All Welsh childrens homes abusers named further down this page

Click this for : Victims tell of horror inside North Wales care home where gang rape, strip searches and vicious canings were a way of life… and Jimmy Savile was a regular visitor

They were involved in a paedophile ring network that had spread the length of the British Isles : Includes – Sir Peter Morrison, LORD/MP Greville Janner, EX PM Ted Heath, Lord Leon Brittan, Sir Ian Horobin, MP/Lord Boothby – Click this link to read more

It was systematic and organized – 650 children in 40 childrens homes were sexually, physically and emotionally abused over 20 years

A Public Tribunal heard damning evidence of how a number of children’s homes supplied a paedophile ring over a 20 year period  ! Hundreds of children were subjected to physical and sexual abuse (rape), by those who were entrusted with their welfare. Policemen, church ministers, local authority executives, senior businessmen and politicians, have all been identified.

Sexual abuse against children was uncovered at the Bryn Estyn home, near Wrexham, North Wales. It was systematic and organized

As the police investigation continued, newspaper articles,beginning with the Independent on Sunday, linked a former police superintendent, Gordon Anglesea, to child sexual abuse. He successfully sued for libel, receiving damages of £375,000, in 1994. The tribunal heard evidence alleging that Mr Anglesea did commit serious sexual misconduct at Bryn Estyn, but were not persuaded that the libel jury’s verdict was wrong.

PAEDOPHILE POLITICIANS ESCAPE PROSECUTION – 

MP Tom Watson has already suggested in the House of Commons that a powerful paedophile network may have operated in Britain, protected by its connections to Parliament and Downing Street. He has refused to publicly name the abuser

Rod Richards, a former Conservative MP and ex-leader of the Welsh Tories, made the shocking allegation that he had seen evidence linking Sir Peter Morrison to the North Wales children’s homes case, in which up to 650 children in 40 homes were sexually, physically and emotionally abused over 20 years. 

Morrison with Baroness Thatcher in 1990

Mr Richards also linked a second leading Tory grandee – now dead – to the scandals at homes including Bryn Estyn and Bryn Alyn Hall, both near Wrexham. He said official documents had identified the pair as frequent, unexplained visitors to the care homes. 

Children in care in north Wales endured years of “appalling suffering”, the UK’s largest child abuse investigation has revealed.The report condemns social workers, children’s home staff, police and local councils and makes 72 recommendations to protect 4,000 children currently cared for by local authorities in Wales.

Individuals named in the report who were still working in childcare had been traced and risk-assessed, said Mr Murphy. Efforts continue to trace others who have left the child-care system.

The Waterhouse tribunal at Ewloe in north Wales heard evidence from more than 650 people who had been in care from 1974. The three-man panel sat for more than a year. It cost more than £12m and took almost two years for its report to be completed and published.

Much of the abuse took place at Bryn Estyn Children’s Home in Wrexham, where paedophiles like Peter Howarth (pic below) – a former housemaster – sexually abused boys as young as 12. CLICK THIS for more on Howarth

‘Scum of the earth’ – Howarth was jailed in 1994 for 10 years. He died in prison. But for one of his victims, Andrew Teague, the repercussions of Howarth’s attacks are relived almost every day. “They are the scum of the earth,” he said. “They can paint it any way they like – psychiatrists, psychologists – they can say what they like about them, they are scum.”  Four staff at Bryn Estyn have been convicted of either sexual or physical abuse of children.

However, Bryn Estyn was not unique. Complaints were made to the tribunal about 40 homes throughout Gwynedd and Clwyd. Not all the alleged abuse was sexual. Much was physical – children being thumped, kicked and hit for minor misdemeanours. Some children did complain, but according to Chris Walby – a social services expert helping with another child abuse investigation in Merseyside – their word counted for little in an atmosphere where they were not listened to or believed.  He said people in power abused their positions.

In harrowing evidence, a seemingly never-ending stream of witnesses repeatedly broke down in tears as they recalled how they were raped, beaten and bullied by carers whom the world praised for apparently devoting their lives to the welfare of children.

Boys and girls as young as ten were raped and sexually assaulted by male and female staff and used as sex objects by carers; youngsters were beaten and forced to lick the shoes of their attackers or cut grass with nail scissors.

Bryn Alyn

Children who complained had their home leave cancelled, suffered more beatings or were transferred to even harsher homes.

