Pedophile children’s home boss, 93, who abused kids during 18-year 'regime of fear' walks free
Malcolm Phillips sexually abused boys and girls in his care during an 18-year regime of fear while serving as the manager of Skircoat Lodge Care Home but has walked free after being found unfit to stand trial.
Malcolm Phillips, 93, was found to have sexually abused numerous children whilst serving as manager of a care home(Image: Asadour Guzelian)
A 93-year-old convicted pedophile who subjected children to sexual abuse at a care home for nearly two decades has walked free after being deemed unfit to stand trial.
Malcolm Phillips carried out the sexual abuse of boys and girls in his care over an 18-year reign of terror while serving as manager of Skircoat Lodge Care Home in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Last year, a jury at Bradford Crown Court determined that Phillips had committed sexual offenses against six victims – four female and two male – between 1976 and 1994.
However, he escaped imprisonment after being ruled unfit to stand trial due to several age-related health issues, leaving the presiding judge with no option but to issue an absolute discharge, reports Mirror UK.
A trial-of-facts was conducted instead, in which jurors examined evidence and were tasked with determining whether he had carried out the alleged acts.
Unlike a standard trial, a jury in a trial of facts cannot find a defendant guilty, but they can acquit them if deemed innocent.
The trial, which wrapped up in January, saw Phillips face multiple counts of rape, indecent assault, and indecency with a child. Having considered the evidence, the jury concluded that he had indeed committed the offenses.
On Monday, Judge Kirstie Watson stated that the only sentencing option available to her was an absolute discharge, adding: "I do that with great reluctance given the seriousness of the offenses for which you have been convicted."
She said: "There will be those who ask 'what is the point?' (For the victims) this trial process has given them a voice, it has allowed them to speak. They have been listened to."
The court was informed that the only other sentencing options available to a judge following a trial of facts are committal to a hospital or a supervision order.
A pre-sentence report concluded that since Phillips has no mental disorder, and his issues stemmed from physical illness and age-related cognitive decline, he was deemed unsuitable for a hospital order, and a supervision order would be of "limited practical value."
Victims forced to re-live trauma during trial of facts
His assistant at Skircoat Lodge, Linda Brunning, 66, who was convicted of restraining one boy while Phillips sexually assaulted him and indecently assaulting another herself while drying him after a shower, received a 25-year prison sentence.
Kelly Lees, 43, who was indecently assaulted by Phillips between the ages of 11 and 12, stated that he had "abused so many children and practically got away with it."
Lees, who has waived her right to anonymity, told the trial that Phillips abused her after inviting her into his office to do homework and would give her a lollipop afterwards.
Prior to the sentencing hearing, she told reporters that she was "furious" upon learning that Phillips had been unfit to stand trial.
She said: "He should have been sent to prison. Prisons are full of shoplifters and begging and victims – women's prisons are full of victims."
"Why is someone who's abused children and been found guilty sitting at home, comfortable? I can't comprehend it."
"He had control at Skircoat Lodge and he's still got control now."
"He's abused so many children and practically got away with it. That's not justice."
Lees and two fellow victims attended court together, offering each other comfort after delivering their statements.
One of the women, who suffered indecent assault at the hands of Phillips after being placed in Skircoat Lodge as a teenager in the late 1970s, revealed that the girls were instructed to wear nighties to bed "so he could have easy access to us."
A trial of facts does not end with a criminal conviction
She told the court: "When I received the verdict I felt, 'finally, I am believed.' However, what will happen to Malcolm Phillips?"
"He's abused children through the decades and yet he's walking free."
"I think he should die in prison... He may have a big red 'guilty' stamp over his head but he's still free to live his life."
The fourth female victim, who endured sexual assault by Phillips on no fewer than 10 occasions while she lay in bed, disclosed that he "would take it in turns as to who he was going to abuse that night."
She revealed that her brother found it difficult to maintain contact with her, as it triggered painful memories of their time at Skircoat Lodge.
Her statement read: "Malcolm Phillips, I believe, should go to prison for what he's done."
"He should not be able to die with his family around him when I can't even see my brother."
Another victim, who was raped twice by Phillips as a teenager, said she was "the one living a life sentence," adding that the decision on his fitness meant: "I had to speak about the most painful parts of my life in a court where the man responsible was not present."
One of the male victims, who was indecently assaulted by Phillips and Brunning while drying him after a shower on at least two occasions, described Skircoat Lodge as "a horrible and cruel environment with sexual predators."
His statement read: "I know (Phillips) is a very old man now, but he still needs to be held accountable for what I and others went through as a kid."
"He's abused children through the decades and yet he's walking free."
"Linda Brunning is a horrible woman and deserves what she gets."
The other male complainant, who was restrained by Brunning while Phillips sexually assaulted him on numerous occasions, said: "Every day I relive it. I'm frightened to go to bed and struggle to be on my own."
This marked Phillips's second prosecution over abuse at Skircoat Lodge after he was jailed in 2001 for sexual offenses against eight female residents.
Prosecutors stated that abuse at the home went "unfettered and unreported against a backdrop of legitimacy" for almost 20 years.
A statement from a former staff member read during the trial said Phillips and Brunning ran the home "more like a prison."
The jury found that Phillips, of Tyseley, Birmingham, had committed three counts of indecent assault, two counts of indecency with a child, three counts of indecent assault on a male person, two counts of buggery, and two counts of rape.
Brunning, of Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, was found guilty of two counts of aiding and abetting indecent assault, two counts of aiding and abetting buggery, and one count of indecent assault.
No comments:
Post a Comment