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IICSA fallout

Former Liberal leader Lord David Steel suspended over child sexual abuse inquiry evidence

Lord Steel arriving for the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey

Lord David Steel had denied "hiding his head in the sand" over child abuse allegations against former MP Sir Cyril Smith.

By Alan McGuinness, Sky News

Former Liberal leader Lord David Steel has been suspended from the Lib Dems following his evidence to the child sexual abuse inquiry about Cyril Smith.

In a hearing on Wednesday, he denied "hiding his head in the sand" over child abuse allegations against Sir Cyril.

The former MP for Rochdale, who died in 2010, has been accused of sexually abusing a number of young boys.

Cyril Smith in the House of Commons in 1982

Lord Steel said he asked the late politician in 1979 about claims he abused boys at a hostel in the town and found it dated back to Smith's time as Labour councillor in the 1960s.

He told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) that he came away from the conversation "assuming" Smith had committed the offences because he did not deny them.

Lord Steel said Smith had told him police had investigated the claims and taken no action.

The party did not carry out a formal inquiry into the claims, the IICSA heard.

On the suggestion no action was taken then because Lord Steel wanted to avoid a confrontation with Smith, he told the hearing: "I wouldn't have been hiding my head in the sand.

"These allegations all related to a period some years before he was even an MP and before he was even a member of the party, therefore it did not seem to me that I had any position in the matter at all."

Following this evidence, the Lib Dems have decided to suspend Lord Steel.

The party said in a statement: "Following the evidence concerning Cyril Smith given by Lord Steel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on 13th March 2019 the office bearers of the Scottish Liberal Democrats have met and agreed that an investigation is needed.

The party membership of Lord Steel has been suspended pending the outcome of that investigation. That work will now commence.

"It is important that everyone in the party, and in wider society, understands the importance of vigilance and safeguarding to protect people from abuse, and that everyone has confidence in the seriousness with which we take it.

"We appreciate the difficult work that the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is doing on behalf of the victims and survivors of abuse, and the country as a whole."

The Scottish Liberal Democrats hold 5 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 4 of 59 Scottish seats in the UK Parliament. Lord Steel was leader of the party from 1976-1988.

The trauma of childhood sexual abuse:

‘I refuse to be part of that secret anymore’

Excellent insights into the devastating effects of child sex abuse

by AMANDA CASSIDY

Ireland - The SAVI report found that one in four Irish children will experience sexual abuse before the age of 18. Despite well-publicised scandals and reports, Amanda Cassidy asks why Ireland is still so slow to respond to the problem, and why so little is understood about the devastating effects on children?

*Daria was eight when the abuse started. “It was a friend of the family who we saw every couple of weekends. I adored horses at the time and he kept some on his land so he’d take me out on my own and that’s how it started. I thought that because my family trusted him, I should too. But it was very confusing because he didn’t seem like the villain I’d imagined in my head, I normalised it and told myself it wasn’t that bad. Then I’d hate myself for trying to shrink this giant trauma I was living through.”

The profound devastation caused by child sexual abuse isn’t fully understood or acknowledged. The salacious details outlined in the HBO documentary on Michael Jackson recently has given many their first insight into what it might be like to be preyed on sexually as a small child. But the conversation that followed has veered from whether or not we should play Jackson’s music, to how parents could allow their children to sleep alone with a grown man.

The fascination with Jackson and his strange life has overshadowed the complex damage that may have been inflicted on the survivors – the two men interviewed in the documentary who chart their lives growing up alongside the King of Pop.

"I cried and cried"

Daria says the long-term damage her abuse has had on her life is immeasurable. She says after trying and failing to rationalise what was happening to her, she buried it deep within so she could convince herself it was like a bad dream. “I definitely blocked the memories – I just couldn’t process how to deal with the things that happened to me  - or to put them into context.” 

It was the birth of her daughter almost 20 years after the abuse first started that kickstarted the understanding that what happened to her was far from normal. “It hit me sideways, I wasn’t ready to confront all the feelings that flooded through me. I didn’t want to revisit any of this, ever".

"But I just looked at my baby and I cried and cried wondering how nobody had protected me from this – how anyone could inflict those horrific acts on any child.”

Maeve Lewis is the executive director of One in Four Ireland. She said while rape and sexual abuse is traumatic and life-changing, experiencing it as a child is very different. “If you are raped in adulthood, we have a sense of self and support structures. While rape is terrifying and traumatic, it doesn’t necessarily destroy the sense of who we are. It is something that happened to us. Child sexual abuse becomes an intrinsic part of who you are rather than what happened to you.”

Although the name One in Four is taken from research that is due to be updated, (The 2002 SAVI report shows one in four Irish children experienced sexual abuse) it is still an outstanding statistic. In a primary school class with 25 children, that’s around 6 of them that are potentially going through something similar to what Daria experienced.

Well, not quite! Perhaps 6 out of the graduating class will have suffered sexual abuse, except many abuse victims may not make it to graduation because they often suffer from significant learning issues. But it's likely only one or two in a primary class will have suffered sexual abuse. That is, of course, one or two too many.

Use our pain to make the necessary changes

Joyce, June and Paula Kavanagh are from a family of ten children born and raised in Dublin, Ireland in the 1960s. They suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their father and went on to write a book about it. The sisters also campaign for better support services for those who survived child sexual abuse. Last year they wrote an open letter in The Irish Times to politicians, saying they had to hear about the ‘hard cases’ to help them understand the sheer magnitude of the problem.

