“Physical and sexual abuse on an industrial scale… remained unchecked for decades” at children’s homes in south London, a report by victims says.The report detailing allegations by 600 people will go before the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. At a preliminary hearing earlier, the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association was given “core participant status”.Its leader Raymond Stevenson said child abuse in the Lambeth Council-run homes had been a “reversal to the dark ages”. The abuse had resulted in the “shedding of thousands of tears”, he said, and called it a “shame on the establishment” and “institutionalised evil”. The Shirley Oaks survivors accused the police of failing to deal with the allegations adequately, resulting in a cover up. ‘Complex investigation’It is alleged two convicted children’s homes abusers were volunteer police officers. The group said it might request several barristers and solicitors to reflect the number of complainants it was representing, the High Court heard. It plans to make a formal presentation to the inquiry chaired by Justice Lowell Goddard, along with providing video evidence from members.The counsel to the inquiry, Ben Emmerson QC, told the hearing the investigation would be “extremely complex… spanning many years and many institutions in Lambeth”.It is one of 13 initial inquiries announced, including investigations into abuse within the Church, allegations against the late peer Lord Janner, abuse at children’s homes in Rochdale and claims of a Westminster paedophile ring.

Mr Emmerson said in the case of Lambeth, there had been claims that a former Labour minister, Lord Paul Boateng, had been named as an associate of one abuser, John Carroll, who was convicted in 1966 and 1999 of multiple charges. The BBC’s Newsnight programme recently presented information suggesting that Lord Boateng visited the Angell Road children’s home, run by Mr Carroll, signing a visitors’ book.  It also claimed someone identifying himself as Lord Boateng asked if he could help to resolve a row which followed Carroll’s application to foster children. Mr Emmerson said no evidence received by the inquiry so far suggested any impropriety on Lord Boateng’s behalf. The peer denies knowing Mr Carroll. A key aspect of the inquiry will be whether an organised paedophile ring infiltrated both the children’s homes at Shirley Oaks, and Lambeth Council’s social services. Mr Emmerson said there was evidence a second paedophile lived at Mr Carroll’s Angell Road home, when he was running it, and that a third paedophile, Leslie Paul, was employed in children’s services at the same time. Paul was convicted in December of what a jury heard was “vile group sexual abuse”. The Lambeth inquiry will examine the actions of police, prosecutors and the Department of Health, and assess a number of past inquiries into the allegations. The inquiry is considering to what extent hearings should be televised.

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The Guardian: 24th March 2016

“Children in Lambeth council’s care ‘abused on industrial scale””

Abuse survivor Raymond Stevenson tells Goddard inquiry preliminary hearing that more than 600 victims have come forward. The physical and sexual abuse of children in the care of Lambeth council took place on an industrial scale for decades, a survivors group told an independent inquiry into abuse.Raymond Stevenson, who heads the Shirley Oaks survivors group made up of victims of child sexual abuse in the care of the council in south London, said that what had taken place – and the alleged cover-ups afterwards – cast a shadow over the country.Stevenson, who was in the Shirley Oaks home as a child, said since setting up his group more than 600 survivors had come forward. He spoke of the scale and nature of the abuse suffered at the home, which was run by Lambeth council, and at other children’s homes in the borough, including Angell Road, Ivy House and Southvale, at a preliminary hearing in the Goddard inquiry into child sexual abuse.The inquiry counsel Ben Emmerson QC, said it would be examining whether the abuse within the Lambeth homes was carried out by an organised network of paedophiles. Emmerson said the investigation would attempt to piece together all the reports, evidence and allegations over more than four decades.He said allegations that the former government minister Paul Boateng had connections to the paedophile Michael Carroll, who ran the Angell Road home, would be examined. But the inquiry had so far seen nothing to corroborate any allegations of impropriety by Boateng, he said.

Stevenson told the hearing his organisation had amassed 400 pages of evidence from victims at Shirley Oaks and other homes that they were submitting to the inquiry.He said: “For those doubters who have questioned our accounts, the only way to reach the truth is to willingly suspend your disbelief. It required an extraordinary evil and in Lambeth’s case, an institutionalised evil.”He said the many inquiries into Lambeth which had taken place over decades would be seen as white washes. “The consequences mean many vulnerable children continued to suffer at the hands of paedophiles who had infiltrated Lambeth council, because they knew they could peddle their evil. ”The public investigation into Lambeth is one of 13 being undertaken by the Goddard inquiry into how institutions failed to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales over decades.

