Former County Durham Archdeacon to stand trial accused of abuse at Medomsley Detention Centre

11:35, 25 Jul 2016    

Updated 11:35, 25 Jul 2016    

By Laura Hill

George Granville Gibson denies eight charges of indecent assault and is due to stand trial at Durham Crown Court

Former Darlington and Aycliffe church minister George Granville Gibson, 79 leaves Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court charged with a number of historical sexual offences 

A former County Durham archdeacon will appear in court today as part of one of the UK’s biggest investigations into historic sex abuse.

George Granville Gibson, a former Archdeacon of Auckland, has denied eight counts of sexual assaults against two men dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.

Gibson will stand trial at Durham Crown Court accused of eight charges of indecent assault.

The retired cleric was charged in 2014 as part of Operation Seabrook, one of the UK’s largest investigations into historic sex abuse.

He has denied the charges against him.

Gibson held a number of posts with the Church of England before serving as Archdeacon of Auckland.

A number of the charges relate to historical abuse which occurred during Gibson’s role in the Clergy in the Diocese of Durham. The alleged offences took place in the 1970s and 1980s. One charge relates to an alleged indecent assault during a visit to an inmate at Medomsley Detention Centre.

The investigation into Medomsley Detention Centre is ongoing and more than 300 survivors of abuse at Medomlsey Detention Centre have come forward.

The trial is expected to last a number of weeks.

Source

Church leaders 'ignored complaints' about vicar who abused men and boys, court hear.

• 18:05, 25 Jul 2016
• Updated 18:07, 25 Jul 2016
• By Laura Hill

Former Archdeacon of Durham, George Granville Gibson, denies eight charges of indecent assault which allegedly took place in the 1970s and 80s 

 Former Darlington and Aycliffe church minister George Granville Gibson, 79 leaves Newton Aycliffe Magistrates Court charged with a number of historical sexual offences

Senior church leaders ignored complaints that a former clergy man abused his position and sexually assaulted men and boys as young as 12 over a six-year period, a court heard.

George Granville Gibson, 80, denies eight counts of indecent assault and one count of buggery which prosecutors allege took place when he was a vicar at St Clares Church in Newton Aycliffe.

The retired former Archdeacon of Durham is said to have sexually abused three people between 1977 and 1984.

On the first day of a trial at Durham Crown Court on Monday, it was heard concerns were raised in the 1980s by one of them, who was then accused of “causing trouble”.

Outlining the case against Gibson, prosecutor Paul Cleasby said: “This is a case of sexual abuse where the defendant was in a position of power and committed offences against someone in a much more vulnerable position, made worse, say the prosecution, as the defendant was able to be cloaked in a veneer of respectability.

“The prosecution say the defendant deliberately targeted these people because of their vulnerability which meant they were unlikely to be believed.

“It was systematic, deliberate abuse.”

Gibson’s first alleged victim was a teenager who, giving evidence on Monday, told the court the accused appeared friendly and caring at first.

But within a few weeks Gibson’s tickling, play fighting and wrestling progressed to indecent assault, it was said.

“I felt sick, I thought it wasn’t happening I thought it was a mistake,” the alleged victim told jurors.

The complainant also told the court he was called a “liar” when raising concerns, before being sent to Medomsley Detention Centre.

While at the young offenders’ detention centre, prosecutors say Gibson visited and indecently assaulted the youth again.

The alleged victim said: “I was crying, Medomsley is a regime. The kicking, the punching - they stamp out everything, your identity.

“I had black eyes, I was crying ‘can you get me out? Can you get me out of here?’ I asked him. I would have done anything to get out.”

The jury of five women and seven men heard how even his parents did not believe him.
“My mam slapped me across the face and told me never to darken her door step again,”
 the alleged victim said. “I never did, she went to her grave not believing. She never met her grandkids, she called me a liar, my own mother.”

After Gibson’s arrest in 2014, he denied knowing the alleged victim until police found diary entries detailing his visit to the detention centre, the court heard.