“They need to hear from the victim who finally gets the courage to report their abuse but is met by an untrained garda who is ill-equipped to provide the support and encouragement needed. From the victim who just received notification from the DPP that their case will not be taken forward. And from the victim who has been through the legal system and received no justice because the judge, jury and legal teams do not understand the crime of abuse adequately enough to either defend or prosecute a case.”

"Ireland has proven that we can do the right thing by our citizens. We have the capacity to feel compassion and the desire to make people’s lives better. There is strength in numbers, and we have the numbers, so let’s use our pain to make the necessary changes and prevent further victims."

Self-loathing

Maeve Lewis agrees that there are simply not enough resources. “There are years long lists for counselling for children or adult survivors. In fact, we have to close our waiting list for our services. We work with those over the age of 18. Many of whom are much older. We have some people in their 70s who attend here with us. We understand that the impact of child sexual abuse lasts a lifetime.

Many still feel a huge sense of shame, most will never have told anyone and will typically describe years of incredibly deep distress. This gives way to PTSD, flashbacks, years of depression and anxiety. Self-loathing is also common. Survivors feel disgusting because of what happened. They are terrified to tell in case they are judged by others. They often struggle with parenting – especially the men – they are scared their own child will be abused and often aren’t sure if it is ok to bath their child or hug their child. It is really sad how so many lives are affected.”

However, with the right help, Maeve says it is important to remember that there is life after abuse. "Naturally, we only know about those who come forward to seek professional help. We have met many survivors who were lucky – they were able to tell a parent or loved one. In these cases, the situation can be dealt with properly with minimal effects. Others say they struggled for years – and then when they met their partner it was the first time they felt loved and accepted so they were able to open up and find a way to heal and to live fulfilling lives.

"You can’t pretend it didn’t happen, but you can understand the impact."

Online era of abuse

Daria said that she had very mixed emotions watching the recent documentary Leaving Neverland. “The boy's stories triggered the isolation – the feeling that no one understands what it is like to suffer this type of abuse. I was lucky in that my family stood by me but many child abuse survivors face further victimisation when they are not believed. That lack of validation and suspicion over their already vulnerable character is completely devastating.”

Although there is recent evidence that child sexual abuse is falling in the US, a new and updated Irish report is overdue to give a better understanding of incidences here. The final results are expected to emerge in 2024 and hope to be replicated every 10 years. The apparent drop in numbers is attributed to increased awareness and better child protection services. But although we have left one era behind, we are now entering unchartered territory with the proliferation of online images of child sex abuse and ease of information sharing.

Nothing will take away what happened to Daria but she hopes her story will be a source of support to others. “Speaking out takes the power away from abusers," she explains. "I refuse to be part of that secret anymore.”

One in Four 01 6624070

Rape Crisis Centre 24 hour helpline 1800 77 8888

Ken Clarke denies Tory whips buried allegations of child abuse by colleagues in exchange for political loyalty in the 1970s

By LARA KEAY FOR MAILONLINE

The Conservative MP, 78, was grilled on the issue during a hearing of the Westminster strand of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. 

He was quizzed about a claim made by another Tory whip Tim Fortescue in a BBC documentary in 1995.

Fortescue told the programme whips were constantly on the lookout for anything that could be used to threaten MPs and ensure they towed the party line.

But Clarke, who is the longest serving MP having been elected in 1970, denied it, saying he 'would have remembered' if he had come across someone in politics who was a paedophile.

Mr Fortescue told BBC documentary Westminster Secret Service: 'It could be debt, it might be scandal involving small boys or any kind of scandal in which a member seemed likely to be mixed up in.

'They would come and ask if we could help, and if we could, we did. We would do everything we could because we would store up brownie points.'

He added: 'If we could get a chap out of trouble they would do as you liked for ever more.' 

When asked if he had heard scandals about 'small boys', Clarke told the panel: 'I would have remembered. It would have been quite a problem - I would have remembered that.

'If I had come across someone sexually molesting children I would have remembered it.'

He questioned whether Mr Fortescue had 'really thought through' the examples he used when he gave the BBC interview.

'A paedophile is really rather strongly disapproved of and would have found the House of Commons a really rather difficult place to work if we had had one,' he said.

But he added that in a House of 600 members 'it would be astonishing if amongst those there weren't one or two paedophiles'.

'There were rumours about two or three members [but] - with the exception of Cyril Smith - none of which I would have believed.' He continued: 'Once people start gossiping, all the people who like to pretend they are in the know just repeat it.'

Mr Clarke described the atmosphere in the whips' office as 'like an old boys club' in which potentially damaging information on colleagues was written 'in a big black book'.

He said homosexuality was intensely frowned upon when he first arrived in Westminster, saying: 'Gay people were a risk - they had to keep it a deadly secret.'

He said the vast majority of the information contained in the book related to Tory members' political leanings, their attitude to legislation and comments made about their parliamentary colleagues. He said that people were never threatened with having embarrassing information about them released if they refused to obey the party whip.

'The words 'whips' office' conjure up sinister men twisting arms and so on, which is a parody of what's a perfectly straightforward political activity,' he said. But he continued: 'If you go back 50 years ago it was a different culture - paedophilia was disapproved of but prosecution of it was rare compared to today.'

