Lambeth Child Abuse Cover-Up

[shygirl]

'Cover-up' claims over Blair minister suspected of abusing children at home run by paedophile

• The suspect was implicated in a child abuse investigation in 1998
• Soon after case was dropped and detective in charge was disciplined
• Two former social services employees now claim it was covered up

By Leon Watson

Published: 01:29, 28 April 2014 | Updated: 13:21, 28 April 2014

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Allegations that one of Tony Blair's ministers was involved in a child sex ring were covered up after he was accused of abusing children at a home run by a paedophile, it was claimed today.

The suspect was allegedly implicated in a 16-month investigation into attacks believed to have taken place at a private flat inside the children's home in Brixton, south London, in the early 1980s.

The Angell Road children's home was run by convicted paedophile Michael John Carroll, who was arrested in 1998 and convicted of a string of child sex attacks dating back three decades.

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Suspicions: Ex-Lambeth social services employees say they suspect a cover-up involving a former Labour minister. (Lambeth Town Hall, pictured left). Paedophile Michael John Carroll (right) ran the children's home



But the inquiry into alleged attacks at the home was halted soon after an ex-social services boss told police of alleged early evening visits by a Labour politician, believed to be a minister.

The Daily Mirror reported Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll was taken off the case and faced disciplinary proceedings for allegedly naming the MP among the suspects.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614602/Cover-claims-Blair-minister-suspected-abusing-children-home-run-paedophile.html#ixzz3U4qCbeSu
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[shygirl]

This has been a very long time coming. Only a matter of time until the guilty minister and shameless fucking cover-it-up Tony Blair are exposed.

 

[shygirl]

http://news.sky.com/story/1442551/was-man-murdered-for-exposing-paedophile-ring

Brave man, what a bunch of evil bastards.

 

[CH1]

http://news.sky.com/story/1442551/was-man-murdered-for-exposing-paedophile-ring
Brave man, what a bunch of evil bastards.

Re this video report I remember Bulic Forsythe when he worked in Social Services stationery supplies department (they supplied the site where I worked). Our admin staff knew him through chats over the internal phone.

Obviously we were very shocked at his death in suspicious circumstances. Bulic was known to run a sound system apart from his day job, and the story at the time was that it was some internecine rivalry due to that which might explain his demise.

I think linking Bulic Forsythe into alleged MP paedophilia is a conspiracy theory (although not impossible). There is no doubt that Lambeth procedures were extremely lax in the 1970s and 1980s. No police checks. Poor financial controls. Inadequate recruiting policies.

An outsourced example of this was the hostel for boys run by the late Roger Gleaves in Branksome Road. This came to pubic attention because of the film "Johnnie Go Home" made for ITV by Yorkshire TV in 1975.

Concurrently with the TV documentary being made one of the residents was murdered - and then a shocked public wondered what this type of outfit was doing abusing homeless young men - paid for by the DHSS.

There are some shocking practices that went on in Lambeth in former years. Normally down to criminals rather than MPs.

 

[Dan U]

Sky went big on this this morning. Leading news bulletins and reporting from outside the offices (i think that was VT though)

 

[CH1]

Sky went big on this this morning. Leading news bulletins and reporting from outside the offices (i think that was VT though)

Thanks. Caught a bit of that. Nigel Goldie (formerly Assisstant Director Social Services). Sounding measured and uncertain.

Actually thinking back this was a turbulent time all round. I remember Peter Camp - at the time Director of Housing - having some sort of breakdown, resigning and sending a 20 page confidential memo to councillors. Mainly saying he and his family were under attack from the unions - stuff through the letter box etc.

Then there was the Appelby enquiry, not to mention the interim Lambeth chief executive and the porn in the Town Hall basement.

Frankly if social services or housing managers needed proper peer group support to sort stuff out I doubt they would have got it.

 

[shygirl]

Re this video report I remember Bulic Forsythe when he worked in Social Services stationery supplies department (they supplied the site where I worked). Our admin staff knew him through chats over the internal phone.

Obviously we were very shocked at his death in suspicious circumstances. Bulic was known to run a sound system apart from his day job, and the story at the time was that it was some internecine rivalry due to that which might explain his demise.

I think linking Bulic Forsythe into alleged MP paedophilia is a conspiracy theory (although not impossible). There is no doubt that Lambeth procedures were extremely lax in the 1970s and 1980s. No police checks. Poor financial controls. Inadequate recruiting policies.

An outsourced example of this was the hostel for boys run by the late Roger Gleaves in Branksome Road. This came to pubic attention because of the film "Johnnie Go Home" made for ITV by Yorkshire TV in 1975.

Concurrently with the TV documentary being made one of the residents was murdered - and then a shocked public wondered what this type of outfit was doing abusing homeless young men - paid for by the DHSS.