Gibson’s second alleged victim was a choirboy, the prosecution said, who was aged between 12 and 16 when he was allegedly subjected to indecent assaults.

“As a young boy of 12 he didn’t know what to do and he just let the defendant do what he did,” Mr Cleasby told jurors.

It was more than 20 years later before the complainant told anyone about the abuse he had suffered, it was said.

“He didn’t think anyone would believe him,” Mr Cleasby added.

The court heard that Gibson’s third alleged victim raised concerns about his “sexualised” behaviour to the then Bishop of Durham, but that his concerns were ignored.

Gibson had confided in the alleged victim that he had developed homosexual thoughts in his 30s and was worried it would all come out and his wife would find out, Mr Cleasby alleged.

He then told the complainant that he had been to a meeting and “had the spirit of homosexuality cast out of him and it would be alright”, the prosecution said.

Mr Cleasby said that the church made it clear to the alleged victim that he was “causing trouble” after he reported his worries.

He said: “He [Gibson] was in a high position in the church to gain access to and abuse vulnerable people.”

Gibson, of Worsley Park, Darlington, denies all charges.

Source

Institutional child sex abuse inquiry arrives in the North East

• 06:30, 20 Jul 2016
• By Katie Dickinson

The Truth Project is appealing to victims and survivors to come forward to tell their accounts anonymously

Dame Lowell Goddard

An investigation which will give a voice to victims of institutional child sex abuse is coming to the North East.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) aims to identify organisations and institutions that have failed in their duty to protect children from sexual abuse.

The first stage of the wide-scale inquiry, known as the Truth Project, launches in the North East on Wednesday.

Dame Lowell Goddard, who is leading the inquiry, is visiting York to mark the start of the Truth Project in the region and the opening of the Inquiry’s office in the North East.

The project allows victims and survivors to share their experience with the Inquiry during private sessions or via written statements.

Information received will be turned into anonymous summaries to inform the inquiries reports and recommendations.

Some of the institutions involved nationally are the armed forces, local authorities, the media, schools, the NHS , religion organisations and voluntary and private organisations.

There have already been a number of high-profile investigations into abuse in the North East, including allegations of physical and sexual abuse at Medomsley Detention Centre, near Consett in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

In December we reported how officers had spoken to 30 former prison officers, members of staff or governors after a total of 1,254 alleged victims came forward.

Read More

• Paedophiles have used the Internet to abuse children as young as eight in the North East

And Colin McClarence, of Gateshead, contacted IICSA last year to insist that the systematic sexual abuse of young boys at Feversham School, Newcastle, should not be forgotten.

Colin was one of a number of boys who suffered harrowing and repeated sexual assaults at the hands of Kevin Brown and John Leslie Duncan - now behind bars - after being sent to the school.

As IICSA opens its North East office, Dame Goddard will be accompanied by Inquiry Panel Member Dru Sharpling CBE and members of the Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel, Fay Maxted and Michael May.

Hon Dame Lowell Goddard said: “I am delighted be in York to meet to discuss the work of the Inquiry, in particular, how victims and survivors can share their experiences with us as part of the Truth Project.

“I want to emphasise that we are committed to delivering a strong regional presence here in the North East.”

Fay Maxted from the Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel added: “We acknowledge the courage that it takes to share an experience of child sexual abuse but each experience shared will make an important contribution to the work of the Inquiry.

“Specialist support will be available to each person who wants to share their experiences in a safe and secure environment during a private session and they can be accompanied by a family member, friend or other support person of their choice.”

Once a victim and survivor decides they want to share an experience, the first step is to contact the Inquiry with some basic information. This can be done via:

The Inquiry’s information line: 0800 917 1000
Email: contact@iicsa.org.uk
Through the Inquiry’s website: www.iicsa.org.uk/shareyour­experience

Source

Statement from The Survivors of Medomsley.

Statement

In the heart's of many victims of Medomsley abuse

There is never good or bad news! Just what we know to be true!

Durham have already surpassed all our expectations in relation to Operation
SeaBrook Investigation.