Emmerson said the scale of the investigation into Lambeth was complex and broad. It would examine whether there was an organised network of paedophiles operating in the borough. He said it would also examine how Lambeth came to employ at least three paedophiles at the same time. “The fact that Lambeth permitted a man [Carroll] convicted of the indecent assault of a child to run a children’s home is but one aspect of this investigation,” he said. “We will consider what evidence there is that there was organised sexual abuse in Lambeth children’s homes.” Allegations made on BBC’s Newsnight that Boateng was associated with Carroll, that he signed the visitors’ book at Angell Road and went on a caravan holiday with an organisation of which Carroll was a member, will also be examined by the inquiry, along with claims that DI Clive Driscoll was taken off a Metropolitan police inquiry into child abuse in Lambeth because he wanted to interview Boateng. Justice Lowell Goddard, who is heading the inquiry, said she wants to get to the bottom of what happened in Lambeth as one of her priorities.

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BBC News: 24th March 2016

“Children ‘abused on an industrial scale’ at south London care homes'”

Children were sexually abused on an “industrial scale” at council-run care homes in south London, an inquiry has heard.Vulnerable youngsters were the victims of “institutionalised evil” over a period of decades at homes run by Lambeth council, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was told.The claims were made by a representative of alleged abuse victims from the Lambeth-run Shirley Oaks home in Croydon. Raymond Stevenson, from the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, told the inquiry: “What took place at Shirley Oaks and other children’s homes in Lambeth was physical and sexual abuse on an industrial scale which remained unchecked for decades. The damage done was irreversible.”He added: “Lambeth council itself has had many inquiries in the past. For whatever reason, including council cover-ups and institutional cover-ups … we now see they were whitewashes.”Allegations of abuse handed out to vulnerable youngsters while in the care of authorities in Lambeth will form part of the wide-ranging inquiry led by Dame Lowell Goddard, which will also investigate the Anglican and Catholic churches and children’s homes run by Rochdale Council.

Mr Stevenson was speaking at a preliminary hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, which focused on allegations about a string of homes run by Lambeth council. Claims that the former Labour minister Lord Paul Boaten visited a children’s home run by Michael John Carroll and went on a caravan trip organised by a youth group were made on the BBC’s Newsnight programme at the start of March, the counsel to the inquiry Ben Emmerson QC said. Carroll, who ran the Angell Road home in Lambeth, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1999 for a string of child abuse charges. Thursday’s session also heard that Lambeth council knew in 1986 that Carroll had a conviction for indecently assaulting a child but did not stop him continuing to work with children. Mr Emmerson told the hearing that Newsnight had claimed that Detective Inspector Clive Driscoll, who investigated Carroll, “wanted to speak to Lord Boateng … but was removed from the investigation and subjected to disciplinary action”. He told the inquiry that the peer was alleged by the programme to have signed the visitors’ book at Angell Road and gone on a caravan trip organised by the Association of Combined Youth Clubs (ACYC). Mr Emmerson added: “The inquiry has so far seen nothing to corroborate any allegations of impropriety by Lord Boateng.” He added that the peer denied “any knowledge of Carroll or any involvement with him” or of going on a caravan trip with the ACYC. Lord Boateng was the Labour MP for Brent from 1987 to 2005. He was a Home Office minister between 1998 and 2001 and went on to be chief secretary to the Treasury between 2002 and 2005. He was made a peer in 2010. A spokesman for Lambeth council said: “Lambeth council welcomed the decision to hold a national inquiry and has been fully cooperating with it. “Documents and information held by Lambeth council that may help investigate historical child abuse in Lambeth have already been gathered. “We first approached officials from the inquiry in March last year offering to share this material, and are honouring that pledge.”

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BBC News: 4th April 2016

“Physical and sexual abuse on an industrial scale.

Lambeth historic abuse allegations.”

BBC News: 10th August 2016

“Ex-priest Philip Temple jailed for child sex abuse”

A former social worker and Catholic priest has been jailed for 12 years after admitting historical child sex abuse charges dating back to the 1970s.

