Men guilty of child sex abuse at boys’ school in Fife
John Farrell (top right) and Paul Kelly were found guilty/
Two men have been found guilty of historic abuse against former pupils at a boys’ school in Scotland.
John Farrell, 73, and Paul Kelly, 64, were charged with sexual and physical abuse of more than 20 ex-pupils of St Ninian's School in Falkland, Fife, between 1979 and 1983.
Farrell was found guilty of four charges and Kelly was convicted of seven in charges that involved six victims.
Their conviction follows one of the biggest abuse inquiries of its kind in Scotland.
The pair committed indecent acts on vulnerable boys in their care aged 11 to 15 and forced the children to perform sex acts on them and on each other.
The pair were tried on 51 charges in one of the biggest abuse inquiries of its kind in Scotland
'Screaming was pointless,' survivors tell ITV News of school abuse by Christian Brothers. They punished the children by forcing them to stand naked in a hallway, the High Court in Glasgow heard.
The men were remanded in custody after a jury found Farrell, from Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, guilty of three counts of indecent assault and a charge of assaulting a boy with a belt.
Kelly, from Plymouth, Devon, was convicted of four counts of indecent assault and three assault charges, including hitting a boy's head off sinks at the school.
Charges against three other men were earlier dropped.
St Ninian's was a Catholic school run by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, a religious order, until it closed in the 1980s. It housed around 45 boys in need of care.
£18mn investigation into historic child sex abuse case delayed again
Lord Greville Janner leaves Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, Britain © Toby Melville / Reuters
A public inquest into the alleged child abuse crimes of the late Lord Janner has cost taxpayers a massive £18 million so far, but as far as evidence is concerned not a single piece has been presented.
The Independent Inquiry Into Child Sex Abuse, led by Dame Justice Lowell Goddard, will conduct four days of preliminary hearings in the coming week, but the full investigation has now been postponed by at least another six months.
Survivors and their legal representatives have expressed concern that Dame Goddard and her team of 155 staff, including civil servants, solicitors and counsels, is feeling overwhelmed by the amount of testimonies and evidence that it has to process.
A promised annual report is also yet to be published, despite the inquiry expanding its offices to London, Liverpool, Darlington and Cardiff at the public’s expense. Dame Goddard’s budget has been reported as £17.9 million (US$23.5 million) a year.
The inquiry’s delay was explained as a necessity due to the work’s interference with investigations by the police and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
“It has been slow getting off the ground but I think that’s because they are determined to get things right,” the inquiry’s victims consultative panel member Pete Saunders told the Times.
Greville Janner died in December 2015, causing the Crown Prosecution Service to drop the case against him. The case was then referred to Dame Goddard’s independent inquiry.
He was originally charged with 22 historic sexual offenses, including sharing a hotel room with a 14-year-old boy, dating as far back as 1955. Most of the nine purported surviving victims were under the age of 16 when the crimes were committed.
Lord Janner dodged accusations of pedophilia from as early as 1991, when the director of a Leicestershire children’s home convicted for child sex abuse incriminated the politician in his testimony. Shortly before his death Lord Janner was considered unfit to stand trial due to “deteriorating and irreversible” dementia.
Controversial website that ran false claims of child sex abuse by string of VIPs is shut down
By STEPHEN WRIGHT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
The controversial ‘investigations’ website accused of peddling false allegations of VIP child sex abuse closed abruptly yesterday.
Exaro, which had close links to Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, has been shut following widespread criticism of its journalism standards and claims it destroyed the reputations of innocent people and profited from publishing bogus allegations.
The unregulated website came to prominence in 2014 after publishing claims by a suspected serial fantasist known as ‘Nick’.
Exaro, which had close links to Labour deputy leader Tom Watson (pictured), has been shut following widespread criticism of its journalism standards and claims it destroyed the reputations of innocent people
He alleged he witnessed three murders by a VIP paedophile gang that included former PM Edward Heath and former Home Secretary Leon Brittan.
Under pressure from Exaro, Scotland Yard wasted millions of pounds investigating. Its inquiry, Operation Midland, closed in March, admitting there was no evidence to support Nick’s allegations.
News of Exaro’s demise was confirmed by Tim Pendry, a director of its parent company.
Last night there were calls for it to face an investigation into claims it was part of a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Exaro had faced an uncertain future since the collapse of Operation Midland, after the Daily Mail exposed the shambolic Met investigation.
The unregulated website came to prominence in 2014 after publishing claims by a suspected serial fantasist known as ‘Nick’. He alleged he witnessed three murders by a VIP paedophile gang that included former PM Edward Heath (pictured left) and former Home Secretary Leon Brittan (right)
Rotherham child sex abuse scandal used by Government to highlight need to protect youngsters
Alexis Jay produced a report on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham
CLAIRE LEWIS
Rotherham's child sexual exploitation scandal has been used to highlight the need for more to be done to protect children from abuse.
The Government is considering new proposals, which could see school staff jailed if they fail to raise the alarm about child abuse.
As well as teachers, doctors and social workers, those in administrative or support roles may fall under the scope of a new regime being considered by the Government.
The proposals would see those who work in roles that bring them into contact with children placed under a statutory duty to report or act on child abuse or neglect.
Sanctions for those who fail to comply could range from disciplinary to criminal action.
Two possible models are outlined in a consultation document published by the Home Office and Department for Education.
One is a mandatory reporting duty which would require certain practitioners or organisations to report known or suspected child abuse or neglect.
The other would introduce a 'duty to act' requiring staff or bodies to take appropriate action, which could include reporting.
There is currently no legal requirement on those working with children to report either known or suspected child abuse or neglect.
Education Minister Edward Timpson said: "We must do all we can to protect children and young people from abuse and neglect.
"That's why we're making radical improvements to make sure services identify children at risk as early as possible and take swift action to give them the protection and care they need, but events in Rotherham, Oxford and elsewhere show there is still more to be done.
"It's right, therefore, that we look at whether it's necessary to strengthen the law to better protect the most vulnerable. I know that social workers, teachers and other professionals are as passionate about protecting the young people they care for as I am - I would encourage them to share their views with us over the next 12 weeks."
A report in 2014 revealed that 1,400 children in Rotherham were abused by men of largely Pakistani heritage between 1997 and 2013 while authorities failed to act.
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