The Trojan Horse Affair - Part 8
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Since I this story as my student project, i've always felt that I was to make any difference. What you need is proof, incontrovertible, unassailable, beyond a doubt of of who ordered the trolley horse letter. And we didn't have IT brian.

I had a lot of compelling circumstantial evidence of who might ever in let them, and a sounds theory of why you might have been rain, but that wasn't going to be enough. The children horse affair means something to powerful people in my country, to its political and media class, to our decision makers. And mood says, when they're looking to justify policies or genre political support, part of the infrastructure that allows them to show hand that muslims are dangerous when others have push back against the trojan horse narrative.

We've done IT by calling at this islam phobia and racism that drove the affair, focused on the damage is done to muslim's and bermuda and brain. But none of us really worked. And I think is because that approach requires people to care about islamophobia, to care about muslims a where a long way from that.

That's why i'd focused on the letter. I believe exposing the waters of Operation children horse would give us an ignostic fact what size of the need for people to care and would force everyone acknowledge what really happened here, even if is regret teeth, and as also why were headed to perth, australia, our next and final stop in this investigation. And IT wasn't just brian at me going.

We're taking with us to perth. Stay with me. Now, this a very multicultural moment.

A south african dentist would met in a windswept on the coast of whales and armored to costa. We don't plan to travel to australia with mod. The adventure would end on together. I started with a visit to his tiny flat in the town of cardigan.

Hello.

I am from america.

my first .

time to whales.

Yeah.

we driven to whales to see a MIT because we wanted to ask him about rive on a dar. I have moved with his family from south africa to birmingham years back, where he began volunteering as a governor in schools. We heard that he, and was on a dar, had been closed once before he went to utterly.

mrs. dr. Worked at the school, were augmented with chair of governors. Old, no primary school opened. State friends with mr. Dar SHE moved on from, although would go visitor IT adder's, where his wife was also a governor. And then the trojan horse affair happened because of the scandal argument was banned for education labeled in extremist in the newspapers and ended up shutting down his old dental practice in birmingham, taking a position here.

Be the ask before. See on the flow the behind you. I used to play in this room.

As we stepped inside his place, acmd pointed out the faint lines in his carpet, which showed people were to stand for prayer back when his apartment used to be a mask. Now the mosque is downstairs in a little storefront space. The cardigan islamic cultural center ocma live anywhere in town, makes a fine living as a dentist, but he told us he likes the convenience and familiarity of this place.

Easy to play, easy to get a lot of take out at the curry shop next store hums. I were hoping because I made kw mss darr, he might have some useful information for us about the adder's dispute or even the trojan horse letter. But I made IT clear pretty quickly he wasn't interested in discussing revonde .

dar um so I can't speak about of what is what happened with teaching assistance. I don't know. I was in the what happened with the throgton later um I know me of my colleagues say that you are OK I don't know.

But what I do know is my relationship was with her was extremely good. He was an outstanding teacher. I only love, I only have good augment told that he .

didn't have much interest in the trojan horse sleep or its origins at all. Still, we end up staying at at me is the whole day, because being with them, IT was like recognizing a far full relation, someone seemingly as preoccupied as we were with straightening out what had happened during this whole affair. There was plenty OK md. Did want to talk about atterly aside what he was prepared to discuss. And when I say prepared in the middle of the room, he had a trip on set up with a project .

tor on IT was the legal case he was building .

against the government for what they've done at all. No primary school during the trojan horse are IT was pretty similar to what happened at park few, a school that was raided out, standing until the church on horse later broke. This is how we spend the next few hours taking in an exhausted presentation of volumes of files acmd save from old know, which he projected from his laptop on the wall above, is Better, like a spread shit.

full of text.

Also emails, meeting minutes.

schoolmates work acme's hoping he can convince .

a solicitor to build a case out of this material to hold the officials involved accountable. That was documents. Main reason for talking to us.

He was very clear he does not have a high opinion of journalism, but he thought possibly our story could catch the interest of a lawyer willing to help improve ono. All this effort augment was putting in IT wasn't even to exaggerate himself. He was trying to help another person, the department education band, the former head teacher at all.