He cited the example of his old school where it was an open secret that one of the teachers was abusing pupils, but nobody did anything to try and prevent it. 'I don't think people appreciated the lasting damage it did to the victims,' he said.

Referring to the Conservative party, he said: 'I wouldn't have covered up for a paedophile if I had discovered someone was a paedophile. If I found the whips knew about it and did nothing about it, I don't know what I would have done - it would have been a serious moral dilemma,' he said.

He added: 'Fortunately that dilemma never arose. I never had any factual knowledge of a paedophile in the House of Commons or anywhere else, so I'm sorry I can't help you.'

The Westminster strand of the far-reaching inquiry into historical sexual abuse in British institutions is expected to last three weeks and is due to conclude on March 22.

Newspapers covered-up alleged abuse by MP,

UK child sex inquiry told

by David Sharman 

Local newspapers were complicit in covering up alleged historic child sex abuse by an MP, it has been claimed.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has heard allegations that three papers in the Chester area knew that Sir Peter Morrison, left, had been arrested after being found in a toilet at Crewe railway station with a 15-year-old boy – but subsequently published nothing about the incident.

The titles named at the inquiry were North Wales and Chester daily The Leader, local weekly the Chester Chronicle and the now-defunct Cheshire Observer.

Sir Peter, who served as the city’s MP between 1974 and 1992 and was knighted in 1991, had been Conservative Party deputy chairman between 1986 and 1987, and Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Thatcher in 1990.  He died in 1995.

Grahame Nicholls, a delegate to the Chester Constituency Labour Party from the National Union of Public Employees, told the inquiry there were rumours going around Chester that the MP “liked little boys”.

Mr Nicholls said: “The press certainly knew. The chief reporter on one of the newspapers that I was very friendly with, she would talk about it all the time, you know. So the press knew, certainly, and I knew, as I said, lots of them, and I couldn’t understand how anybody at a political level didn’t know, I just find that incredible.”

Asked how he had heard about the alleged incident in Crewe, which Mr Nicholls recalled as taking place some time between 1988 and 1990, he added: “There was a rumour going around – I say these are rumours, because that’s all they were, that something had happened in the toilets at Crewe railway station involving Peter Morrison and a 15-year-old boy.

“I read other areas where it says it was on the train, but, whatever, I mean, what I heard,  it was in the toilets – and that came from the Cheshire Observer newspaper’s reporter, that it was the toilets at Crewe.”

Mr Nicholls was quizzed on whether he thought there had been an “agreement” between the local Labour and Conservative parties at the time regarding how they would treat the alleged incident.

He replied: “My understanding was that we would – sorry, that Peter Morrison would not be standing in the 1992 election. The agreement was that if he wasn’t standing then we wouldn’t break cover on this particular story.”

Asked what he meant by “break cover”, Mr Nicholls added: “Release all the information that we had of what happened at Crewe hopefully into the local media. The local media wasn’t at that time – it wasn’t going to go along – didn’t want that published, because there was a very strong relationship between the – particularly the main newspaper and the Conservative Party.”

Asked whether the press were involved in the agreement, he replied: “Yes, they weren’t going to publish. [The Observer reporter] told me they weren’t going to publish.”

The Inquiry also heard this week from Jane Lee, secretary of the Labour Party’s Gresford and Rossett branch in 1989 and 1990, who said a Labour-supporting journalist at North Wales and Chester daily The Leader had attended a meeting of the branch and had told members about the alleged Crewe Station incident, adding it would “all be in the paper” the next morning.

However, no such story appeared in The Leader and, speaking at the inquiry, Ms Lee recalled the reporter’s response when she was subsequently asked why.

“She said the Chief Constable of Cheshire got a phone call from the Prime Minister’s office – Margaret Thatcher’s name wasn’t mentioned, but it was ‘from the Prime Minister’s office’ and had been persuaded to not press charges but to give a warning, an official warning, and, well, we said ‘Well, why didn’t that go in the paper?’, and she said – and I don’t know if it’s true or not, but she said ‘You can’t report warnings. You can’t put warnings in the paper.'”

Ms Lee added: “He was going to be given an official warning and it couldn’t be reported in the press. And that, in return, Morrison wouldn’t stand at the next General Election. That was the deal. ”

Christine Russell, who was an agent for the Labour Party between 1986 and 1992 and later served as Chester’s MP between 1997 and 2010, told the inquiry that “every reporter on the local press knew of these allegations”.

Specifically referring to the Observer, The Leader and the Chronicle, she added: “It’s certainly true that all the journalists on the three local papers were fully aware of various allegations, the Crewe allegations.”

So far, no journalists working for any of the three papers at the time have themselves been invited to give evidence at the inquiry.

Although neither The Leader nor the Chronicle were run by their current owners, Newsquest and Reach plc respectively, at the time of the alleged incident, HTFP approached both companies for comment on the claims.

Both declined to comment, but Reach-owned website Cheshire Live – the online arm of the Chronicle – itself reported the cover-up allegations in a piece published on Tuesday while Newsquest’s Chester Standard has also covered the story.

B.C. city Hindu Temple President charged for

sexually assaulting a passenger in his cab

Deepak Sharma of Abbotsford resigns after board holds emergency meeting

VIKKI HOPES, NEWS

The president of the organization that runs Abbotsford’s only Hindu temple has resigned after being charged with sexual assault while working in his job as a taxi driver.

