An institutional abuse probe sparked by the Daily Mirror uncovered the most prolific sexual predator since Jimmy Savile.
Neville Husband targeted around 300 vulnerable boys at Medomsley Detention Centre while working as a cook there – and was believed to be leading a paedophile ring
The fiend, who died in 2010, served time for sex attacks but the full extent of his depravity only emerged under Operation Seabrook.
The inquiry launched in 2013, after we told the story of a victim who came forward with then Scottish Labour MP Michael McCann.
It became the biggest investigation into a state-run facility to date, involving 1,676 victims of physical or sexual assault from the 60s to the closure of the facility in 1988.
Neville Husband abused hundreds of vulnerable boys
Medomsley Detention Centre
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As it kicked off, then inquiry chief Det Supt Paul Goundry told his team: “The Mirror has been absolutely crucial in getting us this far.”
Medomsley housed 17 to 21-year-olds, many first-time offenders held for minor crimes. Husband, who also took Sunday services there and later became a church minister, attacked boys between 1974 and 1984.
DS Goundry told one victim Husband was at the centre of a paedo ring. In 2003, the pervert got eight years for abusing five boys.
His sentence was increased to 10 years in 2005 after more victims came forward.
They say there may be hundreds more from his 27-year jail career – amid calls for a public inquiry into how his offending was “covered up”.
And victims of physical abuse told of how some staff delighted in cruelty.
Peter Toole, 54, of Byker, Newcastle, was sent to the site, near Consett, Co Durham, in 1985 for handling stolen goods.
Peter Toole
Peter Toole
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The cover-up was said to have been led by governor James Millar Reid, who was in charge from 1976 to 1978. He died in 2000.
One of Reid’s victims, now 58, said: “I was sexually tortured. Husband had access to records and he worked in the kitchen. Why? So he could use them to target boys.
“Husband told me he would love to f*** me when I was cleaning in the chapel. I thought he meant beat me up. Only later did I realise he was talking about sex abuse.”
Seven former Medomsley officers faced three separate trials, which can now be reported for the first time.
None of the accused were found guilty of sexual abuse.
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Christopher Onslow, 72, John McGee, 74, Brian Johnson Greenwell, 71, Kevin Blakely, 67, and Alan Bramley, 70, were convicted of various physical abuse charges. Neil Sowerby, 61, and David McClure, 63, were acquitted of all charges.
Judge Howard Crowson will sentence at a later date. He gave Blakely and Bramley bail at Teesside crown court but said: “There are possibilities including prison.”
PE instructor Onslow tortured boys as he “exploited his position in a sadistic and brutal fashion”, his trial heard. Known as The Machine, he used bricks to knock one lad off netting on an obstacle course.
Christopher Onslow was convicted of various physical abuse charge
His cries were met with: “Shut up, you soft b*****d.” But his victim had suffered three crushed vertebrae.
DCS Adrian Green, of Durham Police, said after the trials: “We were not expecting anything on this scale. It is difficult to understand how officers could not have known.”
He said there may be further charges against former staff.
The force said in a statement: “We have in excess of 300 allegations linked to Husband. However, once the investigation is concluded, it is highly likely that these numbers will be considerably higher.”
Kevin Blakey
The Ministry of Justice has spent £3.6million on damages “settling 237 private law claims relating to sexual abuse by Neville Husband”.
A MoJ spokesperson said: “Our deepest sympathies remain with those who suffered abuse at
Medomsley at the hands of the very people who were supposed to be caring for them.
"It is right that those responsible for such appalling behaviour are finally being brought to justice and we hope never to see abuse on this scale ever again.
“The culture of care and the safeguards in custody have improved hugely since Medomsley closed in 1987 but we are not complacent.
“We will continue to improve safeguards and track down any kind of abuse,and will continue working with police to bring to justice those who committed abuse in the past.”