No, the guy only got the job a couple months before the trojan horse slaughter went public, othman says. Any islamization that the government was concerned about at the school, this new head teacher had little to do with he'd just taken charge. If anything, ocmis is the changes that all nowhere on him. As two of governors open, full, responsible for the head teacher, losing his career still feels .

responsible.

At one point, ocma got up to stir something delicious smelling on the stove, a south african rice dish. I looked around and I realized IT almost seemed like he was camping out the drafty flat, the twin bed he was apparently stuffing himselve into each night arguments, a big guy, well over sixty tall, the space heater, the ironing board, doubling as a sid table. There was no artwork, photos or anything personal in there, apart from piles of red and blue and Green document boxes filled with hard copies of trojan horse records, which a man told me he looks around every time he moves house. I asked him, where is your family, by the way, your wife, kids.

permanently? But I can't leave in unto this justice with holes.

Now that's why you're here, sorry, because you want to try and get justice. Ford, this whole children.

I gone go back permanently until the years, at least some form of the course of justice, just because I know at some point we're gonna to court this. Someone will come along, if not you, if you not, if your story, someone, somewhere, the truth always come out. And on the side of truth is time.

Something about amad became apparent as the day went on. He was driven to talk at lengths about the torches scandal and the lies. He was sure the whole thing was based on. But on brian, I will try to bring up the place where seeing that the whole thing started adding. And the show, who said you'll pull back?

Do do you remember? Can you remember when you first heard about the children? Horse sleep?

Do you first read IT?

I don't think .

I you've never read .

the town house. This is the letter that started. This guy who was leaving thousands of months away from his family to seek justice for the charge horse affair, had never read the charge horse that beg belief. We try to get him to .

read .

our copy.

Now talk you .

about IT. I don't know. I like to read with a pen and do that will .

make a coop tee. He bait looked at IT. But later, as I want to doing the dishes in place up a new ork style cheese cake board, especially for brian, his avoidance of elderly and letter started to relent.

but the said, I don't know, it's really .

have you spoken .

to a who have you spoken .

to from the utterly leadership team asked us. We told them we weren't having much success with that one nobody. And that's what up me started talking about, mark walters.

Mark walters, the former deputy head teacher of atterly primary school, who offered that curiously late testimony, saying he was inside the room with rizvon a dar as he opened the envelopes from the muslim teaching assistance and pulled out resignation letters. IT turned out ocma new mark too, because, like mr. Dar, market also worked at all, no. And after mr. Dar took the job, atterly mark joiner.

I like mom because he was a very good teacher. He was a gentleman, nice man.

Market taught augments kids. He gave a special attention to his older son, who'd been having a hard time academically augment, and his wife credit mark returning their son's whole school career around markman document's house. Ocbc references form. He in markmen's dar would see each other at a local tutoring center on saturdays. They even talked about going to south africa together to do work in schools there.

However, when the juno was happened, park viewers in the front and newspapers, but I said, look out, knows gna be next so then I contacted, that is, I emailed and I said, the inspector said, they coming to old. No, can you write me? Can you tell me something that I can present to these people because you were in the school that there is no extremism in old? I didn't deal word primer. I heard nothing framing.

You've never heard from her son.

Not a word in thing. SHE was like my sister was, you know, where our relationship was very good, that I was shot for me. That was the biggest shop.

And augment also wrote to mark walters asking for the same support because market image him to and then head up and moved to australia without document ever seeing him again. Augment told us he was sure market first ten knowledge about the T A resignations at adder's and maybe about the children horse sleep too. He said if we were interested in nAiling down who wrote the letter, mark was definitely someone .

worth pursuing but if you will speak.

you think if he was pressured, he, because we've got down, we've writing called.

yeah, you will speak. In fact, on my facebook, I put in my world a million times, you try and find .

him really .

the weakness I can tell you smoke to.

About a week after I visit wales, I got a message from a malm. Can you text me, mark, what this phone number, school and home address, please? thanks. We gave up with the call to how we could tell market on his mind since we left.