Court records indicate that taxi driver Deepak Sharma, 60, of Abbotsford was charged in relation to an alleged incident on Jan. 2 in West Vancouver involving a passenger.

Const. Jeff Palmer, spokesperson for the West Vancouver Police Department (WVPD), confirmed the charge and said the alleged victim came forward in the early morning of Jan. 2.

She stated that she had been in Sharma’s taxi shortly before 1 a.m. and was waiting for a friend in the 100 block of Whonoak Road in West Vancouver, Palmer said.

He said the woman alleged that she was grabbed in the crotch and her hand was then forcibly placed in the driver’s genital area, which had been exposed through an open zipper.

Palmer said the woman and her friend reported the alleged incident to police after safely returning home.

The incident was then investigated, and Sharma was arrested on Jan. 17 and subsequently charged with sexual assault.

He made his first appearance in North Vancouver provincial court on Wednesday. Palmer said Sharma surrendered his West Vancouver taxi permit after receiving a revocation letter.

Sharma was the president of the Fraser Valley Hindu Cultural Society, which runs the Hindu temple on Walmsley Avenue in west Abbotsford.

When Black Press Media contacted the society for comment on Thursday, board members were unaware that Sharma had been charged.

Vice-president Ashok Sharma (no relation), said that an emergency meeting was called that evening, with Deepak in attendance. “He told us he would resign,” Ashok said.

He said Deepak confirmed the charge, but denied that he had committed any offence. Ashok said the board was shocked to hear about the accusation.

“We couldn’t believe it because he’s a good guy … We have never noticed anything like that.”

He said Deepak served a previous two-year term as president about six years ago.

This is not the first time that an individual involved with the Hindu temple has been linked to sexual improprieties.

Karam Vir, a former priest at the temple, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in 2013 for sexual offences involving two teenage girls.

Vir had been in Canada on a work visa and was deported back to India after completing his sentence in 2015.

Poverty, Sexual Abuse and Nowhere to Call Home:

The Life of a Homeless Cycle-Rickshaw Puller in Delhi

Karwan-e-Mohabbat
News Central 

Mohammad Abdul Kasim Ali Shaikh is a cycle-rickshaw puller in New Delhi. Abdul belongs to the faceless mass of an estimated 2.5 lakh homeless people in the capital city. He sleeps at one of the 250-odd homeless shelters in Delhi — this one is at Geeta Ghat on the banks of the Yamuna river.

Abdul’s story of impoverishment is not uncommon, yet it is one that rarely reaches enthused discussions of social classes and poverty. He moved to Delhi from his village when he was eight and has since remained homeless in the capital. Abdul was sexually abused when he was a child multiple times by multiple men. As a naive child in a big city with no one to look after him, he was lured by abusers with the promise of nothing more than a meal. “The worse I appear, the better for me. No one will approach me,” he says in a short film made by the civil society group Karwan-e-Mohabbat.

Abdul’s story reflects the nightmarish reality that many people living on the streets of Delhi have to face on a regular basis. According to a report by the NGO Save the Children, more than half the homeless children who were interviewed said that they have been sexually abused. As per a Childline India Foundation survey of the 9,589 child care institutions across the country that was undertaken over two years, from December 2015 till March 2017, 1,575 children suffered sexual abuse before they were rescued and placed in shelter homes — 1,286 were girls and 286 were boys.

Abdul is now HIV positive. The fact that his disease has made sure he never goes back home to his family, however, has not crushed his resilience. “If you chase me from here, I’ll go to Jaipur. If I’m chased from Jaipur, I’ll go to Ajmer. If I’m chased for Ajmer, I’ll move to Kanpur. If I’m chased away from Kanpur, I’ll be off to Kolkata. And if they chase me from there too, I’ll come back to Delhi,” says Abdul, not willing to be stopped by a world that has never shown him kindness.

“Patri ka aadmi patri mein hi rehta hai” — a man of the streets will forever remain on the streets.

Westminster Child Sex Abuse Allegations and Paedophile ‘Coverups’ Examined by New UK Inquiry

MI5, police and former politicians to be summoned before Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Lizzie Dearden Home Affairs Correspondent  @lizziedearden

The Independent

Former politicians, police and security services are to be summoned before a new inquiry into alleged child sex abuse “involving people of public prominence associated with Westminster”.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which begins today, is to examine allegations of historic coverups, conspiracies and a tolerance for paedophilia in the highest levels of government. 

MI5, Scotland Yard, former ministers, MPs, party whips and peers are among witnesses to be called over three weeks of hearings.

A spokesperson for IICSA said it will be examining “whether Westminster institutions, including political parties, government departments, law enforcement or intelligence agencies, have failed or are still failing to protect children from sexual abuse”.

Police investigations, charging decisions, political parties, the honours system and the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), a British pro-paedophile activist group which openly lobbied parliament in the 1970s, are all within the inquiry’s remit.

A former Home Office consultant is to give evidence on allegations PIE received public money, and the inquiry will also hear claims that police seized a supposed dossier of VIP paedophiles drawn up by late Labour peer Barbara Castle in the 1980s.

Hearings will examine whether “political parties turned a blind eye to allegations of inhouse child sexual abuse, or whether there were attempts to cover up such allegations”.

