Section:GDN 1N PaGe:15 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 20:11 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Thursday 1 August 2019 The Guardian •
National^15
Sexual abuse panel
fi nds Nottingham
councils failed their
children for decades
Nazia Parveen
North of England correspondent
Hundreds of children in council care
in Nottinghamshire were exposed to
sexual abuse by predatory foster carers
and residential care staff for decades
due to repeated failures to learn from
mistakes, an inquiry has found.
In one of the largest inquiries into
child sexual abuse to date, Notting-
ham city council and Nottinghamshire
county council were found to have
repeatedly exposed vulnerable chil-
dren to sexual and physical abuse.
The Independent Inquiry into
Child Sexual Abuse found sexualised
behaviour by staff was often “tol-
erated or overlooked”. About 350
people alleged they were abused
while in residential or foster care in
the county from the 1960s onwards.
The IICSA said the real scale was likely
to be higher. Children suff ered abuse,
including repeated rapes and sexual
assaults , at many council homes as
well as in foster care.
The inquiry heard one child abused
while in foster care was placed in a
children’s home where they were vis-
ited by their abuser. In another home
inspected in the early 1990s “all chil-
dren resident over a 12-month period
were found to have been exposed to
harmful sexual behaviour”.The panel, presenting its report
yesterday after listening to 15 days
of evidence, said it was the largest
number of specifi c allegations of sex-
ual abuse in a single investigation that
the inquiry has considered to date.
In a damning assessment , the report
said: “For more than fi ve decades, the
councils failed in their statutory duty
to protect children in their care from
sexual abuse. These were children
who were being looked after away
from their family homes because of
adverse childhood experiences and
their own pre-existing vulnerabilities.
“They needed to be nurtured, cared
for and protected by adults they could
trust. Instead, the councils exposed
them to the risk, and reality, of sexual
abuse perpetrated primarily by preda-
tory residential staff and foster carers.”
Between the late 1970s and 2019,
the report said 16 residential staff were
convicted of sexual abuse of children
in residential care. Ten foster carers
were convicted of sexual abuse of their
foster children. The panel said it was
also aware of 12 convictions relating to
the harmful sexual behaviour of chil-
dren against other children in care.
The inquiry heard from former res-
idents of Beechwood Care Home, who
described being routinely sexually
abused by staff and being too afraidto report it. Some foster carers were
allowed to carry on looking after vul-
nerable children even when they were
“known perpetrators”. The report said
there was “too much willingness on
the part of council staff to take the side
of the foster carers and to disbelieve
the child”.
County councillors were also criti-
cised. The inquiry found they “did not
question the scale of sexual abuse or
what action was being taken”, which
it said was a “serious failure of scru-
tiny and governance”.
Nottinghamshire Constabulary’s
initial investigation into allegations
was “not adequately resourced” and
complaints were not dealt with “suf-
fi cient seriousness”.Mandy Coupland, co-founder of
Nottingham Child Sexual Abuse Sur-
vivors Group , told the inquiry the city
council had lost the trust of victims.
The IICSA panel said comments by
then city council leader Jon Collins –
who was quoted as saying in a meeting
last year the authority “will apologise
when there is something to apologise
for” – were “crass and caused avoid-
able upset”.
Nottinghamshire county council
made a public apology to victims in
January last year, with the city coun-
cil doing the same a fortnight before
the inquiry opened.
Inquiry chairwoman Prof Alexis
Jay said: “For decades, children who
were in the care of the Nottingham-
shire councils suffered appalling
sexual and physical abuse, infl icted
by those who should have nurtured
and protected them.
“Those responsible for overseeing
the care of children failed to question
the extent of sexual abuse or what
action was being taken. Despite dec-
ades of evidence and many reviews
showing what needed to change, nei-
ther of the councils learnt from their
mistakes, meaning that more children
suff ered unnecessarily. We hope this
report and recommendations can help
ensure it never happens again.”British art
dealer jailed
in US for
‘scamming’
up to £25m
Private college
goes bust after
failing to attract
enough students
Lanre Bakare
Arts and culture correspondent
A prominent British art dealer who
defrauded his clients out of millions
with a scheme involving masterpieces
by artists including Pablo Picasso and
Marc Chagall has been sentenced to up
to 12 years in prison in the US.
Timothy Sammons – a former
Sotheby’s specialist with offi ces in
New York and London who brokered
multi million -pound deals for clients
such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foun-
dation – used art that did not belong
to him as collateral to obtain personal
loans between 2010 and 2015.
Artworks including Chagall’s R êv-
erie, Calanque de Canoubier (Pointe
de Bamer) by Paul Signac and Picas-
so’s Buste de Femme – were used to
steal between $10m and $30m (£8m
and £25m) from clients from the UK,
US and New Zealand.
Sally Weale
Education CorrespondentOne of the biggest private providers of
higher education in England has gone
into administration, leaving students
stranded on unfi nished courses.
GSM London , which off ered under-
graduate and postgraduate business
courses at its campuses in Greenwich
and Greenford, told its 3,500 students
that all tuition, classes and exams
would stop at the end of September.
The college said it had been unable
to recruit and retain suffi cient student
numbers to remain afl oat in “highly
challenging market conditions”.
Students were told they would be
supported “as far as possible” while
eff orts were made to provide them
with “informed options for where they
may be able to continue their studies”.
GSM’s demise will be seen as a blow
to government attempts to open up
the higher education sector to private
providers. It also refl ects the growing
fi nancial pressures on universities.
The University and College Union ,
which represents higher education
staff , called on the government to
look again at what it described as the
“funding free-for-all” around pri-
vate providers. “UCU has repeatedly
highlighted concerns about the mar-
ketisation of education and the rapid
increase in poorly regulated private
providers,” it said.
A Department for Education
spokesperson said it was working
with GSM and other bodies to ensure
students were given the support they
needed. It wanted “a broad, sustaina-
ble market in higher education”.The Manhattan district attorney,
Cyrus Vance , said Sammons used his
experience to gain the trust of prospec-
tive sellers, “ then betrayed that trust
by pocketing the proceeds of those
sales to fund his own lavish lifestyle ”.
After the sentencing at New York
State supreme court on Tuesday.
Vance said: “When brokering the sales
of high-priced, one-of-a-kind paint-
ings, Timothy Sammons had lying,
scamming, and stealing down to a
fi ne art.”
Sammons was accused of using the▲ Timothy Sammons used clients’ art
works as collateral for personal loans
‘The children needed
protection ... instead,
the councils exposed
them to abuse by staff
and foster carers’From the Independent Inquiry
into Child Sexual Abuse reportsales to pay club memberships , credit
card bills and fi rst-class travel. The
judge, Ann Scherzer , said the former
dealer “refused to take responsibility
or express remorse”.
Before sentencing, Sammons said:
“I have always said how extremely
sorry I am for the trauma I caused .”
His solicitor told Art net that Sammons
“ looks forward to getting out of jail , re-
establishing his name and paying back
his customers ”.
Sammons , who was previously the
head of Sotheby’s Chinese art depart-
ment , had his assets frozen in 2015
when the allegations came to light
and his £4m London home was repos-
sessed. He will serve his sentence in a
New York state prison.▲ Calanque de Canoubier (Pointe
de Bamer) by Signac and R êverie by
Chagall (left) were among works sold
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