Boddam – the real home of the monkey hangers?

H'angus

The people of Hartlepool appear to be proud of the sobriquet monkey hanger (although I won’t put it to the test by calling the first person from the Pools I meet that name....) to the point that the local football club mascot is called H’angus. This is the former job of the current mayor...

The name stems from the Napoleonic era when a French ship was wrecked off Hartlepool in the Napoleonic Wars. A monkey found in the water was hanged by fishermen fearing it was a spy.

However it would seem that Hartleppool should not have claim to the sobriquet: according to the BBC an Aberdeen University study claims the tale originated in Scotland. Fiona-Jane Brown, a folklorist at Aberdeen University's Elphinstone Institute, suggests the Hartlepool legend stems from a similar incident off the village of Boddam, near Peterhead, in 1772.

A song of the time recalls how a monkey survived a shipwreck off Boddam. The villagers could only claim salvage rights if there were no survivors from the wreck, so they allegedly hanged the monkey. Ms Brown claims the song was adapted over many years as it travelled down the east coast, eventually spawning a Hartlepool version and embedding the monkey myth in Teesside culture.

"On Teesside, the legend has been generally adopted as a positive marker of social identity which survived on the football field. She said "But in Scotland, the Boddamers have refused to accept what they see as a slur against their community, a bad memory of bitter rivalries of the past."

I suppose it’s lucky for the people of Hartlepool that the Boddamers are in no rush to wrest the title of monkey hanger...

Scumbag gets three years for urinating on dying neighbour

It’s your birthday, you’ve been drinking and have smoked some cannabis, you find out that your neighbour has collapsed outside in the street, do you:

1. Provide any assistance you can and contact the emergency services
   
2. Kick, pour water, then urinate on her while your friends capture your antics on a phone camera?

If your answer is (2) then your name may well be Anthony Anderson, your friends might be Scott Clement and Simon Whitehead.

Yesterday Jude Peter Fox told Anderson that he had plumbed the depths of degradation as he jailed him today for three years for outraging public decency having perpetrated the above acts on his disabled neighbour Christine Lakinski as she lay dying.

Susan Jacobs, for the prosecution, said: “Apparently urged on by the fact Scott Clement and Simon Whitehead found his actions amusing, the defendant then stated he was going to urinate on the woman. Simon Whitehead, having cleared space on his mobile, proceeded to record him urinating all over Christine’s prone body, throughout which she remained motionless.” One of the group shouted “this is YouTube material” as the Anderson’s actions were filmed.

The group left her motionless on the pavement and no-one thought to ring an ambulance until they had got ready to go nightclubbing, some 20 minutes later. Paramedics arrived around an hour after she collapsed, and found no sign of life. A post-mortem examination revealed she died from pancreatic failure. Police traced the 999 call to Mr Clement and Anderson was arrested that night in a nightclub.

Judge Fox, told Anderson he had “violated this woman in an incredible way and the shocking nature of your acts over a prolonged period of time must mean a prison sentence of greater length is appropriate in this case. I am sure all decent people will be absolutely disgusted not only at the actions of Anthony Anderson but also those other people present who stood and watched and laughed, and in one case recorded the incident on a mobile phone”.

Outside the court Miss Lakinski’s the family said in a statement: “We hope that prison will give him time to reflect on his disgusting actions as the opportunity to examine his conscience. “We remain totally shocked that anyone could behave in such an appalling way... However, those who stood by and did nothing to stop Anderson are also guilty in our eyes. It beggars belief that these people chose not only to condone his cruelty, but also to walk away from a neighbour who was clearly in distress and needed help. “

Anyone with a shred of common decency would have at least phoned the emergency services, but not this bunch of scumbags (as far as I am concerned Whitehead and Clement are as guilty as Anderson). I only hope someone will come to their aid when they need it. Perhaps then they will truly realise how disgusting their actions were.