Ok Detectives, this my analysis of the EVIDENCE sent to me from what I was sent from 3 explorers: @urbexwithlucy, @fabuloush0rror, @lost.ireland (+ another was vocal but sent no evidence @retrospective.memory) I can see few things here [those all are The Gram tags]:
1) the most damming is selling stuff from
abandoned locations on ebay - a) framed butterflies, peacock bird figure, some pen box, lady figurine, table lighter, microscope and... boiler. Looking at this stuff and the amount of screenshots provided it's hard to argue and quite frankly that would be enough for me to remove the episode - just need him to comment on it before I make any decision.
2)
lying about being a doctor - I saw a post on
Irish Post saying "
British doctor traces family of Irish birth father who died before they had a chance to meet" article. Ben says he studied medicine and "
I just do pharmaceutical now" he said to me and I'm not satisfied with his answer, it's not definite. Why can't you just say it normally. Are you a doctor or not. On the other hand... ok he is not a doctor? I'm also not a doctor
Who cares? He was lying about being a doctor when he message some girls... okey. Isn't that his personal life? I don't get it. There are, however some very serious accusations from @lost.ireland about Ben using his doctor status to obtain pictures of girls and disabled girls? I would welcome some evidence of this because that is super serious accusation. Otherwise, effectively it is slander. One other "evidence" is a whatsup message where Ben says to @urbexwithlucy "hi Miss Lucy this is your favourite doctor speaking [...]" - I mean, make he is making himself look more important by saying 'doctor', maybe there is a narcissistic personality in play idk, but how is this relevant to urbex? This is a dude who is trying to get into her pants. Who cares? Shouldn't this be between them? Why was this sent to me? LOL Later on, in the same voice-msg conversation he is trying to invite her for Starbucks (successfully - I assume as he mentioned Monday for a meetup). I was only provided with his responses so it's impossible to say if it's this is unwanted or not. But again - shouldn't this be private between them?
3)
grooming children - have not seen any single evidence of that. The only thing I saw was conversation where Ben sent a pic of a girl sitting on stuffed shark @littleangellmarr (19 year old who posts pics of herself with legs spread showing her underwear) and Ben's question of "
Would you" - now I don't want to express my opinions on this because it's none of my business. How is this relevant to urbex? Legal age is UK is 18. Age of consent in England and Wales is 16. Do you think it's creepy? Sure, many would. Is it urbex? Nope.
4)
YouTube video called '
Ben James Stevens aka places forgotten is a vandal and lies and takes pictures of underage girls' - is not on internet anymore
5)
messaging girls - ok so I saw screenshot of conversation with Ben and some girl (her name was redacted). Starts by the girl messaging Ben first: "
Hey, the places you find are amazing! Would you mind if I ask how you find these places?". So next Ben says that is a lot of work and research and suggests that "
maybe they can work something out", she says "
depends what you want" he replies "
how about a pic of you" then SHE SENDS HIM.... is it a nude? She sends him a picture. I can't tell as the pic has been drawn over with a pink ink, you can't see shit. They both use X at the end of each sentence which annoys me to an extend but whatever xxx. At the end I see this as two playful adults where one is willing to send pics of herself for spots. Everyone is trading, current explorers should be called traders. Jesus. Anyway, that is not cool.
6)
lying about having gf - from a screenshot I saw he says to the girl (the one from point 5 ) that he had been been single for 4 years. According to plymouthherald.co.uk I saw a screenshot of an article that says "
Urban explorer and thrill-seeker Ben [redacted] and girlfriend Emma trespassed on the grounds, and soon afterwards the building itself". In other instance he tells that a girl called Emma is his cousin. I haven't asked Ben about this because it never occured to me that in the urbex discussion I would have to.... So... personal life? Is he a cheater? Who cares? How is this urbex?
7) voice messages on whatsup app - I was given a selection of videos playing the voice messages between him and @urbexwithlucy- and again, this is like... [facepalm] why do I need to listen to Ben trying to get this girl? He likes (liked) her and wants to meet her. Okey then. How is it urbex?
Overall, I need to talk to Ben about the ebay as this is the only thing that has any substance. There are some serious accusations thrown towards Ben, many many of them from people who never met the guy and majority not substantiated. Any of this "evidence" would be just treated as hearsay. He said that, she said that. I would also say that after one screenshot provided with comment: "
finally some exposure without the police telling us off [...]" you can make a logical leap and say that this evidence was presented to the police and was met with 'bugger off response' as none of this would stand in any court. But I now entered a speculation mode with this last one.
Detective Constable Greg Signing Off
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