Handling of Welsh children's home abuse allegations to be reviewed

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/06/welsh-care-home-abuse-review

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Victims of abuse at children's homes in north Wales have given a cautious welcome to the government's announcement of two new reviews of the way their complaints were dealt with by police and subsequently during an inquiry into the scandal.

The incoming director general of the new National Crime Agency, Keith Bristow, will head a team looking at how police investigated allegations of child abuse in the 1970s and 1980s, amid claims that they failed to take complaints seriously.

A high court judge, Mrs Justice Julia Wendy Macur, will examine the scope and conduct of the previous Waterhouse inquiry into the abuse. One of the main issues will be why 28 alleged abusers, including a very influential ally of Lady Thatcher, were identified during the inquiry but their names protected.

The man who triggered the inquiries, Steve Messham, who claims he was abused by a senior Tory figure while he was a resident of one of the homes, said: "I certainly have confidence that they're taking us seriously."

But he added: "I haven't got confidence that it's going to be done properly yet, I've got to be convinced of that. After all's said and done, when the [Waterhouse] inquiry was announced, that was a Tory government. We're back to a Tory government. Let's just see how it goes."

Speaking after a meeting with the Welsh secretary David Jones, Messham said: "We discussed what went on in the past, what was covered up, what shouldn't have been covered up and what we're going to do in the future." Asked about how he felt that the politician he claimed had abused him had not been named, he said: "I think once he's been arrested and interviewed and charged, then he will be named."

Messham made fresh allegations about how he was treated by the police last night on Channel 4 News, claiming at the age of 16 he broke into the flat of one of his abusers and handed to police explicit photographs showing children being sexually assaulted.

He alleged the senior Tory was featured in some of the photographs but the police said they couldn't identify the men from the Polaroids. North Wales police refused to comment on the allegations.

A second former resident of one of the homes, who was not abused, told Channel 4 News he recalls seeing Peter Morrison – Margaret Thatcher's parliamentary private secretary – at the care home five times. Morrison, who died in 1995, has previously been publicly linked to abuse at the care home — though he is not the Tory that Messham alleges abused him.

A third victim of the abuse, Keith Gregory, now a councillor in Wrexham, also said he was pleased that the scandal would be looked at again. "But the problem is it's police investigating police and a judge investigating a judge. Will it be any different or do they all stick together?"

The Tory politician at the centre of the abuse allegations, who lives overseas, was visited by the Guardian yesterday but he declined to speak, stating through an intermediary that he was unwell, and resting.

It emerged last night that the children's commissioner for Wales, Keith Towler, has been approached by a number of other people wishing to talk about abuse suffered at the homes. Towler said: "My independent advice and support service has been handling calls over the last 48 hours from those with concerns or seeking advice."

Solicitors and local councillors are also receiving complaints from people who say they were abused at the homes and now wish to have their allegations heard.

Earlier, in the House of Commons, the home secretary, Theresa May, said the government was treating the allegations with the "utmost seriousness". Announcing details of the police inquiry, May said Bristow would head a team which would include officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre. It would act as the single point of contact for fresh referrals relating to historic abuse. An initial report was expected by April. She said the government had been "absolutely clear" that "if there are people who should be pursued for prosecution, that then takes place".

May indicated that the government was still considering a wider public inquiry into all the issues, not just taking in allegations in north Wales but in other cases such as revelations about Jimmy Savile, and the treatment of victims of the sex ring preying on children in care in Rochdale.

May addressed the fact that MPs could use parliamentary privilege, without fear of prosecution for defamation, to name one or more of the public figures alleged on the internet to be involved in the abuse in north Wales. She warned they risked any future trial if they named names.

No individuals were identified. But the Labour MP Susan Jones said if any member of the House of Lords was found to be involved in child abuse they should be "stripped of their peerage".