King's Lynn teacher jailed for historic sexual abuse at private UK school
Geraldine Scott
A retired teacher from Norfolk has become the sixth from a leading private school to be convicted for historic sexual abuse charges.
Roger Martin, 83, of Great Dunham, King's Lynn, has been jailed at Hove Crown Court for four years for the indecent assault of a 10-year-old pupil at Christ's Hospital School, Horsham, West Sussex, between September and December 1976.
As well as the prison sentence, he will be a registered sex offender indefinitely.
Detective Sergeant Rebecca Wilde, of Sussex Police, said: "It became clear that Martin, who was the boy's housemaster, took advantage of his natural vulnerability for his own sexual gratification, hoping that it would not come to light, for more than 40 years he was right.
"This victim had kept the experience to himself for more than 40 years, only coming forward when he learned of similar cases involving other teachers at the same school.
"We have had full co-operation from the school throughout the investigation and we make it clear that the case relates to a period nearly 43 years ago, having nothing to do with current or recent pupils or staff at the school."
Simon Reid, current headteacher at Christ's Hospital School, said: "Both this and the convictions of other former teachers have exposed a dark period in the school's history during which too many children were manipulated and exploited.
"These individuals abused their positions of trust in a most serious and abhorrent way; the survivors of their offences have shown extraordinary courage in bringing them to justice.
"It is difficult to imagine the impact that these awful experiences must have had on their lives."
An NSPCC spokesman said: "Martin exploited his position of trust and authority to subject a young boy to appalling abuse. He may have believed he had got away with this sickening crime but this case shows that survivors of child sexual abuse will be listened to, no matter how many years have passed or who the abuser was.
"This is the latest conviction involving child abuse at Christ's Hospital School, and it is crucial that all those affected are receiving the support they need to help them recover."
Last month, chaplain Gary Dobbie was jailed for 12 years for abusing nine pupils across three decades.
Sports coach Ajaz Karim, was jailed last August for 10 years after assaulting six girls between 1985 and 1993.
And a month previously, James Husband, also known by his middle name of Andrew, was jailed for 17 years for raping and indecently assaulting a girl as young as 14 between 1990 and 1994.
Peter Webb and Peter Burr admitted indecently assaulting pupils at the school between the 1960s and 1980s and were also jailed.
See: Two more teachers guilty of child sex abuse at private school in Devon - for all of the above pervert's stories. (5th story on link).
Christ's Hospital is one of the oldest boarding schools in the country, dating back to the 16th century, and the Queen is a patron.
Pupils still wear a Tudor-style uniform of a long blue coat and high yellow socks with boarders charged fees of up to £31,500 a year.
Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Sir Barnes Wallis, inventor of the bouncing bomb, are counted among its famous alumni.
Toronto man charged in sex assaults on ‘pre-pubescent’ kids lured at Filipino churches
Chris Herhalt, CP24.com
A Toronto man is facing 22 charges after he allegedly lured at least three small children at two Filipino churches over the past year, recording his sexual assaults on them and sharing them online.
Det. Const. Don Bai says that sometime before March 2019, Facebook contacted American law enforcement officials with information suggesting someone was trading and sharing videos and images of the sexual abuse of children using their service.
The Americans then contacted the RCMP, who then notified Toronto police.
Bai said police raided the home of a man in the Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West area on June 12, and seized a number of devices. The devices allegedly contained videos of a man sexually abusing victims who Bai said were “pre-pubescent.”
Three have been identified so far.
Bai said the children were lured at two churches in 2018, Word and Life Christian Assembly on Coldstream Avenue and Jesus Reigns Forever International Ministry on Finch Avenue West.
“The Filipino community – they’re very trusting in nature and they welcomed him into their family,” Bai said, adding the suspect attended these churches for at least a year. “They trusted him – he had access to their children and I believe he used this trust and broke this trust.”
Bai said some of the video evidence they have collected indicates some of the assaults took place inside the churches. Police have informed the pastors and wider community at each place of worship.
“They were extremely shocked and devastated by this news,” Bai said.
A suspect identified as William Christopher Claveria was arrested and charged with 22 offences, including making child pornography, sexual assault, sexual interference, distribute child pornography and voyeurism. He is expected to appear in court next on Friday morning at 1000 Finch Avenue West.
Bai said they have evidence that assaults on other children occurred, beyond the three they have identified so far. However they don’t yet know who the other children are.
“I have pictures and videos of children who had interactions with Mr. Claveria who I would like to identify.”
Claveria’s image was circulated to the public on Thursday.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-8500.
