The Maggie Oliver Foundation speaks out about disgraced ex GMP police officer

It is with thanks to the brave individuals who have spoken out, especially Dannika Stewart for exposing Rick Pendlebury, and a special thank you to Sammy Woodhouse for sharing the video to get almost 200,000 views in less than 24 hours (so far).

Without this exposure, it is speculated that Maggie Oliver (below) would have tried to ignore this scandal, hoping the dust would settle.

 

Today, a public announcement was made on X (read it here), clearly published under duress of the massive publicity, yet, the statement is full of inconsistancies and quite frankly – a disgrace.

Notice that the Foundation has prevented any comments on the post, they do not want questions.

The statement is repeated below.

While we do not usually comment on rumour and speculation, we believe it is important to address recent posts circulating on social media concerning a former employee and explain the Charity’s actions.

Protecting victims and whistleblowers and safeguarding those brave people, is at the heart of our mission. We were shocked by the allegations involving the ex-employee when they were brought to our attention last summer. He was immediately suspended and a thorough external investigation was carried out. This found that he had both breached the Foundation’s safeguarding policies and misled the Charity. As you would expect, the Foundation reported the matter to all of the relevant regulatory bodies including the Charity Commission.

On the advice of an external HR adviser and in line with the ACAS guidance, it was agreed that this individual would leave our employment immediately. Both parties continued to be bound by contractual and legal obligations. While our intention was to resolve the situation swiftly and, importantly, to protect the privacy of those affected by this individual’s actions, this restricted full transparency at the time. For the avoidance of doubt, he did not receive a pay off or any payment beyond that to which he was contractually entitled.

We have policies and procedures in place to protect those (often vulnerable) people who we support which were followed in this instance as they always are.

Both Maggie Oliver and Jennie Lucas attended a meeting in March 2023 after two survivors raised serious concerns about Rick Pendlebury.

The complaint was serious and twofold.

Firstly, Rick was referring survivors to a unregulated law firm.

Secondly, that Rick was sacked from GMP in his previous job for gross misconduct, for serious data breaches and was a significant risk to the Charity beneficiaries (survivors).

Both complaints were brushed off.

There is no question that Maggie Oliver and Jennie Lucas were both well aware of the significant risks, and both TURNED A BLIND EYE to the risks the survivors of the Foundation faced.

Now, in this deceptive statement, the Foundation are tying to clevery word it to decieve everyone,even suggesting that they only became aware of an issue with Rick LAST SUMMER. This is untrue.

Notice how they also devieve you about Ricks ‘departure’. There is no mention that Rick Pendlebury was dismissed from The Maggie Oliver Foundation, the statment says “it was agreed that this individual would leave our employment immediately”.

Correct me if I am wrong, this is an AGREEMENT for him to LEAVE, not a dismissal as should be the case.

This is without question gross misconduct, in fact, part of Ricks conduct has resulted in his arrest and likely prosecution.

Never forget, The Maggie Oliver Foundation publish safeguarding policies, policies to show their survivors how careful they are with staff vetting. Staff who are entrusted with the sensitive data of survivors.

Rick was never vetted yet promoted to the Head of Safeguarding.

Ask yourself, how can a man, sacked from the police for gross misconduct, for serious data breach offences, be put in a position of trust at a charity for survivors of sexual abuse where their anonymity is protect in law. This was the work of Maggie Oliver, herself an ex cop!