Feversham School, Walbottle, Newcastle
Chilling report of abuse and cruelty at Feversham School
2 Jan 2013
SECRET papers today reveal the harrowing world of the Tyneside special school at the centre of an abuse probe.
Feversham Special School in Walbottle, Newcastle, which closed in the late 90s
SECRET papers today reveal the harrowing world of the Tyneside special school at the centre of an abuse probe.
A report obtained by the Chronicle, and marked extremely confidential, has unearthed details of the controversial regime at Feversham School.
The document was handed to staff and marked for immediate destruction after reading, but a horrified whistle- blower smuggled a copy out of the now-closed school.
Described as a management programme, it was devised after the-then principal of the school decided a pupil had a personality disorder and gives a chilling insight into the shocking conditions the youngster was subjected to.
Although the principal admits his personality disorder diagnosis is simply a hypothesis, the report describes the sort of treatment carers are to give out to the pupil referred to only as “Child”.
Under the guise of treatment, orders were made in the confidential document in which carers were:
Ordered to lock the boy in his room naked.
Banned from smiling, offering sympathy or even a greeting to the child.
Forced to place the child under 24-hour supervision.
Told to punish any “breach” with one hour seated on a hard chair under direct supervision.
According to the report, written in June 1985, the child had a “total lack of capacity to experience feelings like love or hatred, pity, compassion, guilt or remorse” and would not respond to a “tender loving care approach”.
The principal said: “Child is to be given no inadvertent or gratuitous primary or social reinforcement at all by any member of staff – ie, no one is to smile gratuitously at him, greet him cheerfully, stroke or pat him, offer sympathy, nod positively, etc.”
The leaked document comes after we unearthed behind-the-scen
The organisation gave us a copy of the last inspection of Feversham, by Newcastle City Council’s social services department in July 1996, which was archived when responsibility for this work passed to Ofsted.
The report, by Annie Bishop, then inspector for children’s services, was the last time an outsider had observed the controversial school in the Walbottle area before its closure in March 1997.
It revealed Feversham charged local authorities £24,000 a year for boarding students and £18,000 a year for day students.
The report revealed children had been restrained hundreds of times by staff in just one year – a revelation that sparked a probe into staff conduct. “The school policy on restraint is being reviewed,” the report said. “Staff will try to avoid using restraints without another member of staff being present as a witness.”
It continued: “There were 306 entries (in the restraints book) since the last inspection. The length of time over which the restraint took place is not always recorded and it is not always clear from the book whether parents (or social worker) are informed after each incident.”
The charity Mind acted as the residential school’s custodian trustee, looking after assets but not running the facility.
A board of governors managed the school, but Mind says it kept no record of their names.
Mind’s chief executive Paul Farmer said: “We are deeply shocked and saddened by the abuse that took place at Feversham.
“Mind was the custodian trustee of the property from which the school was run and was not involved with day-to-day running of the school.
“Mind is no longer involved with any residential educational establishments.
It was in December last year that we first reported on the shadowy world of Feversham School.
Newcastle North MP and shadow minister for children and young families Catherine McKinnell joined our calls for an investigation.
In April, Northumbria Police responded by setting up an incident room to begin a fresh inquiry.
Two people who worked at Feversham are facing abuse charges.
John Leslie Duncan, 59, from Hyde Park Street, Bensham, Gateshead, has been charged with 17 sex offences.
Kevin Brown, 56, of no fixed address, has also been charged with 17 offences.
Axwell Park School
Axwell Park School, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear
The school was run by the Home Office ‘for troubled youngsters’.
Peter Howarth abuse victim backs wider probe calls
14 Nov 2012
A THIRD North East victim of prolific paedophile Peter Howarth has come forward to reveal his ordeal, adding his voice to calls for a full investigation into abuse at a Gateshead school.
Convicted paedophile Peter Howarth, former teacher at Axwell Park School, Gateshead
A THIRD North East victim of prolific paedophile Peter Howarth has come forward to reveal his ordeal, adding his voice to calls for a full investigation into abuse at a Gateshead school.
As revealed in the Chronicle, Howarth taught at Gateshead’s Axwell Park School from 1966 to 1973. But rumours about him were never acted on and he was then appointed deputy head of Bryn Estyn in North Wales, where he committed crimes that saw him jailed in 1994.
