Talk:Sidney Cooke

References

Could you add a reference for this person? Out of caution, we are trying to make sure all the people listed in criminal categories have verifiable sources, even stubs. Thanks --FloNight 20:41, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

I'd suggest a source or appropriate citation be added for the claim in the Josef Fritzel paragraph that the pair is 'hated by everyone at Wakefield prison'. Comes across as conjectural. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonathonnoble (talk • contribs) 19:04, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

"Evil"

This word keeps being removed, and someone keeps putting it back in. Reminder: this is an encyclopedia, not a tabloid newspaper. No matter your opinionn, there are certain language standards for an encyclopedia and not using emotive words is one of them. nebbish 10.53 8 August 2007

Sidney Cooke has often been referred to as Britian's worst paedophile, and similar descriptions. There are very few people as dangerous as him, despite his age. Whilst I agree with the above comment and don't personally add such words as 'evil' to Wikipedia biographies, it is a very commonly used word to describe this leader of an exceptionally sadistic gang that have committed some of the worst sexual offences against vulnerable young boys, for kicks. It is very difficult not to feel strong, justified hatred against Cooke, which is probably why such wording is used. Werdnawerdna (talk) 15:40, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

The reference to "non-consensual anal sex" should be replaced by sodomised or such, the implication being that it is possible to have consensual sex of any kind with a 7 year old. Not in these islands. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.132.253.79 (talk) 17:21, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

Brass Eye

A reference to a 2001 episode on the paedophilia issue keeps being added to this article. I have just checked the source, having decided that it does improve the Brass Eye article itself. The version I removed a few minutes ago contains an omission, as the source indicates that in the programme itself an 8 year old boy is reported as supposedly having been sent into space with Cooke, not instead of him. See Jenny McCartney "Are there no limits?", Daily Telegraph, 29 July 2001, which was the citation used for the formerly included passage. In the context of the Brass Eye article the absurdity of the very idea of sending Cooke into space is clear, a response to the "lock him up and throw away the key" attitude, if you like, which then goes horribly wrong. It helps to convey, in my opinion, the constructive intention of Chris Morris and his colleagues. In Cooke's own article though, the passage's inclusion looks gratuitous, and after a detailing of the severity of Cooke's crimes, appears to trivialise them. The legitimate objection to censorship in Wikipedia editing policies does not mean we have to include crashingly insensitive juxtapositions of sourced material. Philip Cross (talk) 16:49, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

I agree with Philip Cross that whilst the passage is suitable for inclusion in the Brass Eye article itself, in Cooke's own biographical article, given the severity and sickening nature of Cooke's crimes, the passage about Brass Eye under the subheading "In Popular Culture" appears insensitive. Whilst the passage is sourced and of course Wikipedia is not censored, I don't think that including this passage is necessary or important. It doesn't seem an improvement to the biographical article in terms of an overall encyclopedic tone. As per WP:BOLD and also WP:HTRIV, I have therefore today removed the two sentences relating to this. Kind Tennis Fan (talk) 05:13, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Update: After examining the revision history of the article, I discovered that following a year in which the passage about Brass Eye was not included, it was put back into the article again in December 2016 by an IP editor, with the edit summary "Important detail". This IP editor was subsequently globally blocked for long-term abuse. This convinces me even more that Philip Cross was correct and it is right to remove the unimportant content for a BLP article – which the abusive IP editor claimed was "Important detail". Kind Tennis Fan (talk) 05:37, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for your work. Philip Cross (talk) 05:42, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

citation for early life section

There are only one citation in the early life section "Cooke: The predatory paedophile" that says nothing about him joining the British Army or going to prison and being released in 1952

"Cooke was born on 18 April 1927 in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Before enlisting in the British Army in August 1945, Cooke worked as a farm labourer. Cooke was eventually released in 1952 after serving many prison sentences for being away without authorisation. As a soldier, Cooke was deemed to be "unsatisfactory". External Links Library (talk) 00:37, 30 April 2023 (UTC)

He died today

A death report came out about him a few minutes ago. 186.190.215.158 (talk) 23:05, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

I cannot find a source for this. Lard Almighty (talk) 00:27, 22 June 2024 (UTC)

Nor can I. It appears as though I was so preoccupied with editing the dates for consistency that I failed to check its veracity. At least my version can be used if/when there is an available source. ZeroAlpha87 (talk) 00:36, 22 June 2024 (UTC)