Philip Temple, 66, admitted abusing 12 boys and one girl while working in south London care homes and a north London church. He also admitted lying on oath in the 1990s when he was cleared of child sex abuse charges against a teenage boy. Judge Christopher Hehir apologised to the victim at Woolwich Crown Court. He said: “I am sorry justice was not done when you came to court in 1998 and 1999.” The victim, who cannot be named, told the court he self-harmed, became a recluse and even tried to kill himself after the previous trials. He said: “I can only imagine the damage he has caused to other victims. We can never escape what he did and we can never be free of it.” In a statement read out in court, one victim said: “I feel like I have been robbed of my childhood and sometimes when I see other children in the street I wish I could go back in time and be a child again.” During sentencing, the judge told Temple: “You of course exploited the opportunities your deceit as to your character had afforded you, not only by sexually abusing children but, as a priest, by lying on oath to deny the truthful accusations brought against you by one of your victims. “Your actions as a priest demonstrated that in truth you were a wolf in shepherd’s clothing.” On Tuesday, Temple admitted seven charges committed in the 1970s. He had already admitted 20 similar charges and two of perjury at Croydon Crown Court in April.

Temple abused boys and a girl while working as a social worker in Lambeth and Wandsworth councils between 1971 and 1977.  He became a priest in 1988 and served at Christ the King Monastery in Cockfosters, where he abused two children, including an altar boy. He abused youngsters in children’s homes in south London, including the Shirley Oaks complex near Croydon, the court heard. Raymond Stevenson of the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association said: “If Temple had been caught at Shirley Oaks he would not have been able to abuse anyone else.” A Lambeth Council spokesman said it was cooperating fully with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and added: “We hope the outcome provides some solace to the victims of these dreadful crimes.” A spokesperson for the Catholic Church in England and Wales said when concerns were raised it was limited in the measures it could take because as a monk he was answerable to the head of his order in Italy rather than the archdiocese here.

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BBC News: 8th September 2016

“Survivors’ group ‘loses faith’ in child sex abuse inquiry”

A 600-strong survivors’ group has lost faith in the independent inquiry into historical child sexual abuse, its leaders have said. Shirley Oaks Survivors Association told the BBC it would recommend withdrawing from the Lambeth strand of the inquiry because it was not “truly independent”. Ex-inquiry chair Justice Lowell Goddard has said she was prevented from picking her own staff, and that civil servants were prioritised by the Home Office. Home Secretary Amber Rudd denied this.The treatment of children in care in Lambeth, south London, during the second half of the 20th Century is one of 13 areas that the inquiry is looking at.  But the Shirley Oaks group said the Home Office was one of the institutions that had failed children in care in Lambeth in the past – and that the scale of its presence in the inquiry staff represented a conflict of interest. Raymond Stevenson, from the survivors’ group, told BBC Newsnight there had been a sea change in the way the inquiry was operating. “We have to recommend at this moment in time that we pull out. We have given the inquiry an opportunity to meet us. We contacted them two weeks ago and we are still waiting for a meeting,” he said. “Some of our members have been through investigations before which had Home Office members and staff part of it so we have been through that. “This is about the third investigation Lambeth has been through so what we wanted from this was for it to be truly independent. We were sold a theory it would be truly independent.”

Read the full story here

BBC News: 14th September 2016

VICTORIA DERBYSHIRE SHOW

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BBC News: 14th September 2016

BBC London News -Whistleblowers Conference

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South London Press: 16th September 2016

South London Press

South London Press: 23th September 2016

South London Press

Blog Talk Radio: 26th September 2016

SOSA on Blog Talk Radio

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SOSA: VIRAL INTERIM REPORT:  PART 1: WHISTLEBLOWERS

In response to IICSA and the latest statement from Professor Alexis Jay:  We at SOSA now have no option but to continue delivering our own justice,  whilst the contrived chaos ensues.

Dear Tim Loughton MP,

RE: OPEN RESPONSE TO THE HOME AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE 18.10.16

On Tuesday 18th October, I attended the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) as part of my role as Chair of Shirley Oaks Survivors’ Association (SOSA). As always, I started off with an open canvass which in my case meant banishing the pre-conceived mistrust, which I developed as a child, of those who claim to be redeemers of victims of child abuse.

