Campaign against Birmingham rapist, call to boycott his shop
Action Against Abuse | 16.09.2014 17:01 | Birmingham
The newly formed group, Action Against Abuse, in order to protect Birmingham and the vegan community in Birmingham, releases this statement against Ray Kirkham, a known abuser, accused by four women of sexual assault and, in one case, rape.
100% Against 100% Vegan
Ray Kirkham is the owner of local vegan business ‘100% Vegan’, based at the Warehouse Building, owned by Birmingham Friends of the Earth.
We make this public with the express purpose of outing Kirkham as a serial perpetrator of sexual violence against women. Our remit as a group is specifically to intervene in situations such as these to ensure the safety of our community and thus the women involved will not be named, nor should they be made public by anyone.
We demand that:
•Birmingham Friends of the Earth terminate Ray Kirkham’s contract with them
•That he loses his business and all access to the building and facilities
•That Birmingham Friends of the Earth issues a formal apology for their lack of action and blatant attempts at rape apologism with regards to the matter (detailed below).
Birmingham Friends of the Earth have been contacted in relation to this matter but have failed to take any serious formal action against Kirkham and continue to lease him the premises. When contacted on the 28th of February they made the following statement:
“We did not explore with you questions of reciprocity or mutuality between Ray and any of the women complaining …. It was, however, raised by Ray more than once – most starkly, when he advised that he has been sent, by one of the women now complaining, a picture of herself dressed in her pants, and with her hand down her pants. … We consider both the clear counter-allegation of an element of consensuality, and the suggestion that there is little substance beyond [one sexual assault victim]’s complaint, are relevant to these questions, which is why we invite a further response.”
This is a clear example of victim-blaming and rape apologism on the part of Birmingham Friends of the Earth Ltd. Let us clarify: it is completely immaterial whether or not this photo was or was not taken and/or sent to Kirkham. This in no way warrants Kirkham’s unacceptable behaviour and any suggestion otherwise is an attempt to minimise and silence the women involved.
There are clear grounds in property law and the contract that BFOE have for evicting Kirkham from the premises. Communication made on behalf of BFOE Management Committee stated that, “… our only role in relation to this is to assess whether there is a contractual breach and/or whether there is a risk to users of the building” (our italics). It is clear, in this case, that he is very much a risk to occupants and users of the building. Within the contract, which we have acquired, it is clearly stated that he must: ‘not to use the Premises for any activity which is dangerous, offensive, noisy, illegal or immoral or which is or may become a nuisance or annoyance to the Landlord or to the other occupants of the Building or other neighbouring properties.’
We have been made aware of further suspicious incidents in the behaviour of Ray Kirkham; a teenage woman visited his shop, whom he encouraged to stay later than usual and eat a cake. As the evening went on this woman felt that his behaviour towards her became threatening, she felt unsafe and left the shop, despite his protests. Kirkham himself has spoken about being ostracised at university due to an incident of a similar nature (i.e. rape) that occurred during his time there. It seems clear that Kirkham is unapologetic for his behaviour and has refused to engage in any attempts at restorative justice and/or solutions to these issues.
Further to this it has been alleged thata risk assessment was done by BFOE and they decided that Kirkham had to sign to say that he would not have any female volunteers – clearly an admission from them that he is a risk – as well as against equality law!
In light of this, we urge the community to be wary of this man, not to visit his shop, to boycott his business and to join us in our actions against him. Anyone with a further interest in this and our future campaigns should contact us at:
riviera@riseup.net and request to be added to our organising group. We have created a blog (content to be added soon) where the case can be followed (linked here: 
http://www.against-abuse.co.uk/)
Signed,
Action Against Abuse
Ray Kirkham is the owner of local vegan business ‘100% Vegan’, based at the Warehouse Building, owned by Birmingham Friends of the Earth.
We make this public with the express purpose of outing Kirkham as a serial perpetrator of sexual violence against women. Our remit as a group is specifically to intervene in situations such as these to ensure the safety of our community and thus the women involved will not be named, nor should they be made public by anyone.
We demand that:
•Birmingham Friends of the Earth terminate Ray Kirkham’s contract with them
•That he loses his business and all access to the building and facilities
•That Birmingham Friends of the Earth issues a formal apology for their lack of action and blatant attempts at rape apologism with regards to the matter (detailed below).
Birmingham Friends of the Earth have been contacted in relation to this matter but have failed to take any serious formal action against Kirkham and continue to lease him the premises. When contacted on the 28th of February they made the following statement:
“We did not explore with you questions of reciprocity or mutuality between Ray and any of the women complaining …. It was, however, raised by Ray more than once – most starkly, when he advised that he has been sent, by one of the women now complaining, a picture of herself dressed in her pants, and with her hand down her pants. … We consider both the clear counter-allegation of an element of consensuality, and the suggestion that there is little substance beyond [one sexual assault victim]’s complaint, are relevant to these questions, which is why we invite a further response.”
This is a clear example of victim-blaming and rape apologism on the part of Birmingham Friends of the Earth Ltd. Let us clarify: it is completely immaterial whether or not this photo was or was not taken and/or sent to Kirkham. This in no way warrants Kirkham’s unacceptable behaviour and any suggestion otherwise is an attempt to minimise and silence the women involved.
There are clear grounds in property law and the contract that BFOE have for evicting Kirkham from the premises. Communication made on behalf of BFOE Management Committee stated that, “… our only role in relation to this is to assess whether there is a contractual breach and/or whether there is a risk to users of the building” (our italics). It is clear, in this case, that he is very much a risk to occupants and users of the building. Within the contract, which we have acquired, it is clearly stated that he must: ‘not to use the Premises for any activity which is dangerous, offensive, noisy, illegal or immoral or which is or may become a nuisance or annoyance to the Landlord or to the other occupants of the Building or other neighbouring properties.’