At least a dozen victims have committed suicide and countless others have led damaged lives, unable to cope in a world which totally betrayed them when they most needed help. Now adults, many are still struggling to come to terms with the years of abuse they endured.

Deprived of a childhood, their adult lives too have been blighted by broken relationships, crime and mental illness.

Youngsters were trapped in what the inquiry’s QC called “a twilight world of bewildering inconsistency” – abused by the people they were told would care for them, unable to make their voices heard beyond the walls of the homes. Those whom they should have been able to confide in – or complain to – were often their attackers.

Even when concerns reached the outside world, complaints were dismissed, damning reports swept under the carpet, police investigations conducted half-heartedly, appeals to government ministers ignored.

Suspicious murders !

Another unresolved mystery surrounds a fire in a flat in Brighton which killed five people in April 1992. It broke out in the third-floor flat in Palmeira Avenue, Hove, during a Saturday-night party attended by about 20 people, drawn mostly from the town’s gay community.

Several former Clwyd children’s home residents are thought to have been among the guests: two who have been positively identified had been Bryn Alyn residents and knew John Allen very well – Adrian Johns and his brother Lee (also known as Lee Homberg).

Adrian Johns died and Lee Johns (found dead in 1995 after testifying in John Allen’s trial) was badly injured in the blaze, which another party guest, Trevor Carrington, a formerairline steward, admitted starting as a prank. (He himself committed suicide shortly afterwards.) Rumours continue to circulate about the fire, although at the time a link with the Clwyd scandal was not made.

The ‘whole truth’ for 12 dead

THE names of the “missing” 28 care workers in Britain’s worst child abuse scandal

Some are among the most dangerous paedophiles involved in the scandal to rock North Wales. Others are still being checked out to see if they harmed kids or were wrongly accused. These are some of the 28 who local authorities are desperate to trace following the damning Lost In Care report by Sir Ronald Waterhouse into abuse at 40 carehomes in North Wales:

Paul Bicker Wilson, 49, residential care officer at Bryn Estyn. He was given a suspended sentence of three years and two months in 1994 at Knutsford Crown Court for assault and bullying.

Joined the Bryn Estyn staff as a temporary child care officer in 1974. Before that he worked as a Press photographer for six years and in linen and shoe factories in Northern Ireland for another five. He also worked at children’s homes in Leicester and Southwark and was a lumberjack in Scotland. Stayed at Bryn Estyn until it closed in 1984 when he was employed at Chevet Hey care home. 

TRIBUNAL: Heard complaints by 39 ex-residents of physical abuse spanning Wilson’s 10 years at Bryn Estyn. Seven former members of staff also admitted he was a violent bully. In 1994 he pleaded guilty to three offences of assault causing ABH and one of common assault on a boy at Bryn Estyn

Stephen Norris, 63, (pic below) former residential care officer at the Bryn Estyn home. He was sentenced to a total of seven years jail in 1993 for sex offences against boys. Norris was released after serving half the sentence. Joined Bryn Estyn as a houseparent with his wife Margaret in 1974. Following his national service he spent 10 years as a labourer, coach driver and insurance clerk. The father-of-two’s first job in the child care system was at a home in Greystone Heath. Became senior houseparent at Bryn Estyn in 1977 and stayed in charge until its closure when he transferred to Cartrefle Community Home in Broughton. 

TRIBUNAL: Heard how Norris would befriend boys by offering them a sympathetic ear. He was obsessed with sexual matters and was present in the shower block when boys washed themselves. Norris was jailed for three and a half years in 1990 for five indecent assaults involving three boys. Further jailed in 1993 for seven years for serious sex offences on boys at Bryn Estyn. Click this for more on Norris

November 1999 – Home-owner child abuse conviction – A former supervisor at two children’s homes in north Wales has been jailed for five years for indecently assaulting boys in his care in the 1970s. Richard Leake, 58, (pictured below)  sexually assaulted boys in his care while working as a supervisor at Bersham Children’s Home in Wrexham and later as principal at Ystrad Hall in Llangollen. 

Joseph Dodd, 63, officer in charge at Ty’r Felin. He was investigated, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to take him to court. He later retired on grounds of ill-health. The report was satisified he did use excessive force on the children in his care. He was never been convicted of any offences.

