bob Montgomery could also be a psychopath.

"Everything that is on the public record is not inconsistent with somebody who has significant psychopathy and who seemingly is fairly narcissistic," Dr Middleton said.

"He seems to take an inordinate sort of pleasure in his achievements and prominence."

Dr Warwick Middleton said Bob Montgomery could be a psychopath. (ABC News: Tracey Shelton)

Reports 'always returned a low risk'

Montgomery was used as a report writer and expert witness by child protection workers in Brisbane, Logan, the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Toowoomba.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one former child protection worker said that she was "shocked" to learn of Montgomery's historical child sex offences, but at the same time she was also "not surprised".

"Because his reports always returned a 'low risk' to children, it became questionable," she said.

"We just didn't want to use him. But he was the only one that we knew of that completed risk assessments on offenders that had been convicted of crimes against children.

"Sometimes, the feedback from team leaders was, 'That's all we've got to use', or 'Don't even bother with that family because it's going to come back low risk anyway'."

While his reports "didn't change the outcome in court … it made our job harder" when pressing for conditions around offenders' contact with children, she said.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs said Montgomery was used as a report writer "prior to the establishment" of its in-house legal unit.

"In making its decisions on child protection cases, the department relies on a range of evidence – Mr Montgomery's reports were but one piece of the evidence considered," the spokeswoman said.

Justin Dowd, a former New South Wales Law Society president and one of Australia's most experienced family lawyers, said "the fact [Montgomery] was involved in so many cases specifically involving care of children is enormously disturbing".

He said Montgomery was given "special recognition as somebody who can make recommendations to the court about what's in the best interests of children".

"It is a role that courts rely on heavily, so to have somebody in that position who has their own secret agenda is very disturbing indeed."

'I felt I had to be compliant'

Max was sexually assaulted by Montgomery, then his 22-year-old Sydney Catholic school teacher, while on a camping trip in 1966.

He said it took half a century before he learned there were other victims.

He told no one about the abuse at the time.

"It was painful, uncomfortable. I felt I had to just do what he said because he was my adult friend, an authority figure. I felt I had to be compliant and didn't know any better," Max said.

Three years earlier, Montgomery raped another 13-year-old boy in his care as a Scouts leader, but this also went unreported to police.

But Scouts NSW terminated Montgomery's membership in June 1965 after concerns were raised by parents about his behaviour with other children.

Scouts NSW said in a 2019 statement it cooperated with the recent investigation over several years and gave police as much information as possible.

After he was kicked out of Scouts in June 1965, Montgomery entered a Sydney psychiatric facility for treatment.

Months later, with nothing on his record to show what he'd done, he landed a job at Max's school.

Max said Montgomery's grooming of him included showing him a research lab with caged mice at the University of Sydney where Montgomery was studying psychology.

Max said years later others discouraged him from pursuing charges against Montgomery "due to the fact that it will be just too hard, he's too powerful, he's got too many rich or powerful or influential friends and I'd be outgunned".

'Max', at about 13 years of age. He says it's absurd Montgomery was able to get away with his deception. (Supplied)

But in 2016 he gave evidence to the Royal Commission into child sex abuse, which led to a phone call from a NSW detective.

When he learned during the police investigation that there was another man alleging rape by Montgomery, Max said his shock gave way to "relief — they can't not believe me".

"There were other victims out there but just a few that were prepared to stand up [in court]," he said.

Montgomery denied the offences when he was arrested in 2019.

But last year he pleaded guilty to eight charges involving four victims, including two counts of buggery – the only charge applicable at the time – and five counts of indecent assault.

'The perfect con'

On December 7, 2020, Montgomery was sentenced to four years' jail in the NSW District Court.

Police braced for more victims in the wake of publicity around the court case but none have come forward.

Montgomery's wife Laurel Morris said he had confessed to the family about his offending before his arrest but "spent his whole life trying to make good".

She said it wasn't fair to suggest "somebody who's done something wrong when they were young, that they've never changed". She added she didn't believe it would make somebody's work biased.

A psychological report commissioned by Montgomery's lawyers said there was no evidence of psychopathy and that Montgomery was remorseful.

Dr Middleton said a diagnosis for psychopathy — a partly-genetic form of anti-social behaviour which "in simple terms [means] a person who has no conscience" — would require a proper, lengthy assessment. 

But the facts of Montgomery's offending against his extensive public "pronouncements" suggested someone who could be a psychopath, he said.

"Not a lot of humility coming across is what I'm picking up … Bob Montgomery's life was just one giant lie," he said.

Dr Middleton said Montgomery's professional status was "the perfect con".

"When you're overly sympathetic to sex offenders under the guise of being an expert, you're also rationalising your own behaviour," he said.