He later died in prison.
Following recent claims that Howarth was part of a paedophile ring with Jimmy Savile, National Crime Agency chief Keith Bristow has been appointed to run a new inquiry and examine whether the Waterhouse inquiry that examined claims of abuse in children’s homes in Wales during the 1990s was thorough enough.
His North victims, together with Dave Anderson, MP for Blaydon, are calling for the inquiry to be extended to his actions on Tyneside.
After years of battling to blank out his abuse, a Chronicle reader from the Chester-le-Stre
He said: “I had an idea about what was happening when I first got there, as I could see him doing favours for other lads and giving them special treatment. He would pick special groups of lads to go camping in the woods, and that’s where it started.
“He would perform sex acts on me and make me perform them on him. It would happen two or three times a week.”
The 61-year-old told how Howarth groomed his victims.
“It sounds strange to say it, but at the time I thought he was a nice gentleman.
“I’d never had a dad and he was a bit of a father figure at first when he singled you out and started offering you cigarettes or weekend leave.
“He never threatened or punished me, but now I realise he was grooming us.”
Blaydon MP Dave Anderson said: “I am clear there should be absolutely no no-go areas in getting all the facts of this horrendous abuse exposed.”
North Wales abuse team urged to look at Tyneside school
CHILD abuse investigators probing the North Wales care home scandal must direct their inquiries to a trouble-hit Tyneside school, an MP said today.
Labour’s Dave Anderson made the call as the Chronicle revealed the paedophile at the centre of the North Wales outrage had been in charge of scores of vulnerable Tyneside children.
Peter Howarth taught at Gateshead’s Axwell Park School from 1966 to 1973, before going on to be jailed for horrific crimes against children in his next post in Wales.
Now it is claimed he was part of a paedophile ring with Jimmy Savile and a senior Tory politician – allegations to be reviewed.
But it was during his early career at the Home Office-run school for troubled youngsters in Blaydon his predatory actions first began, documents reveal.
However, no action was taken and the pervert was then appointed deputy head of Bryn Estyn in North Wales, where he committed the vile crimes that saw him jailed in 1994. He later died in prison.
Today, as one of his alleged North East victims speaks out for the first time, fears have been raised there could be more victims too afraid to come forward.
Now calls have been made for Keith Bristow, the National Crime Agency chief tasked with running the new inquiry into abuse in the North Wales, to extend his inquiry to:
look at how Howarth’s pattern of behaviour began on Tyneside, revisit records of “malicious rumours” about Axwell Park School that were dismissed, and ensure any potential Tyneside victims are able to get justice.
Today his alleged victim, said: “I was there from 1969 and Howarth was the house master. I’ve never gotten over what happened to me but I couldn’t tell anyone because I was too scared. When I heard about what had been happening in Wales, I knew this had happened to me before it happened to these guys down there.
Another victim tells of abuse at Axwell Park School
Convicted paedophile Peter Howarth, former teacher at Axwell Park School, Gateshead
ANOTHER Tyneside victim has come forward to speak of life in the care of one of Britain’s most notorious paedophiles.
As revealed in Saturday’s Chronicle, Peter Howarth taught at Gateshead’s Axwell Park School from 1966 to 1973 before going on to be jailed for horrific crimes against children in his next post in Wales.
Now calls have been made for high-profile child abuse investigators probing the North Wales care home scandal to also direct their inquiries to the Home Office-run school for troubled youngsters in Blaydon.
Today a Chronicle reader, who is now in his 50s, has spoken for the very first time about the ordeal he suffered at Axwell Park, where Howarth operated a “flat list” system that would see “favourite” boys singled out for late- night “counselling” in his home where they were made to wear only pyjamas.
“I had gone to his flat two or three times. You were supposed to be privileged to go there,” said the man.
“I sat on his knee. He did touch us but nothing more than that. It was an absolute shock when I read this, I just wanted to speak to someone.
“I was in quite a few institutions. At Axwell Park I ran away three or four times. I hated the place and it’s just horrible memories.
“I have not told anyone, not even my partner or kids.
“When I have read these stories about Savile and different things, I just have to flick past, I can’t read them. In Axwell Park we used to do your things during the day, the workshops.
“You thought you were privileged if you were allowed to go to his flat. I can still see the flat and his two big black Labradors.
