PRIDE AND PREDATOR EPISODE TWO

In Episode Two, we move past the surface scandal and into the machinery that failed, repeatedly, predictably, and catastrophically.This episode is about safeguarding. Or rather, the deliberate dismantling of it.By 2021, Stephen Ireland wasn’t just a Pride organiser. He was embedded. He had access, credibility, the ear of police, councillors, and public bodies - and he was using all of it. At the same time, people - mainly women - around him were growing uneasy.This is the episode where you hear what happened when women tried to intervene - and what happened to them when they did.We follow a trail of red flags:an 18-year-old volunteer being paraded as part of a polyamorous relationship;a “helpline” for young people run from a single private phone that no one else could access;safeguarding policies quietly rewritten to remove protections;and a photograph of a masked teenager on a dog lead, posted openly by Ireland.That image was reported properly and responsibly to Surrey Police and to the local authority designated officer. Multiple whistleblowers raised concerns. What followed was not investigation, but retaliation.Women who spoke up were threatened, silenced, excluded, reported, or pushed out. Councillors who asked questions found themselves stripped of roles. The message was unmistakable: stop digging.This episode includes first-hand accounts from:* Former Pride insiders who walked away when safeguarding was overridden* Elected councillors punished for reporting concerns* Journalists who struggled to get these stories published* Lesbian and gay voices sidelined for refusing to endorse sexualised Pride culture* A Police and Crime Commissioner targeted for refusing to abandon women’s rightsWe also examine how fetish culture, chemsex, and adult sexual subcultures were normalised - even celebrated - at events marketed as family friendly, and how anyone questioning that shift was branded hateful.And crucially, we ask: who signed off on the safeguarding review that declared everything “fine”?Who marked that homework?And why was nothing done until a child finally reported abuse?Stephen Ireland and David Sutton are now convicted sex offenders. But this episode makes clear that their crimes didn’t happen in a vacuum. They happened in an environment that rewarded silence, punished scrutiny, and treated safeguarding as an inconvenience.This is not about hindsight.It’s about systems that chose not to see.Content warning:This episode contains discussion of child sexual abuse, safeguarding failures, sexual exploitation, and institutional retaliation.—Episode 3 looks at what happened when the case finally reached court - and how Surrey responded once the truth was no longer buried.REPORTER: Julie BindelPRODUCTION TEAM: Maria Esposito, Ashanna Prijs Reeves, Samantha SmithARTWORK: Nicole Jones This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit juliebindel.substack.com/subscribe