We have been made aware of further suspicious incidents in the behaviour of Ray Kirkham; a teenage woman visited his shop, whom he encouraged to stay later than usual and eat a cake. As the evening went on this woman felt that his behaviour towards her became threatening, she felt unsafe and left the shop, despite his protests. Kirkham himself has spoken about being ostracised at university due to an incident of a similar nature (i.e. rape) that occurred during his time there. It seems clear that Kirkham is unapologetic for his behaviour and has refused to engage in any attempts at restorative justice and/or solutions to these issues.
Further to this it has been alleged thata risk assessment was done by BFOE and they decided that Kirkham had to sign to say that he would not have any female volunteers – clearly an admission from them that he is a risk – as well as against equality law!
In light of this, we urge the community to be wary of this man, not to visit his shop, to boycott his business and to join us in our actions against him. Anyone with a further interest in this and our future campaigns should contact us at:
riviera@riseup.net and request to be added to our organising group. We have created a blog (content to be added soon) where the case can be followed (linked here: http://www.against-abuse.co.uk/) Signed,
Action Against Abuse
Action Against Abuse
Homepage:
http://www.against-abuse.co.uk
Additions
*Statement on Ray Kirkham and Birmingham FOE Ltd’s Role*
19.09.2014 00:05
Birmingham Friends of the Earth Ltd, which runs The Warehouse, has been
trying to investigate the serious allegations made against Ray Kirkham,
owner of 100% Vegan Ltd, the Vegan shop based within our premises. The 100%
Vegan Shop is not part of Birmingham Friends of the Earth Ltd.
Our priority has been to give both sides a fair hearing and to decide
whether there is any risk to Warehouse users or any reason why we should,
and legally could, end Ray's tenancy. What we cannot do, is act on the
basis of untested allegations particularly when these are made anonymously.
In response to specific points made about our own action:
-
We are not legally able to evict Ray from the tenancy on the basis of
what we know so far.
-
The extract of our letter quoted by the group was in response to
allegations of "sexting" and inappropriate comments, not of rape or assault.
-
The extract quoted is selective to the point of being severely
misleading. It is difficult to go into more detail without breaking
confidentiality of either party.
-
We in no way implied, or think, that past consensual activity justifies
later non-consensual activity, as the Against Abuse group has suggested.
This is why we did not and would not have asked the women making the
allegations whether there had been consensual activity previously. What we
were trying to do was ensure those making the allegations had the right of
reply to what we had been told.
-
After the discussions had stopped progressing, in the absence of further
evidence we had to conclude we had no legal grounds for further action at
that stage.
-
We then made it very clear that inappropriate behaviour would not be
tolerated on our premises. By doing this, we removed any perceived or
actual risk to building users now or in the future - as much as was
possible to do.
We continue, as we always have, to be very willing to listen to any
responses or further information on what has happened to date. We invite
anyone with information they are prepared to share to speak with us. If
they have any information about a possible crime, we urge them to report it
to the Police also. We will continually monitor whether any further steps
are warranted in the light of any developments.
If people think BFOE Ltd's action has not been appropriate, we are happy to
discuss this as above - but the tenants and users of the building are
entirely uninvolved in this. We ask that anyone becoming involved in this
issue lets them conduct their business unaffected by what has happened.
*BFOE Ltd Management Committee*
trying to investigate the serious allegations made against Ray Kirkham,
owner of 100% Vegan Ltd, the Vegan shop based within our premises. The 100%
Vegan Shop is not part of Birmingham Friends of the Earth Ltd.
Our priority has been to give both sides a fair hearing and to decide
whether there is any risk to Warehouse users or any reason why we should,
and legally could, end Ray's tenancy. What we cannot do, is act on the
basis of untested allegations particularly when these are made anonymously.
In response to specific points made about our own action:
-
We are not legally able to evict Ray from the tenancy on the basis of
what we know so far.
-
The extract of our letter quoted by the group was in response to
allegations of "sexting" and inappropriate comments, not of rape or assault.
-
The extract quoted is selective to the point of being severely
misleading. It is difficult to go into more detail without breaking
confidentiality of either party.
-
We in no way implied, or think, that past consensual activity justifies
later non-consensual activity, as the Against Abuse group has suggested.
This is why we did not and would not have asked the women making the
allegations whether there had been consensual activity previously. What we
were trying to do was ensure those making the allegations had the right of
reply to what we had been told.
-
After the discussions had stopped progressing, in the absence of further
evidence we had to conclude we had no legal grounds for further action at
that stage.
-
We then made it very clear that inappropriate behaviour would not be
tolerated on our premises. By doing this, we removed any perceived or
actual risk to building users now or in the future - as much as was
possible to do.
We continue, as we always have, to be very willing to listen to any
responses or further information on what has happened to date. We invite
anyone with information they are prepared to share to speak with us. If
they have any information about a possible crime, we urge them to report it
to the Police also. We will continually monitor whether any further steps
are warranted in the light of any developments.
If people think BFOE Ltd's action has not been appropriate, we are happy to
discuss this as above - but the tenants and users of the building are
entirely uninvolved in this. We ask that anyone becoming involved in this
issue lets them conduct their business unaffected by what has happened.
*BFOE Ltd Management Committee*
BFOE Ltd Management Committee