Cyril Samuels – Penarth –

A care worker at a South Wales children’s home has been jailed for seven years for 15 sex attacks. Cardiff Crown Court heard father-of-three Cyril Samuels was arrested as part of the massive police investigation called Operation Goldfinch into abuse in children’s home

Samuels was employed for five years at the Headlands National Children’s Home in Penarth between 1969 and 1974. At least Six boys, aged between 10 and 15 were sexually abused. Samuels, of Penarth, was found guilty of a total of 15 charges – including four of indecent assault and 11 of serious sexual assaults.

Leslie E Wilson: sentenced to 15 months in prison for gross indecency and attempted Buggery in 1977. Joined Little Acton staff in 1974, became a senior housemaster two years later.

TRIBUNAL: Wilson pleaded guilty in 1977 to offences of indecent assault, gross indecency and attempted gross indecency. He was sentenced to 15 months behind bars and was dismissed from Clwyd County Council.

Michael Taylor: In September 1993 he had four cautions in relation to indecent assault.The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to pursue to court. Deputy officer in charge at Bersham Hall in Wrexham for less than a year between 1972 and 1973.

TRIBUNAL: Heard eight complaints from former residents. Three alleged sexual abuse and a Chevet Hey ex-resident alleged he was indecently assaulted in the summer of 1973. In 1980 Taylor was convicted of two indecent assaults on a teenager. Placed on two years’ probation.

Derek Brushett – Bryn-y-don – Brushett (pic below) was convicted in November 1999 of a catalogue of sexual and physical abuse on 17 boys, aged between 11 and 16, at Bryn-y-don approved school, Dinas Powys, near Cardiff, between 1974 and 1980.

In 1997 – A BOLTON man says he feels “devastated and let down” after watching the sex beast he claims abused him as a child being sentenced to 12 years in jail. Noel Ryan, aged 66, admitted 14 charges of sex abuse on boys in his care at a residential special school in North Wales. At least 17 boys were buggered at Clwyd Hall School from 1970 to 1981 by a houseparent, Noel Ryan, who was jailed in 1997 for 12 years.

But the Bolton man who says he was abused after being referred to Clywd Hall in the 1970s where Ryan worked as a house parent said: “He was evil and should have got life.” Full conviction write-up here

David Gillison: As with Jacqueline Thomas, he was convicted of sexual offences in 1986. He was a social worker not then employed in residential care.

On 14 March 1997, in the Crown Court at Mold, Robert Martin Williams, a former nursing auxilliary at Gwynfa Residential Unit, was convicted of two offences of rape of a girl patient, who was aged 16 years at the time of the offences and who is identified as P in paragraphs 20.12 and 20.13 of this report. Concurrent sentences of six years’ imprisonment were imposed on him.

Kenneth Scott: Was care assistant at Tanllwyfan, near Old Colwyn from 1974 to 1976. Left school at 16 to work for the National Coal Board for two years before becoming a warden for the Youth Hostels Association. He was also a barman and a care assistant for Wandsworth Borough Council. 

TRIBUNAL: Was jailed for eight years in 1986 after pleading guilty to two serious sexual assaults and three of gross indecency. The victims were boys aged between 14 and 16

John Allen , 58,(pic below) founder of the Bryn Alyn community.  He was jailed for six years in 1995 for indecent assaults on boys in his care over an 11-year-period. See John Allen working at a Premier Inn (November 2012)

Anthony Taylor: Member of the Bryn Alyn Community staff who is now retired. 

TRIBUNAL: Complaints from three ex-residents who alleged they were sexually abused. He was convicted in 1976 by Talgarth magistrates of two indecent assaults and was fined pounds 40

April 1998: Robert Starr, of Rumney, Cardiff, became the first person to be convicted as a result of the inquiry. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison at Cardiff Crown Court after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting nine boys. His family later claimed he pleaded guilty because of the stress of the inquiry

HUW MEURIG JONES: Deputy officer in charge of Little Acton Assessment Centre, near Wrexham 1974-1980.  Took up his post as deputy officer in charge at Little Acton Assessment Centre, Wrexham, in 1974. He resigned two years later. He was formerly a houseparent in Liverpool and after his resignation became an unqualified social worker for Clwyd County Council. He resigned again in 1981 after successive police investigations of allegations of sexual abuse made against him.