Would let us all be accused fully for so .

long to you to to try to speak to mark when I was a little crazy, is a long way to go for the interview with someone who might or my. I help us crack open this mystery, but we kind of desperate, over the course of a core, we realized you to talk.

In.

I was considering a trip to, we all decided IT made some sort wait sense first to go together.

Can you even go to australia? Like, I don't even know. Like do you have like a dental .

practice as a friend? Day to medi, I thought he could help us get our meeting with mark, but also alma could use a trip to trying get something he wanted, which is personal. He wanted mark to simply say to him, I know you know an extremist. I know, you know some dangerous plotting muslim.

I wanted to say at my face .

and so we were rough to see, mocks waters in australia on a glimmer of hope that he could help us put this letter and the affair state to bed from zero productions, the new york times. I have to say.

i'm .

brian read.

This is a children horse fair.

We arrived at our hotel near perth, me from burma, m. Whales by from new york, a little worse for wear. I have the delayed foot surgery to a comedy. Our trip and being all cramped top on a long haul fly had have been friendly to him.

So my feet was really giving me, was really so. I bought new trainers last week. And the. Kill his food .

did look bad, but there's nothing I could do for him. All good. What said? He put his trains .

back on.

Those were actual words as they did the shoes. So of he be damped, but was on mission.

We end up with the following .

information. We knew the mark waters was a deputy principle in the suburbs. I'd called an email in several times of the previous year, but never heard back from him.

We'd also find a home address for an m voters right near by his school. That's what we decided to approach mark at his home. Rather, network right now would knock by yourselves first without a mouth and no recorders. We figured out a little less scary for him.

Ready over you, nervous.

And six, we head to mox complex IT just gone down.

OK, I feel good. I am like jokes piece of aware and says, I know this is surprising. Each for each other, it's will .

be involved. OK.

yeah. course. Yes, I.

我 感觉。

We don't know foods him showing. We'd walked up to Marks condo and as I was about to knock on the door, heard a shower going through the .

window beside us. I mean, as one of is him showing.

we decided to wait the car for a roughly shower length amount of time, then head back to the condo to try again.

I don't like seeing you nervous, because then you like, make me nervous.

I always in nerves.

Yeah, and chill and then arbi chilled.

Yeah, i'm this alright.

Fuck, 没。 Fuck this way.

Wrong address. The unit was home to a frenchman blasting club music with his friend. In the case of booze, he said he didn't know of a mark quarters.

You still live. There are not. Our best shot had evaporated like that IT was friday night, which when we had two days to try and find market home.

The back of the .

hotel we deeper .

with talk you anything I would .

use the word successful .

no good wrong address .

some french gay but .

anyway .

we found .

another address that looks actually quite you're by and also likely you do know what you look .

like yeah were going to go in .

the morning eight thirty.

Early the next day, we walk about woman who was not more quarters. Try another address. Another woman also know mark waters brand. I joked the mark might have chosen a great bird area as a new home, now only first remote ness and stunning weather, but also offers notably high concentration of invoices per capture. And then suddenly armah poked up.

He emailed as a file, he tapped a real ter who chat him on a database of property cells to people named mark. What is all over western australia? Over lunch, I started flicking through the attachment, and a woman's named jumped out at me as brazilian, sounding at a big memory of somebody in birmingham.

Say something about marketing brazilian or marry a brazilian. I google her name, and her paintings page came up with a picture, her and mark, as that's his wife that's mark. That's his wife that's address that they .

a address commit now now is that yeah, this is my crapshoot anymore.

I'm going to get to with this pressure.

Yeah, i'm going to get a nice, smooth, the road texting OK. We've located the warehouse, had IT there.

now will .

report back later. Yes, is typing sums up in a heart? Have you played today? I play this morning. Are you going to do pray right now?

Get all right now there's not bring that in.

Got among the road. We needed all the help we get again.

Please actually let .

me really .

nice homes are wandered .

over to a gracy no, overlooking me in the an ocean. There was a breeze blowing. He prayed.

good. Fell.

fell s strong.