There are some shocking practices that went on in Lambeth in former years. Normally down to criminals rather than MPs.

What you say is at odds with what we've read/been told about the cover-up of child abuse in Lambeth children's homes by senior staff, councillors, police and the establishment. These crimes not only allegedly took place in the homes, senior figures also arranged for much of the abuse to take place in the Town Hall. I'm not sure why you think that this was not the case?

 

[ViolentPanda]

'Cover-up' claims over Blair minister suspected of abusing children at home run by paedophile

• The suspect was implicated in a child abuse investigation in 1998
• Soon after case was dropped and detective in charge was disciplined
• Two former social services employees now claim it was covered up

By Leon Watson

Published: 01:29, 28 April 2014 | Updated: 13:21, 28 April 2014

279

View
comments





Allegations that one of Tony Blair's ministers was involved in a child sex ring were covered up after he was accused of abusing children at a home run by a paedophile, it was claimed today.

The suspect was allegedly implicated in a 16-month investigation into attacks believed to have taken place at a private flat inside the children's home in Brixton, south London, in the early 1980s.

The Angell Road children's home was run by convicted paedophile Michael John Carroll, who was arrested in 1998 and convicted of a string of child sex attacks dating back three decades.

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Suspicions: Ex-Lambeth social services employees say they suspect a cover-up involving a former Labour minister. (Lambeth Town Hall, pictured left). Paedophile Michael John Carroll (right) ran the children's home



But the inquiry into alleged attacks at the home was halted soon after an ex-social services boss told police of alleged early evening visits by a Labour politician, believed to be a minister.

The Daily Mirror reported Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll was taken off the case and faced disciplinary proceedings for allegedly naming the MP among the suspects.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2614602/Cover-claims-Blair-minister-suspected-abusing-children-home-run-paedophile.html#ixzz3U4qCbeSu
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

There were a lot of rumours and (officially) uncorroborated stories about other Childrens' Homes in Lambeth going back as far as the '60s. I knew some Lambeth alumni from the late '70s (fellow pissheads), all three of whom claimed to have been molested by staff at homes, and one who reckoned that she was pimped to outsiders too. I also had a mate whose dad worked as a social worker at Lambeth in the '70s and '80s, who absolutely refused to take any "mentally handicapped" children into care, because of the massively-high levels of unreported abuse he reckoned took place.

 

[CH1]

What you say is at odds with what we've read/been told about the cover-up of child abuse in Lambeth children's homes by senior staff, councillors, police and the establishment. These crimes not only allegedly took place in the homes, senior figures also arranged for much of the abuse to take place in the Town Hall. I'm not sure why you think that this was not the case?

On a minor point of detail (Mirror article) Ron Davis picked up his assailant on Clapham Common and was mugged in the lift of one of the blocks on the St Matthews Estate.

Surely if a minister in Blair's government was suspected of being a paedopohile it woud be Blair who would be told, not Frank Dobson?

 

[CH1]

John Mann MP has now been interviewed by Sky News. He was Councillor for Town Hall ward from 1986 to 1990. Mr Mann is only saying it is about time it all came out. Maybe he could use parliamentary privilege to name names? I doubt he knows any though.

If anybody is interested in the source of most of these stories (including those on Sky and in the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail) it can be found here: http://www.exaronews.com/channel/uk

 

[shygirl]

On a minor point of detail (Mirror article) Ron Davis picked up his assailant on Clapham Common and was mugged in the lift of one of the blocks on the St Matthews Estate.

Surely if a minister in Blair's government was suspected of being a paedopohile it woud be Blair who would be told, not Frank Dobson?

The minister in question is not Ron Davis, btw. Its much bigger than that. Not sure about where Frank Dobson comes into this, and at work so can't look it up.

 

[CH1]

The minister in question is not Ron Davis, btw. Its much bigger than that. Not sure about where Frank Dobson comes into this, and at work so can't look it up.

Maybe they thought Frank Dobson as Minister of Health was somehow in charge of Social Services in Lambeth - though in my opinion if something so serious as a government minister suspected of child abuse came up it would surely have been reported to the minister's boss - not one of his cabinet colleagues.

 

[ibilly99]

The minister in question is not Ron Davis, btw. Its much bigger than that. Not sure about where Frank Dobson comes into this, and at work so can't look it up.

There is a a very good review of the Lambeth situation here.

https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2013...-loose-ends-in-lambeth-on-child-sexual-abuse/

 

[CH1]

There is a a very good review of the Lambeth situation here.

https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2013...-loose-ends-in-lambeth-on-child-sexual-abuse/

It's certainly comprehensive. I remember some of those press reports.