Every individual of the investigation team should be proud for what they have achieved
since 14th August 2013.

Over 1,300 victims have found not only the courage to come forward but also found
trust in Durham Constabulary.

The greatest justice in this, is that Operation SeaBrook has made it their business to ensure
those who went through Medomsley have had support or have been offered support!

Durham police in their dedication to the many victims is testament to the understanding that
their team has had since the beginning of the current investigation!

In many ways this understanding & approach, has been one of the reason why all the victims
have now after many decades found the faith to unburden the tragic offences carried out against them! And this alone has freed them from the shame which we all have carried throughout most of our lives.

This is the process to closure and for those who have already taken up counselling will be well on they're way to rebuilding they're lives.

Those who have chosen not to go to counselling like myself, who make up the remaining 65% have so for different reasons.

There are those, who were not prepared to talk about the past, but felt it should be
the future they should be focusing on.

Though we in no doubt that when the investigation has ended. Some victims will require
professional guidance' and this will be the case for those not attending counselling so far.

The Survivors of Medomsley.

sex cases by 2020': Huge extent of UK abuse problem is revealed by senior officer who say 100 new allegations come in every month

• Goddard inquiry was launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal
• Examining how public bodies handled duty to protect children from abuse
• Inquiry is passing on 100 child sex cases to police each month, officer said
• Estimated that officers will be looking into some 200,000 claims by 2020

By Katie Strick For The Daily Mail

Published: 06:27, 20 May 2016 | Updated: 09:43, 20 May 2016

Revelations: The Goddard inquiry was launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile (pictured) scandal

One hundred allegations of child sex abuse are being passed to police every month as part of an inquiry launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, a senior officer has revealed.

Simon Bailey, head of the police unit co-ordinating claims of historic child sex abuse in England and Wales, said he expected to be handed a total of 30,000 new reports by the Goddard inquiry.

The Norfolk Chief Constable also estimated that officers would be looking into about 200,000 claims of child sex abuse by 2020, given the current trajectory.

Mr Bailey told the Guardian: 'It is fair to say I am surprised by the extent of abuse being exposed, it is shocking. In trying to get a message across to the public about the scale of this, it is important to remember that behind each of these figures there is a victim.

'We are seeing a significant rise in the number of referrals each month from the Goddard inquiry, and these allegations relate to abuse in a range of institutions from the church, to schools, the scouts and hospitals.'

The inquiry, chaired by Dame Lowell Goddard, a New Zealand Judge, will examine how public bodies handled their duty of care to protect children from abuse. 

It is holding 13 investigations into abuse at institutions including Westminster, the Catholic Church, Church of England and Lambeth borough.

It is also investigating grooming and sexual exploitation in Rochdale, Devon, Cornwall, Oxford and Rotherham, and at the Medomsley detention centre in Durham.

A further 12 investigations will be run as part of the inquiry, and most of the 25 total investigations will lead to public hearings.

As part of its nationwide 'truth project', the inquiry opened new offices in Manchester on Thursday, inviting victims of abuse to come forward and speak about their experiences, many of which have remained silent for decades.

Two thousand victims have already come forward to give details on their abuse, and a further 600 have said they would provide their full testimony to the truth project.

Gabrielle Shaw, chief executive officer for the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, told the Guardian: 'We have lifted the lid on a hidden problem, now survivors are coming forward in large numbers. 

Investigation: The Goddard inquiry, chaired by Dame Lowell Goddard (pictured), a New Zealand Judge, will examine how public bodies handled their duty of care to protect children from abuse

'These people were failed by institutions in childhood. They deserve to be heard now.'  

Mr Bailey's comments about the scale of alleged abuse claims come after criticism of the police following the Operation Midland debacle.

In March this year, the £2 million, 16-month police inquiry into historical child abuse was shut down without any charges being brought.

Officers had earlier claimed the accusations against figures including former Conservative MP Harvey Proctor and head of the Army, D-Day hero Lord Bramall, were credible and true.