Up until now I have made no personal criticism of Alexis Jay as deep down I hoped her response to questions asked by the HASC would give me an insight into why she believes that, despite her lack of judicial knowledge and investigative skills, she has what it takes to unravel the Pandora’s box of institutionalised falsehoods perpetrated by various local and central Government establishments over decades.

As many people now know, 45 minutes into the nauseating regurgitation of tick box answers to legitimate questions, I realised the flashbacks I was getting were not a placebo and as I had predicted,  it was GROUNDHOG DAY. Talking down day; thinking they know better day; limited with the truth day.  Sadly it got worse as I was forced to listen to the uninspired and unconvincing performances of Jay and her panel members. Despite their best intentions, I was left with the impression that they were the ones who knifed Justice Goddard and Ben Emmerson in the back – this maybe just my paranoia so I won’t rebuke myself for this.

Throughout their responses I heard the same mumbling pseudo intellectual theories that I had violently rejected as a child being interwoven into the outcome of Jay’s strategic review of the IICSA – this was as I had feared.  Her big eureka proposition to get to the truth is to create forums for seminars and thematic talk shops: techniques which have been rehashed from the 1970’s social services hand book which were inherit in all the past failed inquiries.

Nothing I heard eased my concerns that Alexis Jay  has been parachuted in, off the back of Rotherham, on behalf of the Home Office, to stifle rather than get to the truth. What I did learn is that we, the Shirley Oaks Survivors and the public, have been lied to about the failings of the Inquiry for many months.

Before we can make an informed decision as to whether SOSA can remain a part of the IICSA Inquiry, despite Jay’s obvious limitations, we need some comprehensive answers to some very simple questions, many of which have been fudged or unanswered in the past, so we are making this letter public:

1. At the HASC, Alexis Jay insisted her appointment despite being a social worker, was endorsed by the Victim Support Consultative Panel (VSCP) whose job it is to advise the Inquiry. This we know to be untrue because at a meeting on 9th September 2016 where we met with Ben Emmerson, Elizabeth Prochoska, Alix Rejman and 3 members of the VSCP, in response to asking why the VSCP did not point out the obvious conflict with Jay’s appointment, we were immediately informed that this had been raised by 2 VSCP members. Emmerson also confirmed that he was not consulted about Jay’s appointment and was unaware that she was being considered to take over as Chair of the Inquiry. Emmerson was conscious of the concerns of SOSA and others about Jay’s suitability in the eyes of victims as we had previously outlined the fact that social services and social workers, were an integral part of the failings in regards to the abuse of children in the care of Lambeth Council and there were other organisations with similar concerns. The Home Office’s omission to consult Emmerson and core participants meant the collective views of many survivor groups were not considered.

To this end, we question why neither Emmerson nor core participant groups representing victims were consulted about Jay’s appointment?

1. SOSA represents many black members who are appalled by what is being perceived as ‘playing the race card retrospectively’. If there were defamatory comments about ethnic minorities made by Dame Lowell Goddard, why were these not mentioned or dealt with at the time? The comments purportedly made by Dame Lowell Goddard would amount to gross misconduct in the workplace yet she was allowed to continue as chair of the largest Inquiry in British history, for months. The fact that it is alleged that she made disparaging comments against black people which may have led to her demonstrating a level of bias against black victims was clearly not considered significant. Equally concerning is the leaking of information to people who are perceived as having a negative opinion of investigating historical child abuse claims.

SOSA would like to know why it has taken so long, for the purported defamatory comments about black people made by Dame Goddard, to come to the fore and what, if any, action the Home Office has taken to investigate this matter since it was made aware of the allegations in April 2016?

1. SOSA has raised the issue of Home Office involvement in the monitoring and supervision of Lambeth children’s homes over the period the historical child abuse occurred. We have raised this with the Inquiry over the last year and have received various assurances that we now know are not true. We raised the issue again by letter on 19th September 2016 and we were informed by letter on 22nd September 2016 that we would be getting a comprehensive answer. To date a response has not been forthcoming. We know that Chuku Umunna MP has asked the question and was told that the Home Office records do not go back as far as the 1950’s; this is in contradiction to Helen Hayes MP raising the same question and confirming that the Home Office did have liability in the early years from 1950 – 1970.

SOSA therefore ask the question again: What was the Home Office’s, involvement in the monitoring and supervision of Lambeth children’s homes over the period the historical abuse occurred?

