Tag Archives: paedophiles

First charges in Richmond paedophile ring scandal

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Two people were charged last night by the Met Police after authorisation by the Crown Prosecution Service in the Operation Fernbridge investigation.

John Stingemore,now 71 and the former deputy manager of Grafton Close children’s home was charged with eight counts of indecent assault, one charge of conspiracy with others unknown to commit buggery and two charges of taking indecent images of a child .

Father Tony McSweeney, aged 66,then a trainee Roman Catholic priest was charged with three counts of indecent assault, three counts of making indecent images of children,one charge of taking an indecent image of a child and a charge of possessing indecent images of children.

An updated report is on the Exaro News website.

The assaults involve seven children aged between nine and fifteen in the 1970s and 1980s. Both accused will appear before Westminster magistrates court in September.

Police are continuing their investigation into Elm Guest House,Barnes where it is alleged that boys were sexually assaulted by VIPs. The manager of the guest house, Harry Kasir, was recently arrested by the Met police, for having indecent images of children on his computer.

For legal reasons it is not possible to make any further comment because of the pending trial – a point made by the CPS in a blog statement today.

However as Richmond Council are not on trial I think a number of Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors and former councillors in that borough have a lot of questions to answer .They all repeatedly denied to me that they knew anything about  any child sexual abuse in that borough. Without my original source none of this would have been reinvestigated by the police.

Police arrest manager of Elm Guest House

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The former Elm Tree Guest House in Barnes Pic Courtesy: Exaro

The former Elm Tree Guest House in Barnes, south west London Pic courtesy: Exaro

Harry Kasir, the former manager of the  Elm Guest House  where it is alleged that young boys were sexually assaulted by VIPs, and politicians in the early 1980s, was arrested by the Met Police Paedophile Unit  yesterday.

The full story is on the Exaro News website. It is a significant development by Operation Fernbridge, which has already arrested and bailed two other people in connection with the 1980s scandal. They are John Stingemore, who ran Grafton Close, the Richmond Council children’s home, where it is alleged boys in council care were taken to Elm Guest House in Barnes. The other arrested person, Father Tony McSweeney,is a Roman Catholic priest.

The Met Police in a statement confirming the arrest  but not naming Mr Kasir, aged 69, said he had been detained on suspicion of having indecent pictures of children, He was bailed until September.

Previous stories on this site on Mr Kasir are  (https://davidhencke.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/will-elm-guest-house-man-quit-britain/) and ( https://davidhencke.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/police-raid-home-of-former-gay-guest-house-contact-in-paedophile-investigation/).

Michael Gove: A Paedophile’s Unwitting Friend?

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Dereliction of duty to protect the nation's school children from child abusers

Michael Gove:Dereliction of duty to protect school children from child abusers

Michael Gove is not known for being shy and retiring when it comes to forcing decisions on the nation’s schools. Yet rather curiously he has disclosed that he has no intention of intervening to ensure that when children are sexually abused in the nation’s state funded and private schools that the incident should be reported.

My colleagues Frederika Whitehead and Mark Conrad have written the full story for Exaro News ( see http://www.exaronews.com/articles/4999/michael-gove-blocks-move-to-force-schools-to-report-sex-abuse) .

Put simply he has written to Cheryl Gillan, the ex-minister and Tory MP for nearby Chesham and Amersham, saying that he is against mandatory reporting of allegations to the specific local officer  because it could ” swamp ” officialdom ” with every incident reported”. He says : ” schools should be trusted to make their own professional judgement ” to report the matter.

This statement is extraordinary for two reasons. Why does Gove think authorities are going to be swamped? Does he think they are loads of kids in the nation’s schools waiting to accuse their teachers of sexual abuse? Or does he suspect, as the abused tell us, that this much more widespread than we realise and he frankly doesn’t want to know?

Also sadly the idea of relying on schools to use their professional judgement to report sexual abuse cases appears to be rather hollow from my experience. In the investigations I have covered what appears to happen is that schools and social services are prone to cover this up. Both the London borough of Richmond and the  Roman Catholic Salesian order have paid off victims and in the case of the Salesians got the person to sign a gagging order not to reveal what happened. This results in the perpetrators often being moved to avoid a scandal and getting new jobs elsewhere  where they repeat the pattern, Jimmy Savile style.