TRIBUNAL: Three witnesses made complaints against Jones. One former boy resident alleged Jones had made sexual advances to him on two occasions and claimed he used to walk around blowing kisses and nipping backsides. Jones has never been convicted of offences.

JOHN ILTON: Teacher at Bryn Estyn. A weight lifter and body builder who was accused of slapping youngsters. Joined Bryn Estyn in 1972 and stayed until it closed in 1984 when he went to Bersham Hall for six years. A varied career in factory and office work before going to teach English at the home.

TRIBUNAL: There were 14 complaints made for alleged assault while he was at Bryn Estyn and three in his time at Bersham Hall.

Norman Roberts, 66, and son Ian Roberts , 42, were both convicted at Mold Crown Court in 1993 of horse-whipping a boy fostered by the family at the age of seven.Was a self-employed farm worker with a small-holding at Gwalchmai, Anglesey. He also ran a mobile grocery business but described himself as a quarryman at his trial. He and his wife Evelyn were approved as foster parents in 1978 being described as “most impressive” by a senior social worker.

TRIBUNAL: Was convicted of an assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 1993 after allegedly whipping his foster child. Acquitted of cruelty to the same child. Given a two year conditional discharge.

IAN MALCOLM ROBERTS: Son of Norman Roberts (above). 

TRIBUNAL: Also given a two year conditional discharge for a common assault on the same foster child.

Malcolm Scrugham: described by Sir Ronald Waterhouse as being among the “most serious offenders”. A foster parent. Sexually assaulted young girls in his care. Jailed for ten years in 1993 for raping a girl of 11 and indecent assault on a boy. 2012 – Now living in nr Great Yarmouth 

Scrungham and his wife Maria moved from Old Colwyn to Bala in Gwynedd in 1982 and fostered a nine-year-old girl. Occupation unknown. 

TRIBUNAL: In 1993 he was convicted of two rapes and one indecent assault on the girl. Also convicted of aiding and abetting a boyfriend of the girl to have unlawful sexual intercourse with her. He got 10 years.

Carl Johnson Evans: Succeeded Huw Meurig Evans as officer in charge of Little Acton Assessment Centre in 1976. Previously he was a trainee forester, salesman, Army musician and assistant manager in a finance company. 

TRIBUNAL: He was suspended from Little Acton in 1978 following an allegation of rape made by a girl resident. The tribunal heard allegations from staff he had given children alcohol and allegedly spent too much time “counselling” girls. He has never been convicted of any charges.

Brian Ely – Bryn-y-Don/Forde Park – A teacher jailed for sexually abusing boys at schools in Wales and Devon has begun an appeal against his conviction. Brian Ely, 71, was sentenced to 15 years at Exeter Crown Court in 2001 for 26 sex offences against boys dating back 40 years.

Albert Frederick Tom Dyson: Never employed by social services. Convicted in 1980 of three counts of indecency against one boy in care at Bryn Estyn. Jailed for 18 months. Owned the 15/20 Club in Rhyl for 20 years before selling it in 1980. Was never employed by social services but befriended a boy at Bryn Estyn. 

TRIBUNAL: Admitted he committed three offences of indecency against the unnamed boy while he was in care at the Wrexham home. Convicted in 1980 and sentenced to 18 months in jail.

BRYAN DAVIES:
Warden at Ystrad Hall, Llangollen. Convicted in 1978 of three indecent assaults on two pupils at the school. He got probation for 12 month on condition of hospital treatment. Also given a sentence of 160 hours of community service. He had been a corporal in the Army followed by 23 years as a fitter for an aircraft company. He had no experience of dealing with children in care.

Appointed Deputy Principal of Ystrad Hall School in 1975. The Llangollen school was registered as an institution catering wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils aged 11 to 14 years. Some previous experience with residential care work. 

TRIBUNAL: Davies was described by two witnesses as a “nutter”. There were 12 complaints against him and six referred to Davies hitting out with a torch. Concluded he did use physical force inappropriately from time to time but most of it was due to inexperience.

Christopher Ian Thomas: He was a deputy child care officer at Bersham Hall for 10 years from 1978, then he was promoted to officer in charge for another decade. 

TRIBUNAL: Four witnesses alleged physical assaults by Thomas and he admitted that on a number of occasions he did use excessive force. He has never been convicted of offences.

