You think you know someone, but actually you dont

[Rick_Muller]

I went to school with this bloke, "known" him for years. When my life fell apart over 10 years ago, he was one of a small group of friends back home in Swindon that helped me get back on my feet and feel better about myself. It wasn't a regular catch up, just a few beers on the odd occasion etc. We even socialised on a stag do for a mutual friend AFTER his initial arrest and none of us knew what was going on.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/new ... NH8Oquv05Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You think you know someone, but sometimes something like this completely destroys that viewpoint. I feel I know many of the forum posters on here quite well even though I've never met most of you.

Anyway, not sure why I'm posting this to be honest, it has come as quite a shock I suppose and it makes me think how well I actually know people. I do know of people in my past that I wouldn't p!ss on if they were on fire and they used to be close friends but their actions towards me changed that, but it wasn't anything illegal (immoral perhaps, but not illegal).

[TheFamilyCat]

Not sure why I'm curious to know particularly, but why did he have teenage girls staying in his house? I assumed friends of his daughter when I started reading it but there was no mention how they came to be there.

[Rick_Muller]

I've got no idea why, he lived with his wife and they had no kids.

[martin_p]

A bloke I managed at work who I knew for a few years and seemed perfectly normal was given a life sentence for murdering his wife a few weeks ago. I’d never claim we were friends, but we saw each other everyday, talked about everyday things and socialised at work dos. You just never can tell!

[Blackrod]

I used to work with a guy in a team who seemed a decent bloke. He had a nice girlfriend, a good job and went on work nights out. It turns out he is a convicted Paedo. I was gobsmacked and repulsed as were others that ‘knew’ him.

[NottsClaret]

Imagine how Andrew Windsor felt when it turned out his best mate Epstein was a massive nonce.

[Jakubclaret]

People change, you can never underestimate the value & importance of meeting somebody face to face to be 100% at that current time, even then maybe a few years even months down the line that person could change & your opinion will differ from the first initial interaction.

[Eyres_11]

A bloke I managed at work who I knew for a few years and seemed perfectly normal was given a life sentence for murdering his wife a few weeks ago. I’d never claim we were friends, but we saw each other everyday, talked about everyday things and socialised at work dos. You just never can tell!

Was that the Warrington chap? Friend of mine worked with him as well....

[Tricky Trevor]

Friend is over-used. Most are just aquaintances.
A friend is a bloke when you tell him you’ve murdered your wife says, “where are the shovels”.
I prefer family although I do know many blokes who have great friendships. On the other hand I know blokes who think they are friends and if one of them got a sniff he’d be inside the others Mrs in a heartbeat.

[Lancasterclaret]

Friend is over-used. Most are just aquaintances.
A friend is a bloke when you tell him you’ve murdered your wife says, “where are the shovels”.
.

!!!!!!!

[Winstonswhite]

Flipping heck Trev, have you got something to tell us? Come on we’re all friends here.....

[martin_p]

Was that the Warrington chap? Friend of mine worked with him as well....

Yes it was. Not at Barclays where he was when the murder happened but a previous employment.

[Rick_Muller]

Imagine how Andrew Windsor felt when it turned out his best mate Epstein was a massive nonce.

that made me chuckle a little

[Eyres_11]

Yes it was. Not at Barclays where he was when the murder happened but a previous employment.

Yeah , this wasn't barclays either.

Nice chap apparently, I followed the case - even his daughter didn't like her mother and the bloke finally snapped!

[Funkydrummer]

I notice he needs a walking stick (sp) !!!

[houseboy]

What I do find strange is that I have, despite being a reasonably law abiding citizen, been friends in the past with quite a few criminals, including one that got jailed for armed robbery many years ago (after spending half his adult life in prison for minor offences). I don't know why this has been the case but it has. Having said that most or nearly all of them I got on fine with and again most of them would always help me out if I needed it. The ones who have let me down the most and the ones who I often didn't have time for were the ones who were 'upstanding' members of the public who really just put on a front of respectability but who would stab you in the back given half a chance.

I'm not in any way condoning what some of my past friends did and we often argued about why they chose the life they did, and indeed many became 'normalised' and are now just regular Joes (although 2 or 3 of them are sadly demised). I think we sometimes confuse what people ARE with what they DO and the two things are often not the same. How a person behaves is not the same as what they are inside and as they say we should walk a mile in someone else's shoes before judging them too much.

I don't even bloody know myself.

[wilks_bfc]

Was a shock to see a lad I went to school with on the front page of LET after murdering his girlfriend.

Like most school mates, drifted apart and didn’t see much of him afterwards, and like others said people do change but still a shock

[wilks_bfc]

What I do find strange is that I have, despite being a reasonably law abiding citizen, been friends in the past with quite a few criminals, including one that got jailed for armed robbery many years ago (after spending half his adult life in prison for minor offences). I don't know why this has been the case but it has. Having said that most or nearly all of them I got on fine with and again most of them would always help me out if I needed it. The ones who have let me down the most and the ones who I often didn't have time for were the ones who were 'upstanding' members of the public who really just put on a front of respectability but who would stab you in the back given half a chance.

I'm not in any way condoning what some of my past friends did and we often argued about why they chose the life they did, and indeed many became 'normalised' and are now just regular Joes (although 2 or 3 of them are sadly demised). I think we sometimes confuse what people ARE with what they DO and the two things are often not the same. How a person behaves is not the same as what they are inside and as they say we should walk a mile in someone else's shoes before judging them too much.