There were calls for three of the country's most senior police officers to resign, after no charges were brought against any of the former government officers, politicians or military officers said to be involved. 

Source

Police expect 30,000 new child abuse reports from Goddard inquiry

 

19/05/2016Posted in #PaedoUK, Child Murdered,  

CoverUps, UK, 
 

Exclusive: Extent of child sexual abuse in England and Wales begins to become clear as inquiry passes on 100 cases a month 

Sandra Laville  19 May 2016

The scale of child sexual abuse in England and Wales is being exposed by evidence from thousands of victims, with cases being passed to police at a rate of 100 a month by the public inquiry set up following the Jimmy Savile scandal.

Simon Bailey, Norfolk’s chief constable and head of the national coordinating unit Operation Hydrant, said his team was expecting to be given 30,000 reports of new child sexual offences by the Goddard inquiry, and predicted the rate of referrals of allegations of abuse would increase. 

The chief constable said that given the trajectory of the number of reports, police would be investigating about 200,000 cases of child sexual abuse by 2020, giving an insight into the extent of child sexual abuse in Britain over many decades.

Bailey added: “It is fair to say I am surprised by the extent of abuse being exposed, it is shocking. In trying to get a message across to the public about the scale of this, it is important to remember that behind each of these figures there is a victim.

“We are seeing a significant rise in the number of referrals each month from the Goddard inquiry, and these allegations relate to abuse in a range of institutions from the church, to schools, the scouts and hospitals.” 

Justice Lowell Goddard is running 13 investigations into institutional abuse, which include inquiries concerning Westminster, the Catholic Church, Church of England, and Lambeth borough, and concerning grooming and sexual exploitation in Rochdale, Devon, Cornwall, Oxford and Rotherham, and at the Medomsley detention centre in Durham.

Another 12 investigations will be pursued during the inquiry. Most of these 25 investigations will lead to public hearings.

Gabrielle Shaw, chief executive officer for the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: “We have lifted the lid on a hidden problem, now survivors are coming forward in large numbers. These people were failed by institutions in childhood. They deserve to be heard now. Why were signs of child abuse ignored, unrecognised or unreported? The insight survivors have is vital in shaping how our institutions protect children in future.”

On Thursday, the Goddard inquiry opened new offices in Manchester as part of its nationwide “truth project”, which invites victims of abuse to give detailed testimony of their experiences. In many cases these experiences have stayed unspoken about for decades.

Two thousand victims have already contacted the inquiry to give details about experiences of child sexual abuse, and about 600 have already indicated that they would give their full testimony to the truth project.

In Australia where a royal commission into child abuse is being held, the numbers of people who have come forward has surpassed predictions. Bailey said that the same would be true of the Goddard hearings.

Referrals to Bailey’s team on Operation Hydrant stem from allegations made by victims contacting the inquiry and through the investigations being carried out by the inquiry team.

“These referrals are allegations which are new to the police,” said Bailey. “Where there are criminal investigations they will be passed to the relevant police force. What we are seeing is that the face of crime has fundamentally changed and it means we have had to move our resources to crimes against the vulnerable [and concerning] child abuse, adult abuse and rape.”

The huge increase in reports of child abuse to the police – a rise of 80% between 2012 and 2015 – was continuing, Bailey added. Police forces across England and Wales investigated 70,000 cases of child sexual abuse last year and 25% of the investigations were into non-recent abuse.

The chief constable said that the rise in investigations was due not just to increased reporting but to more children being abused, with the internet acting as a facilitator for paedophiles to contact children. He has commissioned research in an attempt to establish whether this is correct.

The enormous draw on police resources of these investigations comes as a severe spending squeeze on police budgets continues.

Last week Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, issued new guidance to remind police that her lawyers would not make charging decisions in relation to dead perpetrators, implying that police were not aware of the ruling that the dead could not be charged with criminal offences.

Bailey defended the police from criticism. “It is vital that the police investigate allegations of child sexual abuse thoroughly and proportionately, whether the alleged crimes took place last week or many years ago,” he said. “Victims who report abuse by someone who is now dead have the same expectation that their allegations will be taken seriously and that they will have recourse to justice. 