JACQUELINE ELIZABETH THOMAS: A full-time residential care worker employed at Chevet Hey children’s home, Clwyd. Received a three-month suspended sentence for indecent assault on a boy of 15. She was one of five people grouped together in the report who were convicted of sex offences against children in 1986 at the Chevet Hey home after an investigation which spanned 1981-89. Went to Chevet Hey as a care officer in 1979 when she was 20 years old.

She left school when she was 16 with eight O Levels and had 18 months’ care experience before going to the Wrexham home

REGINALD GARETH COOKE (also known as Gary Cooke):
Employed for only two weeks at Bersham Hall in 1972. Later he was taken on as a care worker for more than a year by the Bryn Alyn Community in their children’s homes in Cheshire and Higford. He had also been an assistant warden at a probation hostel in Ruabon, near Wrexham, for six months. 

TRIBUNAL: Heard that Cooke was one of the leaders of a known paedophile ring in Wrexham. In 1980 he pleaded guilty to two serious sexual assaults, one of indecent assault and one of taking an indecent photograph. He was sentenced to five years. In 1987 he was jailed for a further seven years for sex offences on boys aged between 12 and 18. Jailed for five years but released in November, 1981. Also named among the most serious offenders.

ARTHUR GRAHAM STEPHENS: Co-defendant in a sex case with paedophile Reginald Cooke in 1980. Pleaded guilty to one serious sexual assault and one indecent assault. Jailed for three years.

JOSEPH NEFYN DODD:

Worked as a housemaster at Bryn Estyn between 1974 and
1977. In 1978 he became Officer in charge at Ty’r Felin. Physically
abused kids at both homes. Children were physically abused at Ty’r Felin local authority home in Gwynedd while Nefyn Dodd was officer-in-charge between 1978 and 1990. Gwynedd County Council promoted Dodd to a position of control over all the county’s community homes. More than 80 former residents made complaints about Dodd. He ran Ty’r Felin like a harsh sergeant-major might run an Army camp and “we are satisfied that Dodd did frequently use excessive force to children in his care”. He has never been convicted of offences.

DAVID JOHN GILLISON: Worked for Clwyd County Council as a social worker for the physically handicapped at the Rhuddlan area office. He and Jacqueline Thomas were big friends. 

TRIBUNAL: In 1987 Gillison pleaded guilty to two offences of gross indecency with a male resident at Bersham Hall and was sentenced to three and a quarter years in prison.

HEATHER PATRICIA LYNN, 48:
Deputy Officer in charge of Cartrefle from 1980-1990. Resigned after
admitting a sexual relationship with an under-age boy.

JOAN GLOVER: The senior care officer at South Meadow Community Centre from 1969 to the end of 1972. She lived in Staffordshire previously working in the packing department of a Royal Doulton factory and teaching at Sunday school. She left the Prestatyn home in 1973 to sit a formal care qualification, returning a year later for a further eight year stint at the helm.

TRIBUNAL: Former residents who alleged physical abuse said Glover was a “Jeckyll and Hyde” character. Glover admitted “losing her rag” and the report said the children were subject to Glover’s erratic and oppressive conduct.

Slapped a girl of 13 and spanked other kids with her shoes.

IAN THOMAS MUIR: Head teacher of the Bryn Alyn Community school in the mid 80s. 

TRIBUNAL: Could not be traced. In 1986 he was convicted of having unlawful sex with an 15-year-old female resident. He was jailed for six months

PETER STEEN: Worked at Bryn Alyn
from 1976-1993 also worked at Gatewen Hall and Bryntirion Hall. Earlier he had been a self-employed building contractor. He ran a five-a-side football team which led to voluntary youth work and a prominent role at Ruabon Leisure Centre. He had no formal training in social work and was a former club bouncer.

TRIBUNAL: Named by 19 complainants who allege he was a physical abuser. The report concludes he did use excessive force to restrain both boys and girls from time to time but one member of staff called him a strong disciplinarian but fair person.

Roger Owen Griffiths and his former wife, Anthea Beatrice Roberts, the proprietors of Gatewen Hall residential school from 1977 to 1982, when the premises were sold to the Bryn Alyn Community, were convicted in the Crown Court at Chester on 3 and 4 August 1999. Griffiths was sentenced to a total of eight years’ imprisonment for offences of buggery (one), attempted buggery (one), indecent assault (one) and cruelty (four) involving four boy residents at the school. Roberts was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for two offences of indecent assault on two other boy residents aged under 16 years.

