A social justice activist and primary school teacher has been charged in the horrific rape of a girl under the age of 13. Simon Murch, 54, was an active member of the Socialist Workers Party, and signed an open statement condemning a University Professor who criticized gender ideology.
Staffordshire Police received a report of rape on July 16 and launched an investigation into the attack, arresting Murch shortly after. While the details of the case are limited at this stage, he is due to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on September 4 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
According to Murch’s social media, he taught Year 3 primary school students, meaning the children he was frequently in contact with were approximately 7 to 8 years of age. Though it has not yet been confirmed that one of his students was the alleged victim, the school at which Murch taught, Sheffield’s Monteney Primary School, has reportedly been in contact with police.
Murch was an active progressive activist in the community, something that is reflected in his social media history.
On his X (formerly Twitter) account, Murch shared photos of children and posted about feminist and anti-racism efforts that took in place in his class. Murch is also the regional joint secretary for the National Education Union in the city, and has been suspended from role due to the charges against him.
“As soon as the union was made aware of the very serious charges, the national officers of the NEU met and have suspended the individual from membership and all elected positions with immediate effect. We will be making no further comment at this time,” a spokesperson for the Union stated.
In 2018, while representing NEU, Murch spoke at a “Women’s Lives Matter” rally. The rally focused on ending male violence against women and for domestic violence shelters and refuges.
Murch is also an active member of the Socialist Workers party and, in 2021, signed a statement issued by the party condemning then-Sussex University Professor Kathleen Stock due to her gender critical views.
Stock faced several weeks of student protests and extensive harassment due to her gender critical beliefs after publishing a book titled “Material Girls: Why Reality Matters For Feminism.” In the book, Stock criticized the concept of “gender identity” and opposed gender self-identification laws. After sustained protests, Stock resigned from her position within the University.
In the statement signed by Murch, titled “Stand with Trans Students and Workers at Sussex University,” the Socialist Workers Party expressed support for the students protesting Stock’s views. In reaction to her assertion that “trans women” are male, the statement read: “Trans women are women. There is no contradiction between women’s rights and trans rights, between fighting for women’s liberation and trans liberation.”
The Socialist Workers Party, for which Murch acted as an executive committee member, are strong proponents of gender ideology, claiming that “trans rights does not conflict with women’s rights” and declaring anyone critical of gender ideology to be “anti-trans bigots.” They have also organized and taken part in many trans activist protests across the UK.
Speaking to Reduxx on the case, Dr. Jen Izaakson, who was a member of the Socialist Workers Party for 5 years, said that Murch’s charges could be tied to the Party’s historical negligence on the topic of sexual violence.
“The SWP has historically never taken male sexual violence seriously,” Dr. Izaakson said.
“With a history that included supporting pedophile groups’ right to meet as well as internal sexual abuse scandals, it is unsurprising that they are now proponents of transgenderism, opposing women’s single sex spaces and one of their members has now been charged with sexual abuse of a child.”
This is not the first time a teacher who advocated for gender ideology was accused of having committed a child sex crime.
Last year, Reduxx reported on a teacher in Hawaii who was facing charges of distributing child sexual exploitation material, some of which he admitted was created through his own abuse of a 13-year-old boy.
Alden Bunag, who was a substitute high school teacher in Oahu, began trending on social media after sleuths discovered his X profile where he railed against “trans exclusionary radical feminists” and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
“You’re fucking acting like we want to show kids porn or something,” Bunag wrote in a post directed at a critic of gender ideology. “But something I’ve learned through the years is that whenever right-wingers accuse others of something, it’s DEFINITELY because they’re projecting.”
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