Children’s home boss jailed for rape and systematic sexual abuse of children at North Yorkshire care home
by Nathan Sandhu
Maurice Berry, 64, who was in his early 20s at the time, preyed on several victims including one girl aged just ‘seven or eight’ while in his role as deputy officer-in-charge.
During a trial, jurors heard there was a culture of “rigid discipline” at the home where Berry would prowl the corridors “like the Gestapo”.
The children homes’ boss who raped and sexually abused vulnerable young girls in his care in the 1970s has been jailed for 13 years at York Crown Court.
Berry raped one of the girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, following a “grooming campaign” in which he showered her with compliments and pretended to be her boyfriend.
He also sexually abused two younger girls after sneaking into their room at night or luring them to his own sleeping quarters at May Lodge Children’s Home in Scarborough, North Yorks.
The live-in careworker was by his own admission a strict disciplinarian and on one occasion allegedly ordered one girl to sleep on the floor of the laundry room.
Berry, now a married father-of-two, was arrested at his home in Lincolnshire after one or more of the victims, now middle-aged, finally came forward to police in 2017.
He was charged with 18 offences including 13 counts of indecent assault, three counts of indecency with a child and two counts of rape over a period of about a year in the 1970s.
Berry, of North Somercotes, denied all the allegations but was jailed on Tuesday for 13 years at York Crown Court after being found guilty of all but one count following a trial.
He was the second former care worker to be jailed for their wicked crimes at May Lodge.
Last month, Raymond Vasey, 72, from Darlington, was jailed for 17 years for raping and sexually abusing young girls at the children’s home in the 1970s.
Vasey, who was also a live-in care worker in his 20s at the time, preyed on at least three young girls – one just six years of age.
Prosecutor Dan Cordey said one of his victims was just seven or eight years’ old when Berry started coming into her room at night “under the pretence of reading a bedside story” before sexually abusing her.
He told a court that the two instances where Berry had full sex with the older, teenage girl were rapes because “it wasn’t proper or genuine consent (on her part)”.
“The defendant would tell her she was his girlfriend and when she said she didn’t want to have sex with him, he would take the mick out of her and laugh at her,” added the prosecutor.
'Take the mick out of her' - means take the fight out of her.
One of the victims described Berry as “pretty snidey” and said he would come into her room “every opportunity he got”.
“He used to walk around like the Gestapo,” she added.
One of Berry’s victims, now a mother, said her life had been “turned upside down”.
Another victim, who ended up having a nervous breakdown, said that while abusing her, Berry would tell her that “thousands of dads” did that sort of thing.
“All my life I felt dirty, like (it was) a stain on me,” she added.
The third victim, also a married mother, said: “I remember how petrified I would be when I went to bed at night.”
Berry had also worked at a school for handicapped children, a Dr Barnardo’s school in Scotland and Scawby Grove Children’s Home in North Lincolnshire before moving to May Lodge in the 1970s. After leaving May Lodge, a Methodist institution, he never worked with children again.
Berry, described as “quite arrogant” by former colleagues, moved back to Lincolnshire to work as a bus driver and then as a housing-liaison officer with Grimsby Borough Council. He then found work as a chartered surveyor providing property and valuation advice to public-sector organisations.
Sentencing, judge Sean Morris told Berry: “You were preying firstly on two little girls. They were all alone in the world… in a big, rambling Victorian children’s home. And you were wandering around, with your keys, taking your pleasure from these little girls in their beds at night. It was wicked.”
He said Berry had “conditioned and manipulated” the rape victim “to such an extent that it was submission”.
The judge said although Berry had “moved on” in his life and had not offended since he had “left damaged lives behind”. Berry was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
Last week, John William Laister, 77, currently of York, pleaded guilty to 14 sexual offences, including indecent assault and gross indecency, against young girls at May Lodge in the 1960s and 70s. He will be sentenced on September 3.
Breaking the silence: Germany urges victims of sex abuse in sport to speak out
By: Anne MAILLIET, Sebastien MILLARD, Nick SPICER
France 24
video 5:03
A federal commission looking into sex abuse in Germany has launched a media appeal for victims to come forward. At present, very few victims from the world of sport dare to speak out, even though studies show that one in three amateur sport enthusiasts have been subjected to sex abuse. Why is the taboo in sport so strong, when people elsewhere are beginning to speak out? Our correspondents report.