Dr Middleton said it was unusual for an offender with multiple victims like Montgomery to "suddenly shut down [after] moving up to severe trauma, anal rape and things of that nature by the time he was in his early 20s".

He said he thought the coincidence of Montgomery working alongside Wilson was "a bit incredible".

"One of the things I've noticed over the years is the propensity for child sex offenders to find other child sex offenders. It's almost like they have greeting cards somehow," he said.

A Bond University spokesman said: "While Bob Montgomery left the university two decades ago, we are deeply disturbed and concerned that a man who operated under the pretence of being a person entrusted to help survivors, had actually been a perpetrator of serious crimes.

"We extend our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies to the survivors."

The Australian Psychological Society declined an interview request with the ABC. 

*Name has been changed

Source : https://amp.abc.net.au/article/100272888

'We can't prove sex with children does them harm' says Labour-linked NCCL

Type of protection : Granting release
Cardinal Pell verdict splashed across major Australian newspapersEVIDENCE has emerged that the views of the Paedophile Information Exchange influenced policy-making at the National Council for Civil Liberties when it was run by former Labour Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Harriet Harman slams "smear campaign" against her in PIE case

PIE members were lobbying NCCL officials for the age of consent to be reduced and campaigning for “paedophile love”.

Their view that children were not harmed by having sex with adults appears to have been adopted by those at the top of the civil liberties group.

Today we publish extracts from an NCCL report written for the Criminal Law Revision Committee in 1976 when Mrs Hewitt was general secretary.

Paedophile politicians - the ones that got away

Type of protection : Granting release

Sympathetic support for lowering the age of consent, child porn, pederasty and even an established Westminster paedophile ring have been covered up in the corridors of power, writes STEVEN WALKER

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is progressing slowly but revealing details not widely known, such as the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) being funded for three years in the 1970s by the Home Office. At the time, the PIE was campaigning to legalise sex with children under 16 and was supported by the National Council for Civil Liberties, then led by Blairite stalwarts Patricia Hewitt and Harriet Harman.

The inquiry was ordered by Theresa May when she was home secretary, started in 2014 and now focuses on Westminster and allegations against MPs. It had its origins in the revelations that emerged after Jimmy Savile’s death. Many of his victims were disabled or dying in specialist hospitals such as Stoke Mandeville, and Leeds General Infirmary. The subsequent report showed 214 criminal offences, including 34 rapes, recorded against Savile’s name across Britain between 1955 and 2009.

Paedophiles in Parliament: Get ready for a whitewash

Type of protection : Granting release

The inquiry into paedophile allegations in Parliament has been designed to hide the truth, says STEVEN WALKER

Theresa May’s predictable grandstanding announcement last week of an inquiry into historic allegations of a paedophile ring operating within Parliament was a classic Establishment dodge.

It was a case study in media management as will be her appearance before the Home Affairs select committee today (Monday 14 July).

Perhaps there is some irony in that July 14 is Bastille Day, celebrated in republican France as the beginning of the end of absolute monarchy and preceding the publication of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen which enshrined the concept of free individuals protected equally by law.

Not exactly what we see being carried out in relation to the legal investigations into the vile abuse of children by MPs.

Lord Steel's title should be removed, lawyer to Cyril Smith's victims tells LBC

Editors notes: Lord Steel recommended Cyril Smith for a knighthood - which he got and took to the grave.
Abusers job or title:: Lord Steel
Type of protection : Granting release

A handful of prominent MPs including Liberal leader Cyril Smith and Conservative Peter Morrison were "known to be active in their sexual interest in children" but avoided prosecution.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Steel resigned yesterday from the party and the Lords after the inquiry revealed he failed to pass on allegations against the late MP Cyril Smith. Despite Lord Steel believing claims against Smith to be true, he "abdicated responsibility" because it was past history, according to the dossier.

He later recommended Smith for a knighthood.

Nick asked lawyer to Cyril Smith's victims, Professor Laura Hoyano, whether anyone who looked the other way "should be stripped of any title or honour they have."

"If the evidence is sufficient to warrant the honours committee and the forfeiture committee to look at it, I would say yes," she replied, and added that at present it is not possible to posthumously strip someone of their title but believes this policy should be changed forthwith.

Cyril Smith (left) with Lord Steel who failed to report allegations, according to the report
Cyril Smith (left) with Lord Steel who failed to report allegations, according to the report. Picture: PA

Nick Ferrari questioned the point of the inquiry as offenders including Smith and Morrison are deceased so obviously cannot be prosecuted; Ms Hoyano responded that the report has exposed police misconduct.

The report found "that the police had been forced by senior officers to stop investigations of Cyril Smith in 1977-8 that indicated that he was exploiting children sexually whilst he was a member of parliament," she said.

