Lambeth Part 2 – Loose Ends in Lambeth on Child Sexual Abuse

The CHILE 4th Report (CHildren In Lambeth Enquiry) was slick and seemed to give the impression that any problem with sexual abuse in Lambeth was investigated, sorted and finished [2]. That is, even 20 years later, far from the case.

What appeared to be missing was any heart, any compassion, any caring for young lives ruined by child sexual abuse – the report was a public relations exercise, and reeked of legal, financial and political risk minimisation for the council and its higher profile politicians and civil servants. This is not what the public want from their public servants. The public tend to want truth and transparency and indeed the Nolan principles of public life [30]. Why is some information even being deleted?

Please note that victims of abuse may be triggered by reading this report. The Sanctuary for the Abused [A] has advice on how to prevent triggers.  National Association for People Abused in Childhood [B] has a freephone helpline and has links to local support groups. Other useful sites are One in Four [C] and Havoca [D]

Unfortunately I do not have the time, sufficient access to the internet nor have enough information to understand what is happening in all the areas of the country that reports are released as regards child sexual abuse but I put this blog forward as my contribution to the better understanding of the Lambeth loose ends. It is little more than a skim over some of the information now available to all with the hope that someone who knows more will review the information and paint a more detailed picture. I hope it helps paint one piece of the jigsaw of the truth of child sexual abuse in Britain.

This was a joint investigation into abuse, and not a review, between Lambeth Council and the Met Police but where is the councils response? Where is the information? the explanation? the apology? Why is this information not public, why do child abuse campaigners have to chase up a council, supposedly elected by the people for the people, for scraps of information? Where are the years and years of internal investigations and internal reports, and commissioned external reports before this joint investigation with the Metropolitan Police? It is not on the Lambeth website [50]- only one search item comes up under child sexual abuse.

Lambeths partners in the investigation, the Met, as we are seeing recently are not renowned for their honesty in their investigations as the 4 corrupted investigations into the murder of Daniel Morgan [29] and much other evidence has shown. This was the Lambeth part of Operation Middleton on child sexual abuse though the terms of reference are not yet available, so exactly what it was to achieve is unclear.

It appears that things are not quite right. There are a lot of loose ends in Lambeth.

20 childrens homes [4] run by Lambeth were being investigated in 2000 by Operation Middleton [1]. Where is all the information that should be given to the public about this? Let it all be released by the Council for the publics and the childrens benefit.

20 childrens homes- this seems evidence of endemic council failure; 49 victims. What? Only 49 victims from at least 20 homes and at least 19 perpetrators? This does not add up, there are obviously way more victims. 16 perpetrators dead before they get to Court out of 19? When was this abuse? Why are so many perpetrators dead?

The 49 victims identified we were told were getting long term support and counselling – I would like to know more about this and if they are still getting this support.

It was reported in the Independent [3] on November 19th 1998 that Lambeth were carrying out an Inquiry into abuse. The focus, was at first on the revelation that a young boy was raped at one of the borough’s care homes by a residential worker who later died of an Aids-related illness. The worker was Steve Forrest, the year of the rape was 1987. The child was six years old at the time of the attack, at the Angell Road Children’s Home in Brixton. “It is impossible to say how many children were involved but it could be an awful lot,” said a spokeswoman.

The Guardian [4] reported in 2000 that the Inquiry, which centred on Lambeth council’s social services department, led to seven arrests and the suspension of 10 staff employed by the borough. What happened to these staff?

Incredibly back in 1986 John Carroll, Head of the Childrens Home was allowed to keep his job [17] when the Council became aware that he had failed to declare a sex offence on a 13 year old boy.  Negligence?

Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll was removed from the original investigation and placed on a disciplinary after superiors learned that politicians, including an MP, were among the suspects? [16] Why?

He is reported as saying “I was unhappy with the interference of some senior officers who did not appear to have a logical connection to my investigation into child sex abuse in Lambeth. “There were allegations made by several people that named politicians had been involved but I never had a chance to investigate them because I was moved before I could do so.” [12] Who took over and was the investigation as thorough?

Asked if there was a cover-up of child sexual abuse in Lambeth by Scotland Yard, he said: “You would need an investigation to establish that.” And asked if it was true that a file of evidence naming politicians as suspects and others was lost, he replied: “I handed the file to an officer and I have no knowledge where it went after that.” [12] Where is it now?

Labour councillor Anna Tapsell claims she was visited by a police chief to “warn her off” after she raised concerns that detectives would not properly investigate allegations of paedophile activity in care homes. [16] Why?

