Sex abuse claims: 16 staff questioned in Medomsley Detention Centre

SIXTEEN former North East detention centre staff have been questioned in relation to an inquiry into historical sexual and physical abuse.

A total of 1,123 men have contacted Durham Constabulary’s Operation Seabrook to say they were victims of assaults after the investigation was launched in August 2013.

Medomsley Detention centre, near Consett, took teenagers, including those from Wearside and County Durham, for minor offences.

Those who have contacted police were there for minor offences during the 1960s to when it closed in 1988.

Previous investigations in 2003 and 2005 led to the conviction and jailing of Neville Husband and Leslie Johnson, former staff who have since died.

Of those who have come forward, about one-third say they were sexually assaulted by one of them.

All of the 16 ex-staff spoken to, the majority voluntary at police stations, two – aged 69 and 58 – were arrested on suspicion of physical and sexual assaults before being released on bail.

Efforts are under way to trace and interview at least a dozen more former workers.

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