Abuser Name or Alias:: Lord Steel
Abusers Organisation:: UK Goverment

Police and politicians ‘turned blind eye’ to Westminster child abuse claims

Type of protection : Granting release

Inquiry into child sexual abuse also criticises prosecutors but rejects claims of ‘organised paedophile network’

Online safety advocate jailed for child sex offences

Editors notes: To be released in 2020
Type of protection : Granting release
A South Australian online safety advocate, who groomed boys for sex, has been jailed for two-and-half years.
William Russell, 25, contacted his victims through messaging apps, encouraging them to send nude photos and share graphic videos.
The former Young South Australian of the Year finalist – nominated for his work with at-risk youth – also tried to lure a 15-year-old boy to a Blakeview park, in Adelaide's north.
Police were alerted to Russell's crimes when he spoke publicly about contacting teenagers online in 2017.
Officers then raided his home where they seized more than 50 child exploitation images.
Chief Judge Michael Evans told the predator his intellectual disability was no excuse, and jail was the only option.
"I accept that you are ashamed and embarrassed about your offending ... that you will find imprisonment very difficult," he said.
Abuser Name or Alias:: William Russell, 25
Abusers Organisation:: Former Young South Australian of the Year
Matter Resolved?: Ongoing

CA Democrats author bill to protect sex offenders who lure minors

Type of protection : Granting release

No sex offender registry if perpetrator within 10 years of age of the minorSenator Wiener with fellow LGBT Legislative Caucus members Susan Eggman, Todd Gloria, Toni Atkins, Ricardo Lara, Cathleen Galgiani, Evan Low, and Sabrina Cervantes. (Sen. Wiener photo gallery)

By , February 19, 2019 3:03 pm

State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Assemblywoman Susan Eggman (D-Stockton) introduced recent legislation “to end blatant discrimination against LGBT young people regarding California’s sex offender registry.”

However, under their bill, SB 145, the offenders would not have to automatically register as sex offenders if the offenders are within 10 years of age of the minor.

State Senator Scott Wiener. (Kevin Sanders For California Globe)

Wiener claims the current law “disproportionately targets LGBT young people for mandatory sex offender registration, since LGBT people usually cannot engage in vaginal intercourse.”

Existing law, the Sex Offender Registration Act, amended by Proposition 35 by voters in 2012 (Ban on Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery), requires a person convicted of a certain sex crime to register with law enforcement as a sex offender while residing in California or while attending school or working in California.

Wiener says, “Currently, for consensual yet illegal sexual relations between a teenager age 15 and over and a partner within 10 years of age, ‘sexual intercourse’ (i.e., vaginal intercourse) does not require the offender to go onto the sex offender registry; rather, the judge decides based on the facts of the case whether sex offender registration is warranted or unwarranted. By contrast, for other forms of intercourse — specifically, oral and anal intercourse — sex offender registration is mandated under all situations, with no judicial discretion.”

“This bill would authorize a person convicted of certain offenses involving minors to seek discretionary relief from the duty to register if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor,” SB 145 states.

Proposition 35 was created and passed to protect children from sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. Victims of sex trafficking are often vulnerable children, “afraid for their lives and abused—sexually, physically, and mentally,” the Proposition said.

What Does SB 145 Also Do?

Legislators Wiener and Eggman say they are trying to shield LGBT young people from having to automatically register as sex offenders for specified sex crimes. But their bill does much more.

Assemblywoman Susan Eggman

SB 145 would allow a sex offender who lures a minor with the intent to commit a felony (i.e. a sex act) the ability to escape registering as a sex offender as long as the offender is within 10 years of age of the minor.  No specification is made as to whether the sexual offender is straight or LGBT.

SB 145 would add a section to the state’s penal code (Section 290.55) stipulating that as long as the offender is “not more than 10 years older than the minor,” they are not automatically mandated to register as a sex offender. There is no age limit or range specified, except for existing law which already excludes lewd acts with children under 14.

SB 145 appears to allow adults to victimize minors by luring them with the intent to have sex, and then shields the predator from being automatically registered as a sex offender, as in the case of a 25 year old luring a 15 year old for sex, or a 22 year old luring a 12 year old.

SB 145, as currently written, appears to allow certain sexual predators to live among the population without anyone being aware.

Why is this bill needed?

Here is the text from SB 145:

This bill would authorize a person convicted of certain offenses involving minors to seek discretionary relief from the duty to register if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor.

Digest Key – Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Section 290.55 is added to the Penal Code, immediately following Section 290.5, to read:

290.55. (a) A person convicted of an offense specified in subdivision (b) may, by writ of mandate, seek discretionary relief from the duty, imposed as a result of that conviction, to register pursuant to the act if, at the time of the offense, the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor, as measured from the minor’s date of birth to the person’s date of birth.