Ms Tapsell, a chairwoman of Lambeth’s social services committee who has highlighted sexual abuse of children in the borough’s care for more than two decades. She said: “When I learned that Clive was being removed, not only from the case but also from Lambeth, I realised that the Met were caving in to political pressure that was far more powerful than Lambeth Council.” Who else was involved in this?

Clare Whelan, a Lambeth Tory councillor since 1990, claims she was repeatedly ignored by police when she tried to highlight the Carroll case. She added: “I was never confident that it was all properly investigated. “It took far too long for police to investigate and I had to see three sets of officers before they did anything. Even then they did not do anything really.” Why?

Lambeth Council have failed even to bother to reply for over 4 months, since 17th August 2013 to a Freedom of Information request for the Lambeth Barratt Report (there was also a similar Hackney Barratt Report, whose release is also being held up unlawfully by Hackney Council [48] ) which was a report into further allegations of child abuse.

The council, and lets face it the individuals whose job it is to do the replies and importantly the people who control the decisions to answer, are thus not in compliance with the law and are liable. They are supposed to reply promptly and anyway within 28 days. They have done neither. Nor have they yet replied to the request for an internal review [13].

The Lambeth Barratt report was highly critical of Lambeth Council stating they were shockingly incompetent [18]. “By organisational incompetence” stated the well respected author, “I mean the inability of the council, as an organisation, to fulfill its obligations, to a reasonable degree, over a protracted period of time, to children in need of care.” No wonder they do not want the report published. However it is their duty and it was a publicly funded report.

Successive Social Security Inspectorate reports had also drawn attention to major deficiencies in Lambeths 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]

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? Update 2015 Sept 30 It has now been released – the section on finding no evidence of a porn ring or freemasonry is Section 21 – Appleby Report archive [61a] [updated 2023 May 7 as link was dead, archive link replaced it]

In 1992 Tim Yeo ordered 2 reports into Lambeth Council [47]– one into how John Carroll managed to keep his job after the revelations of his previous abuse and another by the SSI into the care homes [23] . What are they called? Have they been published?

It is difficult to work out initially exactly how many reports and investigations there have been and by whom and when- The Yeo Reports , The Porn Ring Report, the Knight Report, sexual harrassment report [46], The Appleby Report, various internal Reports of different departments [24].

Chief Exec Heather Rabbatts was also accused of secrecy on the whole subject and Lambeth was accused of delay and inaction [32] [33]

A social worker was involved in nearby massive rent boy scandals with 30 pimps, scores of boys and hundreds of thousands of pounds [49].

[Link 42 is the incorrect link, hopefully will find the correct one soon] A Lambeth worker was offered more pornographic material and children ![42] A worker was assaulted, complained to her boss and was assaulted by him. [42] A key witnesses to the porn ring had a murder attempt against her [43]. The temporary head of the Council was convinced the porn ring was out to get her [44]. Porn videos were handed around by staff [45].

Reports of abuse were made as far back as 1986 with abuse of a 15 year old mentally handicapped girl in Ivy House. However the documented abuse went even further back to 1981 and 1984 [26].

There are also dark tales of a “Godfather” in the council [28], rape victims subsequently having petrol poured over them [60] . Then there was the murder of Bulic Forsythe, who had told a colleague that he was going to “spill the beans” 3 days earlier, about fraud in the Housing Directorate [27].

Update 2023 May 7 degoogled.

Crimewatch murder of Bulic Forsythe [58c]

These almost unbelievable happenings were just the documented goings on in the mainstream media about the Council.

What else was going on in the area at the time? – Lambeth Police HQ. In 1997 manacles, bedding, red light and some reports say child pornography were found in a basement [15] [8]. Recent Freedom of Information requests have confirmed the outline of the story but the Met claim that all the information has been deleted apart from some public relations lines to take if asked [10] [11]. The suspicion will be, whether justified or not, that police were implicated in some sex related shenanigans that conflicted with their duty to investigate sexual abuse properly, and that this was one reason why child sexual abuse was so prevalent in Lambeth.

Connection have been made between sex rings in Lambeth and Islington [31]. This is also important due to the high profile links to Islingtons child abuse.

Brian Pead, the head of a pupil referral unit in Lambeth, found child abuse and inadequate safeguarding of children. Reporting this was part of his job. However, rather than deal with the problem Lambeth went on the attack, and accused HIM of fabricated charges and he has been falsely imprisoned, and further harrassed by the Met Police. His story [14] and a Brian Pead and Maggie Tuttle video [6c].

Another strange loose end with Lambeth are photographs from a perpetrator of child abuse on Lambeth Council Website in 2011 [9].