I am sure that Michael Gove is not a supporter of paedophilia nor am I accusing or even inferring in the headline that he is remotely sympathetic to child abusers. But unwittingly by not doing so he is  giving aid and comfort to those who want this hushed up. My accusation against Gove is more dereliction of duty as secretary of state for education in not providing the protection of the law for children who are sexually abused. I know from other sources that the Metropolitan Police Paedophile Unit take a similar view.

Exclusive: Met Police launch nationwide child abuse investigation into Catholic order

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National child abuse hero Graham Wilner: Picture reproduced courtesy Rory Wilmer Photography

Campaigning hero Graham Wilmer: Picture reproduced courtesy Rory Wilmer Photography

Over the last two weeks the Met Police Child Abuse Investigation Command  has been  secretly running a new investigation into alleged child abuse involving former schoolboys who went to primary and secondary  schools run by the Roman Catholic Salesian Order in England and Scotland.

Some 23 alleged victims have already contacted in one of the biggest operations since Operation Yewtree  which involved  Jimmy Savile and Operation Fernbridge investigation into sexual abuse at Elm Guest House in Barnes – including tracing people who had left the country for Thailand.

The full story is revealed today in The People (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/paedo-probe-catholic-schools-20-1911825) and Exaro News( http://www.exaronews.com/articles/4979/met-investigates-catholic-order-s-schools-over-child-sex-abuse ). It is known to involve at least 30 victims and 20 priests and teachers, some of whom are now dead, and stretching back some 50 years. Some of the figures were prominent members of the Order which was set up in London in the late nineteenth century and now stretches world-wide.

The impetus for the new investigation comes from one former pupil of  a Salesian school, Graham Wilmer, who was sexually abused himself, and has tirelessly and heroically  campaigned for a full-scale police investigation into the order for decades.

He now runs the Lantern Project (http://www.lanternproject.org.uk) in the Wirral  which counsels victims of child sexual abuse and has managed to pass to the police 50 names of victims and abusers, some of whom had left the country.

The extraordinary decision to launch the investigation was finally prompted – after three false attempts – by a former pupil of a London Salesian school who was a senior colleague of Commander Peter Spindler, now at HM Inspectorate of Constabulary. He knew of the abuse in the order and directly contacted Spindler. His intervention led to Spindler launching the inquiry and the contacting of  victims. (See http://www.exaronews.com/articles/4980/operation-torva-ex-pupil-joined-police-and-triggered-met-probe )

The Scotland Yard codename for the exercise is Operation Torva.

One of the schools where abuse by staff was alleged to have taken place was a Salesian College in Battersea, south London. Famous pupils there include Catherine Tate  who attended the sixth form and Lord O’Donnell, the former cabinet Secretary, who was head boy.

The Met Police said: “The Metropolitan Police takes allegations of sexual abuse very seriously regardless of when they took place. All allegations when reported will be recorded and investigated and where possible evidence will be put before the court in order that offenders will have to answer for their actions. Officers from the Metropolitan Police have been engaging with members of the Lantern Project in order to work in partnership to encourage those who have suffered abuse to come forward.

Graham Wilmer said: “It is a matter of great comfort to us that the response we have had, when talking to the police, has always been very positive, and no one should be concerned about how they will be treated if they report abuse to the police. I would urge any one who has been abused in a Salesian school, or elsewhere, to come forward and make contact with the police in the first instant.

“It has always been a matter of real concern to me that, up until the Jimmy Savile case, it has been very difficult to get justice for victims of sexual abuse, as nobody really wanted to know. Now, everything as changed, and the police, the DPP and the CPS are actively encouraging victims to come forward and seek help.

However, there is still no sign from government that they will provide the funding necessary to support survivor groups, such as the Lantern Project, without which the support that victims who come forward desperately need, will simply not be there.”

The police are taking calls  from victims on 101 or 999 and victims can also contact the Lantern Project on 0151 630 6956 if they don’t want call the police to report child abuse in the Salesian Order.