Police also need to determine whether the alleged offender may have worked with others who are still alive and could pose a risk today.”

He added that age was no bar to people committing child abuse, citing examples of cases in which men in their 90s were under investigation for abuse.

This week, Theresa May, the home secretary, spoke out against those who said police should only concentrate on current crimes. “Perpetrators must never be allowed to think that their horrific acts will go overlooked or go unpunished … Victims and survivors … deserve to be heard now, just as they should have been years ago, and they deserve justice, just as they did then,” she said.

Source The Guardian

Home Office to look at costs of historic Durham sex abuse inquiry as bill reaches £2m

• 08:30, 3 Mar 2016
• By Jonathan Walker

Ministers will consider whether Durham Constabulary needs help with the costs of Operation Seabrook following requests from MP

Kevan Jones MP

Police Minister Mike Penning has promised to consider calls for more funding for Durham Police’s long-running investigation into Britain’s biggest historic sex abuse case.

He said he would look at whether the force, which is already attempting to cope with funding cuts, should receive help with the £2m cost of Operation Seabrook.

It came after a request by North Durham’s Labour MP Kevan Jones in the House of Commons.

Operation Seabrook is an attempt to establish what happened at Medomsley Detention Centre, near Consett, in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

The aim is to bring any surviving offenders to justice and make sure victims get the help and support they needed.

More than more than 1,240 former inmates at Medomsley Detention Centre have now come forward to report being physically or sexually abused while being held at the facility.

The scale and complexity of the investigation meant the force bought in a team of experienced retired detectives.

Mr Jones said there should be a central pot of funding to help forces such as Durham Constabulary which are dealing with historic abuse cases.

 

 He said: “Durham faces a £2m-plus bill for Operation Seabrook. Is it right that such a complex investigation, which is clearly needed, should fall on Durham?

“Should there not be a central pot to refund it for such operations?”

Mr Penning, the Home Office Minister responsible for policing, said he raised “an important point”, adding: “Some forces have much larger percentage costs for historical cases and they have an opportunity to apply to the Home Office for assistance.

“It is right and proper that the investigations are done by the forces. Some investigations were not done correctly early on, which is even more reason why we should address them.

“I know about the inquiry referred to by [Mr Jones] and I am more than happy to look into it.”

But Mr Penning and Mr Jones clashed over cuts in funding for Durham Police - which the Government admits has led to 648 police officer jobs being axed.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, announced in his Spending Review last year that there would be no further cuts to police funding. However, this does not mean budgets have been increased to make up for cuts imposed between 2010 and 2015.

Mr Penning insisted Durham Police was more effective than ever.

He insisted: “It has done fantastically well. It has even done really well in the latest independent reports on police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy.

“It has been rated outstanding on nine of the 12 points, good on another two, and the other one, which relates to a serious error on stop and search and the use of a Taser, requires improvement.

“The force has done all that with a reduced workforce and a higher percentage of officers on the front line. It has experienced a substantial reduction in numbers, from 1,705 to 1,057, but it has massively reduced crime, including during this year.”

Mr Jones said that police officers and the Police and Crime Commissioner, Labour politician Ron Hogg, had coped as best they could but this did not make up for lack of funding.

And he highlighted the Government’s review of police funding which had to be delayed after Ministers admitted last year they had got some of the calculations wrong.

Mr Jones said: “The police community, local politicians and police and crime commissioners have lost all faith that the Home Office can conduct this review properly and fairly.”

The MP said he backed calls from the Commons Home Affairs Committee for a panel of accountants to take the review over.

Source

Medomsley Detention Centre – Barriers to Justice

by David Greenwood


I have been involved with holding the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice to account for the abuse of boys in the Medomsley Detention Centre since 2003 when a courageous man called Kevin Young asked me to look into his complaints of brutally violent sexual abuse by a Senior Prison Officer, when he was aged 17 and detained at Medomsley Detention Centre.