Yeah, yeah.

Reading really was nice as you go to put my shoes that gone SHE would do IT. I think you .

will help or articulate just to get the right frame of mind. Why is mark tellis what he knows you, if you just like what he just care about this?

Quite honestly, it's like. Man, it's like it's about making him realize there's something that began so insignificant, had such a profound impact on so many lives. I'm talking about generally what was happening in our schools, the message that you don't have to strip everything that you stand for, the values that you're born with or you live by, you know, IT all be achieved without you having to lose yourself and become something else.

You know, you don't like a binary choice. I might this, or am that. In order for me to be successful, I have to be a certain kind of person and be a certain kind of way, and believe in a certain kind of thing.

You know, I am precious about my beliefs, system, and I found precious about my background, of my pressure, about my culture. All of these things will actually hold me back and is no successful me. And so I have a choice.

No, that's not true. So I don't know how we can put all that across on the doors of someone who clearly does not want us. There is going be difficult.

This is hell. This is why I back in. The White pages and google maps is good as a good ready. Yeah, let's go. Let's go. right.

Let's go with house.

Hey, acmd spring. Um okay, so IT didn't go great. We're sitting in a rental car in a strate mall parking lap about one hundred yards from mark whalers this house um yeah we not to answer the door.

I said mark walters. He said, who's asking? I said, i'm brian read. I'm sure this is very surprising. And he said, you need to get off the property now and slam the door shut.

good.

no. And we stood out there knocking a bit saying we don't mean to cause you distress. We're just doing our job.

We think it's really important to talk. Please hear us out for five minutes. We've come all this way.

And then I don't know if I mentioned this to you, but we had written a letter um in which we explain that you're here and um and how much you respect him and how you're hoping to speak to him and the only way write before we left, I said I shouted in, i'm leaving you a letter mark, please read IT we left the letter in the door and then we kind of SAT on the curb across the street for a while. No one stirling. And now we're kind of just in a shopping center outside where .

he lives yeah I will just go to speak to him. I'll go to I don't think he was just to doing my face. His first reaction is Normal you know the first reaction to most journalists um is where you want to shut to doing this place. So I don't think you must be surprised.

You've been on the receding end of this.

I see yeah, have been partly Normal. People are just generally scared of genders. Journalists are not to arrive.

The truth, you see. So this is one, people are scared. And if you are crooked, then you also scared of journalism, because they might arrive the truth.

So either way, the people are to honest and distances. st. Stone, like journalists, you have a lot of power over people's lives, and people will really help this.

And he, especially now for him, because this is now his new home. You are going to bring all the bad news back to his new life, anytime on that. And I think he's also a victim and all of this nonsense that went done, I don't think he is the bad guy. So, uh, no, i'll go speak to him. That's not a problem.

We were back to the tell and to ask, mean.

oh, how about man .

you to orchard? But this point I was late. We wanted to give market a chance to be the letter we left from lodge above the front door.

B, we take OK made over the market first in the morning, while we were out all day, augmented made friends with a taxi driver at the mass downtown. We'd offered to bring us some curry for dinner. We said an document. So tom, and while we waited, document asked to be, you take a look at some of the court files from the atterly employment case and see before I gave the witness statements from ravana dar and mark walters, and he launched on his bed in a White t shirt and sweatpants reading them. And I think he was surprised how much of their narrative .

structure is. Od, you see the bit I don't understand that make no sense. Brian and IT says there in the first few, but parents you never criticizing and making you out with the little mox about the hit teaching the place.

Now there are parts in the statements of a conservative salif y parents hulling abuse at mr. Dar on a daily basis, which augment d had a lot of trouble .

picturing why would you take a beautiful? That makes no sense.

There were protocols for dealing with my parents at schools, and especially knowing this is dar, how authoritative was and couldn't imagine.

or just taking IT behaviour. Not saying that is no underbelly or but it's very easy to deal with IT. So if this had been going on for years that make no sense to me yeah, there was no .

his picture is really a unique kind of beyond situation.

No, no, no.

Which is claiming that was really bad.

