This Is Plymouth
November 20, 2010
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Paedophile-s-seven-years/article-2917231-detail/article.html
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| Dean Madavan |
A former church youth club worker has been jailed for seven years after admitting a string of sex attacks on boys and young men.
Predatory paedophile Dean Madavan, 44, targeted young boys while working at the Ford Baptist Church youth club in Plymouth between 1992 and 2003. On the first day of his trial he entered a plea of guilty to 13 counts of indecent assault against eight boys and young men.
He also admitted seven counts of making indecent images of children, ranging from category one to category four.
Judge Francis Gilbert QC, allowed charges of attempted rape and two of indecent assault on three boys to lie on file.
Madavan sat impassive throughout the hearing at Plymouth Crown Court, while victims and their families sat in the public gallery.
The court heard Madavan had received a three-year conditional discharge for similar offences in December 1991, but returned to the church to continue his crimes within months.
Madavan would befriend the boys, often winning over their parents and convincing them to allow their youngsters to sleep at his address. There he would ply them with alcohol before sexually abusing them.
Prosecutor Malcolm Galloway said the crimes had had a "dramatic effect" on each victim.
Judge Gilbert described Madavan as a "liar" who had caused his victims "anguish".
He sentenced Madavan to seven years with an extended three-year licence, meaning he will remain on licence until 2020. He was ordered to pay £8,099 court costs, placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and be subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) for a minimum of five years.
Following the sentence, lead investigator Detective Constable Roy Linden said the victims' families were "devastated" at the sentence with some claiming it amounted to just a few months for each victim.
Det Con Linden added: "Some [victims] have said they now feel there was little point in coming forward."
MADAVAN - THE BACKGROUND
THE victim impact statements – the thoughts and feelings of those Dean Madavan sexually assaulted – make heartbreaking reading.
One describes how Madavan "destroyed my childhood" claiming he had for years felt "disgusted, dirty and worthless". Another said he had lost "all religious beliefs" and felt immense guilt he hadn't come forward earlier.
Yet another said he had turned to drink and drugs to block out the pain, and has found himself "sat in my bedroom with a knife, wanting to cut my wrists".
Tragically, one wrote he wanted to see justice done, but added: "My life was never perfect but Madavan has damaged it beyond anything I could have foreseen."
But the statements do not reveal the depth of the trauma they suffered, nor the undoubted bravery of the young men who stood firm and prepared themselves to give evidence in open court, to see him put behind bars.
But for Madavan pleading guilty on the morning of his trial, they would have had to face him and relive their abuse.
The investigation into the former church youth leader has highlighted the need for strict checks on those who work with children. But it also sadly highlights how Madavan was repeatedly given opportunity to target young, vulnerable boys, grooming them individually, separating them from friends, destroying their innocence and leaving them isolated and unaware he was continuing his sick acts with other boys.
Madavan, now 43, was born in Canada to a British mother and a father in the medical business. After they moved to California in the late 1970s his father took his own life and the family moved to the UK.
His mother still lives in the country. One of his brothers also took his own life on Dartmoor while another brother became a Baptist minister.
Ironically, the Christian faith appeared strong in the family and Madavan became involved with the Baptist churches in Ford and Mutley via his mother.
He became a helper with the Ford church and by 1991 he was both an assistant with Ford Baptist church youth club and an officer with the Boys Brigade company which operated out of the church hall.
In December 1991 Madavan was convicted of two counts of indecent assault on a male under the age of 14. It was believed to have involved two boys he had plied with alcohol while they were on a brigade camp at Buckland Monachorum.
His punishment? A conditional discharge and a fine of £50.
According to information uncovered by Detective Constable Roy Linden, the lead investigator in the latest case, Madavan was welcomed back by the church. A church trustee even acted as character witness for him.
Despite his conviction, Madavan was given full access to yet more young boys. The current investigation found he began abusing boys at the youth club within months of his sentence, through to at least 2005.
Detective Constable Linden said his approach was similar. He'd befriend vulnerable parents, single mums and gain their trust, but he was really after their sons and would invite them on overnight stays at his home.
Working at Tesco, principally at Roborough where he rose to the position of out-of-hours trading manager, he invested his earnings in a string of properties, doing each one up before renting it out and moving on.
He would act as landlord and police have found he would target his young male tenants, some of whom police described as "vulnerable".
In 2005 five victims came forward after an incident in a city snooker hall. Madavan entered the hall and was recognised by a man who claimed his friend had killed himself after Madavan abused him in the 1991 case. The accusation was overheard by two young men standing nearby who had been more recent victims of Madavan, but had never discussed it with anyone, not even each other.
Detective Constable Linden said they finally opened up and after believing for years they were Madavan's sole target, found they were one of many.
A police investigation was launched with five young men making statements. However, the Crown Prosecution Service claimed there was not enough evidence and no charges were brought.
Following the aborted case, Madavan quit Ford Baptist church, went sick from his job and moved to Lalebrick Road in Hooe. Before long he became involved in Hooe Baptist church, often playing the piano.
Investigators learned that he had shown an intention of working with children, so was CRB checked.
Around the same time he took up work with a private firm which bought him a computer to use, on which police discovered the raft of indecent images of children.
In March 2009 a new victim, one of the children who had attended Ford Baptist church youth club, came forward and made a complaint to police.
Detective Constable Roy Linden set about the task of tracing every previous victim at the youth club as well as interviewing any other potential victims who had never spoken out before.
He said: "We looked at his entire history, looked at his every move, every association since he came into the country.
"We reinvestigated old cases, found fresh cases after speaking to males from the club. We even spoke to foreign authorities."
Police found that Madavan frequently travelled to the US and that in 2005 he was accused of carrying out abuse on a child. The case is still pending in the US.
Thanks to both the bravery of the new victims coming forward and the insistence of previous victims that they would give evidence, the CPS finally agreed to charge Madavan.
Detective Constable Linden said: "He was a very manipulative man. A clear example of a predatory paedophile."
He said many of Madavan's victims had attempted suicide, many suffered survivor's guilt, blaming themselves for not coming forward which may have stopped Madavan abusing other boys sooner.
He said: "It should be remembered however that the safeguarding measures now are completely different from then. If the same circumstances happened now the church would have been obliged to carry out a CRB check."
When asked if the church had effectively turned a blind eye to Madavan's past, forgiving his past sins, Detective Constable Linden was reluctant to cast blame.
However, he said: "The safeguarding measures they used following his initial conviction in 1991 were grossly inadequate."
Detective Constable Linden said that while keeping Madavan away from children at the youth club would not necessarily "negate all risk" he added: "It would've been very unlikely for it [his abuse] to have happened."
Of the young men, Detective Constable Linden had nothing but admiration for their bravery.
He said: "Some have dealt with it and carried on, but all of their lives have been changed, some significantly for the worse.
"They are now extremely vulnerable members of our society. They have suffered and continue to suffer immense emotional and psychological pain as a result of Madavan's actions.
"I greatly respect their bravery, their fortitude and courage. The effort they've gone through in the past year or so is incredible.
"Madavan's sentence is a tribute to them staying the whole course. It was a 19 month-long investigation but this has been with them the larger part of their lives.
"I can only hope that this sentence goes some way to helping them come to terms with what was done to them."
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