Clarence Osborne

Clarence Henry Osborne (* 1917 , 1918 or 1927 in Brisbane ; † September 1979 there ) was an Australian court and parliamentary stenographer . He became known nationwide when, shortly before his death, it became public that he had had sexual contact with around 2500 male children, adolescents and young adults for 20 years. In view of the decade-long period, the large number of people involved and the relationships that have existed voluntarily for many years, Osborne's case is one of the most complex in criminal history.

Osborne's early years

Osborne's childhood in Brisbane was marked by a strict, puritanical upbringing, which he himself later described as "hypocritical". He grew up in a repressive, religious environment, especially his mother he described as strict and aloof. His parents did not allow him to play with children from any church other than his own. He had three siblings: a brother two years older than him, with whom he was emotionally distant, and two twin sisters who were four years older and with whom he had a warm relationship.

In his youth, Osborne became a member of the Young Men's Christian Association , where he practiced gymnastics and weightlifting. As a young adult he was responsible for a church youth organization and owner of a fitness center. He took up the profession of stenographer, first in court, then in parliament. In his spare time he devoted himself to aviculture and was interested in genetics, which he gave up due to lack of time.

He himself stated that he was incapable of intimacy at a young age and only found access to it in the course of his life. As a child and adolescent, he was plagued by the repressive upbringing style of his parents who felt guilty about the frequent masturbation. As a young person he was unclear about his sexual orientation, even though he had sexual relationships with women and men. He described three heterosexual and as many homosexual relationships in his early life as "hectic".

Osborne's character

Work colleagues, neighbors and police officers described Clarence Osborne as someone who was deeply in love with details, according to sociologist and criminologist Paul Richard Wilson . He was obsessed with precision. He exercised his profession as court and parliamentary stenographer with great precision; he always tried to take down the conversations to be recorded with accuracy, which, according to his colleagues, he succeeded to a great extent. He could become quick-tempered and abusive towards new and inexperienced colleagues, especially if they did not live up to his high professional standards.

Outside of work, Osborne had little contact with adults. He saw himself incapable of “normal” social and love relationships. He had the reputation of a socially isolated pedant who enjoyed a high professional reputation, but remained unpopular as a person.

The Osborne case

Osborne's ephebophile sexual activities began when he was training in body building camps and taking photos of colleagues. When he finally opened a fitness center himself, he began to meticulously measure the body proportions of male adolescents, to create files and dossiers, and to document the physical development of individual children and adolescents precisely in writing and photographically. He by no means kept the fact that Osborne was fascinated by boys and young men a secret. He was quite open about his preferences, work colleagues and many people around him knew of his enthusiasm for young male bodies, but did not assume any sexual interest. Several parents who were concerned that their sons were physically underdeveloped presented them to Osborne's fitness center.

"The mothers lined up to bring the boys to me. They wanted them to be men and were worried that some of them were puny or small. I've had mothers pleading with me to take their boys in but often I had to say 'no' because I had so many. "

- Clarence Osborne

Osborne not only got to know the boys and young people with whom he wished to have sexual contact in his fitness center, but also actively contacted them in everyday situations: he spoke to them in parks, swimming pools, in front of schools, on the street or in And often took them with me as a hitchhiker. Osborne had an immense talent for gaining trust and building an emotional bond, e.g. B. by often speaking about otherwise taboo topics with unusual ease; he showed great interest in personal preferences, fears and living conditions, often gave advice and explained sexual practices. He also encouraged the youth to speak freely about their sexual fears and desires without fear of being blamed. Osborne never used physical force or violence, made no promises of money or other goods, but gained trust through verbal means alone. While he steered the conversation to sexual topics such as masturbation or sexual experiences with the opposite sex, he observed whether the person opposite was getting an erection and finally began sexual acts, which mostly consisted of (mutual) masturbation or oral intercourse.

The young people in question came from all walks of life, from broken and intact families. In terms of education, social status, personal environment, employment and criminal history, they formed a cross-section of their age group in Brisbane's society. 90% of them were between 13 and 20 years old. Over the decades, Osborne collected an enormous amount of data, photos, films, tables, tape recordings and their transcriptions. Osborne kept a very detailed record of his sexual relationships over the years; He recorded the appearance and character of the adolescents, the content of the conversation, anatomical details of the genital organs - especially the length of the penis - stated sexual experiences, masturbation habits and much more. When his case became public, the police confiscated three truckloads of written material, film footage, photos and a total of eight kilometers of tapes that Osborne had hidden microphones to record in both his car and his house. Osborne sent some of his photos to appropriate magazines for publication, which in a few cases actually happened.