Police abandon investigation into child sex abuser Sir Cyril Smith MP

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Westmonster MP: Child abuser Sir Cyril Smith Pic Credit: dreamcatchersfor abusedchildren.com

Westmonster MP: Child abuser Sir Cyril Smith
Pic Credit: dreamcatchersfor abusedchildren.com

A report by my colleague Nick Fielding for Exaro News ( see http://www.exaronews.com/articles/4961/police-abandon-probe-into-cyril-smith-s-sexual-abuse-of-boys ) reveals the former MP linked to child sex abuse cases at the Elm Guest House in Richmond,London to Rochdale where he was an MP is now off the hook. Full details on the site.

This is despite offers from the NSPCC  charity to provide a dedicated line for victims and growing evidence that Sir Cyril’s illegal activities involving young boys appear  to be on a similar scale to  the late  Jimmy Savile’s abuse of young girls which  are being vigorously pursued by the Met Police ‘s Operation Yewtree.

Greater Manchester police’s decision will add to the considerable disquiet on the internet that there could be yet another Establishment cover up over child sexual abuse cases when it comes to senior politicians. It will probably also calm the nerves of at least three Liberal Democrat peers who started their political careers in the London borough of Richmond in the aftermath of the Elm Guest House scandal which they conveniently would like to forget.

Public trust that the police will properly investigate these  historic scandals is paramount. Great Manchester Police have done people a grave disservice by letting off the hook someone whom they now acknowledge would have been prosecuted for a string of offences. It has been shown by the reactions of dismay, anger and suspicion to this post on Twitter.

The mad world of Louis Minster- the man who denies he is there

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For those following the Richmond child sexual abuse scandal a most extraordinary phone conversation has just taken place between my colleague Mark Conrad for Exaro News and Louis Minster, director of social services at the time.

Mr Minster was in charge of the council’s social services council at the time it is alleged boys from Grafton Close children’s home were taken to Elm Guest House in Barnes and sexually abused by VIPs, including the late Sir Cyril Smith in the early 1980s. He was the boss of John Stingemore, the head of the home, who has already been arrested by the Met police as part of Operation Fernbridge

Mr Minster is in a bit of the trouble. The 81-year-old ex director now living in retirement in Malta first claimed he had never had heard of the scandal when first approached by Exaro. Then it emerged he was briefed by Terry Earland, head of children’s services and now Richmond’s own files showed he twice unusually pulled the file of  a 14-year-old boy in care who had knowledge of child abuse at the time. Yet he knows nothing.

Naturally we would want to ask him about these discrepancies. So when rung up in Malta he pretends he isn’t there and he isn’t Louis Minster. When rumbled he doesn’t want to answer any questions. Listen to the amazing interview at Exaro News (http://www.exaronews.com/articles/4950/ex-richmond-boss-louis-minster-denies-being-louis-minster ).

Perhaps it is about time he was questioned by the Met Police. Then he won’t be able to dodge these questions and pretend he is someone else.

Richmond child sex abuse file ” No further action required”

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Richmond Council: Another cover up exposedPic courtesy: http://www.officespaceinlondon.lnet.

Richmond Council: Another cover up exposed Pic courtesy: http://www.officespaceinlondon.lnet.

The latest damning disclosure about both the police and Richmond Council’s handling of the  child abuse scandal  at Elm Guest House and Grafton Close children’s home adds to growing disquiet that both the council and the police were not up to the job.

An article by me and Mark Conrad in exaro news ( see http://www.exaronews.com/articles/4944/richmond-files-reveal-failure-to-pursue-claim-of-child-sex-abuse ) and in the Sunday People ( see http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/elm-guest-house-abuse-scandal-1857494)  reveals yet another example of the authorities turning a blind eye.

Since the incident goes close to any potential trial I am restrained for legal reasons to go into too much detail or identify the file. However a copy of the entry has been sent to me.

The alarming thing is that this happened TWO years after the event and a year after the raid on Elm Guest House in Barnes and yet it appears neither the police – who requested the interview – or the council – took any other action to investigate. Just as they did not pursue the people involved after they raided the guest house in 1982 apart from prosecuting Mr Kasir, then the owner.

