Child abuse at residential school lasted for decades,
panel finds
Child sexual abuse involving pupils at Knowl View happened from its early years onwards and continued for 20 years, an independent panel found.
The council-run residential school in Rochdale was set up in 1969 to house boys aged from seven to 16 with a "wide range of needs and adverse experiences" but the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) concluded there was little evidence of a homely environment.
IICSA said the institution, where late Liberal MP Cyril Smith was a governor, failed in its basic function to keep its children safe from harm and, in particular, safe from sexual harm both within and out the school.
The panel said:
Child sexual abuse involving children from the school occurred from its early years onwards.
"Within the school there was sexual abuse of boys by members of staff, and of younger boys by older ones.
"Sexual exploitation of some boys was also taking place in Rochdale town centre by men paying for sex.
"Some boys were also trafficked to other towns for that purpose."
– IICSA
Although concerns were raised from time to time, the panel said members of staff were "at best complacent and in some instances arguably complicit in the abuse that they knew to be taking place and which was treated as 'normal"'.
The panel pointed to an indecent assault of a Knowl View boy in 1984 by a sex offender named Roderick Hilton as an early example of "the school's failure to grapple with a serious incident of child sexual abuse".
In September 1990 Hilton gained access to the school and indecently assaulted at least one boy but apart from interviewing staff there was little evidence it provoked the anxious concern or decisive action needed.
The panel concluded there was no deliberate cover-up by the authorities involved but rather a "careless and wholly inadequate response" to the serious sexual abuse of children.
Former director of social services Ian Davey did not choose to pursue child protection issues involving Knowl View in 1991 which the panel said it found "inexplicable, professionally indefensible and extremely poor judgment".
Several council reports followed but the panel said there appeared to be no urgency on the part of senior education officials to address abuse and "matters at Knowl View were allowed to drift".
IICSA said it heard nothing to confirm there was effective liaison between the departments of education and social services.
Labour suspends former Rochdale council leader for ‘lying during child sex abuse inquiry’
Andy Wells Yahoo News UK12
Labour has suspended a serving councillor after an independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in Rochdale concluded he lied during his evidence.
Richard Farnell told a panel last year he was unaware of issues of abuse involving a residential school in the town while he was leader of Rochdale Council between 1986 and 1992.
However, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) concluded authorities showed a ‘total lack of urgency’ to address the sexual exploitation of boys at council-run Knowl View School with victims regarded as ‘authors of their own abuse’.
Addressing Mr Farnell’s evidence last October, the panel said: ‘We concluded that Richard Farnell lied to the inquiry in the course of his evidence.
‘It defies belief that Mr Farnell was unaware of the events involving Knowl View School.’
The inquiry heard a paedophile had been admitted to Knowl View in September 1990, where he had sexually abused at least one boy, but Mr Farnell insisted the information was not passed on to him.
Mr Farnell said that he was unaware of issues of abuse involving a residential school in the town while he was leader of Rochdale Council between 1986 and 1992 (PA)
Mr Farnell said he was also unaware of a 1991 report submitted by a health authority worker which detailed claims that boys at Knowl View as young as eight were being sexually targeted by men from as far afield as Sheffield.
He told Brian Altman QC, lead counsel to the inquiry: ‘The council should accept responsibility for failings that happened in Knowl View, and individuals must take responsibilities for their own actions.
‘I bitterly regret that the senior officers of the council never once approached me to brief me about these matters.’
However, IICSA rejected his account and concluded: ‘Regarding Mr Farnell’s final statements at the hearing, it was shameful that he refused to accept any personal responsibility for the young lives blighted by what happened at Knowl View while he was leader.
‘Instead, he laid all blame for what occurred at the door of the senior officials in education and in social services.’
Mr Farnell regained the position of Labour council leader in 2004 but quit the position weeks after giving evidence to the panel.
Mr Farnell was suspended immediately after Labour received the investigation’s findings.
A spokesman said: ‘The Labour Party condemns the abuse of children and any attempts to cover up these heinous acts.
Liberal MP Cyril Smith, who was the subject of numerous child sex abuse allegations following his death, was a governor of the school (Rex)
‘Any allegations and information the party received in relation to what the council may have known were passed straight to the police to be fully investigated.
‘We have fully cooperated with the police and the Inquiry to support their work in investigating historic sexual abuse.’
The panel found that child sexual abuse involving pupils at Knowl View happened from its early years onwards and continued for 20 years.
The council-run residential school in Rochdale was set up in 1969 to house boys aged from seven to 16 with a ‘wide range of needs and adverse experiences’ but inquiry concluded there was little evidence of a homely environment.
IICSA said the institution, where late Liberal MP Cyril Smith was a governor, failed in its basic function to keep its children safe from harm and, in particular, safe from sexual harm both within and out the school.
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