They will also look at allegations police officers were “warned off” investigating prominent paedophiles, and suggestions that party whips sought to use the claims for their own advantage.

IICSA said it would consider “whether there was a culture in place in Westminster institutions that sought to shield people of public prominence from proper investigation, and tolerate their wrongdoing, at the expense of their victims”.

The inquiry will not include discredited allegations about a Westminster “VIP paedophile ring” by Carl Beech, who was known as “Nick” and has been charged with fraud and perverting the course of justice. His claims sparked a £2.5m Scotland Yard inquiry, Operation Midland, which was closed in 2016 without any arrests.

In the new inquiry, alleged victims of MPs, including the late Liberal politician Cyril Smith, will give evidence to IICSA.

Police, Rochdale Council and staff at a school and hostel where boys were targeted allegedly knew of his abuse but failed to prevent it or prosecute the knighted MP.  

Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer representing Mr Smith’s alleged victims, told The Independent: “Smith was a prolific paedophile who should have been prosecuted during his lifetime and it is a scandal that he was able to evade justice for so many years."

I assure you he is not avoiding it now!

“Our clients feel strongly the systemic failures that led to this, including in the Liberal Party, need to be fully investigated so that lessons can be learned for the future. 

“We welcome these hearings and hope that they will help to resolve the many questions about the Smith case which have remained unanswered for several decades.”   

The inquiry will also hear allegations against the late Sir Edward Heath, who was the subject of a £1.5m investigation by Wiltshire Police.

Investigators concluded there would have been grounds to interview Sir Edward, were he still alive, over claims he raped and assaulted boys as young as 10.

The late Lord Janner, who was accused of abusing children, may also be included in the probe. Investigations into Lord Janner have been dubbed a “shambolic witch hunt” by his son, Daniel Janner.

“This hearing will not investigate whether allegations, involving individuals associated with Westminster, of child sexual abuse are true or false,” a spokesperson for IICSA said. “These matters are for the police and the courts to decide.

“This investigation’s focus will be on the way in which Westminster institutions dealt with and responded to allegations of this nature and whether the right policies are in place if similar allegations are made in future.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party condemns child abuse and has welcomed and supported the work of the IICSA. We have participated fully with the inquiry in an open and transparent way and we believe that all responsible organisations who work with children should fully engage with the inquiry.

“The Labour Party voluntarily applied for core participant status so that we can fully participate in, and contribute to, the inquiry. There is no inference or implication of guilt in being a core participant. Our application to become a core participant demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding and protecting children.”

'Three Girls', Cyril Smith and Knowl View - Why did Predators have Free Rein in Rochdale?

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse made a damning assessment of institutional attitudes in the town, going back decades.

By Damon Wilkinson

‘Birthplace of co-operation’ proclaims a sign on a railway bridge as you enter Rochdale.

It’s a proud heritage; a key role in the Labour movement, testimony to the town’s industrial heyday.

But over the last forty years, the close-knit communities that make up Rochdale have been rocked by a string of child sexual abuse scandals.

‘Three Girls’. Satanic Abuse. Cyril Smith and Knowl View.

At times it seems abusers have had free rein in the town. Why? Has there been a series of conspiracies and cover-ups as some believe?

Or merely a perfect storm of disregard - the toxic mix of paedophile networks, self-serving politicians, small-town poverty and government neglect?

On Thursday a long-awaited report lifted the lid on the widespread sexual abuse carried out by former Rochdale MP Cyril Smith and several other predatory paedophiles.

Monsters loomed in places where children were supposed to be protected - at Cambridge House, a boys’ hostel, and Knowl View, a residential school for boys with learning and behavioural difficulties, from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Public places became playgrounds for perverts too; the bus station, the Smith Street public toilet - in view of council’s offices - where lads of primary school age were prostituted for just a few pence.

It’s a chilling precedent of the the town’s most recent abuse scandal - in which young girls were molested by much older men under the nose of the authorities.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse did not look at that most recent child grooming scandal. But it made a damning assessment of institutional attitudes in the town, going back decades.

Based on the harrowing testimony of dozens of victims of abuse at Knowl View, Cambridge House and Smith Street toilets, plus evidence from social workers, teachers, politicians and council officers, the IICSA’s findings lay bare how young, often vulnerable victims were let down time and time again by the very people who were supposed to be protecting them.

But how was this allowed to happen?

Certainly Cyril Smith has cast a shadow over the town. 29 stone (400+ lbs) at his heaviest, he was long celebrated as a political giant. How distressing must that reputation have been to his victims, who knew what he was really capable of?

Stories have abounded in Rochdale that Smith had local police ‘in his pocket’ - using political influence to quash investigations that he was a serial molester of boys.

Former Rochdale MP Cyril Smith

In 1970 a Lancashire constabulary probe into Smith was dropped on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who felt the allegations concerned - which dated from Cambridge House in the mid 60s - were ‘stale’, lacked corroboration, and the ‘character of the complainants would likely render their evidence suspect’.

But while Smith, then a councillor, did try to get some of the witnesses in the case to retract their statements, the IICSA report concludes that ‘at no point were the police improperly influenced’ by him or others on his behalf’.

Allegations Smith held some sort of sway over Rochdale police were ‘just plain wrong’, according to the inquiry, and available documents suggest in fact Smith was ‘not on good terms’ with the local force.

