More tales from the living dead.

[David1819]

He also conned the editor of the Scottish Sunday Express - thanked by name in the book.

Not necessarily Neil. Considering this news outlet knowingly publishes garbage. 

Aliens near Jupiter

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1060789/nasa-nuclear-robot-drill-alien-rocket-space-race-Jupiter-Europa-moon-ocean

End of the world

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1092206/jerusalem-third-temple-prophecy-israel-end-of-the-word-bible-prediction-jesus

I wonder why he went to these guys. 

[nugnug]

Then its not the same forum I posted it on.

theresonly 3 to my knoeledge and he wasnt mentioned on any of them.

[David1819]

theresonly 3 to ny knoeledge and he wasnt mentioned on any of them.

drs oly 3 to yr knoeledge? wht ar dem 3 to yr knoeledge?

[nugnug]

drs oly 3 to yr knoeledge? wht ar dem 3 to yr knoeledge?

if you think that bothers me david it  doesnt.

your just showing yorself up.

[David1819]

if you think that bothers me david it  doesnt.

your just showing yorself up.

You wasted your time looking through three Zodiac forums, in a desperate attempt to make it seem like I was lying. That's what you call showing yourself up.

[nugnug]

You wasted your time looking through three Zodiac forums, in a desperate attempt to make it seem like I was lying. That's what you call showing yourself up.

well I think ive been fairly successful mind you it was helped by the fact that you were clearly lying.

[David1819]

A recent detailed article about how PH was exposed.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vedv/paul-harrison-fraud

[lookout]

Crackers in other words 

[ngb1066]

A recent detailed article about how PH was exposed.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vedv/paul-harrison-fraud

That is a very interesting piece.  I am surprised Harrison was not prosecuted for fraud.  He was a liar and conman and was also very nasty and malicious.  Unfortunately he was taken seriously by a number of people and he did cause harm.

[David1819]

That is a very interesting piece.  I am surprised Harrison was not prosecuted for fraud.  He was a liar and conman and was also very nasty and malicious.  Unfortunately he was taken seriously by a number of people and he did cause harm.

For a prosecution, I guess the thousands of victims would need to collectively press charges? For a £15 show ticket or a £10 book per victim, why would they bother?

[ngb1066]

For a prosecution, I guess the thousands of victims would need to collectively press charges? For a £15 show ticket or a £10 book per victim, why would they bother?

No, there would be no need for purchasers of tickets to act collectively.  All that would be needed is a complaint to the police.  Ideally this would be from Harrison's publisher or from the promoter of one of his events.  A club of which I am a member organised one of Harrison's bogus talks and a lot of money was spent.  Although I knew he was a fraud I did not feel I had sufficient hard information at that time to warn the club.  With hindsight perhaps I should at least have tried.  It is a pity that it looks as if Harrison may have escaped the full consequences of his actions.  He really does deserve some serious sanction.  Obviously his career is wrecked and his reputation is in tatters so at least he is unlikely to be able to con people again, but because he was such a nasty piece of work and a bully I still wish he had faced criminal prosecution.

 

[guest29835]

His success was a testament to the laziness and credulity (and in some cases, gullibility) of people in general.  It is easy to verify someone's bona fides, but it appears nobody bothered for quite some time.  That tells me as much about those people as it does about Paul Harrison.

I can't condone what he did, but I have no sympathy for anybody who parted with money.  I would certainly take a different view if someone lost serious money and suffered actual detriment due to his actions, but losing the price of a ticket or being publicly embarrassed because you organised an event or published a book without checking somebody out does not make you a victim. 

Furthermore, I dispute the allegation that he committed fraud.  It seems to me that most of the people who buy these sorts of books, and tickets for true crime events, are seeking entertainment, and Mr Harrison was the man for the job.  He entertained them with stories and anecdotes of the sort they wanted to hear.  That he wasn't the person he claimed to be may have caused red faces in some quarters, but in a sense he really was the person he claimed to be.  He was acting a role, and he performed marvellously and kept them all amused, a welcome relief from their otherwise dull and ordinary lives.  Whatever the law may say about it, in moral terms he delivered on what he promised. There was no fraud.