“You used to go up there and you would think it was great because you were getting extra cigarettes. You would go in and sit and watch TV. You always had to have pyjamas on, no one was ever in there without pyjamas.
“He used to pick who he wanted to sit on his knee. I can remember he absolutely stunk of pipe baccy.
St Philip’s Hostel
St Philip’s Hostel, Jesmond, Newcastle
Operation Rose
Run by the charity Catholic Care
‘Carers and teachers had their lives ruined’
Apr 3 2002
By The Journal
Police closing a major investigation into sexual and physical abuse at care homes in the North-East were last night accused of ruining the lives of staff by making false accusations and wasting million of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
The £5m investigation, codenamed Operation Rose, was launched in 1997 by Northumbria Police after complaints were made that care workers and teachers had abused children in the past.
The three-year investigation involving 40 detectives led to 32 people being charged with a total of 142 offences.
In total, 260 residents and former residents of 61 children’s homes made 503 allegations against 197 care workers for alleged physical and sexual abuse.
Of the 32 that were charged, six were found guilty and jailed for a total of 25 years and one other person pleaded guilty. Four suspects died prior to trial.
Opponents said last night the operation had achieved very little at very high cost.
The North-East branch of Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers condemned police methods used to collect complaints.
Fact (North East) said officers working on Operation Rose used so-called “trawling” methods where they re-visited former care home clients asking if they had ever experienced any problems whilst in care.
Ray Johnson, its co-chairman, said: “Scores of carers and teachers have had their lives ruined and the lives of their families destroyed by these actions.
“People who abuse children physically or sexually should be caught and punished but the methods employed by Northumbria Police have brought the downfall of innocent people whose only crime was to look after disaffected children in care homes.”
Alan Beith, Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick-upon-Tw
Mr Beith said: “There are a lot of questions that need to be asked about this operation which must have cost a large amount of money but must have cost a lot more in the lives and careers of care staff and teaching staff.
“Trawling is a major concern, that is one of the issues about which questions must be asked. One of my constituents has made a complaint to police. We are awaiting the resolution of that complaint. This vast police effort has ended in a large number of cases not proceeding for lack of evidence.”
Court reporting restrictions, which had covered Operation Rose cases were lifted with the end of the final case brought under the police investigation.
Esme Allenby, 54, of Yeovil Close, Westwood Grange, Cramlington, Northumberland was told at Newcastle Crown Court that she would not face trial for nine counts of alleged indecent assault dating back 27 years.
Last night Northumbria Police defended the human and financial cost of Operation Rose.
The force said it had made a number of recommendations
Northumbria Police Assistant Chief Constable John Scott last night said: “Although our investigation has taken a considerable time to conclude, we believe it was right to conduct the investigation because no-one should be denied the opportunity to complain about criminal activity against them while in care.
“It was a thorough and professional investigation which sought to establish the truth behind what happened to children who were entrusted to the care of others. A number of people were convicted – and jailed – for serious offences against young, vulnerable people in their care.”
The inquiry began in 1997 after a woman in her 20s told a social worker that she and a friend had both been sexually and physically abused while living in a children’s home in the region.
After a meeting between police and social services, officers set out to corroborate the claims. Initial inquiries revealed six victims alleging abuse by eight suspects who had worked in a total of seven homes within four local authorities going back to the 1960s. This rapidly expanded to 10 victims and 20 children’s homes.
The force decided the only manageable way of developing the inquiry would be to seek information from a fixed proportion of residents in each of the homes.
Without revealing the nature of their investigations,
The courts subsequently upheld the process – known as “trawling” – accepting the letters simply sought information and did not make suggestions to recipients.
Homes run by two voluntary agencies and each of the six local authorities in the Northumbria Police area (Northumberland
Police chiefs say no complaints of malpractice were received and no allegations of collusion between victims has been upheld.
A number of cases were halted because the judiciary deemed that the length of time taken for the cases to reach court breached Article 6 of the Human Rights Act which requires a hearing within a reasonable time.
‘My officers were fair and we were professional’
The detective who launched Operation Rose in 1997 defended the cost of the inquiry – which finally reached £5m – before he retired last year.
Speaking exclusively to The Journal, former Northumbria Police Detective Superintendent David Wilson said the team of detectives who had worked on the operation had done a thorough job and implemented safeguards to protect innocent people.