David Gwyn Birch: Employed as a child care officer at Bryn Estyn in 1979. Before that he had worked as a youth worker in Holywell and in camps in the USA. A qualified PE teacher, he moved to Chevet Hey when Bryn Estyn closed. TRIBUNAL: In all, 17 former Bryn Estyn residents complained of physical assaults by Birch during the five years he worked there. He was acquitted of two sexual offences alleged against him in 1995.

Febuary 2000 – Approved school teachers jailed for abuse

Two men who abused young boys when they worked in an approved school in Monmouthshire have been jailed for a total of 23 years. 

A judge at Newport Crown Court jailed 66-year-old Barrie Alden, the former deputy principal at the Ty Mawr School near Abergavenny for 15 years after being convicted of 10 offences against young boys. 

Ex-housemaster John Wright, 56, from Talgarth in Powys was sentenced to eight years after being found guilty of six counts.

Alden, from Norwich, and Wright, from Talgarth, Powys, committed the offences on eight boys at the council-run home for vulnerable children from the 1960s to the 1980s. The home was closed in 1991.

July 2000 – A social worker who abused two boys at an Islington Council children’s home in the 1970s was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment earlier this week.

December 1997 – A former scoutmaster and youth worker, David Stanley,(pic above) from Telford, has been jailed for 18 years for a series of sexual attacks on young boys in his care. The offences were committed while Stanley worked as a scoutmaster and then as a care assistant at a privately-run residential children’s home in Shifnal, Shropshire. The home was part of the same company which owned the Bryn Alyn home in north Wales

Michael Taylor pleaded guilty at London’s Snaresbrook crown court to seven counts of indecent assault at Gisburne House. When he left Gisburne House he became deputy superintendent of Bersham Hall children’s home in North Wales where he repeatedly assaulted two 11-year-old boys in his care.

Taylor was arrested after the people he abused, now adults, went to the police. He was previously convicted of two indecent assaults in 1980. His name will be added to the sex offenders’ register.

Few children complained and staff were strongly discouraged from voicing concerns. The worst “cult of silence” was at Bryn Estyn, where there was suspicion and gossip for many years about Howarth’s “flat list”. He compiled a list of boys invited to his flat for the evening, who had to wear pyjamas with no underwear, and were then subjected to all manner of sexual assault. The principal, Matt Arnold, threatened staff with dismissal if they gave currency to the rumours.

There was isolated sexual abuse at two of Paul Hett’s private children’s homes, Dol Rhyd School and Ysgol Hengwrt. Five men on the staff abused a victim each. Roger Platres Saint, a foster parent, was jailed for 6½ years in 1997 for indecent assaults on nine children. North Wales Police were at fault for telling social services in 1978 there was nothing detrimental about him; he had indecent assault convictions.

Children in some Gwynedd foster homes were sexually and physically abused. Malcolm Scrugham was jailed in 1993 for ten years for raping a foster child. A foster father and his son were convicted in 1993 of physical assaults.

Febuary 2000

Over the 15 years following the Taylor trial in 1975 nine other care workers were convicted and further allegations surfaced. Between 1978 and 1992 there were 20 police inquiries into allegations made by residents at a number of homes in both Clwyd and Gwynedd involvingclaims of rape, indecent assault and physical assault.

Homes investigated included Cartref Melys, Ty’r Felin, Y Gwyngyll, Hengwrt, Bersham Hall, Pentre Saeson, Tapley Avenue, Ysgol Treborth, Bryn Alyn, Cheviot Hey, Talfryn, Gatewen, and Park House.

Care workers convicted before 1991 included:

• David Taylor (indecent assault at Bryn Tirion);

• Leslie Wilson (indecent assault, gross indecency, Little Action assessment centre);

• Bryn Davies (indecent assault, Llangollen school);

• Ian Muir (unlawful sexual intercourse, Bryn Alyn);

• David Gillison (indecent assault of a 16-year old at Cheviot Hey);

• Jackie Thomas (indecent assault of Cheviot Hey teenager);

• Stephen Norris (indecent assault, Cartrefle);

• Frederick Rutter (rape and indecent assault, Bryn Estyn).

Between 1974 and 1996, there were 12 internal inquires by Clwyd Council involving children in its care homes and no fewer than seven different management structures for children’s services within its social services department.