I don't even bloody know myself.

Sounds similar to the “group of friends” I had.
Could even be the same group

[Cryssys]

When I was younger most of my friends believed in social justice and equality, that there was a better and a fairer way.

As they got older many became increasingly insular and self centered. They became cynical and said the ideals of their youth were fine but they would never work in practice. They stopped believing, stopped fighting and now they just vote Tory.

I feel like I don't know some of them anymore.

[bfccrazy]

Had one circle of close mates from being 12 til now and we found out that one of the lads in that group (who was in our year group at school and has holidayed and socialised with us over the years) has a suspended sentence when the police found loads of Cat A children’s pictures on his computer. We only found out by chance after one of the lads searched “Burnley” on one of those sites that lists all the wrongs ens and was shocked that his name appeared and none of us had a clue about it. We haven’t seen/heard from the lad in question for a few years but he was still loosely in touch with one of the group who also had no clue about it.

It is crazy what happens and how the people you think you may know, you have no clue about.

[tim_noone]

I went to school with this bloke, "known" him for years. When my life fell apart over 10 years ago, he was one of a small group of friends back home in Swindon that helped me get back on my feet and feel better about myself. It wasn't a regular catch up, just a few beers on the odd occasion etc. We even socialised on a stag do for a mutual friend AFTER his initial arrest and none of us knew what was going on.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/new ... NH8Oquv05Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You think you know someone, but sometimes something like this completely destroys that viewpoint. I feel I know many of the forum posters on here quite well even though I've never met most of you.

Anyway, not sure why I'm posting this to be honest, it has come as quite a shock I suppose and it makes me think how well I actually know people. I do know of people in my past that I wouldn't p!ss on if they were on fire and they used to be close friends but their actions towards me changed that, but it wasn't anything illegal (immoral perhaps, but not illegal).

So he helped you in your hour of need...what's the next step.?

[SammyBoy]

A lad I used to knock about with at school is now apparently a convicted paedophile, I found out courtesy of an article a mate showed me in the Daily Mail - he was a bit rough around the edges even as a kid but would never have suspected anything like that.

[BillyIngham'sShorts]

i got to know a window cleaner about 20 years ago who was in his 50s at the time. He was a friendly bloke with a clean record. He went down for a few years for raping a client on the job but his defence which i believed at the time was that it was consensual . In 30 years of window cleaning, no complaints and then ... Will never know the truth.

[ClaretTony]

Someone who posts on this board has recently been jailed for engaging in sexual activity with a child and another poster has recently suffered alarmingly health wise and is going to be hospitalised for some time. It was only by chance I found out about either of them. Some of the posters on this board I know well but others, like these two, I don't although I'd know both of them if I passed them in the street.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

What I do find strange is that I have, despite being a reasonably law abiding citizen, been friends in the past with quite a few criminals, including one that got jailed for armed robbery many years ago (after spending half his adult life in prison for minor offences). I don't know why this has been the case but it has. Having said that most or nearly all of them I got on fine with and again most of them would always help me out if I needed it. The ones who have let me down the most and the ones who I often didn't have time for were the ones who were 'upstanding' members of the public who really just put on a front of respectability but who would stab you in the back given half a chance.

I'm not in any way condoning what some of my past friends did and we often argued about why they chose the life they did, and indeed many became 'normalised' and are now just regular Joes (although 2 or 3 of them are sadly demised). I think we sometimes confuse what people ARE with what they DO and the two things are often not the same. How a person behaves is not the same as what they are inside and as they say we should walk a mile in someone else's shoes before judging them too much.

I don't even bloody know myself.

Criminal type friends/associates are more likely to help you in times of need than those who aren't I tend to find.
I know exactly which friends to ask when I need help with something.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

I used to work in cash generator years ago, had a regular customer coming in to buy/sell stuff.
Seemed like a nice enough bloke, chatted regularly for the 18 months I was there.

He then legged it from the Channel islands to France on a canoe with an underage girl he was seeing...

[Rick_Muller]

So he helped you in your hour of need...what's the next step.?

I’m really not sure Tim, I’d like to think that I could be there for him if he ever needed a mate because its the forgiving thing to do but what he was convicted for leaves me very conflicted.

How would you approach it? In fact what would anyone else do?

[Claretforever]

Only 46? Is that correct? He looks about 60 in those pictures. What on Earth were the young girls doing staying at his house anyway?

[tarkys_ears]

Considering the amount of sympathy and understanding from people on here about mental health and addiction issues, surely he should be hugged better and people should be more understandinf?

[MRG]

Imagine how Andrew Windsor felt when it turned out his best mate Epstein was a massive nonce.

Must have been a massive shock for him!

[Rick_Muller]

Only 46? Is that correct? He looks about 60 in those pictures. What on Earth were the young girls doing staying at his house anyway?

He’s had a hip replacement after suffering from cancer about 20 years ago. As to why the girls stayed there I’ve no idea, but he had no kids of his own.

[IanMcL]

Flipping heck Trev, have you got something to tell us? Come on we’re all friends here.....

Only if you have a shovel!

[martin_p]

Yeah , this wasn't barclays either.

Nice chap apparently, I followed the case - even his daughter didn't like her mother and the bloke finally snapped!

Maybe I know your friend!