Breaking the silence over child abuse

By Dani Garavelli
Scotsman
July 13, 2014

http://www.scotsman.com/news/breaking-the-silence-over-child-abuse-1-3474888

Ensuring victims of child abuse have a voice is just as important as uncovering any evidence of a mass cover-up over historic cases, writes Dani Garavelli

WHEN IAN McFadyen saw the former head­teacher of Caldicott Prep School in Slough jailed for child abuse in February, he expected to feel a sense of closure. After all, Peter Wright had been at the centre of a paedophile ring that had preyed on prepubescent boys at the school for almost a quarter of a century – a ring that McFadyen had dedicated several years of his life to exposing.

McFadyen had not been abused by Wright, now 83, but by several other teachers, one of whom, John Addrison, is also in prison. His principal abuser, George Hill, who assaulted him repeatedly, committed suicide without being charged, while another teacher, Hugh Henry, threw himself in front of a train hours before he was due to be sentenced. ...

The confusing tangle of scandals at the heart of the new inquiries has been on the radar for several decades, but, it is alleged, covered up to protect the reputations of those involved. The allegations against Smith were first investigated by Lancashire Police in the 1960s, until, according to retired detective Jack Tasker, those involved were told to back off by Special Branch. Allegations about child abuse at Elm Guest House, a gay brothel shut down after a raid in 1982, surfaced eight years later during the inquest of co-owner Carole Kasir. And in 1992, officers investigating paedophile Peter Righton, a consultant to the National Children’s Bureau convicted of importing images of child abuse, are said to have gathered box-loads of evidence pointing to the existence of a nationwide paedophile ring.

The catalyst for their re-investigation was, of course, the death of Jimmy Savile. As the scale of his offending emerged, those involved in other scandals began to raise their heads above the parapet. Most significantly, former child protection officer Peter McKelvie, who helped convict Righton and had spent 20 years wondering why important leads had not been followed up, took his concerns to MP Tom Watson, who has been questioning the government ever since.