The following allegations formed the basis of the police investigation that began in 1991. More than one allegation of abuse were made at a series of homes:

• Bersham Hall (41),

• Berwyn Hall (seven),

• Bryn Alyn (96),

• Bryn Estyn (138),

• Bryn Tirion (15),

• Cartref Bontnewydd (four),

• Cartref Melys (two),

• Cartrefle (30),

• Cherry Hill (two),

• Cheviot Hey (34)

• Clwyd Hall (four),

• Dol Rhyd (two),

• Gatewen (36),

• Gwynfa (24),

• Hengwrt (nine),

• Park House (18),

• Pentre Saeson (20),

• Queens Park (13),

• Rhiwlas (three),

• South Meadows (13),

• Tanllwyfan (13),

• Ty Newydd (12),

• Ty’r Felin (85),

• Ucheldre (two),

• Upper Downing (12),

• Y Gwyngyll (18),

• Ynys Fechan (four),

• Ysgol Talfryn (19),

• Ystrad Hall (39).

  Children in care

  It is usual within establishments like childrens homes were abuse has occurred that a system has developed and allowed to continue were the abuse is widespread and commonplace and being committed by more than one individual. In some cases those who are not abusers turn a blind eye to the abuse which leaves vulnerable children having no where to turn and no escape.

  Residents live in an environment of fear of the next incident of abuse. Children may run away from these homes only to be returned by the Police upon discovery creating a feeling of hopelessness. On some occasions even if the child did disclose the abuse to external sources they were not believed. These systems can develop into establishments were even the residents turn to abusing other residents sometimes at the order of staff involved with the abuse.

  The evidence shows that the widespread sexual abuse of children in care has been occurring for decades and those paedophiles involved, include some “high members” of UK society but their abuse has been largely ignored or hidden. WHY ? One simple answer – they were protected. They were involved in a paedophile ring that had spread the length of the British Isles. 

  Hundreds of children were subjected to physical and sexual abuse, by those who were entrusted with their welfare. Policemen, church ministers, local authority executives, senior businessmen and politicians, have all been identified yet “let off the hook”.

  Those named to the Waterhouse tribunal included:

  A man who bears the same surname as a prominent Conservative supporter. Two witnesses have told the tribunal of a rich and powerful man who belonged to the alleged ring.

  The son of an influential peer who admitted to police that he had been having sex with an under-age boy from one of the homes. Despite his admission, he was never prosecuted.

  A powerful public official who has previously been cleared of abuse. Six witnesses have given separate accounts to the tribunal of his alleged rape of young boys. Another has reported him attending parties in Wrexham which were supplied with boys from a children’s home.

  Two social workers and two police officers, one of whom was accused of abuse on four separate occasions and exonerated each time, another of whom has since been jailed in another part of the country for gross indecency with a child.

  More than a dozen other local men, including an executive with a local authority, a senior probation officer and a director of a major company.

  All those named as members of the alleged ring have denied the charges, either in evidence to the tribunal or through their lawyers.

  Wales child abuse scandal: key questions answered – The Guardian

November 2012 – North Wales kids homes Whistle-blowers car is sabotaged

The alleged impact of freemasonry

Although this question was quite widely discussed in the press before the Tribunal’s hearings began very few questions were asked about it during our inquiry and most of them were put by the Chairman of the Tribunal to give appropriate witnesses an opportunity to affirm or deny any connection with freemasonry.

The reason why freemasonry soon became a non-issue in the inquiry was that there was no evidence whatsoever that freemasonry had had any impact on any of the investigations with which we have been concerned. we understood it to be alleged specifically that Gordon Anglesea’s membership of the Masons had led to a “cover up” of the allegations about him or to specially favourable treatment in consideration by the police of the strength of the evidence against him. There was also a suggestion that he had received special favour in being permitted to retire when he did.