I have a quibble with a couple of things:

Consider this paragraph -
"Successive Social Security Inspectorate reports had also drawn attention to major deficiencies in Lambeth's child care practice. Interestingly Janet Boateng was chair of Lambeth Council’s social services committee, who had overall responsibility for the running of children’s homes, and she personally unveiled the ‘new child care strategy’ at a time when Lambeth children’s homes were infested with paedophiles. Janet Boateng is married to former Labour MP and now peer, Paul Boateng [25]. Paul Boatengs son is on the sex offenders register [53]"

This is basically a smear on the Boateng family. What point is being made here? Hypocrisy? Fallibility? Evil?

I would also like to comment on this paragraph: "Lambeth appeared to be also at the centre of fraud and mismanagement [21] .The Council commissioned a £100,000 report into this from a QC. However the Appleby report dealt with the porn ring in one line “there was no evidence” because of fears of getting sued[40]. Where is that report?"

If you look at the backing news clip from the South London Press the suppressed report is called the "Knight Report" which was a report from the early 1980s seeking to implicate Lambeth council leader Ted Knight in business conflicts of interest to do with council maintenance work. Ted always maintained a threat to sue thereby preventing the report from being debated by the council or publicly disclosed.

The Knight Report had nothing to do with either porn or paedophilia - it was to do with roofing jobs farmed out by Lambeth's Department of Construction Services (DCS) - headquarters Paul Robeson House, South Lambeth Road (long since sold and turned into a hotel).

Appleby is quoted as saying the porn ring allegations were exactly that - she could not find any evidence.

Reference 21 in the article is an article featuring Heather Rabbats - and therefore referring to events subsequent to the Appleby investigations.
There is no suggestion that this "Porn Report" is/was suppressed for fear of being sued.

It would be good if some of these things could be cleared up. Some of the politicians and council officers are still around/available. Maybe some of it will come under the ambit of the national enquiry in to abuse which has yet to start.

 

[ViolentPanda]

It's certainly comprehensive. I remember some of those press reports.

I have a quibble with a couple of things:

Consider this paragraph -
"Successive Social Security Inspectorate reports had also drawn attention to major deficiencies in Lambeth's child care practice. Interestingly Janet Boateng was chair of Lambeth Council’s social services committee, who had overall responsibility for the running of children’s homes, and she personally unveiled the ‘new child care strategy’ at a time when Lambeth children’s homes were infested with paedophiles. Janet Boateng is married to former Labour MP and now peer, Paul Boateng [25]. Paul Boatengs son is on the sex offenders register [53]"

This is basically a smear on the Boateng family. What point is being made here? Hypocrisy? Fallibility? Evil?

Would have made more sense to emphasise that JB was dogmatic-as-fuck when it came to looking after her fiefdom, and that such dogmatism may have affected her oversight of SS.

 

[ibilly99]

Original Crimewatch on Bulic's murder.

"Bulic Forsythe was a civil servant in Lambeth Council's social work department. In 1993 he was savagely beaten to death in his home, which was then set alight by persons unknown. Recently the Mirror reported that Bulic Forsythe may have been about to blow the whistle on an organised paedophile ring operating within the care homes system in Lambeth, of which a Labour politician may have been a member. This politician later achieved great prominence in the Cabinet of Tony Blair. The circumstances surrounding Bulic's death are disturbing and bizarre. His killer, or killers, remain unidentified."

 

[CH1]

John Mann MP has now been interviewed by Sky News. He was Councillor for Town Hall ward from 1986 to 1990.

John Mann was on World at One (Radio 4) just now. He was somewhat vague (understandably), but it sounds as though he may well be pushing for further investigation of the Bulic Forsythe case, as well as other related matters.

 

[CH1]

I would also like to comment on this paragraph: "Lambeth appeared to be also at the centre of fraud and mismanagement [21] .The Council commissioned a £100,000 report into this from a QC. However the Appleby report dealt with the porn ring in one line “there was no evidence” because of fears of getting sued[40]. Where is that report?"

I happened to be trying to look up unrelated stuff (Nu Town Hall etc) on Lambeth's Freedom of Information site when lo I spotted a question about the Appleby Report - referred to above.

The council have helpfully rendered the report into pdf format.
Anyone interested should be able to get it by using the link below to download the pdf file https://icasework.lambeth.gov.uk/cus/servlet/ep.getImg?ref=IR318578&auth=10002

There is nothing there relating to the topic of this thread though.

 

[GarveyLives]

"A detective was removed from his post after telling colleagues he wanted to approach Paul Boateng - then government minister in charge of police ..."

Detective who wanted to speak to minister was taken off case (click for more)

Baron Paul Yaw Boateng of Akyem and Wembley​

 

[CH1]

"A detective was removed from his post after telling colleagues he wanted to approach Paul Boateng - then government minister in charge of police ..."