Put into this context the Lambeth final report is pathetically inadequate. Lambeth needs to come clean and be proactively transparent and release all information about child sexual abuse, suitably redacted to protect the innocent and the victims. Nothing else will help erase the sordid stain of past child sexual abuse and cover up.

Time and time again we see this pattern with regard to child sexual abuse – a pattern of denial, minimisation, cover up, attacking the whistleblowers. Time and time again it is corrupt politicians, police and press hiding the truth. It is not ALL police, not ALL politicians, not ALL press – however it is sufficient to keep the horror of widespread child sexual abuse hidden from the majority who cannot or do not want to believe that a small minority of powerful, ruthless people organise child sexual abuse. Those who stay silent are condoning the abuse.

A good summary of what is happening in Britain was written by the excellent Christian Wolmar [34].  Another excellent writer who exposed child sexual abuse at the time was Nick Davies [35]. My respect to both of them for their true journalism and bravery in the face of corruption.

From Kincora in Northern Ireland to Bryn Alyn in Wales, Dunblane in Scotland to Lambeth in England. This is the rabbit hole, the tip of the iceberg. Often Freemasons and Secret services are involved. It is time for the truth to come out. Hopes that the National Crime Agency would be the catalyst to finally get a hold on the endemic child sexual abuse in Britain have taken a major dive with the failure to follow up on dozens of paedophiles names given to them 18 months ago as part of Operation Spade [36] [37]. In response the National Crime Agency seem to have been forced into a high profile media website campaign [38] to search for 13 paedophiles as part of Operation Captura in Spain.

However this is tinkering at the edge of a massive problem far bigger than most people know. National figures are not available to me at present on how many detectives are involved in tracking down paedophiles; whether they are in local police forces or specialist CEOP/National Crime Agencies. Child protection is obviously absurdly short of manpower especially when compared with the abundant resources given to Operation Alice – Plebgate. What angers people is that these resources were not even needed, they were part of an elaborate Police cover up of a tiff with their political masters.

Child Protection is a matter of political will and priority. It is obvious that child protection is low on the real priorities no matter what the crooks in suits say.

Why might this be – because the illite are involved in often involved in paedophilia. They are also blackmailed by their interest in paedophilia, so it is not in the interests of the secret services to expose them, just to threaten to expose them. Not just in Britain but also in Europe as the Dutroux case showed [39].

Another aspect is that children are valuable commodities. Power takes children from the vulnerable and gives them to whosoever they wish, whether for sex or money. Forced adoption, stealing and trafficking children is widespread but totally unrecognised in mainstream society often because it is hidden in plain sight and done using existing justice structures and parents gagged from speaking out.

I believe what should happen to expose the truth about child sexual abuse is;

1 Free therapy for ALL victims including now adult victims of child abuse
2 Release publically, digital copies of all past public inquiries, police operations and local authority reports into child abuse,redacted if needed
3 Set up an overarching Hillsborough style panel into all child abuse in UK

The opposition to properly exposing child sexual abuse is powerful, but I feel that we will win. However we must unite behind our common goals.

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

—

Additions

2015 Jul 26 via Martin Walkerdine ‏@mwalkerdine
Op Trinity suspect Leslie Paul was once convicted under Op Middleton (Lambeth) [59]

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More can be found on the extremely useful child sexual abuse press archive spotlight site [51]  specifically the Lambeth category  [55] and articles  on Needleblog [52] and cathy fox Lambeth category [56] Cathy Fox Lambeth Part 1 Operation Middleton [57]

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Links and References
[1] Operation Middleton http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/feb/28/jamiewilson.linusgregoriadis?CMP=twt_gu

[2] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/173705/response/449082/attach/3/Operation%20Middleton%20Report.pdf

[3] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/lambeth-launches-abuse-inquiry-1185849.html

[4] http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/feb/28/jamiewilson.linusgregoriadis?CMP=twt_gu

[5] http://victims-unite.net/2013/03/05/freshly-banned-before-distribution-from-hillsborough-to-lambeth-corruption-and-cover-up-of-child-abuse-and-racism/

[6] Brian Pead and Maggie Tuttle video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVq_8qNhIo4&feature=youtu.be

[6c] Brian Pead and Maggie Tuttle video https://odysee.com/@FoxesAmazingChannel:8/Brian-Pead-vs.-Lambeth—FALSE-IMPRISONMENT!-TVq_8qNhIo4:6

[7] Lambeth and fire advert http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2345098/Labour-run-Lambeth-council-branded-downright-sick-using-imaginary-childrens-deaths-campaign-Boris-Johnsons-cuts.html

[8] Lambeth Police sex dungeon http://cigpapers.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/lambeth-police-station-paedophile-sex-ring-dungeon-scandal/