Only because it appeared on BBC do I include this next story on the trial of Carl Beech - the alleged fantasist who started the VIP scandal in Britain. His testimony is most likely completely fabricated as there has not been any form of verification of anything he has alleged but for police investigations suddenly being stopped. Nevertheless, the possibility of it being real does exist. It is not so far from other horror stories from Europe. Like:
VIP abuse accuser Carl Beech claims friend was killed
By Daniel De Simone
BBC News
Carl Beech denies 12 counts of perverting the course of justice and one of fraud
A man accused of lying about a VIP paedophile ring has told a court he saw a school friend deliberately mown down by a car and killed.
Carl Beech, 51, from Gloucester, said after his friend was hit, Mr Beech, a child at the time, was bundled into a car and never saw the other boy again. He told Newcastle Crown Court he had been too afraid to report what happened, not even telling his dog.
Newcastle Crown Court
He is accused of inventing allegations that a group of powerful figures sexually abused and murdered three boys in the 1970s and 1980s. His allegations led to a £2m Scotland Yard inquiry that ended without any arrests or charges.
In his second day giving evidence, Mr Beech told the jury former prime minister Sir Edward Heath, who died in 2005, had cuddled and comforted him in his yacht cabin when he was upset.
He also accused the late Leon Brittan of raping him over a bath, saying the former home secretary "liked violence" and seeing boys in pain.
'Quiet, like me'
Mr Beech went on to tell the court about the alleged murder, saying he had met a boy he knew "by the name of Scott" in the playground of his Kingston school, in south-west London, in the late 1970s.
The boy was "quiet, like me, but friendly" and the two became friends, meeting once or twice a week, he told the court.
One day he and Scott were walking side by side along the pavement in the Coombe Hill area of Kingston when he heard a loud "engine noise" behind him, the court heard.
"The car hit him - he went over the front of the car and into the road," Mr Beech said. "I ran over to him. His leg was bent in a funny direction and there was blood on his head," Mr Beech told the court.
He then described being bundled into the back of the car, and trying to kick his way out. "I remember something in my arm and I don't remember anything else after that," he added.
'Figment of imagination'
Asked why he believed the alleged death happened, he said: "I believe because of the threats that were issued that 'the group' was responsible." He describes the alleged VIP paedophile ring as "the group".
He said the late Sir Michael Hanley, a one-time head of MI5, threatened him that he "wasn't to have friends".
He said he could not tell anyone what had happened, adding: "I didn't even say anything to my dog."
Jurors have previously heard Mr Beech claim that Sir Michael was involved in the abduction of his pet dog, Heron.
When defence barrister Collingwood Thompson QC said it had been suggested the alleged hit and run was a figment of his imagination, Mr Beech said: "I know what happened. I was there and I know it took place".
The court has heard that two police forces found no evidence of such an incident ever taking place in the area and had traced and accounted for everyone called Scott from the school.
Strangling allegation
The court also heard allegations of two further murders Mr Beech claims to have witnessed.
In one, he described being taken to a London house in a chauffeur-driven car with another boy. He told the court Harvey Proctor, the former Conservative MP, opened the front door.
He then claimed that Mr Proctor stabbed and strangled the boy to death. Mr Proctor told the court last month that Mr Beech's allegations against him were false, horrendous and "an absurd fantasy".
Mr Beech said he could not remember how the incident ended and never told anyone out of fear.
He said he later came to believe the allegedly murdered boy was Martin Allen, who went missing in London nearly 40 years ago.
The court has heard police investigated whether Martin was that boy after Mr Beech apparently identified him in a photo shown to him by a BBC reporter.
And... what was their conclusion????
Mr Beech told jurors the third alleged death occurred when he and three boys were at an alleged London abuse session with Lord Brittan, Mr Proctor and Sir Michael Hanley.
He claimed Sir Michael told the boys one of them would die that night and they had to choose.
The defendant said sexual abuse followed before they singled out one boy. "He was crying and they told him that he could save himself if he chose one of us instead."
He said the child refused to reply so they started hitting him. He claimed the boy ended up "just like a doll - he wasn't moving, he was just left there".
'Snake bite'
In his evidence, Mr Beech also described "pool parties" during which he claimed powerful men frolicked with boys, sometimes performing sexual acts in the water.
He also told jurors about alleged "Christmas parties", in which the boys were the "present" and would be "unwrapped" until they were naked.
Mr Beech said punishments were dished out by his abusers involving snakes and wasps.
He told the jury that on one occasion he was shut in a dark cupboard and a snake was thrown in, which bit him.
The trial continues.
As I said above, these stories are most likely made up. But if you read the stories in the links above, you will see there have been many pedophile rings, and even murders in high levels of society in Belgium, Holland, Scotland and, no doubt elsewhere. It would almost be odd for there not to have been one or more in England.
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