Detective who wanted to speak to minister was taken off case (click for more)

Baron Paul Yaw Boateng of Akyem and Wembley​

I note that the BBC article says there is no suggestion that Paul Boateng had done anything wrong.

I remember that last photo from an exposé - I think in the Sunday People. Must have been from the late 1980s or early 1990s though, when he was in opposition. Remember being taken aback at a politician being so brazen (I think now it would be defintiely considered inappropriate and perhaps a resigning matter).

In some ways sexual references have become much more scrutinised now - I guess Blackpool postcards, if they still exist, might be subject to censure nowadays.

I notice from the BBC article that ACYC (Association of Combined Youth Clubs) is mentioned. The President of that (at least in the 1990s) was David Dimbleby. Another name to conjure with?

 

[shygirl]

I note that the BBC article says there is no suggestion that Paul Boateng had done anything wrong.

I remember that last photo from an exposé - I think in the Sunday People. Must have been from the late 1980s or early 1990s though, when he was in opposition. Remember being taken aback at a politician being so brazen (I think now it would be defintiely considered inappropriate and perhaps a resigning matter).

In some ways sexual references have become much more scrutinised now - I guess Blackpool postcards, if they still exist, might be subject to censure nowadays.

I notice from the BBC article that ACYC (Association of Combined Youth Clubs) is mentioned. The President of that (at least in the 1990s) was David Dimbleby. Another name to conjure with?

Well, the BBC would say that, as would we all.

 

[CH1]

Well, the BBC would say that, as would we all.

Actually I thought the photo of Paul Boateng (and the legend) has a whiff of racism about it - looking like it came from that Guido Fawkes website.
The BBC presumably have to cover themselves for libel - as they would for any police investigation concerning a (living) person.
Did you hear the Moral Maze yesterday?

 

[shygirl]

Actually I thought the photo of Paul Boateng (and the legend) has a whiff of racism about it - looking like it came from that Guido Fawkes website.
The BBC presumably have to cover themselves for libel - as they would for any police investigation concerning a (living) person.
Did you hear the Moral Maze yesterday?

No, who/what was on it?

 

[shygirl]

I don't know much about the Guido Fawkes site, is it racist? I don't think the photo is, per se, it was him dressed up at some chambers party, I think.

 

[CH1]

I don't know much about the Guido Fawkes site, is it racist? I don't think the photo is, per se, it was him dressed up at some chambers party, I think.

There certainly have been allegations of this in the past: Guido Fawkes’ Racist Comments Have To Stop – And Iain Dale Must Stop Linking To Him NOW! | LabourList

I don't normally study it - but they have been very hot on MPs expenses scandal stuff.

Why I think the picture is racist is that the caption is very in the face regarding Paul Boateng being from a Twi speaking Ghanaian descent.

I see the story is in the Mirror on 2nd March (but not the photo). I seem to recall that Janet Boateng, Paul Boateng's wife was a high profile member of the 2nd Ted Knight administration 1982-86, though whether her remit included children's homes I have no idea.

Surely the issue here would be if some corrupt influence stopped proper oversight of the care system. I can't quite see how Mr Boateng would have been in a position to do this as he was only MP - and for Brent - from 1987 - 2005.

Which leaves this insinuation that he went on holiday with the kids.

Justice Goddard will no doubt have to explore all this.

 

[Sirena]

I see the story is in the Mirror on 2nd March (but not the photo). I seem to recall that Janet Boateng, Paul Boateng's wife was a high profile member of the 2nd Ted Knight administration 1982-86, though whether her remit included children's homes I have no idea.

.

A friend of mine was a Lambeth Social worker in the early 80s. She would rant regularly about Janet Boateng, who was head of Social Services (I think).

eta Chair of the Social Services Committee, actually....

 

[CH1]

"A detective was removed from his post after telling colleagues he wanted to approach Paul Boateng - then government minister in charge of police ..."

There was a very detailed report on all this on Tuesday 1st March on Newsnight

 

[GarveyLives]

There was a very detailed report on all this on Tuesday 1st March on Newsnight

That may well be the reason why the article by the same reporter was posted on this forum at the same time that report was being broadcast.

 

[GarveyLives]

... I seem to recall that Janet Boateng, Paul Boateng's wife was a high profile member of the 2nd Ted Knight administration 1982-86, though whether her remit included children's homes I have no idea...

As a social worker by profession and the Chair of Lambeth Council's Social Services Committee, one would have thought that allegations of child abuse in homes operated by Lambeth Council might possibly have come within her remit.

 

[CH1]

Chuka has been tweeting he is attending the hearings today:
Children in the Care of Lambeth Council | IICSA Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse