Friday, 27 November 2015

Child sexual abuse inquiry: Current MPs along with Catholic and Anglican churches to be investigated

Children's homes, local councils, church institutions and schools are also being investigated

Current MPs and the Catholic and Anglican churches will be investigated over historical child sex abuse claims in England and Wales, it has been announced.

Former politicians, spies, councils, schools and youth offender institutions are also being scrutinised by the independent inquiry led by Justice Lowell Goddard.

Speaking in central London the judge set out 12 different lines of inquiry that will each hold public hearings with victims, witnesses and experts. Both churches as well as Lambeth, Nottinghamshire and Rochdale councils will be among the first areas of focus.
Justice Goddard said: “The investigation will focus on high-profile allegations of child sexual abuse involving current or former members of parliament, senior civil servants, government advisers and members of intelligence and security agencies. It will consider allegations of cover up and conspiracy and review the adequacy of law enforcement responses to these allegations.”

The investigation was set up last year following claims of a high-level cover up of abuse and has been beset by delays following the resignations of two previous chairs, Baroness Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf. It will be Britain’s largest-ever public inquiry and is expected to take up to five years and cost tens of millions of pounds.

Areas of focus include allegations concerning children in the care of Lambeth and Nottinghamshire councils. Another line of inquiry will be on Knowl View boys’ school and Cambridge House children’s hostel, where former Lib Dem MP for Rochdale Cyril Smith is said to have abused children for years, and Rochdale council itself.

All three local authorities have been accused of failing to prevent widespread sexual abuse. Details of an internal investigation concerning allegations of assaults carried out by officers within Lambeth council in the 1990s recently revealed there were two sites on council property used to carry out sexual assaults “on many occasions over the years”.

Police have also been accused of failing to investigate allegations of abuse at several Nottinghamshire children’s homes. Actress Samantha Morton, who spent much of her childhood in care homes in Nottingham, is one of many who say they were sexually abused by residential care workers.

Further concerns in Rochdale were raised in an independent report published last year into the council’s response to issues around child sexual exploitation from 2006-13. It revealed a “shocking” inability to protect seven vulnerable girls from sexual exploitation by a gang of men.

The council said: “Since 2012 we have overhauled our children’s services and our work is now nationally-recognised.”

Rochdale MP and child abuse campaigner Simon Danczuk said: “As ever, the focus should remain on the victims of these horrendous crimes. No inquiry, regardless of how wide ranging, will ever undo these traumatic experiences. But we can ensure that the truth is discovered and that vulnerable children are protected in the future.

“Much has been learned in Rochdale in recent years when it comes to tackling child abuse, but there are still many questions left unanswered. This inquiry will be uncomfortable for our town but a necessary part of the healing process.”

The Goddard inquiry will also look at allegations of a cover-up involving the abuse committed by Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester, over three decades. The 83-year-old was jailed for more than two years last month for a string of offences against teenagers and young men.
Allegations of abuse at the Medomsley Detention Centre in Durham – from more than 1,100 men – as well as the response of abuse allegations by the National Crime Agency will also be investigated.
Justice Goddard said she hoped some of the investigations would be concluded within 18 months but others could take several years. She described the original five-year timetable for completion as “ambitious but achievable” and said that regional truth centres for victims would be set up next year.

She said: “To run 12 investigations in parallel represents an organisational challenge that is unprecedented in a public inquiry in the United Kingdom. We are determined to succeed and expect full co-operation of all institutions and individuals who can assist us in our work.”

The Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel to the Inquiry said: “Too many victims and survivors of child sexual abuse have suffered in silence. These investigations will give public voice to that suffering and bring greater understanding of why so many horrific crimes went unreported and undetected for so long. We encourage anyone who is a victim or survivor of child sexual abuse and who wants to share their experience to contact the inquiry.”

The 12 investigations

* Children in the Care of Lambeth Council
* Children in the Care of Nottinghamshire Councils
* Cambridge House, Knowl View and Rochdale Council
* Child Sexual Abuse in the Anglican Church
* Child Sexual Abuse in the Roman Catholic Church
* The Sexual Abuse of Children in Custodial Institutions
* Child Sexual Abuse in Residential Schools
* The Internet and Child Sexual Abuse
* Child Sexual Exploitation by Organised Networks
* The Protection of Children Outside the United Kingdom
* Accountability and Reparations for Victims and Survivors
* Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse linked to Westminste
Source

Medomsley Detention Centre among the first to face child sex abuse inquiry

27 November 2015 at 1:36pm

The allegations of sexual abuse at the former Medomsley Detention Centre in County Durham are to be among the first to be examined by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

More than twelve hundred former inmates have come forward to report physical and sexual abuse by staff, mainly during the 1970s and 80s. Today, the Inquiry Chair, Justice Goddard announced the first wave of investigations to be undertaken.

Last updated Fri 27 Nov 2015

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Abuse inquiry: MPs, councils and Churches to be investigated

The Anglican and Catholic churches and both former and current MPs are to be investigated by the inquiry into child sexual abuse, its chair has said.

Justice Lowell Goddard said councils in Lambeth, Nottinghamshire and Rochdale councils will also be examined as part of 12 separate investigations in England and Wales.

The scale of the inquiry was "unprecedented" in the UK, but she was determined it would succeed, she added.

The inquiry is due to take five years.
The 12 investigations will look at:

Children in the care of Lambeth Council
Children in the care of Nottinghamshire councils
Cambridge House, Knowl View and Rochdale Council
Child sexual abuse in the Anglican Church
Child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church
The sexual abuse of children in custodial institutions
Child sexual abuse in residential schools
The internet and child sexual abuse
Child exploitation by organised networks
The protection of children outside the United Kingdom
Accountability and reparations for victims and survivors
Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster

Anyone wishing to contact the inquiry with relevant information can use a dedicated NSPCC helpline on 0800 917 1000.

Justice Goddard said she was confident the range of investigations into "people of public prominence" would "give a voice to victims and survivors".

Image caption Knowl View school, Manchester, where allegations of abuse span 26 years, is among institutions to be investigated

"To run 12 investigations in parallel represents an organisational challenge that is unprecedented in a public inquiry in the United Kingdom," she added.

"We are determined to succeed."

Lambeth council's leader, Lib Peck, said it had previously investigated crimes committed at its children's homes prior to their closure in 1983, which led to a number of criminal convictions.

But she added that in light of "new national concerns" about how child abuse issues were investigated, "it is right that the very serious events of the past are being looked at again".

'Culture of tolerance'

Steve Rumbelow, chief executive of Rochdale Borough Council, said it would give its "full support" to the inquiry.

Other institutions to be investigated as part of the inquiry include Medomsley Youth Detention Centre in County Durham, and Cambridge House boys' home and Knowl View in Rochdale - including claims relating to the late Cyril Smith, a Liberal MP.

An investigation will be held into allegations of child sexual abuse involving "people of public prominence" associated with Westminster - including MPs, senior civil servants, and members of the security services. Allegations of cover-up and conspiracy will also be looked at.

And there will also be an investigation into whether there was, within the highest levels of government, a "culture of tolerance" towards those suspected of child sexual abuse.

Liz Dux, a child abuse lawyer whose firm represents many of the victims to whom the abuse inquiry now applies, told BBC Radio 5 live they wanted to see "positive reforms come out of this inquiry to ensure that no other person suffers the way that they have done".

Among religious orders and institutions to be investigated are English Benedictine congregations, and the Anglican Diocese of Chichester in West Sussex, which have both been the subjects of child sexual abuse allegations.

Image copyright PA

The inquiry will look at how the Church of England dealt with abuse allegations, including against former bishop Peter Ball

They will be used as case studies to establish whether they are representative of wider child protection failings within their respective churches.

In relation to the Church of England, the case of Peter Ball, a former bishop who was jailed after admitting abusing 18 young men, will be investigated to see whether there were attempts by prominent people to interfere in the criminal justice process.

The Church of England said on Friday that it welcomed Lord Justice Goddard's statement, and referred to the Archbishop of Canterbury's request in July that the Church be one of the first institutions to be considered in the inquiry.

Analysis by BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds

Justice Lowell Goddard, who is leading the inquiry, has described the task ahead of her as daunting. She wasn't overestimating the challenge.

Her terms of reference mean she will have to examine the causes and effects of child abuse in all state or non-state institutions, as far back in history as required.

That could take 10 years. No-one really believes the official estimate, that it could take five.

Over the last four months, her team has been working on the tricky job of setting up a structure capable of achieving this task.

The inquiry still has its critics - but the once-vociferous campaign by victims and survivors who say they don't trust it to get to the truth is less visible than it was earlier in the year.

Read more from Tom Symonds

British institutions abroad, including the armed forces, Foreign Office and British Council will form another investigation strand.

Other investigations will look at how well abuse victims were treated by the authorities after making allegations, and institutional responses to internet abuse.

'Ambitious but possible'

All 12 investigations will begin with immediate effect and most, if not all, will culminate in public hearings, Justice Goddard said.

The independent inquiry was launched by Home Secretary Theresa May to look at how institutions and organisations, including the BBC, police, armed forces, schools and children's homes, handled abuse claims.

The scale of the work the inquiry has set itself is staggering, BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said.

Official purpose of the inquiry:

To consider the extent to which state and non-state institutions have failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation

To consider the extent to which those failings have since been addressed

To identify further action needed to address any failings identified

To consider the steps which it is necessary for state and non-state institutions to take in order to protect children from such abuse in future

To publish a report with recommendations

It will be the UK's largest-ever public inquiry and is expected to cost tens of millions of pounds.
The time-frame of five years was ambitious, but possible, Justice Goddard said.

The Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel to the inquiry said the investigations would give "public voice" to people who had suffered in silence.

It would also "bring greater understanding of why so many horrific crimes went unreported and undetected for so long", it added.

Source

Abuse inquiry head judge to name institutions to be examined

Other lines of inquiry include allegations of a cover-up involving the abuse committed by Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester over three decades, the allegations of abuse at the Medomsley Detention Centre in Durham – estimated to be almost 1,000 in total – as well as looking at the response of abuse allegations by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

One of 12 separate strands set out by Justice Goddard on Friday was an “objective fact-finding” inquiry into allegations of abuse by “people of public prominence associated with Westminster”.
Britain’s child sex abuse probe will investigate churches, schools and MPs as part of its “ambitious” inquiry, chairman Justice Lowell Goddard revealed today.

Councils in Lambeth, Nottinghamshire and Rochdale will also be probed, inquiry chair Justice Lowell Goddard has announced.

The New Zealand judge did not name any individuals.

It would consider the experience of Chichester, a diocese “beset by allegations of sexual abuse, and subject to numerous investigations, reviews and inquiries”, Justice Goddard said (News, 24 August, 2012).

The inquiry was set up a year ago following claims of a high-level cover up of abuse in Westminster and a wide range of other British institutions.

The investigations falls into two categories – institution-specific and thematic.

Simon Bass, from the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service, told Premier churches should be trustworthy places: “The Church by-and-large is a place of safety and sanctuary, but clearly it’s also a place where individuals have been harmed – and often by those individuals in positions of authority”. From the outset, we have taken these allegations seriously, and devoted a great deal of time and effort to look into them, support survivors and the police investigations.

Most, if not all of the investigations, will culminate in public hearings, she said.

The chairwoman announced investigations which form the first phase of its live evidence sessions, after months of research and private interviews with victims and survivors of child sex abuse. To run 12 investigations in parallel represents an organisational challenge that is unprecedented in a public inquiry in the United Kingdom.

“The scale of child sexual abuse in this country requires urgent and careful attention”, the judge said. Justice Goddard said her aim of the inquiry’s work being finished within five years is “achievable”.

Source

Child abuse inquiry: MPs, churches and spies among those examined for historic investigation

By Ewan Palmer
November 27, 2015 12:44 GMT

The inquiry will investigate 'certain people of public prominence associated with Westminster' Reuters

Current and former MPs, local councils and the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches are among the 12 sections of investigation during the "unprecedented" government inquiry into child abuse.

Lambeth, Rochdale and Nottinghamshire councils will also be investigated over their failure to protect children from abuse in their care from paedophile gangs.

Knowl View School and Cambridge House Hostel – where former Lib Dem MP for Rochdale Cyril Smith was said to have abused children for years – will also be examined as part of the inquiry into how institutions failed to protect children.

Justice Lowell Goddard, head of the inquiry, announced 12 investigations will run at once across England and Wales. She said she hopes some of these will be concluded within 18 months, whereas others could take several years, describing the original five-year timetable for completion as "ambitious, but achievable".

Goddard said: "The investigation will focus on high-profile allegations of child sexual abuse involving current or former members of parliament, senior civil servants, government advisers and members of intelligence and security agencies. It will consider allegations of cover-up and conspiracy and review the adequacy of law enforcement responses to these allegations.

"By adopting both an institution-specific and a thematic approach, we will ensure that the inquiry reaches its conclusions on as broad an evidence base as possible. We will not be limited to considering the particular institution that is the focus of the investigation, but will address the range of institutional responsibility for child protection.

She added: "There is no doubt that the task we have set ourselves in the first phase is ambitious. To run 12 investigations in parallel represents an organisational challenge that is unprecedented in a public inquiry in the UK. We are determined to succeed and expect full cooperation of all institutions and individuals who can assist us in our work."

Other lines of inquiry include allegations of a cover-up involving the abuse committed by Peter Ball, the former bishop of Lewes and Gloucester over three decades, the allegations of abuse at the Medomsley Detention Centre in Durham – estimated to be nearly 1,000 in total – as well as looking at the response of abuse allegations by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The investigations falls into two categories – institution-specific and thematic. They will take place across five areas of investigation:

Allegations of abuse by people of prominence in public life
Education and religion
Criminal Justice and law enforcement
Local authorities and voluntary organisations
National and private service organisations

The Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel to the Inquiry said: "Too many victims and survivors of child sexual abuse have suffered in silence. These investigations will give public voice to that suffering and bring greater understanding of why so many horrific crimes went unreported and undetected for so long. They will enable the inquiry to make proposals for reforms that will better protect children in the future and improve the support and reparation available to victims and survivors.

"We welcome the progress of the truth project element of the inquiry, enabling victims and survivors through their personal accounts to contribute to the inquiry's work. We encourage anyone who is a victim or survivor of child sexual abuse and who wants to share their experience to contact the inquiry."

The inquiry officially opened in July following a stuttering start due to the resignations of its previous two chairs Fiona Woolf and Baroness Butler-Sloss as well as controversy surrounding deleted evidence. In October, the inquiry admitted submissions via the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse (IISCA) website was accidently permanently removed following a technical error and urged anyone who provided evidence online between 14 September and 2 October to resubmit.

Butler-Sloss stood down as chair in July 2014 over concerns about her links to the establishment, as her late brother, Lord Havers, was attorney general during the 1980s, when it is alleged a paedophile ring was operating in Westminster . Her replacement Woolf also resigned because of her connection to the former home secretary Leon Brittan, who died in January aged 75.

Source

Child sex abuse inquiry to focus on churches and politicians

Goddard says her independent inquiry will look at allegations against current and former MPs and claims of cover-ups

The lines of inquiry into child sexual abuse are set out by Judge Lowell Goddard

Sandra Laville

Friday 27 November 2015 14.38 GMT Last modified on Friday 27 November 2015 15.38 GMT

The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales will investigate allegations against politicians living and dead, and a variety of public institutions, in the first of 12 hearings into alleged abuse and cover-ups, the chair has said.

Judge Lowell Goddard revealed details of the first investigations to be carried out in public into child sexual abuse dating back decades. They cover institutions such as the Church of England, the Roman Catholic church, Westminster, children’s homes in Nottinghamshire and the London borough of Lambeth, child abuse on the internet, as well as grooming and sexual exploitation in Rochdale, Devon, Cornwall, Oxford and Rotherham.

The scale of the first 12 investigations to be announced – which will be followed by up to 13 more – was ambitious, Goddard admitted.

“To run 12 investigations in parallel represents an organisational challenge that is unprecedented in a public inquiry in the United Kingdom,” she said.

“We are determined to succeed and expect full co-operation of all institutions and individuals who can assist us in our work.”

While some of the investigations may take 18 months, others could last many years, but Goddard said she hoped to keep to her timetable of the inquiry lasting five years.

Goddard’s £17.9m investigation – the biggest public inquiry into institutional child abuse and accusations of establishment cover-ups ever held in England and Wales – will not be able to convict people or punish them. She has said, however, that she will not shrink from naming individuals who have abused children and the institutions which allowed it to happen.

The allegations of abuse by politicians and civil servants at Westminster will be among the first of the inquiries to take place. Goddard said the claims would be examined as part of “an objective fact-finding inquiry”.

“The investigation will focus on high-profile allegations of child sexual abuse involving current or former members of parliament, senior civil servants, government advisers, and members of the intelligence and security agencies. It will consider allegations of cover-up and conspiracy and will review the adequacy of law enforcement responses to these allegations.”

Other high-profile child sexual abuse scandals to be investigated by the inquiry and heard in public include the abuse carried out by the Liberal Democrat MP Cyril Smith and others at Knowl View school and Cambridge House boys hostel in Rochdale.

There will be a separate investigation into whether establishment figures put pressure on police and prosecutors to cover up the years of sexual abuse by the Church of England’s then bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball.

Ball, who was bishop of Lewes, in the Chichester diocese, before he took up his post in Gloucester, was convicted this year of the sexual abuse of 18 young men between 1977 and 1992. It emerged during his trial that he had escaped justice 22 years ago after what victims say was an establishment cover-up.

Ball is one of a string of Church of England figures who abused children in the Chichester diocese, and their crimes are only now – years later – being brought to criminal courts. Goddard said: “We will consider the experience of the diocese of Chichester, a diocese that has been beset by allegations of sexual abuse and subject to numerous investigations, reviews and inquiries.

“We will also consider the case of former bishop of Lewes, and subsequent bishop of Gloucester, Peter Ball, and investigate whether there were inappropriate attempts by people of prominence to interfere in criminal justice processes after he was first accused of child sexual offences.”

The 12 investigations will also examine sexual abuse in children’s homes in Lambeth and Nottinghamshire. “The abuse of children in the care of Lambeth council and Nottingham and Nottinghamshire councils demands thorough and searching examinations of what may have taken place,” Goddard said. “The inquiry intends to hear from victims and survivors of sexual abuse that happened whilst they were in the care of these councils, and to assess the extent to which a wide spectrum of public authorities in those areas failed to protect children.”

Among the other investigations outlined was a separate inquiry into Medomsley juvenile detention centre in County Durham, in connection with which Goddard said she had already received “many hundreds” of allegations of abuse.

“The apparent scale of abuse at Medomsley demands a rigorous inquiry into how such allegations, if true, could have gone uninvestigated and the offending undetected for so long. Our inquiry will pose probing questions of the secure estate for children and young people, the police and the criminal justice system.”

Another investigation will examine abuse in the Roman Catholic church, following a series of scandals involving clergy. It will focus in particular on allegations of child abuse by Benedictine monks in public schools such as Ampleforth college, where several monks and three members of the lay teaching staff allegedly abused children in their care, and the Benedictine monastery at Downside Abbey.

The investigation was set up last year following claims of a high-level cover-up of abuse and has been beset by delays because of the resignations of two previous chairwomen. It is expected to cost tens of millions of pounds.