What saying? SHE is a very force person. Most toy is very forceful, and he will allow the parent to abuse the day in, day out. And you just think logically, don't try and be a journalist to, you know, don't be just use simple minds.

Oxman had turned off relaxed on the bed, now reading with his old colleagues had sworn to in a trip unal he was agitated.

If you this is what I don't know these things.

you know, you just you .

have to read IT yeah no, but I don't read this brand.

Sleep, get some rest. Get some rest. Okay, let's be fresh. Thank you for the evening we call them.

I I was in my room down the hall about to get in bed when there was a knock at the door. IT was ocmi. He said he couldn't sleep. Could I lendon mark walters, his witness statement for the evening, he asked.

I read the this last night, and I did IT again this morning .

harza in ocma, and I are headed to Marks early the next day. Sunday, ocmis dressed up for the occasion, a pressure and blazer, and he has marked witness statement in his hands.

What do you understand by the term over .

acting overacting?

I know my wife sometimes they what a terrible at or something overacting. And how do you guys understand that .

you're exaggerating emotions like more than a Normal person would .

or you're not being truthful in your performance? You know, you're being a little, uh.

hockey or fake. That's what I thought of the resignation.

I reads mark water's account of the day the envelopes arrived from the three muslim times.

I will start with the first man on the six of the same between to twelve at approximately quoted us. One, I was in a rude mazdas offers for a play arrange meeting. I'll come back or come back IT do the best that stand out as approach the main school element.

After appeared at the door way, I was accompanied by that PPT teacher and ella. Actually, I walk the few steps that the stores office door held the door open for us, and I saw SHE had multiple endlosses in her hand. The three of us entered in the office and SAT down at the large meeting table.

And I recall noting that the envelope rocker than usual as I commence discussions. Okay, let's stop the I recall noting that the envelopes look taker than usual. That is something silly to say that don't foot.

I was actually actually when you when you just read that a loud I I noted that too.

I doesn't because that they come in all the time with. And well, I would say that that that just sounds suspicious to me that just added for for over acting and the resignation letters. I'm told the two sheet after two sheet like a and a bit, you just don't feel that right. It's overacting .

and then SHE .

opened IT up in front of them every time is very convenient with all of these designations. They all together mark is the and news, the and cheese, the cheese help giving the door open for them. that's. But i've been in office multiple times and she's not nessy. You know, I just find IT well, maybe maybe IT happened like that, but I I just find that.

When we first met him a couple months earlier in whales, ogen was very reluctant to accept the possibility that these people he thought highly of ravana dar and mark walters might have been done something gun toward regarding the resignation letters by the time he trucked to australia, I think it's fair to say he'd concluded that something had gonna ride. But he wasn't sure what precisely. And whatever had happened, he seemed to imagine that everyone's motives have been unmalleable a forgiven mistake. But this morning, on our way to mark walters is house OK going to come to see on a dark and mark wallers response to the t as calculated.

I think these people were driving race up the war, and he wanted to get rid of him. That's just what my god ty telling me. And reading this man's response don't make that disappear, feels so good.

If IT was the truth, he would have had no problem to say. I was in my office, I opened IT up. I saw the national laws are called in my deputies and assistance to to understand that you would have no issue. But I don't believe that they were in their woman.

He opened.

That's IT right. We pull .

up to mark .

s there.

The envelope we d left was .

still wedged in the front door and his car.

a yellow toyota, also appeared not to have moved since we were here yesterday.

You cry all the way from them, the U. K, to meet this menus .

after the break. Document docks are .

good luck.

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Monday morning, arm's walking up to mark walters is one storyline on age of a world in development near earth. When I talked a few houses down, this is crazy.

right? I'm looking through the back. He's not. He's at the door.

He's knocking he's knocking nothing.

I'm so there was when we so brave.

i'm nervous to.

It's kind of pacing at the door right now.

He stepped. Wait a bit. Well, he's not conquer to let his pacing in .

from the house now is doing a wide piece, hands in his pockets, beige blazer jackets.