But did he have friends in higher places?

For years, rumours of a security services cover-up, based on an allegation that MI5 officers removed files on Smith from Lancashire Constabulary in the late 70s, have swirled.

These have no substance, the report says. The documents in question were not destroyed - in fact they’re still available today - and the report says there is ‘nothing to suggest a cover up’.

Rather, it’s thought the MI5 officers may have been investigating if there was any substance to 1979 allegations by the Rochdale Alternative Paper, that Smith had subjected boys at Cambridge House to sexualised punishment beatings.

What about the council then? Well, the inquiry didn’t find any evidence of a ‘deliberate cover-up’ of the abuse at Knowl View and Cambridge House either.

So if there was no big conspiracy, what does that leave? Was there something rotten in the political culture, over decades, that allowed people to get away with things, was it the cumulative effect of people in power simply not caring enough?

The inquiry does not make detailed findings on the report’s implications for Rochdale council as an institution, because it wants to hear evidence from similar scandals at Nottinghamshire county council and Lambeth council first.

Knowl View residential school, Norden Road, Bamford Closed mid 1990s

But what is abundantly clear from the report is that allegations of sexual assault were simply not taken seriously by those in authority, a culture that permeated the council from top to bottom for years, and allowed Smith and others to repeatedly get away with their sickening crimes.

From social workers and education workers to former council leaders Richard Farnell (2nd story on link) - suspended by the Labour Party after the report concluded he lied about what he knew about Knowl View - and Paul Rowen, who has been accused of having ‘turned a blind eye’ to the problems at Knowl View, there was a ‘careless and wholly inadequate response’ to the issue.

In regards to Knowl View the inquiry found there was a ‘total lack of urgency on the part of the authorities to address the problem and treat the matters involved for what they were – serious sexual assaults’.

“One boy’s file recorded that he had contracted sexually transmitted hepatitis through ‘rent boy’ activities,” the reports adds.

“We concluded that no one in authority viewed any of this as an urgent child protection issue. Rather, boys as young as 11 were not seen as victims, but as authors of their own abuse.”

For many in Rochdale, the criticisms in the damning IICSA report will make for familiar reading.

Almost identical failures were uncovered during inquiries into the 2012 grooming scandal, when dozens of vulnerable girls, some as young as 14, were plied with vodka, threatened with violence and passed around men for sex, while their pleas for help were ignored by the authorities.

It’s become known as the ‘Three Girls’ grooming scandal, after a harrowing BBC drama based on the case.

Eventually that led to nine men being convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape and trafficking girls for sex.

9 Pakistani Muslims!

A string of inquiries that followed found those in authority ‘lacked human compassion’ and were ‘inexcusably slow’ in dealing with the victims, while girls were referred to as ‘making life choices’ rather than being rape victims.

The Smith Street toilets in Rochdale (Image: Manchester Evening News)

Rewind a little more than 20 years and another lurid child abuse scandal was putting Rochdale in national headlines.

In 1990 a total of 20 children were taken from their homes on the Langley estate in Middleton and put in care by Rochdale council following allegations of ‘Satanic abuse’.

It was claimed they had been forced into devil worship and sexually abused.

In total the youngsters spent 34 years and four months in care.

But, the allegations were false - and after a year-long investigation, which found social workers had grossly over-reacted, the parents were proved to be completely innocent.

The scandal was referred to during the IICSA hearings, when it was suggested the fall-out from the case could have led to a culture of ‘over-caution’ among Rochdale social services, in regards to the allegations which were coming out of Knowl View at around the same time.

Not everyone was blinded to wrongdoing by a sense of ‘over-caution’, however.

Martin Digan, a former social worker and head of care at Knowl View, blew the whistle on the allegations in the 1990s. He now tells the Manchester Evening News the IICSA report provided the ‘vindication myself and the victims never got’.

“I think the panel deserve a great deal of credit for what they have done”, he says. “It has taken all this time for the public to be made officially aware of the truth of what happened at Knowl View.

“But there is only cold comfort in child sex abuse cases.

“The saddest thing is none of this had to happen, but they wouldn’t listen in 1994 and 1995 when I challenged Rochdale council."

“The human impact of that is phenomenal. Lives have been ruined, lads are living in abject poverty and misery because of the abuse they suffered at the hands of monsters at Knowl View."

“How do those lads get their lives back? I hope the courts now give them the compensation they deserve, but it is never going to give them back what they have lost.”

Richard Scorer, the lawyer acting for the Knowl View victims, believes the report shows Rochdale’s political culture is ‘stuck in a timewarp’ and is in ‘desperate need of reform’.

“My perception is that the attitude of staff in social services and education at Rochdale council towards child sexual exploitation has changed much for the better over the last few years, but Rochdale political culture is still stuck in a timewarp and remains in desperate need of reform”, he said.

Meanwhile, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has said the ‘damning’ report highlighted the need to ‘ensure we are doing everything we can to protect children today’ - and highlighted a worrying pattern.

“Although the events covered by this report are historical, there have been more recent cases in Rochdale where children have been abused and it is claimed institutions did not do all they could to safeguard them”, Mr Burnham said.

A still from the BBC drama about the Rochdale grooming scandal - 'Three Girls' (Image: PA)

“This is why, last year, I set up an independent review of current practice to see if Greater Manchester has the right culture and the best possible systems in place to put children first.