Kevin had “locked the memory of the sexual abuse at Medomsley in a metaphorical box” in his head and had managed to get through life successfully until 1999 when he had a chance encounter with his abuser, Neville Husband in the streets of York. This triggered Kevin’s memories of the abuse. The lid had well and truly come off his box of memories and he was unable to replace it. At that time he was in contact with the police regarding the abuse at another institution near Tadcaster and so asked the police to look into Neville Husband’s activities at Medomsley. A police investigation began which resulted in Husband’s first conviction in 2003.

I have named Kevin here as he has been willing to disclosure his identity from an early stage. In different ways I could be speaking about many other men who have been abused and psychologically tormented by the memories of abuse at Medomsley. As if it was not enough that boys entering Medomsley from the 60’s to the 80’s had to endure heavily physical abuse, we now know that 100’s and possibly 1000’s have been sexually abused whilst detained at Medomsley. Their treatment amounts to torture and is an issue which I have reported to the United Nations Committee on Torture which is currently in the process of examining the UK’s record on torture.

The general public in the UK maybe under the impression that reporting this type of crime and achieving Justice both in the Criminal Courts and the Civil Courts is relatively straight forward. You would assume that the police are on the side of victims of abuse and will readily treat them fairly and pursue allegations against alleged abusers. We now know that until recently the criminal justice system has proved either unwilling or unable to provide the kind of justice we would expect.

I have heard many counts of boys leaving Medomsley and tried to complain to the police in Durham or Newcastle at their local Police Stations, only to be told that the police refused to take their complaints or carry out any kind of investigation. This is an issue which Operation Seabrook is currently looking into.

Whilst the conviction of Husband in 2003 was to be welcomed, the depth of the investigation has to be criticised. These were extremely serious allegations of multiple abusers operating in a small detention centre with a large group of boys. The psychological effects of the local population have been immense and for the police to have failed until recently to carry out a thorough investigation suggests and unwillingness to confront the very real fear that the sexual abuse of boys at Medomsley Detention Centre was carried out and subsequently covered up in an organised way.

So we know that the police have put hurdles in the way of boys trying to complain about abuse at Medomsley. We also know from Kevin Young’s experience and having to take his case right through to the House of Lords with me in 2008 and that the Civil Justice System has operated against child sexual abuse complainants by attempting to impose time limits (which in my view are entirely unfair, given the subject matter and psychological effects this abuse has had on the victim).

We also know that even after the original criminal trial and the civil trail and the weight of evidence which emerged in the early 2000’s no-one at the Home Office thought it would be a good idea carry out a review of what had happened at Medomsley. The treatment of young offenders at Medomsley was shocking on many levels and was likely at some point to be explosive for Home Officer Ministers and the Prison Service. If it hasn’t already caused serious embarrassment to the Ministry of Justice, the Prison Service, Prison Officers association and Civil Servants, a light that will be shone on Medomsley by the Goddard Inquiry.

So we have seen various legal obstacles in the way of boys complaining about abuse at Medomsley but the overwhelming and most difficult obstacle for men who were abused at Medomsley is the feeling of shame and guilt which is generated by the sexual abuse itself. Psychologists tell us that most survivors of childhood sexual abuse don’t talk about their experience and those who do may be put off coming forward if they encounter the slightest sense that they not believed or supported.

All of these factors mean that although Durham Constabulary have announced recently that approximately 1,200 men who were at Medomsley have spoken to them, there are likely to be thousands more out there who have either locked their memories in a box like Kevin Young or who struggle day to say with the psychological fallout from their appalling treatment.

The Operation Seabrook is an opportunity for the police in the criminal justice system to demonstrate how well it can deal with survivors but we also need the Goddard Enquiry to explain to the nation how institutions who are entrusted with the care of vulnerable boys treated them so badly that they became a lost generation. We need to learn the lessons of the past so that we can better shape the future of these institutions. We also need to plough substantial sums of money into effective counselling and therapy.

David Greenwood. Solicitor