If you do have eyeballs on the front on your mark and you don't know the costers here now you're onna be like, what fresh hell is this two journalists at my door yesterday? Now I have a giant x colleague based on my front lawn.

How long has IT been?

It's been about seven minutes. He's been that long.

I thought.

just felt that long. No, is generally belong. Time to become a seen as an.

I am aware of the neighbours, I know others. The dog k isn't like dogs. I thought this time would creep, but exactly fine. So on edge.

I think neighbour .

told him to clear off, really.

I think so.

Kay, I need .

watching him come .

back to our car ject.

You know why you nothing? I'm nothing. The time is quite loud.

Got the passenger. Not a word.

not a whispering. I think in the house.

Did you show, did you say.

like a document at all the time? I went to the window by each window, and this is in the.

what .

do you say to mark? Make the neighbor's can I am. So surely he can. So he must be inside the little thing in the door. We were in very good, friendly items.

No, I I planned for him and also come to the south africa to come helpful without schools there. And it's really said that IT all ended in such a disaster. Is session for .

everyone we are for lunch and came back envelope. Finally, some thrilling signs of action .

since we have been this morning. The light wasn't light .

on to state famous member's house or friends house.

We SAT there. I D link. I'm sure .

what to do. Just board.

I was behind the wheel suddenly. Amer than brian. Note to someone behind us, a woman Marks next door neighbor. I was common at the car aggressively with a phone out.

Photographers yg. laking. The picture of the.

car.

I'm at all brian to takes record with them because he looked more like a journalist, but he is rushing to cept neighbour. Brian left IT in the back seat. Running, he steps out. Brian woke up to the woman and offered her a business car to introduce himself, but he wouldn't take IT from him SHE get clutching her phone with the scar on her face and continue taking pictures. Then a man, we assume was her husband came down .

the driveway. You know that? Hi mark, you can stop all this just open bloody oh.

mark, you could stop all of this. Just open the bloody door. I mumbled. Now, the woman was right outside of my window with their phone in his face my way. Take a pictures of us because .

you are harassing us and you're talking, told the place we are. Exactly you .

arresting you got going to do with you still. Believe we're not coming to speak to you. I could still see brian in my side mirror, just stimulate and talking .

to the husband. H with department is the problem.

You explain what he's doing. I I don't know what.

national. The same but of for the flock together so they will listen to him a bit more than if they do I to be. The obviously.

they won't give us two minutes like I mean, the fact that he's managed .

to keep him talking for this. I think the long is good for this stuff.

I would lost my patients about twenty minutes in. I don't think that well.

well. If you upset the neighbors, the neighbors happy time get.

I can't believe.

This ship that was crazy and like, we know who you are, we know what going on. This isn't birmingham. We know the story. We know what's happening, what.

But ming, how they .

know that they said .

is not there and said, he's left. He's time in here again and I said, that's fine. If that's true, that's good to know.

The wife was, I mean, way more upset than the husband. They said, they called the police. I said, i'm happy to speak to police. We're not doing anything wrong.

But you done, sorry.

said, why are you filming his house? Said that we're not filming. We have a microphone. You're welcome to look at IT we're talking to each other um in the car we've not filled he said who the two cronies were filming yesterday I said i've been here every time um i'm with these guys .

may be the Brown she's worried about two Browns SHE .

came to the client, said, get out of our .

neighborhood yeah no, I think there were .

some under toes there for sure. I sent ethic apprehensions in her voice here .

yeah he was just have saying, we know what the story is. We know what about we know who you are, we know who you are, we know who .

you are and to know because I said.

I said, no, it's a story about school that he used to work in and here all the way from new york, because as part of my job, I need to make sure, before I error, that I get a chance to talk to him and give him a chance to respond, he said, was obviously interested, is obviously not interested. I said, I understand that this is a situation where I still didn't make sure he responds it's unpleasant. I'm sorry they're free to guys out. He doesn't want to deal .

this shit is what he said was so angry. The git looks ogresses ve and so angry he was very upset.

He was like, you're liar. You're a liar. You're a liar. I said i'm a journalist. He said you're a liar.