Mr Wilson said: “The chief constable identified that the investigation was going to be huge and required a dedicated team of officers to work on it.
“My team did a professional and thorough job all through the inquiry.
“I decided to appoint myself to oversee the investigation. My team visited a number of investigations nationwide, consulted with their senior investigators, the heads of social services and the steering groups.
“I spent months researching past investigations before I decided what the perimeters would be to make sure it would be ethical and in line with what is best practice.
“I had to balance the rights of the care workers against malicious allegations against the rights of a person’s legitimate allegation.
“An incident room was set up before I would go into a home.
“We would then select a few (former residents) at random and send a letter.
“The letter would say: `There’s a police inquiry at a children’s home to which we believe you were resident, if you would like to speak to the police contact us on …’
“We had allegations going back 15 or 20 years.
“People would say, `What’s the point of investigating now?’
“But that person might still be working in children’s homes. After investigating, if we found there was not sufficient evidence I personally made the file `No Further Action’ (NFA). But if the police considered that there was a case that the Crown Prosecution Service may consider, we submitted those files to the CPS and in all the cases they would decide either NFA, or to prosecute.”
He seemed so small – back then he seemed tall – and he had no power any more over me
Ruth was nine when her mother suffered mental health problems and her two sisters and one brother had to be taken into local authority care.
Spilt by miles from her siblings, she moved to a home in the North where she spent the next four years.
From the outset the youngster was warned by older girls at the children’s home about one of the assistants.
She was 13 when he started to sexually abuse her. He carried on for two years and only stopped when she threatened him.
For years Ruth (not her real name) hid the secret from her family and friends. Then the Operation Rose investigation began and two officers knocked on her front door. Now a mother with four children, she said: “I wanted to tell but thought no one would believe me. When the police knocked, I felt that finally someone would believe me.”
She broke down when she heard that her attacker had been jailed but she will carry the emotional scars for the rest of her life.
Ruth said: “I did not know he was doing it to other girls. When the abuse started I felt threatened and I tried to avoid him but he abused me whenever it took his fancy.
“He told me no one would believe me. The abuse only stopped because I absconded.
“After I was caught and was alone with him I turned to him and said, `I wish you were dead and I will kill you if you touch me.’ It was then that it stopped.” To block out of her mind what was happening to her, Ruth sniffed solvents.
Over the years she suffered nightmares, underwent counselling, took anti-depressant
Nothing helped until the day her abuser stood in the dock and she had to confront him.
She said: “I was surprised I never killed myself. My marriage broke down because my husband could not understand what had happened. I still suffer nightmares but they are getting less.
“When the case went to court, I saw him as I went to the toilet. I felt sick but thought he seemed so small – back then he seemed so tall – and he had no power any more over me.
“I liked it when I saw him in the dock where he belonged. I hope he gets beaten up in prison every day.
“My evidence took 35 minutes. It was hard and seemed to take hours. But the other girls giving evidence gave me strength and I knew I could do it. When I was told on the phone he had been found guilty I couldn’t stop crying.
“I felt, at last, I could put it behind me.”
Ruth says she is too protective of her four children.
“I don’t trust men, I have told all of my children not to trust anyone and to beware anyone who touches them in the wrong way.
“I came out because I wanted people to speak out if it’s happening to them, not put up with abuse.
“I did get £3,000 compensation for the scale of the abuse but I was not bothered about the money. I only hope all the other girls he abused are coping with this.”
‘Justice done, names cleared’
The impact of Operation Rose on those falsely accused could last for years, it was said last night.
Solicitor Gill Rutherford, who works for Thompsons law firm in Newcastle, which represented 15 accused care workers who were all acquitted, said: “The accused denied the allegations made against them from the very beginning and the fact that the courts have found no basis to those allegations raises some important questions about the police investigation.
“If allegations are made against individuals, then they must of course be investigated.
“I am of course extremely pleased to have been able to defend these clients and to have seen justice done and their names cleared.
“But the fact is that Operation Rose has not only caused suffering and distress to 15 innocent people and their extended families and friends which has impacted on their right to respect for private and family life, but has also been a waste of public money.”
The organisation Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers (Fact) says careers stretching over decades have been ruined, innocent men have been shunned despite being cleared and families have been torn apart by the stigma of child abuse.
