News that Nanford Guest House on Oxford's Iffley Road was a frequent venue for the 'Bullfinch' child sex ring, currently being sentenced, brought to mind that this same local guest house was also voted Britain's worst hotel by TripAdvisor in 2008, prompting various national journalists to book an overnight stay and write newspaper articles confirming how awful it was, one reporting that she had been awoken by what sounded like a body being dragged down the stairs at around 2am. She had wedged her door shut with an old fridge as the lock was dodgy and cowered under the covers for the remainder of the night.
Yet, if she truly suspected a body was being dragged down the stairs, why did she not phone the Police? It seems strange noises, dodgy characters, death traps and environmental health issues (including a resident's lounge smelling of urine) abounded back in 2008, yet no one apparently saw fit to call either the Police or the local Environmental Health department to have the place investigated. Why not? What does it take before a supposedly intelligent individual suspects that something very wrong is going on, possibly criminal? Not least a trained newshound ever in want of the next big scoop?
More than one Trip Advisor review advised 'Do not stay here alone' and not to stay at all unless you were desperate for accommodation.
The sex ring had been operating since 2004, four years before the Nanford won the accolade of Britain's Worst Hotel. There is more to this than meets the eye is my feeling about it.
Update 15/05/13: According to today's Oxford Mail, the emergency services tape of a rape being reported at the Nanford by a guest in the next room actually dates back to 2006, which potentially means the gang could have been caught seven years ago! Which begs the question, what have the Police been doing all this time? Did they really decide to bury their hands in the sand about investigating what was going on?