[9] Lambeth has child porn photographers photos in archive http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/photo-news/535058/child-abuse-photographer-s-pics-discovered-in-council-s-online-archive

[10] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/lambeth_police_station_child_abu

[11] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/lambeth_police_station_child_abu_2

[12] http://aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/child-abuse-ring-in-lambeth.html

[13] Barratt Report FOI request under internal review for time delay https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/barratt_report_lambeth_19989

[14] Brian Pead http://lambeth-child-abuse.webnode.nl/news/from-hillsborough-to-lambeth/

[15] http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/update-on-the-lambeth-police-station-sex-chamber/

[16] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/paedophile-mp-cover-up-claim-detective-1785273

[17] Community Care, 10th December 1992 http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/cc101292.jpg

[18] The Guardian, 1st October 1999 http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/g11099.jpg

[19] Community Care c.1996
http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/cc1996.jpg

[20] http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/category/lambeth/

[21] South London Press, 11th August 1995 http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp31595a.jpg

[22] Guardian, 22nd September 1986 http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/guardian22986.jpg

[23] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/slp1812921.jpg

[24] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp2695b.jpg

[25] http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/janet-boateng-former-chair-of-lambeth-social-services-committee/

[26] http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/home-truths-8-10-00/

[27] South London Press, 26th May 1995
http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/was-manager-beaten-to-death-for-probing-fraud/

[27A] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp26595a.jpg

[28] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp2695b.jpg

[29] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Morgan_%28private_investigator%29

[30] http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/parlment/nolan/nolan.htm

[31] http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/were-islington-and-lambeth-paedophile-rings-connected/

[32] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/cc1996.jpg

[33] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp31595a.jpg

[34] http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/home-truths-8-10-00/

[35] http://www.nickdavies.net/1998/04/01/the-sheer-scale-of-child-sexual-abuse-in-britain/

[36] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2507733/Hundreds-British-paedophiles-large-Project-Spade-fails-net-UK.html

[37] http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/11/14/at-least-386-victims-rescued-after-project-spade-a-massive-child-porn-bust-that-started-in-toronto/

[38] http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/

[39] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Dutroux

[40] South London Press, 2nd June 1995 http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp11895b.jpg

[41] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp2695b.jpg

[42] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/exp15586a.jpg

[43] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp13695b.jpg

[44] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp7495.jpg

[45] http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/stash-of-paedophile-videos-26-5-95/

[46] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/slp26595b.jpg

[47] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/slp81292a1.jpg

[48] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/barratt_report_hackney_jan_1998

[49] http://spotlightonabuse.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/exp15586a.jpg

[50] http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/home.htm

[51] Spotlight press archive http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/category/lambeth/

[52] Operation Greenlight  http://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/operation-greenlight/london/lambeth/angell-road-home-stockwell-lambeth/

[53] Paul Boatengs son on sex register http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2069594/Boateng-thought-untouchable–son-privilege-away-anything.html

[54] 1993 Jan 24 Lambeth Corruption http://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/head-of-the-imf-christine-lagarde-in-court-charged-with-embezzlement-and-fraud-8628670.html

[55] Spotlight Lambeth Category http://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/category/lambeth/

[56] Cathy fox Lambeth Category https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/category/lambeth/

[57] Cathy Fox Lambeth Part 1 Release of operation middleton final report https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/lambeth-part-1-release-of-final-lambeth-report-of-operation-middleton/

[58] Crimewatch murder of Bulic Forsythe https://youtu.be/FfCorg_S-Qg

[58c] Crimewatch murder of Bulic Forsythe https://odysee.com/@FoxesAmazingChannel:8/The-Murder-Of-Bulic-Forsythe-FfCorg_S-Qg:e

[59] via Martin Walkerdine ‏@mwalkerdine
Op Trinity suspect Leslie Paul was once convicted under Op Middleton (Lambeth)

[60] https://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/petrol-attack-to-silence-rape-victim-2-6-95/

[61] https://icasework.lambeth.gov.uk/cus/servlet/ep.getImg?ref=IR318578&auth=10002. now dead link

[61a] Appleby Report archive https://web.archive.org/web/20200708035021/https://icasework.lambeth.gov.uk/cus/servlet/ep.getImg?ref=IR318578&auth=10002

[A] Sanctuary for the Abused http://abusesanctuary.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/for-survivors-coping-with-triggers-if.html

[B] NAPAC http://www.napac.org.uk/

[C] One in Four http://www.oneinfour.org.uk/

[D] Havoca http://www.havoca.org/HAVOCA_home.htm

cathyfox the truth will out