“This review is not complete, but it is clear there has been significant progress made in strengthening the protection of young people in Greater Manchester. The review will now look at the IICSA report and assess what implications it has.

“The people of Rochdale and Greater Manchester have the right to know if children today are being protected, and not let down as they have been in the past. I will not rest until we can be certain we have the right culture in place where children’s safety comes first.”

The unfortunate reality is that Rochdale, a place which is rightly proud of its long history of achievements in industry, arts, politics, sport and culture, is by no means the only town or institution that is now having to face up to some very uncomfortable truths about its past.

In the past seven years groups of men have been prosecuted for organised sex grooming crimes against hundreds of girls in towns and cities as geographically, socially and economically diverse as:

Rotherham, Oxford, Telford, Leeds, Birmingham, Norwich, Burnley, High Wycombe, Leicester, Dewsbury, Middlesbrough, Peterborough, Bristol, Halifax and Newcastle.

The BBC and the world of football have also been rocked by their own abuse scandals, while future IICSA hearings will examine allegations of historic abuse in the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, Westminster, Lambeth and Nottinghamshire.

And since 2012, Rochdale has been widely praised for making great strides in tackling grooming. Following the grooming gang’s conviction a specialist unit, called the Sunrise Team, was launched.

Made up of police, social workers and NHS staff among others, it is dedicated to rooting out the abusers and protecting their victims.

Speaking to the M.E.N. last year in the wake of the Three Girls scandal. Rochdale council chief exec Steve Rumbelow said there had been a ‘fundamental change’ in attitudes from ‘top to bottom’ of the town hall.

“I can genuinely say in Rochdale today, and every day, what happened to those girls is in our minds and the hurt caused to those girls is in our minds because that is the best way we can ensure we will not let victims down again,” he said.

“The fundamental change we have made is the treatment that young people get from staff. If a young person comes to us today saying they have been abused they will be taken seriously.”

While that approach is undoubtedly commendable, what is clear from the IICSA report is that much more may still need to be done.

And what is also clear is that many will continue to ask why and how this happened. The level of institutional neglect was so bad - for so long - that for some, official answers and belated apologies are simply too little, too late.

Damning Report on Rochdale Council for Knowl View Child Sex Horror; Councillor Suspended

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.

Thatcher's Bad Decision, Secret Cop Policy on Today's UK-Canada PnP List

Margaret Thatcher gave MP knighthood despite knowing child sex abuse claims against him

Cyril Smith used title as a 'veneer of respectability and power'

to gain access to alleged victims

Ben Kentish 
The Independent Online

Margaret Thatcher decided to award a knighthood to a suspected child abuser MP despite being aware of the allegations against him, an inquiry has heard.

The honour for then Rochdale MP Cyril Smith allowed him to continue to exploit his victims because he used the title to maintain ties with children’s organisations, investigators said.

The revelation came as the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse heard witness statements as part of its probe into how Smith was allegedly able to abuse young boys at Cambridge House hostel and Knowl View residential school in Rochdale.

Smith was knighted in 1988 having served as an MP since 1972. He died in 2010 at the age of 82. Despite persistent child abuse allegations against him during his career, he never faced trial.

The inquiry panel was told that the MP’s knighthood was awarded despite people “at the very highest level of politics” being aware of multiple allegations he had sexually abused at least eight boys.

Brian Altman QC, lead counsel for the inquiry, said the title had given the MP a “veneer of respectability and power” that helped him gain access to his alleged victims. 

He said: "I mention this knighthood here for two reasons. First, because it demonstrates that the Lancashire investigation and the [Rochdale Alternative Press] article had been considered at the very highest level of politics and seemingly did not prompt more than consideration of the Director of Public Prosecution’s decision not to prosecute.

"Second, because it is important to bear in mind the extent to which Cyril Smith continued to involve himself in serious issues related to the welfare of children.

"A knighthood would only have reinforced Smith's veneer of respectability and power”.

Met police DID NOT probe claim that man had been abused by Ted Heath when he was 11 y/o because of secret policy not to investigate allegations against dead people

By Simon Walters Political Editor For The Mail On Sunday

A key criticism levelled at the police chief under fire for the paedophile investigation into Sir Edward Heath was exposed as false today.

Wiltshire Chief Constable Mike Veale has been condemned for including the alleged rape of an 11-year-old boy by Sir Edward in 1961 among seven cases he said would warrant questioning the former Prime Minister under caution were he alive today.

Critics said Mr Veale had blundered because Scotland Yard 'investigated' the case in 2015 and 'dropped' it.

In fact, Scotland Yard did NOT investigate the claim because they secretly introduced a policy 'not to prove or disprove' child sex allegations against dead people, The Mail on Sunday can disclose.

However Mr Veale's team DID investigate it and found evidence that they say suggests it could be true.

The alleged victim of the rape, who is now 68 and went on to be convicted of child sex abuse crimes himself, complained to the Metropolitan Police in April 2015.

Four months later, the force said it had obtained a 'full account' from the complainant and, after a 'full assessment of the allegation', decided there were 'no lines of inquiry that could be proportionately pursued'.

The statement was interpreted as meaning that the Met had carried out a full investigation and dismissed the claim as groundless – and was used to attack Mr Veale's claim that the allegation was serious.