It is inappropriate to repeat here our conclusions about the case of Gordon Anglesea, which are set out fully in Chapter 9. It is necessary, however, to repeat that: 

• (a)  at the outset of the Inquiry Counsel for the North Wales Police stated, on the instructions of the Chief Constable, that none of the current or former senior officers from Assistant Chief Constable upwards during the period under review had been a freemason and that the same was true of the relevant Detective Chief Superintendents and Detective Superintendent Ackerley;

• (b)  a directive was issued by the Chief Constable in September 1984 warning existing Masons in the North Wales Police to “consider carefully how right it is to continue such membership” in view of the requirement that “openness must be seen by all”, and the directive discouraged others from applying to join the Masons for the same reasons

 When Councillor Malcolm King was asked about the alleged rumours of the involvement of freemasonry in either the alleged abuse or the investigation of it in North Wales, he said that there was speculation (he believed) that Lord Kenyon had asked for promotion for Gordon Anglesea. This was said by Councillor King to have been based on a conversation overheard at a police function; and the speculation was that Lord Kenyon had advocated Anglesea’s promotion “for the purpose of covering up the fact that his son had been involved in child abuse activities”. 

We have received no evidence whatsoever in support of this allegation and it appears to have been merely a malicious rumour. In particular, there is no evidence that Lord Kenyon intervened at any time in any way on behalf of Anglesea. Both Lord Kenyon (the fifth Baron) and the son referred to (Thomas) are now dead. We deal in Chapter 52 with allegations about the latter and an alleged intervention by Lord Kenyon on his son’s behalf. In relation to freemasonry, the only evidence about Lord Kenyon, who was Provincial Grand Master and a member of the North Wales Police Authority in the 1980s, was given by the Chief Constable at that time, David Owen. Owen’s evidence was that, within a month following the publication of the directive, he met Lord Kenyon at Wrexham Police Station, at Lord Kenyon’s request, when the latter put to him his concern as Provincial Grand Master about the contents of the directive. At this meeting Lord Kenyon argued that the directive was totally misguided and asked that it should be withdrawn; and he mentioned that a police officer (unidentified, but not Anglesea) had been about to take the chair in a North Wales lodge but had declined to do so because of the directive.

 Owen’s evidence was that he told Lord Kenyon that he had no intention of withdrawing the directive. In response, Lord Kenyon argued that the Chief Constable knew nothing at all about freemasonry and suggested that it would be appropriate for him to join a lodge, such as the one at Denbigh, outside the area of his usual working activity; but this invitation was declined.

 Nefyn Dodd was specifically asked whether he had ever been a Mason, in order that any suggestion of a “cover up” in his case on that ground should be probed. His answer was in the negative and he said that, to his knowledge, the only Mason known to him was Leonard Stritch[805]. The only other person figuring in this inquiry who is known to have been a Mason is John Ilton, who was for a time a member of the same lodge at Wrexham (the Berwyn lodge) as Gordon Anglesea. His evidence to the Tribunal was that he knew Anglesea by sight and vaguely remembered him as a member of the same lodge, but that he had never approached Anglesea.

Lord Kenyon was the Grand Master of the North Wales Province of Freemasonry in the 1980s. He was also a member of the North Wales Police Authority.

The Waterhouse Tribunal considered a comment made by Councillor Malcolm King that “there was speculation (he believed) that Lord Kenyon had asked for promotion for Gordon Anglesea.”

“This was said by Councillor King to have been based on a conversation overheard at a police function; and that the speculation was that Lord Kenyon had advocated Anglesea’s promotion ‘for the purpose of covering up the fact that his son had been involved in child abuse activities’.”

“This was alleged to have related to an incident in August 1979 when Lord Kenyon’s son, Tom, reported the theft of articles by a former Bryn Estyn resident while the two men were staying at a flat in Wrexham. The young man he accused of theft was arrested and later given three months detention.

“However, during the course of the investigation police discovered a series of indecent photographs in the flat which was owned by a man called Gary Cooke.

“Cooke was later jailed for five years on two counts of buggery, one of indecent assault and one of taking an indecent photograph.

“Cooke claimed that, after he was arrested and charged, Tom Kenyon came over and apologised to him for what had happened and handed him a letter.

Because of the libel threat only two people can beconnected to the Jillings report. Both are now dead. One is Sir Peter Morrison, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, and one of Thatcher’s key aides. His sister is Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen. One of his more extraordinary achievements is not hearing the IRA bomb go off while staying at the Grand Hotel in Brighton in 1985. 

The other is Thomas Kenyon, son of the late Lord Kenyon. Thomas died of Aids. His brother represents Wales on the EU’s Committee of the Regions. These names alone give some indication of the kind of people who might have been named in the report, if they were name-able. 

“He added that if Cooke agreed “not to say anything” he would have a word with his father to improve Cooke’s chances in court.