Here is the current California Penal Code § 288.3 (2017)

(a) Every person who contacts or communicates with a minor, or attempts to contact or communicate with a minor, who knows or reasonably should know that the person is a minor, with intent to commit an offense specified in Section 207, 209, 261, 264.1, 273a, 286, 287, 288, 288.2, 289, 311.1, 311.2, 311.4 or 311.11, or former Section 288a, involving the minor shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for the term prescribed for an attempt to commit the intended offense.

(b) As used in this section, “contacts or communicates with” shall include direct and indirect contact or communication that may be achieved personally or by use of an agent or agency, any print medium, any postal service, a common carrier or communication common carrier, any electronic communications system, or any telecommunications, wire, computer, or radio communications device or system.

(c) A person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) who has previously been convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) shall be punished by an additional and consecutive term of imprisonment in the state prison for five years.

Last week, California Globe reported on another sex crime bill introduced by California Democrats: “legislation to shield a person from the consequences of crimes they commit in California, even violent ones, as long as the person reports the crimes to authorities.The language of the proposed statute appears to immunize a person from ANY crime so long as they are reporting a violation of a sex crime law.”  Sen. Scott Wiener is the author of California Senate Bill 233.

Source : https://californiaglobe.com/legislature/ca-democrats-author-bill-to-protect-sex-offenders-who-lure-minors/?unapproved=8113&moderation-hash=79a5d8207fe6f5a173520d021b8a8390#comment-8113

Victorian police in pedophile rings: victims

Type of protection : Granting release

A highly-organised paedophile ring involving Victorian police and former politicians had been operating in the state since the 1970s, anti-child abuse groups claimed today.

Dr Reina Michaelson of The Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (CSAPP) and Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston today said they had been told by child sex abuse victims that former Victorian elected politicians and police members were involved in child pornography and prostitution.

Dr Michaelson said she was working with child sex abuse victims who said they had witnessed significant police corruption and protection of paedophilia rings.

"I'm working with victims whose experience included police presence, police actually involved in the sexual offences that were committed against them," Dr Michaelson said.

Adam Schiff Associate Arrested By LAPD On Pedophilia Charges

Type of protection : Granting release

Rep. Adam Schiff and Dr. Hensel have been closely linked for years, with the LA Times describing the doctor as a “special guest” at Schiff’s 50th birthday party in 2010. Schiff also handpicked Dr. Hensel to work with him on health care townhalls in California and has been the recipient of big dollar donations from the 71-year-old throughout his political career.

Malcolm Turnbull urged to investigation former prime minister paedophile claims by sex abuse survivors

MALCOLM Turnbull is under pressure from child sex abuse survivors to take seriously Senator’s claim a former prime minister is a suspected paedophile.

PM Malcolm Turnbull is under pressure to take claims a former PM is a paedophile seriously. Source:News Corp Australia

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull is under pressure to launch an investigation into elite paedophile rings in Australia, after allegations surfaced of a former prime minister on a police list of suspected paedophiles.

Child sex abuse survivors advocates have backed calls from Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan to expand the royal commission into child sex abuse.

The calls for an urgent inquiry follow the Senator’s sensational claim yesterday that he has a police list which names 28 prominent people, including a former PM, as suspected paedophiles.

Who is the former Australian Prime Minister and judges who are paedophiles?

Type of protection : Granting release

Senator Bill Heffernan claimed in Parliament on Tuesday (19/10/15) that he has a police list of 28 prominent people that includes a former Prime Minister and current judges that are suspected of being paedophiles. This is dynamite and an issue that will not go away until it is dealt with in full in an open and public manner.

There is enough detail in Senator Heffernan’s allegations to make them very credible. Some of the details are:

  1. The list “formed part of police documents that had been “signed off” by Gary Crooke, QC, the former senior counsel assisting NSW’s Wood royal commission into police corruption in the 1990s. Mr Crooke declined to comment when contacted by Fairfax Media on Tuesday.”
  2. The list includes a former Australian Prime Minister, judges, members of the legal fraternity and others.
  3. “Every Commonwealth attorney-general since Philip Ruddock had seen the list”. This seems to have been confirmed by Philip Ruddock and Former Labor Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
  4. Senator Heffernan “accused former royal commissioner Justice James Roland Wood of refusing to investigate lawyers who had allegedly attended a Kings Cross “boy brothel”. (Click here to read more)
  5. The name of the club was Costellos and was a known “boy brothel” attended by members of the Sydney legal fraternity. (Click here to read more)
  6. Former Royal Commissioner Wood denied the allegations by Senator Heffernan, but not outright. “Mr Wood could not recall if the alleged list had been raised at the 1995 commission but said: “I reject that we failed to investigate anyone that fell within our terms of reference.” That is a very weak denial by Mr Wood and allows him plenty of wriggle room to change his story later down the track if needed.