The 12 investigations will be followed by more investigations into specific cases, with the inquiry team investigating up to 25 cases in total. Alongside that work thousands of victims of child abuse are taking part in a Truth Project, in which they will share their experience of abuse in private hearings, all of which will become evidence to be analysed by the inquiry.
The 12 investigations are:

Children in the care of Lambeth council
Children in the care of Nottinghamshire councils
Cambridge House, Knowl View and Rochdale council
Child sexual abuse in the Anglican church
Child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church
The sexual abuse of children in custodial institutions
Child sexual abuse in residential schools
Theinternet and childsexual abuse
Child exploitation by organised networks
The protection of children outside the United Kingdom
Accountability and reparations for victims and survivors
Allegations of child sexual abuse linked to Westminster

The Church of England welcomed its inclusion in the inquiry. The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, had publicly called for the church to be among the first institutions to be investigated by the Goddard inquiry.

“We’re absolutely clear that the Church of England and other churches need to be involved in this inquiry as we already know there are parts of our history that involve church people having committed abuse,” Butler said in July last year.

“So we have to be investigated just like anybody else and there will probably be some unpleasant and difficult stories to handle and I accept that’s part of the reality.”

The Catholic church, which has also seen a string of cases of sexual abuse by clergy dating back decades, also welcomed Goddard’s announcement and said it was establishing a council to ensure full cooperation with the inquiry.

Source

www.iicsa.org.uk update-statement-november-2015.pdf

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Operation Seabrook - Medomsley Detention Centre

Update 08/10/2015

‘Operation Seabrook’ is the criminal investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by staff against detainees at Medomsley Detention Centre near Consett, County Durham.

It was launched in August 2013 and is investigating incidents which happened over many years, principally the 1970's and 1980's.

The 'Seabrook' team has now heard from more than 1,240 former inmates at Medomsley who have reported they were abused while detained at the centre during those years.

All of the surviving main suspects have been identified, interviewed and prosecution files submitted to the CPS for advice. This advice will then identify those individuals who are likely to be charged and also which victims are likely to give evidence.

At this stage it is not anticipated any criminal charges would be brought before 2016.
The Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) for Seabrook is Det Supt Paul Goundry, with Det Chief Insp Brad Howe as the deputy SIO and Marian Garland as victim co-ordinator.

Anyone needing to make contact with them in writing can email operation.seabrook@durham.pnn.police.uk

Important - If you are a victim and your contact details have changed, for example, you have moved house or have a new phone number then please email the Seabrook team or call them via 101 so they can update their records.

Det Supt Goundry said: "We realised from an early stage this was going to be a complex and lengthy investigation and I appreciate we are now in the third year of our work.

"I would stress to all those we have spoken to and all those who have contacted us that we and CPS are working as hard as we can to carry out the necessary actions."

Durham Constabulary continues to work with various organisations to provide the best possible support for victims. Access to support is available without the need to contact the police for those who feel unable to do so.

Independent Psychotherapist Zoe Lodrick

The following organisations can be contacted independently of the police for support .

NSPCC FREEPHONE HELPLINE (24 hrs):
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children 0808 800 5000
The helpline is available for anyone who has concerns about a child or anyone including adults who wish to discuss their own experience of abuse as a child or young person.
Contact can also be made via e mail : help@nspcc.org.uk or by text 88858
Contact can be made anonymously if the caller so wishes.

NAPAC
National Association for People Abused in Childhood Freephone from all landlines and mobile networks 0808 801 0331.
Calls do not show on your bill; lines are open 10am to 9pm Monday - Thursday, and 10am to 6pm on Friday. NAPAC is unable to take messages or ring back.

The Meadows:
The Meadows Sexual Assault Referral Centre (Darlington and Co Durham) 0191 301 8554
The Meadows will accept calls between the hours of 9am-3.30 pm Monday to Friday and can arrange one-to-one counselling sessions and can make referrals to similar centres throughout the UK.

Counselling does not involve discussing what has happened in relation to the assault, it aims to help you work through your feelings to aid the healing process.
Staff at the Meadows will not contact the police without your consent unless there are current concerns in respect of a child or vulnerable adult.

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