We would like comprehensive answers to the questions raised in this letter, and our letter of 19th September 2016, to enable us to discuss our continued involvement in this Inquiry with our members.

Yours sincerely,

Raymond Stevenson

Chair, SOSA

OPEN LETTER TO TIM LOUGHTON MP (20.10.16)

JUSTICE : 7.11.16

Today we witnessed belated justice again in Lambeth for 2 former foster children who have waited most of their life for justice. Two incredible ladies who despite their trauma fought against evil. June Entecott formerly Hudson was sentenced to 4.5 years for child cruelty and covering up her husband John Hudson’s, sexual crimes in the 1970s on children in Lambeth and by the way he was a Police Officer in the Met.

JUNE ENTECOTT: GUILTY

DAILY MAIL: 7.11.16

Pensioner who covered up her police officer husband’s historic abuse of their two foster girls and whipped one with a dog lead is jailed for four-and-a-half years

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3913744/Pensioner-covered-perverted-police-officer-husband-s-abuse-two-adopted-girls-jailed-four-half-years.html#ixzz4PPUjxqNr 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 18.11.16

SOSA PRESS STATEMENT

SHIRLEY OAKS SURVIVORS ASSOCIATION (SOSA) ARE FORMALLY PULLING OUT OF THE INDEPENDENT INQUIRY INTO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

Our decision to pull out of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) should have come with regret but we are sad to say the only emotion we feel is relief. Now our members do not have to relive their worst nightmares in this stage-managed event which has now been contrived in such a way that it enables the guilty to wash their dirty hands, whilst the establishment pats itself on the back.

Having watched the IICSA unpalatable circus stumble and lurch from crisis to crisis with multiple resignations and claims of racial and sexual abuse thrown into the mix, it no longer matters whether we think the Inquiry is just another stitch up because it’s clearly a botch job that needs a drastic overhaul if it is ever to achieve its initial objectives.

We ask the Home Office’s handpicked panel members who have presided over this debacle for the last 6 months to resign for the sake of all those children who were abused historically. Your failure to manage the largest Inquiry this country has ever seen means we have been abused again, over and over.

Following the comment made by Ivor Frank at the Home Affairs Select Committee (18.10.16) we add, this is the perfect opportunity for you all to get on with your lives and avoid your reputations being stained in the blotted pages of history.

Prof. Alexis Jay

After the turmoil of losing 3 chairs we do not believe that Professor Alexis Jay is the right person to wrench open the Pandora’s Box of historical lies and cover-ups related to Shirley Oaks, Lambeth and the historical child abuse experienced by other survivor groups.

The fact that Professor Jay has not even bothered to meet us or contact us since her appointment only adds to our fear that she is an uninspiring leader who cannot reach out beyond her daisy chain circle of middle management cronies.

Nothing about this Inquiry is transparent apart from its failure to carry out its own remit and the unsubtle attempts under Home Office luvvie Professor Alexis Jay, to create a social work talk shop of seminars and thematic workshops which we believe will achieve nothing.

From the day the Inquiry was announced, we never believed there was any intention to allow the survivors of child sexual abuse or the public to glimpse into a window of this country’s darkest shame.  Judging by what we have discovered in our own investigations, it’s not only the paedophiles the Inquiry is protecting but the Government’s historic cover ups.

The Home Office

In the past 6 months we have asked various questions of the Home Office about their liabilities, its answers have always been vague or evasive. Having acquired documents related to the Home Office and its inspections of Shirley Oaks Children’s Home, we now know what they are trying to hide. For any Inquiry to be truly independent and engender faith in its integrity, the Home Office either needs to come clean about its own role in covering up historic child abuse and staff the inquiry with independent employees instead of its secondees or handover the task of overseeing the Inquiry to a less tainted Government department.

We at SOSA are saddened.  The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse could have provided an opportunity for contemplation and learning across the UK as a whole.  We are all aware that mistakes were made in the past but without learning, these mistakes will continue to be made in the future.  The lives and future of many current and future care children could have been improved but instead, this opportunity lost will leave a pigment of shame on the Government’s hands.

Shirley Oaks Survivors Association

Ends

Notes to Editor

For more information on SOSA www.shirleyoakssurvivorsassociation.co.uk

To contact SOSA: Tel: 0207 701 9950 Mobile: 07956101387