I can understand they may be upset because they feel you something going on. They not .

to sure whats going on.

Well, I think he .

told him something acid took .

in what this could mean, the way the couple was speaking to me. Mark doesn't want to deal with the shit. You're a liar. This is in birmingham. Seem like not only was mark avoiding him, but he might have said something bad about OK mid, or about all of us to his neighbors.

Get out how I would. What mean? What get that anybody? I'm lad, you experience little bit you know, when you said ix and he said, now you're lying with that what we experience over time muslims, but that they would have come down to cause you spoke to the ebro. If I do go out of the calm, I don't think they would be come for sure because you are okay, because you were in enable .

and you were on the minutes, because I had to stepped out fucking bug that he added them .

a bit more relative than you.

And this guy is round up. This is happen before.

I don't understand, like why, honestly, I don't understand why you have to take IT. IT wasn't .

taking IT you not you.

I was been in general. I mean, the royal you, you know the royal you you did well.

you really well. There's a bigger picture. Don't let them direct you. If you want to slowly show people the reality of muslims, then you have to be bitter than them. Don't take, I know, I don't expect you to agree ree.

with all above beyond, like to be treated equally, get that I feel like also I feel like, right. So if I walk on the toes and eg. Shells, you might, you might ignore me. But like, it's like, you know what, you're gonna think.

what do you think of me? anyway? What i'm saying is the Brown person, you will always be seen as the Grace.

You bomb document.

i'm just the disappointed you seemed pretty confident .

that he would talk to you. yes. So well.

if I could meet him and personally would speak to me.

well, clearly he is. Clearly you being here hasn't helped, judging from like filter through the as of his neighbors. Sounds like he didn't frame IT well, he didn't seem sympathetic to your being here or moved by your being here. I'm sorry.

I no, no, it's not a problem for me. People change, but I don't know. I think it's just scares me. My god told me that these opponent in all of this as well.

we might just have to sit here and accept the fact that, like, we are not gonna get the truth. No, no, no, no.

no. I believe that we can get the truth. You might not be able to get the truth. We can get the truth in a court of all. But.

but then, okay, we freed that IT basically means that the truth is further delayed.

but that this is what I ve told you with for me, that the goal is not the end. My goal is just a struggle. And if you have that vision, then you never completely defeated. You have to be passion.

But somewhere along this aimless car, right, that I realized we weren't going to get answer. We were not going to know for sure what happened in responded us office that day with follows or why mark walters and any lash of testing me about IT was delayed for so long. We were going to find out with a mark or any lash rave.

Give your account of what they saw. We don't know what they did anything wrong at all. The most disappointing, we weren't going to get a confession out of anyone involved in crafting the georgia horse that are the author or authors or a first time witness, meaning we have no ability to save for sure who wrote the letter or why am, which is pretty well, brian told me was going to happen the first night.

I met him standing back stage as upload throughout my pitch for the story. What he said to me was it's going me really hard to figure out who rock the let them. You're probably not going na prove IT.

But he also told me that doesn't mean the story isn't worth doing because if I was doing IT right, I still make revelations along the way that could be meaningful. What we can tell you is this, once upon a time had teaching amer bana dar was in trouble because of four teaching assistance and burning city council investigators. We can say a strange letter appeared in the nick of time claiming the ts in the city council or part of a muslim plot and that they had conspired to frame mr.

dar. We can say that this letter was very useful to mr. Dar SHE brandished around, insisting with the victim of conspiracy and ultimately her name was cleared, but can said the police knew the letter was bogus.

And that was told to Michael gove that zoo cca raised in alarm the beautiful ck producers plot, no problem, but may be plot. But I won't save plot report. And we can tell you about two essential eye witnesses to the uproar opening who elderly primary core kept puzzling the head and for new year.

But whether these revelations are meaningful, I doubt IT. I believe without someone saying I wrote the letter or I have proof of who worth the letter, the children horse fair will brumle on and on. At one point in the calm, as I want those going on again about journies m being useless, bran asked him a question which you might as well be asking me.

Because people.

we can actually this, why are you participating with us?