However, this newspaper can disclose that Scotland Yard did not investigate the matter because of its new policy on 'response to allegations of sexual abuse against deceased suspects' – which can be revealed for the first time.

In a statement to The Mail on Sunday, a Scotland Yard spokesperson said the rules state: 'The purpose is not to prove or disprove the offence reported.'

Instead, the main aim is to find out if the suspect was linked to other abusers and prevent any 'current risk to children'. It adds: 'A full and detailed criminal investigation may not be required to achieve this.'

Then perhaps you shouldn't cause others to believe that you had completed a full investigation.

By contrast, Mr Veale's team was ordered to carry out a full investigation into the claims against Sir Edward, who died in 2005. Rules set out last year by Operation Hydrant, the national police inquiry into all historic child sex abuse inquiries, said it was vital to 'establish the facts and identify offenders deceased or not.

'The closer to power, the greater is the duty to investigate.'

Former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath (pictured) died in 2005. Since his death it has been alleged he committed several sexual assaults against young boys 

'Due to Sir Edward's prominence, it is particularly relevant to investigate allegations against him.'

Mr Veale's supporters reject criticism for investigating complaints by 'victims' who may have gone on to abuse children themselves or were rent boys.

They highlighted research that suggests some people become abusers as a result of being abused themselves as young children. 

A well-placed source said: 'Wiltshire Police fully expected to discover the Heath claims were nonsense, and that if there was any evidence, it would be well hidden.

'They were as surprised as anyone to find the evidence was there with telltale patterns of behaviour, but no one had really looked for it. 'If, as they believe, some of the allegations are true, other police forces who failed to act in the past will have a lot to answer for.'

The controversy took a new twist yesterday after the alleged rape victim's sister reportedly said her brother's claims were a 'crock of ****'. She is said to have called him a 'born liar'.

Wiltshire, UK

Former Wiltshire Police officer indecently assaulted girl, jury finds

A FORMER Wiltshire Police officer wept today as he was convicted of two counts of indecent assault against a girl under the age of 16.

Michael Inskip, 64, formerly of Boundary Close, Stratton St Margaret, shook his head as a jury convicted him of two charges of historic sexual abuse against a teenage girl by a majority verdict of 10 to two.

After more than five and a half hours of deliberation, jurors failed to return verdicts on two further counts of indecent assault and cleared him of another three of the same charge.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard the offences took place almost three decades ago.

Inskip, who now lives in Newcastle Emlyn, Wales, was alleged to have indecently assaulted two girls under the age of 16 and was convicted of inappropriately touching one of the females.

Releasing him on bail until a decision on whether to have a re-trial or proceed to sentencing, Judge Stephen Climie told Inskip he should expect to be jailed.

He said: “As you know, there will come a time when I have to proceed to a sentencing in this case. The guidelines set out for offences of this kind state a significant term of imprisonment."

“I am allowing you bail, but you should not think that guaranteeing you bail is indicative to the likeliness of my sentencing against you. You are bailed on the same terms as you were previously, but I must stress there is to be no contact between either parties in this case.”

The Crown Prosecution Service will now decide on whether they will proceed with a re-trial on the two charges the jury could not reach a verdict on.

Inskip is due to be sentenced on the two charges he has been convicted of at a later date, in a hearing which could be held at Guildford Crown Court. A spokesman for Wiltshire Police declined to comment at this stage.

An NSPCC spokesman for South West England said: “Regardless of the time that has passed, these offences are shocking and represent an extremely serious case of child sexual abuse.

“Inksip’s victim must be praised for her bravery in speaking out. It is absolutely right that people who suffered child sexual abuse, such as the woman in this case, can seek justice and support no matter how much time has passed since their ordeal.

Any adult wishing to discuss a child’s welfare can contact the NSPCC Helpline at any time for free on 0808 800 5000.

Catholic high school teacher facing

sexual exploitation charges

Toronto police said Gerard McGilly was allegedly using many user names online; TCDSB said he has been removed from his position

By BRYANN AGUILAR Staff Reporter

A Toronto Catholic high school teacher has been charged by police with luring a child online for sexual purposes.

Toronto police said a search warrant was executed in the area of Bloor St. W. and Lansdowne Ave. on Thursday.

Police said the suspect taught at Bishop Allen Academy in Etobicoke. He previously taught at Bishop Morroco-Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School in 2007 and 2008.

Police alleged that the teacher used different usernames online, including thepoppaship, poppaship, mrmcteacher, G-Note/ G Note, massive reggae/massivereggae.

TCDSB spokesperson John Yan said the teacher has been removed from his position at Bishop Allen Academy.

“We want to reassure our parents and students that these allegations are not reflective of the caring and compassionate teaching professionals who work in our schools,” said Yan. Counsellors are available to any students and staff who may need support.

The teacher may have worked as an education assistant at St. Francis Xavier Secondary School in Mississauga from 1995 to 2000, police said. He worked as an administrative assistant at St. Francis Table in Toronto from 2000-2006.

Gerard McGilly, 46, is charged with luring a child under 18, sexual exploitation, making sexually explicit material available to a person under 18, making child pornography, possessing child pornography, and accessing child pornography.

Police said the investigation continues. They are urging anyone who may have been subjected to inappropriate contact by the teacher to call investigators.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Sex Crimes, Child Exploitation Section at 416-808-8500, or Crime Stoppers, anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).