[ngb1066]

His success was a testament to the laziness and credulity (and in some cases, gullibility) of people in general.  It is easy to verify someone's bona fides, but it appears nobody bothered for quite some time.  That tells me as much about those people as it does about Paul Harrison.

I can't condone what he did, but I have no sympathy for anybody who parted with money.  I would certainly take a different view if someone lost serious money and suffered actual detriment due to his actions, but losing the price of a ticket or being publicly embarrassed because you organised an event or published a book without checking somebody out does not make you a victim. 

Furthermore, I dispute the allegation that he committed fraud.  It seems to me that most of the people who buy these sorts of books, and tickets for true crime events, are seeking entertainment, and Mr Harrison was the man for the job.  He entertained them with stories and anecdotes of the sort they wanted to hear.  That he wasn't the person he claimed to be may have caused red faces in some quarters, but in a sense he really was the person he claimed to be.  He was acting a role, and he performed marvellously and kept them all amused, a welcome relief from their otherwise dull and ordinary lives.  Whatever the law may say about it, in moral terms he delivered on what he promised. There was no fraud.

I totally disagree.  A lot of genuine people were taken in by him and he profited enormously from his lies over a lengthy period.  He was also vindictive and malicious and he caused direct harm to people.  The cynical history of his involvement in the Bamber case is an example of that, culminating in the publication of his bogus book and the Scottish Sunday Express episode.  I feel strongly that he should have been prosecuted.

 

[David1819]

His success was a testament to the laziness and credulity (and in some cases, gullibility) of people in general.  It is easy to verify someone's bona fides, but it appears nobody bothered for quite some time.  That tells me as much about those people as it does about Paul Harrison.

He admitted on a facebook post that he was "sorry" for making it all up. And disgracefully tried to blame it on his event promoters and publishers.

Through most of his career he made claims involving people that were dead. For the sole reason they could not expose him. That all changed in 2018 when he started claiming he had met Peter Sutcliff, and a year later Sutcliff spoke out and that was the beginning of the end. If you give someone enough rope, they hang themselves.

[guest29835]

David/NGB1066:

I'm not condoning his behaviour, but I think if you take a step back from this, you'd have to acknowledge that there is a responsibility on people to perform their own due diligences and think for themselves.  I don't personally believe everything people tell me, whether it is mainstream news or somebody claiming credentials or expertise.  I check people out.  I look into things.  Then I form a view.  If you tell me you're a barrister or an architect, and you are asking me to rely on this in some business we are doing, I will ring up the relevant body and check that you indeed hold the relevant qualification and are in good standing.  I'm that type of person. 

When I first heard about Mr Harrison while finding his book and reading it, I was immediately suspicious.  His biographical claims didn't add up.  If you say you were an Essex police officer who worked in specialist units and was a criminal profiler with the FBI, and you're Britain's real-life 'Cracker', or whatever else he was saying about himself (crackers more like), yet you aren't with a major publisher, you don't have a university degree, and I have never heard of you before, something there doesn't quite add up, and I am going to be contacting the FBI in the United States and the relevant police forces in Britain, and various other sources, to verify your claims. It's probably just as well for Paul Harrison that I wasn't around at the time, as I would have exposed him quite quickly.  But why didn't other people check up on him?

Obviously, I appreciate that if you're just somebody buying a ticket for an event, you'll rely on the due diligence of the organisers.  That's quite reasonable.  If it turns out the person you went to hear speak was a charlatan, all you've lost is a few pounds, i.e. the ticket price and your travel to and from the venue.  I'm not saying it's OK for people to behave like that, but it's not a big deal.  You can have a good laugh about it and forget it.  I would maintain that most of the people he entertained at these events came away satisfied and won't have given it a second thought.  If they have any complaint, it should be against the organisers of the event and anybody else who enabled him without verifying his claims.

Similar with the book.  I realised he was a pure charlatan, but at the same time, I don't begrudge him because I realise he's not the full shilling and it is what it is.  Life is short.  He's exposed.  He's not going to be conning anybody else.