Council of Christians and Jews @CCJUK issues clarification of findings by Surrey Police

FURTHER TO MY POST ON FRIDAY, in which I called upon CCJ to acknowledge the findings of the Crown Prosecution Service in response to their allegations against Stephen Sizer, I was delighted to discover this afternoon that they have in fact done so, along with a scanned copy of the letter they received from the investigating officer:

CCJ: Clarification From Surrey Police

Clarification From Surrey Police

Over the past weeks we have been aware of social media conversations regarding the Revd Stephen Sizer and link that he made to a disturbing website from his Facebook page. We received a serious complaint about this matter and informed Mr Sizer’s Bishop of our concern.

We sought the advice of the Surrey Police to ascertain the nature and the content of the website to which Mr Sizer provided a link. We have noted the CPS response and are now grateful for the clarity which they have offered. See below

We also acknowledge Mr Sizer’s recollections of the sequence of conversations around the removal of the link, which would seem to be at variance with our own understanding.

I’m guessing that the “social media conversations” they “have been aware of” included my comments on their facebook page and on twitter, to which they never responded directly. Had they done so, of course, then my post on Friday would have been somewhat different; I therefore salute them as they attempt to get to grips with social media but offer this simple observation: conversation involves engaging with another party, not ignoring them and then issuing statements as from above. When you are one of the parties involved, it is not sufficient to “be aware” of a conversation: you need to take part in it. Then, hopefully, there can be some constructive dialogue…

Nonetheless, the statement has been issued and I thank them for it. It is less than the apology to Stephen that I would like to have seen but it does, hopefully, now draw a line under the matter.