Senior Tories accused over child abuse
Two senior Conservative figures were named during an official inquiry into widespread child abuse at children’s homes.
Steve Messham told Newsnight that he was abused by a leading Conservative politician while he was a child in care Photo: BBC/Newsnight
By Patrick Sawer, and Jason Lewis9:00PM GMT 03 Nov 2012
The inquiry, established to examine allegations of abuse, heard claims that a paedophile ring operating from children’s homes included policemen, social workers and other prominent public figures.
Their identities were protected by an order from Sir Ronald Waterhouse QC, the retired High Court judge in charge of the 1997 North Wales Child Abuse Tribunal of Inquiry, after he dismissed the claims they had taken part in abuse as “fantasy”.
But there are now calls for the allegations to be re-examined in the light of the Jimmy Savile scandal, which has engulfed the BBC and parts of the NHS, with claims that his predatory abuse of young teenage girls over three decades was covered up at a time when victims were less likely to be taken seriously.
On Saturday night the calls were backed by Keith Towler, the children's commissioner for Wales, who told BBC Radio 5's Saturday Edition programme: "I would support a full inquiry. Unless you do that, the level of suspicion will always be around that there is a cover-up... No-one should be protected.”
One of the alleged victims of the north Wales abuse ring has now asked for a meeting with David Cameron to discuss his accusations, in the light of the Prime Minister’s statement, following the Savile revelations, that victims of abuse must be heard.
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Steve Messham said: “He’s made a statement, a sweeping statement that abused people need to be believed. It’s time he knew the truth. It’s time a full investigation took place and until I can meet with him and get some reassurance I don’t believe we will get anywhere.”
A Downing Street spokesman said: “If someone is concerned that an allegation was reported in the past but not fully investigated, they should raise this with the police or relevant authority so that they can look again at what happened.”
During the Waterhouse inquiry it was claimed that abuse took place at the country home of a senior Tory politician and at parties.
Sir Ronald ordered the media not to publish the names of the alleged members of the paedophile ring.
He ruled that the media could not report the name of any living person who was accused of abusing children in the North Wales homes unless they had previously been convicted of such an offence.
When the names of two leading Tory politicians were mentioned in evidence Sir Ronald, who died last year, dismissed the claims as “embarking in the realm of fantasy” and said that they were an example of the problematic “nature of some of the allegations” the inquiry was being asked to examine.
All those named as members of the alleged ring denied the charges, either in evidence to the tribunal or through their lawyers.
One of the politicians named at the inquiry - a former confidante of Margaret Thatcher, who is still alive but retired from public life - has firmly denied any involvement.
The latest allegations follow claims last week that another of Baroness Thatcher’s closest aides was implicated in the north Wales scandal.
Rod Richards, a former Conservative MP, claimed he had seen evidence linking Sir Peter Morrison to the case.
Sir Peter, who was a Tory MP and Lady Thatcher’s parliamentary private secretary, died in 1995 at the age of 51. It is not thought that he was named at the Waterhouse inquiry.
The official report of the inquiry, published in February 2000, concluded that widespread abuse had taken place at residential children’s homes in north Wales between 1974 and 1900.
It found that a paedophile ring did exist in the Wrexham and Chester areas, with adult men targeting boys in their mid-teens, particularly those in care.
However, the report said the inquiry had seen no evidence that prominent public figures were involved in the ring.
The report, called Lost In Care, stated: “No evidence has been presented to the Tribunal or to the North Wales Police to establish that there was a wide-ranging conspiracy involving prominent persons and others with the objective of sexual activity with children in care.”
But Mr Messham told BBC’s Newsnight on Friday that the inquiry had uncovered just a fraction of the abuse.
He said: “You were taken by car, where basically you were sexually abused. Various things would happen, drink would be involved, it was basically rape. But it wasn’t just him, there be other people involved as well.
“In the home it was the standard abuse which was violent and sexual. Outside it was like you were sold, we were taken to the Crest Hotel in Wrexham, mainly on Sunday nights, where they would rent rooms.”
When asked how many times he was abused by the politician Mr Messham said: “I couldn’t give an exact number as it goes back many years, but certainly more than a dozen.”
In his Newsnight interview Mr Messham also said that he had gone to the police in the late 1970s to report the abuse, but that he was not believed. He said that his statements to the police included allegations of sexual abuse against the politician.
Allegations of abuse at Welsh children’s homes first surfaced in the mid 1980s when Alison Taylor, a senior social worker at a care home in Bangor, reported her suspicions to her superiors.
After becoming dissatisfied with their response she took her concerns to Malcolm King, the new chairman of Clwyd county council’s social services, in 1991, who reported them to the police.
In March 1994 Clwyd County Council commissioned an independent inquiry into the claims. However, Clwyd’s inquiry report was never published and the copies were pulped to ensure that the local authority was able to maintain its insurance cover.
Amid growing public pressure William Hague, the-then Secretary of State for Wales, ordered an inquiry into the allegations.
The Waterhouse inquiry heard evidence from more than 650 people who had been in care from 1974 and took almost three years to publish its report.
One of the principal offenders identified by the report was Peter Howarth the deputy principal of the Bryn Estyn children’s home in Clwyd. Howarth was convicted in July 1994 of eight sexual offences and received a total of 10 years in prison. He died in April 1997.
Also named was Steven Norris, another senior member of staff at Bryn Estyn, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1993 after pleading guilty to seven sexual offences.
The latest allegations come after Tom Watson, the deputy chairman of the Labour Party, claimed in the House of Commons last week that a paedophile ring may have had links to Downing Street under a former Prime Minister.
Mr Watson said there was “clear evidence” that a Number 10 aide was connected to Peter Righton, who was convicted in 1992 of importing child pornography, and urged police to investigate the allegations.
He has not named the aide or said who was Prime Minister at the time.
Additional reporting by Claire Duffin and Amanda Rosas