With some of the adolescents, Osborne developed a sexual relationship that lasted for several years and lasted into adulthood. They visited him again and again of their own free will in his house, where they not only had sexual intercourse with him, but also spoke extensively about personal problems, fears, their family situation, school and training and about sexual contact with girls. Osborne himself lacked any awareness of wrongdoing. He saw himself more as a friend and as someone who offered his help and support, shared his experience, had a real interest in the situation and well-being of the young people and assumed that their social environment, especially their parents, did not care enough for them .

"I can honestly say I've never been tempted to use even the smallest bit of influence I might have to get some boy to have sex with me. If there was the slightest bit of resistance then I backed off and lost interest. "

- Clarence Osborne

When a pornographic film that Osborne ordered from abroad was confiscated by the police, he feared that his case would soon be exposed. He therefore brought some of the material he had gathered over the years to Paul Wilson, a sociologist and criminologist at the University of Queensland , whom he trusted because he was involved in the Queensland Civil Liberties Council and had a reputation for granting the rights of the individual before state power protect. Osborne was less concerned about his freedom than about his material. If his case were to become public, he feared that his "life's work" and his "research" would be destroyed by the police. The porn movie affair did not lead to Osborne's imprisonment, however. About a year and a half later, however, a mother found out through a conversation overheard by her son that Osborne had asked him if he was available for photographs. She told a friend who was married to a police officer about this conversation. That police officer and his colleagues took on the case and so exposed him. Osborne was questioned; he was not immediately arrested and returned home, where he committed suicide that same day. He took his own life by taking sleeping pills and sitting in his car, into the interior of which he channeled the exhaust from the running engine. His last note read, "I've been sitting here for ten minutes and I'm still alive." Osborne's body was cremated, his house was searched, and the material found was burned.

Work-up

After the case became known, the press portrayed Clarence Osborne as a “monster”. For example, the Australian weekly Truth headlined on September 29, 1979: “Sex monster's 2000 boy victims. Police seized truckloads of pictures, films, tapes ”and further reported that the police described the case as“ the most terrifying example of perversion in Australia's history ”. Almost identically, Brisbane's Sunday Mail reported a day later about the "most terrifying chapter of perversion in Australia's history". The show Four Corners of the Australian Broadcasting Commission took the case to weeks rather uncritically the issues of pedophilia , child pornography and prostitution to combine generally together.

Paul Wilson processed the Osborne case in the book The Man they called a Monster . After the case went public, some of the now grown men who had been with Osborne feared it would become known. Twelve of them therefore sought out Wilson, who was able to interview them with the assurance of their anonymity. Wilson reports that all of the men he interviewed painted a positive image of Osborne - in contrast to the press, which wrongly accused Osborne of having sex with prepubescent boys and of forcing some into prostitution. They described him as friendly, helpful, kind, and seriously interested in their situation. They defended his integrity and righteousness. Their contact with him helped them personally and he was a friend who is now being wronged by the press. None of the approximately 2500 young people ever filed a complaint.

"The amazing thing is that with all of these documented victims, many of them later confirmed, the police had never received any complaints on Osborne."

- Tom O'Connor and William Carson

"I enjoyed talking to him and I enjoyed the sex as well. He's the only man I've ever had a relationship with before or since. As you know I am married now with two kids, but at times I still think back to when he did those things to me and get excited by the thought of it. All I know is that I wanted some sex then and I got it, even though before I could never have imagined myself having it off with another guy, let alone a man who was about thirty years older than myself. But there was nothing heavy about him and it seemed so easy to do it with him and there was no way I felt guilty about a thing. [...] When I read in the paper about this guy who killed himself and was called a monster I was amazed. He was not heavy at all and what they said about him in the paper was untrue. "

- One of the young people affected

literature

• Paul R. Wilson: The Man They Called a Monster . Cassell. North Ryde. 1981. ISBN 0-7269-9282-8

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Truth weekly newspaper . 29th September 1979.
2. ^ ^{A b} Tom O'Connor, William Carson: Understanding the Psychology of Child Molesters: A Key to Getting Confessions. ( Memento of the original from November 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Police Chief. The professional Voice of Law Enforcement. International Association of Chiefs of Police. Alexandria, VA. December 2005.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Paul R. Wilson: The Man they called a Monster. Sexual Experiences between Men and Boys. Cassell. North Ryde. 1981. ISBN 0-7269-9282-8
4. ^ Donald J. West: Sexual Crimes and Confrontations . Gower Publishing. 1987, p. 62.