Tom Humphries’ writing cannot ameliorate what he did

Never did word travel faster, within a small community, than the news, five years ago, that Tom Humphries was a probable paedophile, writes Terry Prone. 

At the time, that couldn’t be put in the public domain, but within media, it was clear from the start. Obvious, even.

Yet every now and then, someone who probably could have worked it out by deductive reasoning would ask if anyone present knew who it was, and, if someone muttered the name, would stand, stunned and disbelieving. Or rather, stunned and believing, yet seeking reasons not to believe, because they had such a high regard for the writer.