Murders in the news are remote for most of us, but they are local events to those affected. The recent inquiry into a policeman convicted of murder and rapes has reported that none of the three police forces he had worked for should have employed him! In a scandal some years ago, an international aid agency was found to have many staff abusing vulnerable women in central America.

Bad and evil really do exist. People with abusive tendencies try to gain positions of power or authority, and work to achieve such positions. So any organisation, whether the police, aid agencies, political parties, churches, schools, sports clubs and others need to consciously watch for people targeting to join them with malicious intent. The security services such as MI5 and MI6 have the same concern preventing spies landing in their midst!

Being surprised at finding a bad apple in a barrel is nonsense! Apples go off! Fruit suppliers watch for signs and check. Wine makers review grapes carefully to avoid doubtful fruit spoiling the blend. Organisations that give staff positions of responsibility should have independent specialists looking for any fruit that may be a bit mouldy. Similarly, any group dealing with a wide variety of people needs to have strong policies for the "safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults"

People who enjoy being abusive, once established, readily accept others into the group, just as mouldy apples rot their neighbours. Organisations like the police can find that some have climbed well up the promotion ladder, allowing bad behaviour to become normalised. So those doing the checking need to be quite independent from the routine chain of command, and they themselves need to be checked from time to time, lest bad fruit gets there too!!!

Threats against complainants are the symptoms of a problem, which is also true of many scams being perpetrated. Complaints departments need to realise that very reluctant and timid individuals may provide a key to the activities of strong and forceful people. In my early life in electronic design, failures were usually down to obvious errors. Small unexplained abnormalities were easily overlooked, but were often the key to solving the difficult problems.

Representing a volunteer group years ago at a seminar on "safeguarding", the expert told me "in a group of your size, you should expect to have been targeted by four pedophiles". A very scary thought, and his exact words remain vivid today. Whenever criminals are caught, close friends and family express shock and surprise, so equally remembered is my explanation to the group that no-one is beyond question, including those we trust!

It is natural to assume this is about men abusing women, but not always. Bullying takes many forms, and can also include false accusations!

For light relief there is "The Last of the Summer Wine", with women bullying men. Pearl controls Howard and Nora is always batting off Compo! In " Chocolat", another old film, an abusive husband complains his wife can't cook with a skillet. But later she lays him out cold saying "who says I can't handle a skillet!". Friends comment that she had finally discovered what she was made of, and her husband's skull was not as thick as they thought!

For serious consideration in our real world, the strong need to protect the weak, the vulnerable need to be given a voice, we all need to listen.