What is also very disturbing is the role of Louis Minster, the director of social services now living abroad, who twice requested a copy of this file with the complaints about sexual abuse. Once was when the boy involved was not even in council care. Why? No answer is forthcoming from Mr Minster who claimed earlier he had no knowledge of the  Elm Guest House scandal until it appeared on Exaro News website and in the Sunday People. Really, Mr Minster?

Equally distressing is that our source who requested  the file is ” not surprised” that the record shows the council and police did nothing. How bad is that?

This incident took place in the year Conservative minority rule ended at Richmond and the Liberal SDP Alliance took control. Until the whole story comes out there is now a stain on the record of the original police investigation and the Tories and Liberals in charge of Richmond Council at the time.

Now Met Police target Roman Catholic Church in historic sex abuse investigation

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The Met Police  has launched a further investigation into historic child sex abuse – this time focusing on the Roman Catholic Church in England.

I understand from good sources that the Met Police are investigating the role of a Roman Catholic bishop – both involving allegations involving paedophilia and whether he protected Roman Catholic priests who were alleged paedophiles.

For legal reasons I cannot say much more since there is an ongoing criminal investigation under Operation Fernbridge where they have already been two arrests and a decision is expected this week by the Met Police whether to charge the two individuals  or extend their bail.

Quite separately I am also told the Met Police may start soon investigating other Catholic institutions in the UK.

A statement from the  Roman Catholic church said: ” “I am not aware of any generic police investigation into sexual abuse linked to the Catholic Church in the UK. Similarly, I am not aware of any investigation into a particular bishop. However, were there to be an investigation, clearly we would co-operate.”

There is a report by me and Mark Conrad, putting it into context with overseas investigations into the Roman Catholic Church on Exaro News at http://www.exaronews.com/articles/4928/met-s-paedophile-unit-starts-investigating-catholic-church-in-uk … and in the Sunday People at http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/catholic-church-uk-faces-child-1830837 ….

The new direction  I am told is very significant. More information on this will be put up in the next few weeks when I can get it verified and properly researched.

Why a dangerous police chief ban on announcing arrests will be an own goal for justice

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Suspects arrested already in former Elm Tree Guest House investigation Pic courtesy: Exaro

Suspects arrested already in former Elm Tree Guest House investigation Pic courtesy: Exaro

A furore has broken out rightly on  daft and dangerous proposals by the Association of  Chief Police Officers (Acpo) to refuse to release the names of people they arrest in the course of  criminal investigations. As the Mail on line reported this weekend (http://bit.ly/12BhfaN )  the proposal has been condemned as secret justice and produced angry responses from Index on Censorship and the Society of Editors. The police seem to be using Leveson as cover to do this.

But it smacks of the worst kind of justice where people disappear after being taken off the streets in countries like Russia, Zimbabwe and tinpot dictatorships.

But there is a practical aspect of this policy that has been completely overlooked. It is  because Acpo have taken the view that they are a news supplier which gives the media stories and  forgotten that it is two way traffic. The investigative media also uncover crooks and give the police grounds for prosecutions.

All this will fall  apart under this new directive from Acpo when both the police and the press are pursuing the same long term investigation and their paths cross. If the police don’t tell the press and the public who they have arrested they will be a very grave danger that when these people come to trial – the prosecution case will collapse because vital information to be revealed to the jury will already been published.

The reason is simple. At the moment if the police announce arrests have been made in a long term investigation – the media take a decision to no longer publish information about that individual which could prejudice their trial. But if the media don’t know or the police won’t tell them they have been arrested they can at the moment quite legitimately publish what they like within the libel laws.

Lord Justice Leveson: Used as excuse by ACPO Pic courtesy of Leveson inquiry website

Lord Justice Leveson: Used as excuse by ACPO Pic courtesy of Leveson inquiry website

The only way round this would be for the media to refer every story  that involves criminal activity to the police to check whether they thought of arresting anyone. This would amount to a police state – with the police telling editors what they could or could not publish.