Care worker Steve Milbourn, 46, who was cleared of two offences of child cruelty and one of assault, sold his £100,000 home in Newcastle and moved to Spain.
He said: “The trawling that they do is a bad way of doing things. The police were grasping at straws. They brought blokes to court to give evidence in handcuffs straight from prison.”
Richard Webster, an author and critic of “trawling” said: “These investigations are often said to involve `children’s homes’ whereas in fact they are usually residential institutions for troubled or difficult adolescents.
“If police officers interview hundreds of damaged young people with long records of deception and dishonesty, with the aim of gathering allegations of abuse against those who once cared for them, it would be surprising if they did not succeed in provoking a large number of false allegations – particularly when it is known that such allegations can result in thousands of pounds being paid out by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.”
Another former care worker, Derek Gordon, 56, of Chester-le-Stre
Last night he wrote an open letter to Northumbria Chief Constable Crispian Strachan saying: “Our conservative estimate of the true financial cost of Operation Rose is in excess of £10m.
“This is only the financial cost. The real cost in terms of the blighted careers of experienced, caring and well-qualified staff who have been rendered unemployable despite being found not guilty can only be imagined.
“The effect on their families, their personal lives and mental wellbeing of being subjected to false allegations from those they sought to help cannot be overstated.” Mr Gordon, who was cleared by a jury in just 50 minutes, and who said he was offered his old job back by Northumberland County Council but who instead opted for early retirement, said: “With the collapse today of the last of its cases, Operation Rose, conducted by Northumbria Police, has ground to an end.
“Trumpeted announcements in August 1997 declared that this operation would have huge impact and uncover massive abuse. In the event it has produced very little of worth which could not have been achieved by ordinary solid police methods – without the estimated £10m cost to the public purse.
“Where abuse exists, abusers need to be caught. Vulnerable children deserve protection, but this operation, with its devastatingly damaging prosecutions of cases, producing failure rates of in excess of 75pc, has succeeded in ruining the lives of large numbers of innocent people whose only concern was to provide care for those in need.”
Ivan Oliver
Former residential care worker Ivan Oliver was convicted of indecent assault and jailed after a trial.
Oliver, 41, of Stakeford, Northumberland,
Edward Porter
Former children’s home boss Edward Porter was jailed after admitting a series of sex attacks on a teenager in his care more than 20 years earlier.
Porter, 54, of Cartington Terrace, Heaton, Newcastle, molested the boy while he worked during the 1970s at St Philip’s Hostel in Jesmond, Newcastle, which was run by the charity Catholic Care.
He had denied indecent assault and other serious sex offences but pleaded guilty on the second day of his Newcastle Crown Court trial.
Colin Wappat
A former city councillor who preyed on two teenage boys was jailed for eight years – cut to six-and-a-half years on appeal.
Colin Wappat, 65, was convicted at Newcastle Crown Court in November 2000 of charges of indecent assault and a further serious sexual offence.
Wappat, of Trewhitt Road, Heaton, Newcastle, abused the boys over a four-year period during the 1970s while a children’s home worker on Tyneside.
Christopher Abbott
Christopher Abbott was expecting the police to one day knock on his door after he abused at least 12 young girls in his care, according to detectives who investigated him.
A native of Wallsend, Abbott, who was jailed for six years, went to work at Beaconhill Children’s Home, run by Northumberland Social Services, in Cramlington during the 1980s.
Det Sgt Steve Patrick said: “Abbott never lost his temper when he was arrested. It was as if he had been waiting for that knock sooner or later. His wife was more upset than he was. I am sure he was aware of Operation Rose.
“We did have a little documentary evidence from Beaconhill, a log book, which had recorded a staff member seeing Abbott going into one of the girl’s bedrooms between 2-3am, in which he could not give an account of why he had been in there.
“It gave us the evidence that he had been where he shouldn’t which helped us a lot.”
The police also told how Abbott, who has one daughter and became a manager for an accountancy practice in Houghton-le-Spr
Det Sgt Patrick said: “Abbott was suspended and facing an internal discipline relating to the improper use of a vehicle at the home.
“This was all dealt with by the social services department, and while they were unable to prove he had abused the residents, they thought there was something not right and managed to sack him using the vehicle.
“He was a well-respected member of staff, there was support outside County Hall for him, they could not understand why he had been sacked. Hopefully lessons have been learned.”
He added: “Abbott was compliant with all our requests, not what I had imagined.
“He dressed very respectable, always a shirt and tie. I think there were more victims, but we wanted to ensure everyone had the opportunity to disclose what went on. We had to deal with this sensitively. There are no hard and fast rules to conduct an inquiry of this nature.
“I think six years reflected the nature of the offences. He probably should have got more. It is difficult to imagine a worse case of abuse. I knew he would not admit it and never said sorry.
“We quickly picked up the scale of offending, all the girls’ cases were similar. I would rather he had pleaded guilty than put the girls through what he did.”
Martin Hamill
An art teacher convicted of molesting a vulnerable girl as a teenager was spared jail after a court heard he had gone on to lead a successful and exemplary life.
Martin Hammill, of Hagg Bank Cottages, Wylam, Northumberland,
He was found guilty two years later at Newcastle Crown Court of charges of indecent assault and unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl when she was under the age of 13.
Hammill, now 38, who had denied the charges, was sentenced to 12 months’ jail suspended for two years and his name put on the Sex Offender Register for 10 years.
Hammill was aged between 15 and 17 when the offences were committed.
His barrister, Christopher Knox, told the court: “He has lost his career, he has lost his good name and he has in my submission been punished hugely already for something that happened almost a lifetime ago.”
John Healey
John Healey, a former residential social worker was jailed for three years for preying on schoolgirls in his care.
Healey, 52, of Holeyn Road, Throckley, Newcastle, was convicted of indecent assault charges after a trial at the city’s Crown Court in May 2000.
The offences dated back to the 1980s when Healey worked in three different children’s homes on Tyneside.
It was more than a decade before his victims – by now adults – made their complaints and Healey, who had denied the charges, was arrested.
Washington Children’s Home
Washington Children’s Home, South Shields, Northumbria
Operation Rose
How Operation Rose Began
OPERATION Rose was one of the country’s biggest investigations into historic sexual and physical child abuse.
The inquiry was launched in August 1997 when a woman in her 20s disclosed to a social worker that she and a friend had been both sexually and physically abused as children while living in a children’s home in the Northumbria Police area.
After a meeting between police and social services, an investigation was launched, centring on council-run care homes in the North-East and stemming from initial allegations in Newcastle and Northumberland.
Officers manning a confidential telephone line for people who were in care between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s received 23 calls in the first 24 hours, from people complaining of sexual and physical assault.
Initial inquiries revealed six victims alleging abuse by eight suspects who had worked in homes across the region going back to the 1960s.
As the inquiry continued, the number of alleged victims escalated.
In 1998, the inquiry was broadened to include renewed allegations concerning carers working at Witherwack House, Sunderland, which had been subject to an earlier investigation in 1992.
Over the full three-year life of the police investigation, almost 200 care workers were the subject of allegations and 32 were charged.
In total, 260 residents and former residents of 61 children’s homes came forward to make allegations of physical and sexual assault.
Six people were eventually found guilty of a variety of charges, of which five were jailed.
Four suspects died before coming to trial.
The final trail of Esme Allenby collapsed yesterday, opening the door for Operation Rose to be reported in full.
Northern Echo 03/04/02
Washington Children’s Home was investigated by Northumbria police as part of a large police investigation into child abuse. The investigation was called Operation Rose.
Witherwack House, Sunderland
Witherwack House, Sunderland
Abuse claimants win compensation
The Witherwack children’s home closed 10 years ago
Former residents of a council-run children’s home who claim they were abused have won thousands of pounds in compensation.La
They are part of a 60-strong group who say their lives were ruined at Sunderland’s now-demolished Witherwack House, and 24 other care homes across Wearside and the North East, between 1960 and 1990.
A spokesman for Sunderland City Council, which denies liability, said: “The hearing due to commence on 24 February at Newcastle County Court is no longer proceeding on the basis of settlements agreed.”
Cases reviewed
The council took its decision following a recent Court of Appeal hearing, which extended the time limit given to adults who allege abuse occurred when they were children.
Solicitor Brian Peuch said he was “optimistic” about gaining settlements for the remaining 45 claimants, whose files will now be reviewed by his legal team.
He told BBC News Online: “Our other claimants’ cases will be reviewed. If they were in homes where compensation has now been negotiated for others, we would be looking to get comparable compensation for them.”
The current legal action – the largest of its kind in the north-east of England – emerged after two care workers at Witherwack House were found guilty of child cruelty in 1993.
Three years ago a trial into claims of child neglect at the home collapsed.
A Newcastle Crown Court trial judge cleared four former social workers, after ruling that witness statements from events up to 20 years earlier could not be relied upon.
Mr Peuch said: “The other claimants can be optimistic, though I don’t want to raise their hopes too much.”
Since Witherwack House closed 10 years ago, there has been an independent inquiry and two police investigations into allegations of abuse in city council-run homes.
BBC News 18/03/03
“Last August, the NSPCC completed an inquiry into the care of children at a council home in Sunderland called Witherwack House. They produced a detailed report, which was confidential, but the Guardian has obtained a copy.
The NSPCC team bluntly named 23 men and women who had been identified to them as abusers who had physically and sexually assaulted children at Witherwack during the 1970s and 80s. Their report noted the frequency with which particular names recurred and the way in which different witnesses, including a former member of staff, independently described some of the same incidents. “These allegations are consistent in nature,” they commented.
They described, for example, the care worker who had had sex regularly with a 14-year-old girl with the eventual result that she had had to have an abortion; the boy who had been burned across the back with a heated metal tray; the string of boys who had been used for sex by a woman worker; the boy who had been beaten with a snooker cue; the boy who had been kicked by a man wearing heavy boots; the apparently endless beatings and punchings; the numerous times that children had been pinned to the floor with their arms stretched high above their backs; the two different boys who complained that staff had incited an older boy called Darren Rowe to rape them; the supervising officer who had failed over and over again to heed the complaints of the children in his care.
They described, too, two girls who, from the ages of eight and seven, had become sex objects for one particular care worker who used to bend them over a bed and rape them every week or so. Both of those two girls, now young women in their 20s, have been haunted by the experience. One has lost the ability to cry. The other obsessively cuts the flesh on her arms and occasionally tries to kill herself. In an account of her abuse, she wrote: “I felt I was just put on this earth to suffer.”
The NSPCC team made it clear not only that they found these allegations credible but also that the responsibility for this went beyond the abusers themselves: “It seems regrettably impossible to avoid the conclusion that, during at least some of the time that Witherwack was open, Sunderland City Council did not meet its legal duty to promote and safeguard the welfare of at least some, and possibly many of the children and young people who lived there.
witherwack house
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:14 pm Post subject: witherwack house
Witherwack House Sunderland MEMORANDUM 44 Submitted by Chris Machell, Detective Chief Superintendent,
NORTHUMBRIA Police has been blasted in Parliament for its handling of Operation Rose, a £5million investigation into sex abuse at children's homes across the North East. Experts told the powerful Home Affairs Select Committee that police probes into paedophile rings were like "witch-hunts" which ruined the lives of innocent people. During the five-year investigation, former teachers and care home staff from Sunderland were forced to endure harrowing court cases before being cleared of any allegations of sex abuse. Respected academic Richard Webster, who wrote the book The Great Children's Home Panic, said there were miscarriages of justice because the police were so desperate to track down paedophiles. Mr Webster said: "There is a temptation for the police to divert colossal resources into the pursuit of paedophile rings which don't necessarily exist. "Operation Rose was run by Northumbria Police but it collapsed a few months ago. During the operation, more than 20 people successfully defended themselves against abuse allegations at a trial. "Many, many more were put through hell on earth due to false allegations." Mr Webster added: "The operation started with a policeman publicly asserting the belief that there was a paedophile ring which simply did not exist." The Home Affairs Select Committee, led by Sunderland South MP Chris Mullin, is studying whether methods used by the police lead to frightening miscarriages of justice. The committee launched the probe amid concerns that ex-care home residents and school pupils were making false accusations of abuse. As part of Operation Rose, more than 200 people were investigated during the five-year probe- but only six convicted. Among those whose cases were dismissed were four male workers at the former Witherwack House residential home in Sunderland. They had denied child cruelty. The all-party panel of MPs heard evidence from investigative journalists David Rose and Bob Woofinden and Mr Webster. They criticised the controversial police method of "trawling" - contacting hundreds of ex-care home residents and pupils, asking if they recollect abuse. Statements with so-called victims were never taped, they said. The experts also claimed the lure of huge compensation payouts had encouraged people to concoct allegations. Mr Rose suggested miscarriages of justice could be avoided if compensation was scrapped for "victims" who could not prove they had been abused. And if police taped the statements of victims, the courts could be satisfied they had not been "led" to give evidence. He also suggested imposing a time limit on when people could make complaints - up to six years. The Home Affairs Select Committee said the three witnesses' evidence was "powerful and compelling
THE charity responsible for a Tyneside school at the centre
of a child abuse scandal says it does not know who was in charge of the
youngsters.
As revealed in the Chronicle, two former care workers were jailed for abusing their positions to steal the childhoods of vulnerable pupils at Feversham Special School.
The charity Mind was the residential school’s custodian trustee, looking after assets but not running the facility for emotionally and behaviorally-disturbed children, aged from six to 19.
And today Mind boss Paul Farmer has admitted he has no idea who was actually in charge of the now-closed special school, where predatory paedophiles Kevin Brown and John Leslie Duncan worked as carers.
A Board of Governors managed the school in Walbottle, Newcastle, but Mind kept no record of their names.
Mind chief executive Paul Farmer said: “We have looked into tracking down the Board of Governors, who were responsible for the day-to-day running of the school.
“On examination of our files from that time, we found that Mind holds no formal record of the governors.
“Mind was never required to keep this information as we were not responsible for the management or running of the school. We understand that Ofsted or its predecessor would hold a full record of this.”
Victims and their families have today condemned Mind for not keeping records on the people who ran the school, which employed two paedophiles.
“What kind of charity is involved with a school for children with special needs but doesn’t keep a record of who was looking after them?” asked the mother of one boy.
“If they’re saying they don’t have the information but Ofsted does, then I’ll just have to get in touch with Ofsted but I won’t stop until I have those names and answers about why this was allowed to happen.”
Mr Farmer held talks with the woman, whose son was a victim of the horrific abuse, in January.
During the meeting, at Mind’s Wellbeing Centre, in Gateshead, he promised to help the victims find mental health support, consider the charity’s position on an official inquiry and look into tracking down the former Board of Governors.
“We are appalled by the abuse that took place at Feversham School,” he said today. “These were horrific crimes and people’s lives have been left devastated by these terrible events.
“Earlier this year, I met with the mother of one of the victims and listened to her heartbreaking story and her pursuit for justice.
“Although Mind was not responsible for the running of the school, as a mental health charity I felt it was important to offer our support. We have since signposted the family to specific services that might be able to provide further assistance.
“We have considered our position on an inquiry and as Mind was the custodian trustee of the property, it would be inappropriate for us to lead such an inquiry. Any official inquiry would be a matter for the local authority or Secretary of State for Education to consider and we would be happy to co-operate with this as we have with all earlier police investigations.”
1983: Former Feversham teacher David Allnutt resigns in disgust over the way pupils’ allegations of abuse at the school are dismissed.
1987: Former social worker Ian Merry blows the whistle on suspected child abuse, triggering an investigation by the charity Mind.
1988: The inquiry concludes and a report states there is “nothing to support allegations of indecency”. Pervert John Leslie Duncan, known as Les, keeps his job as a senior residential worker.
March 1997: Feversham School closes.
December 7, 2001 : John Leslie Duncan is jailed for abusing his position of trust to prey on youngsters at Feversham.
December 2, 2011: Kevin Brown, known as Ken, of Inchberry Close, Benwell, Newcastle, is jailed for eight years for also abusing boys.
December 8, 2011: Newcastle North MP and Shadow Minister for Children and Young Families, Catherine McKinnell, joins the Chronicle in calling for an official inquiry.
December 14, 2011: Former Feversham teacher David Allnutt dies of a massive heart attack just weeks after his key evidence helps jail Kevin Brown.
January 6, 2012: Mind boss Paul Farmer meets the mother of one of the victims for talks.
February 22, 2012: Mothers of Feversham victims form a pressure group.
April 27, 2012: Northumbria Police sets up an incident room to carry out a major investigation into allegations of abuse at the school.
Scandal history
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