Why are you talking to us? I don't know the good question, but what I test.

why bother with this at all? Then with genesis, i'm a thought a bit for a second.

In islam, we are taught that when you opposed, you have to speak. If you can't change IT physically, the only .

alternative is .

to speak one of the highest forms of of like, I don't like to use this word because it's not understood very well. The word is you had, but one of the highest forms of sacrifice is to speak against the dictator when no pressure and tell him to his face, that is, no pressure and a dictator.

I believe in this too, the value of speaking, if there's nothing else you can do to change something. I went to journal m on that premise. This series is what that sounds like.

But all the implication of that guidance to meet at least tent are those scholar, is that speaking truth will lead to change. I don't have the profit piece upon him actually said that, actually said where would lead. He just said speaking truth in the face of oppression was when the Grace forms that you had forms to struggle.

And so that's why i'm left wondering all of this what we've told you is head towards change or if this just another profile of the. struggle. Can we not lose hope just because, like, I don't, anna, lose hope until you are on a plane?

No, no, no, no. Even if I go back to the U. K, for me, this was possible. You, that came. I did something.

I did warn hamza. I knew how these things Normally go. Rarely is there one big revelation that undoes years of misinformation and untruth. Most decent journalism is an exercise in incremental understanding.

The trojan horse letter, though, even with my temper expectations, I was surprised by how willing people have been to let IT stand unchAllenged. People are depressingly ly unbothered that this harmful myth about muslims persists. The mystery of the trojan horse letter could be resolved.

The person or people who SAT down one day to type out that document, perhaps others who know about IT, they're almost certainly out there right now, possibly strolling down elec road, maybe even listening to this. But in order for that resolution to happen, government officials or the police, the british public, they would have to decide that this task, determining the perpetrator of a massive nationwide hopes, is their responsibility, and probably should have always been. So IT wasn't left to a doctor turn journalism student in search of a school project. We just to say a bunch of people would have to care enough and harms us, right? We may just be a far away from that.

On our last day, together with OK md in perth, after having emailed mark again and trying his wife a few times with no response, hums and I watch from the car as acmd stroll through a primary school gate and across the parking lot and probably pass A C, C, T, V. Camera into the schools is reception area with an envelope in his hand containing a letter which homs and I both witnesses seal inside a final written plea for mark walters to simply talk to him.

okay.

would stand in that primary school reception area just a few feet away from mark walters, who, as the principal let us know, was sitting in his office on the other side of the door, refusing to come out.

The trojan horse affair is produced by hums aside and me along with rebeca lacks. The show is ended by saracenic additional editing by iver glass and by a contributing editor, I A oi. Fact checking in research by mark chronic and benny ilan, original score by Thomas meller with additional music by maggi I and Stephen Jackson, sound design mixing and music supervision by Stephen Jackson, and filter ma hut ski at the audio non visual company, ly snyder are executive editor, kneel drummer is managing editor, supervising producer is a day tuba. Executive assistance is Alberto daily on same dome is an assistant managing editor of the new york times.

Special thanks to our CNN I Nathan Brown, forensic link with James for gerd and rob lenard and a team of house university, Chris hymen, Bruce john y bake marphisa a Danielle australia .

a also salm s Frankland pola and Howard read adamant steffani read very Franklin, Chris L S V A B husein moments sha head kd fugs Jordan coin, JoNathan haywood, eliza Davis more Susan westling client v.

Legal review council by amen sar Martin zones min Simon product government constant peleton, alison Sherry, Robert stank, I silene a clean.

the distribution team at the new york times, Geoffrey maranda, joon mcnealy, july assignment and laun Jackson, the marketing team at the times, linzee scar and Megan shepard. And thanks also to rain umbrella, govan, osla, atter, Peter rents, john Michael murphey, alex a. Brown, sam poser, Matthew liquids.

the brand identity team of the new york times, kEllie Jason fuju, I hana ho and addition, moni busy Jones, Katherine ach nalasky loi Thomas, definitely Price telega I Morgan Jones and Christoph po motos.

The trojan horse fair is made by serial productions and the new york times.

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