Page 36 Daily Mail, Thursday, August 1, 2019
Councils that let
paedophiles run
riot for 50 years
By Claire Duffin
tory staff was ‘tolerated or over-
looked’, the Independent Inquiry
into Child Sexual Abuse said. It
added that the councils also
failed to learn from repeated mis-
takes. More than 350 people have
come forward to describe abuse
dating back to the Sixties, but
the real figure is likely to be muchhigher, the report’s authors said.
The inquiry – which has also been
examining the sexual abuse of
children in the Roman CatholicChurch and at Lambeth council in
London – began looking into the
councils as allegations soared.
Presenting its report yesterday
following 15 days of evidence at
public hearings in October, it said
the case included the largest
number of specific allegations of
sexual abuse in a single investiga-
tion considered by the inquiry.
Its chairman, Professor Alexis Jay,
said: ‘For decades, children who
were in the care of the Nottingham-
shire councils suffered appalling
sexual and physical abuse. Despite
decades of evidence and manyreviews showing what needed to
change, neither of the councils learnt
from their mistakes, meaning more
children suffered unnecessarily.’
Some victims waived their right to
anonymity to describe how the
abuse had affected them.
Caroline Nolan, 55, said she was
abused until she was seven or eight
after being taken into care, adding:
‘I feel dirty and angry.’
Caroline Martin, 53, was ten when
she went into a children’s home in
Bulwell. She said she was physically
and sexually abused regularly, but it
wasn’t until she took an overdose in
her mid-forties that she told a hos-
pital nurse what had happened.
She said: ‘I have overwhelming
feelings of bitterness and sadness.
What makes it worse is the thought
of being let down by the people who
were supposed to protect you.’
One victim who was fostered at
ten tried to take his own life after
being abused by a foster carer.
He was only removed from care
only after several complaints were
made against his foster parent. Hetold the inquiry: ‘I am still full of
fury. I don’t understand how some-
one with an allegation of underage
sexual assault made against them
can have been allowed to continue
to foster children.’
Between the late Seventies and
2019, 16 residential staff were con-
victed of sexual abuse of children in
residential care, while ten foster
carers were convicted of sexual
abuse of their foster children.
The offences in residential care
took place at several children’s
homes, including Beechwood
House, which operated for 39 years
from 1967 to 2006. The panel said it
was not a safe environment for vul-
nerable children. Staff were threat-
ening and violent, physical abuse
was common and children were
frightened, it said.
Sexualised behaviour by staff was
also tolerated or overlooked.
Two men – care worker Barrie Pick
and social worker Andris Logins –
were jailed for abusing children at
the home in Mapperley.
Looking at foster care from the
Sixties, the inquiry found that when
allegations of sexual abuse were
made there was ‘too much willing-
ness on the part of council staff ’ to
take the side of the foster carers
and to disbelieve children.
In one ‘particularly shocking’ case
in the Seventies, children were
returned to a foster carer even after
he pleaded guilty to the sexual
assault of his two nieces.
The report also criticised Notting-
hamshire police, saying it had ‘con-
sistently shown a lack of urgency’.
David Mellen, leader of Notting-
ham city council, said it let victims
down in ‘the worst possible way’.
Colin Pettigrew, corporate direc-
tor for children’s services at Not-
tinghamshire county council, said:
‘We know apologies cannot take
away the abuse people suffered.’‘I am still
full of fury’Drug dealer caught
on his own dashcam
A DRUG dealer has been jailed
after he was caught in the act by
his own car’s dashboard camera.
Scott Curtis, 45, was recorded say-
ing that he sold ‘gear’ as he con-
ducted class A drug deals from his
yellow Ford Focus.
Last September, police caught
Curtis throwing small bags of
cocaine and heroin out of his car
window after they pulled him over,
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard
last month. He claimed it was all for
his own personal use, police said,
with officers also finding cannabis
plants at his home during a search.
But they then discovered Curtis’s
car’s dashcam which contained two
hours of footage showing some of
his latest deals. In one scene he is
seen on the phone, saying: ‘I don’t
do Valium, gear I do’, and agreeing
the price ‘three for 25’.
The deal is recorded in full view of
the camera. Curtis, from, Aberdare,south Wales, was jailed for two years
and six months after pleading guilty
to possessing cocaine and possess-
ing heroin with intent to supply and
producing cannabis.
South Wales Police’s Detective
Constable Steve Woolley said:
‘When we played back [Curtis’s]
own dashcam footage, I don’t think
he could quite believe it.’
Meanwhile police in Lincolnshire
have found a massive cannabis fac-
tory hidden in a nondescript indus-
trial unit. The grey building in
Scunthorpe contained more than
15,000 plants with a street value of
up to £4million.
Three men were arrested. Two,
aged 29 and 48, were charged with
producing a controlled drug and
one man, 50, was charged with sup-
plying controlled drugs. They were
due to appear in court yesterday.Daily Mail ReporterHUNDREDS of children in
council care were sexually
abused over five decades fol-
lowing repeated failings by local
authorities and the police, an
inquiry has found.
A report into historical abuse has
concluded that vulnerable children
were let down badly by those meant
to be looking after them at Not-
tingham city council and Notting-
hamshire county council.
It said youngsters who needed to be
‘nurtured, cared for and protected by
adults they could trust’ were exposed
to violence and sex abuse in many chil-
dren’s homes and in foster care.
The abuse included rapes and other
sexual assaults carried out by perpe-
trators including residential care staff,
foster carers and their relatives.
The sexualised behaviour by preda- Jailed: Abuser Andris Logins
Report condemns Nottinghamshire
officials for failing hundreds of victims