This is not theoretical. At the  moment through Exaro News(http://www.exaronews.com)  a team of journalists we are involved in a very long and complicated investigation – over 40 stories so far – into an historic paedophile ring which operated partly through the London borough of Richmond and at Elm Guest House in the 1980s.

The police have arrested two people John Stingemore,  who ran Grafton Close children’s home in Richmond, and  Father Tony McSweeney, a Roman Catholic priest ,so far and are continuing investigations into other people, including highly placed VIPs, peers and MPs.

Anyone reading this blog or following Exaro  would have noticed there has been mighty little written about this two individuals since their arrest. It is not that we don’t know stuff about both of them. But we are not putting it on line because we KNOW from the police there have been arrested and we don’t want them to escape justice by wrecking a  fair trial.

But imagine we didn’t know. the whole police case  against them could collapse. No not too melodramatic.

What Acpo fail to appreciate is that investigative journalists  work like detectives. They gather information through painstaking inquiries, trace contacts from witnesses to victims and  often find out the same information  as the police about  suspects. Sometimes they are ahead, sometimes it is the police.

To decide not to announce the names of arrested suspects will in these cases be a spectacular own goal for the police. What we need is co-operation  and dialogue  not a wall of silence.

How bungling ministers are closing down specialist help for child abuse victims

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Graham Wilner: Picture reproduced courtesy Rory Wilmer Photography

Graham Wilner: Picture reproduced courtesy Rory Wilmer Photography

Last week  I wrote a blog showing how David Cameron had failed to implement immediate help for people who witnessed child abuse. Downing Street responded by saying that there was £10.5m was available to help.

Not only has this proved to be wrong . But the situation  is far worse than I could have imagined. The government is closing down what specialist support that might be available just when the police led by the  Metropolitan Police Paedophile Unit are expanding their investigations so people all over the country  are being contacted about historic child abuse – whether over Savile or the Fernbridge and Fairbank operations or  further allegations against music schools or Roman Catholic priests.

Now I have learned from Graham Wilmer, pictured above, that we are just a week or so away from the closure a pioneering project in Merseyside, the Lantern project. This project ( see http://www.lanternproject.org.uk) is unusual since it is run by a person who was sexually abused in his youth. It is also a specialist site.

Mr Wilmer is alarmed about  the situation facing people now being contacted by the police who cannot get help. See my article in Exaro News (http://www.exaronews.com/articles/4909/child-sex-abuse-groups-offering-support-services-face-closure)  for the full story.

But his experience of government support under the coalition is appalling. First the funding of his centre was halted by the justice department under Ken Clarke. Then he was advised to apply through the Cabinet Office under Francis Maude who pushed him to the Big Lottery. But the Big Lottery would not fund him for bureaucratic reasons – and only the use literally of the old boy’s network – did he get any cash.  He rang Gus O’Donnell, then Cabinet Secretary, who used to be head boy at his old school to explain the situation. An hour later,he says, £29.000, was promised to the charity.

The money was given to put on a course to train health professionals in giving proper support to people who had been abused as children. But the NHS re-organisation under then health secretary Andrew Lansley, meant that the local primary care trust, was being abolished and did not send anyone on  the course. Its successor body may have some money under Jeremy Hunt next year, but by then the centre will be closed.

As he said: “We will be closing down in two weeks time. The outgoing government did promise to set up a national strategy which would include funding for child sexual abuse but this was cancelled by the new government.”

His will not be the only none. Fay Maxted, chief executive of the Survivors Trust, said: “A significant number are going to have to close as they are funded by private trusts and money from the lottery and this is not forthcoming.

So far from the government supporting victims and witnesses to child sexual abuse – they are actively  hindering any help. Cynics might think the ministers might not care because after all some of the alleged paedophiles are linked to the Tory  and Liberal Democrat parties in the past. I do not think this is case but people could be forgiven for thinking it.

This situation is a disgrace and the present coalition government has not got a grip on the scale of the problem. Hang your heads in shame Francis Maude, Jeremy Hunt and the present justic secretary, Chris Grayling. You don’t seem to have clue about what is happening.