Christmas Lights Reveal Past

By sizemore Last edited 220 months ago
Christmas Lights Reveal Past
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The turning on of Christmas lights anywhere is usually a sad spectacle as some C grade celeb takes time off from shooting his, her or indeed their (hello Westlife) talking heads segment for Channel Five's Top 100 Celebrity Surgical Mishaps to push a button and declare silly spending season officially open.

Streatham seemed to be onto a winner by asking Garri Holness to turn on their lights this Saturday. Holness, something of a figurehead for the victims of the 7th of July bombings, has now been dropped from the ceremony after it turns out he's a convicted rapist.

Oops.

Back in 1985 he was one of seven men found guilty of raping two 16-year-old girls in Brixton.

This puts a whole different spin on the photos showing him outside number 10 holding a sign asking "What about the victims?"

A Lambeth Council spokesman said: "Since the recent revelations about Gary Holness' criminal conviction, we think it is no longer appropriate for him to turn on the Streatham Christmas lights." The switch-on will still go ahead with the Mayor of Lambeth, Daphne Marchant, doing the honours.

Presumably he's served his time for the crime and his past aside should be just as due compensation as any of the other victims, but it makes you wonder what was going through his head when he decided to step into the media spotlight.

Last Updated 17 November 2005