Books
The Secret of Bryn Estyn - the making of a modern witch hunt (Buy)
Richard Webster
£25 (inc p&p) 725 pages hardback Orwell Press ISBN 0951592246
The Secret of Bryn Estyn, written by Richard Webster tells the story of the gravest series of miscarriages of justice in recent British history – how innocent lives have been destroyed, the public deceived and millions of pounds wasted in a hunt for a dark conspiracy which existed only in the imagination of the investigators.
In 1991 rumours began to circulate in North Wales that Bryn Estyn, a home for adolescent boys on the outskirts of Wrexham, was the centre of a paedophile ring. A massive police investigation was launched which, over the next ten years, spread to care homes throughout Britain. Thousands were accused, hundreds arrested, and the prisons began to fill up with convicted care workers.
Had we at last faced up to a horrifying reality? Or had we unleashed an entirely new kind of witch-hunt, one that was unable to discriminate between the innocent and the guilty?
Richard Webster has spent nine years uncovering what really happened in North Wales. This is a a true story of false accusations, judicial blindness, bad journalism and innocent lives destroyed. The result is one of the most remarkable works of investigation ever written.
Insight into Anguish (Buy)
Melanie Metcalfe
£9 (inc p&p) 288 pages softback DayOne Publications ISBN 1 903087 40 6
This is an unusual, perhaps unique story about the nightmare experience of a very ordinary family with very special qualities, written with powerful honesty and gripping potency. But it is far more than just an interesting story and good read. Law makers should read this book to realise how unreasonable the whole issue of the anonymity and impunity of those who level maliciously false accusations, and how unjust the 'presumption of guilt' syndrome can be. Law enforcers should read it to be warned of the damage caused by heavy-handed, insensitive and even ignorant methods of police investigation, that could irreparably wound a family. Society should read it to appreciate the unfairness of a legal aid system that could leave an innocent family homeless and bankrupt. And all who work at any level in the voluntary sector, among children and youth, should read it to be alerted to the dangers of innocent, but naive or unwise conduct being manipulated in a court of law by vicious and evil minds; this story should put all youth workers on their guard.
Yet this is a story of a family who have a firm belief that God is in control: a God who has plans behind all the events of this world. The account given has much to say about how the family's faith was tested and strengthened through these events, and is a startling testimony of faith through adversity. It is a sometimes harrowing account of a family of great integrity who placed total trust in one another, of loyal, coherent and courageous friends, and an excellent barrister; but above all, it was a story of a firm belief that God is in control and that He has plans behind all the events of this world.
So, this is far more than just a moving story brilliantly written. The word `insight' in the title is significant: Melanie opens a window on her family, and the Wise will look and learn. The story enshrines a host of messages of love, support, faith and trust as well as warnings of injustice, false assumptions, and unwise (albeit innocent) behaviour. If we do not listen to the message of this book-and learn from it we will be very much poorer and far more vulnerable. Overall this is a book that will bring comfort to those who have been falsely accused and their families. It recounts a familiar story but in a way that strengthens rather weakens human nature and personal resolve. It is in every respect a well written and moving story which deserves to be widely read.
The Great Children's Home Panic (Buy)
£4.95 70 pages Sofback Orwell Press ISBN 0 9515922 2 X
This book has its roots in three articles written by Richard Webster in the late 1990's. The first appeared in the Guardian in 1997 and was written on the eve of the opening of the Waterhouse Report. The the second was called Police, Care Workers and the Creation of False Allegations, and the third called the Great Children's Home Panic.
The Great Children’s Home Panic was the first book to raise serious questions about a kind of police operation which has used up hundreds of millions of pounds of public money and resulted in allegations being trawled by the police against thousands of former care workers and teachers. The question Richard Webster poses in these impromptu essays is ... have we suddenly woken up to a horrifying reality which we have only recently been able to acknowledge? Or have we unleashed a with hunt which is unable to discriminate between those who are innocent and which, because of the huge power of individual police forces throughout the country, is already out of control?
False Allegations in Fostering by Peter Cooke
£1:50 inc p&p 16 pages Eagles Wings Publications,
Shire View, Back Lane, Easingwold, York, YO62 3BG
This is a delightful but disturbing little booklet was written by a retired foster parent who was subject of a false allegation. The author describes the emotional turmoil of being falsey accused and the impact this had both on himself and his family. The author's eventual discovery that he and his familiy were not alone as falsey accused foster parent parents does little to mitigate the sense of islolation and shame felt by those who have been falsely accused of child abuse. (Buy)
Denied Access by David Chick (aka Spiderman)
£8.99
ISBN 1905203-71-3
Pen Press Publications
Pre-Order from Amazon
This book is written in the name of the children failed and abused by family law.
David Chick was there when his daughter was born. He was there for her scans, her birth, her feeds and her baths. He got up in the night for her. He changed her. He read her stories and looked after her. She was a normal child, he was a loving dad. Everything was just as it should be.
How was it that a few years later, he found himself risking his life, hanging high above London dressed as Spiderman?
David Chick's story will shock and surprise you. It will make you angry and it will make you sad. It will make you think. It might even make you worried.
Like all of us, he believed that the law was there to protect him. But when he needed it, he found the law was against him. His crime? Being a father.
The first line of the Children Act of 1989 - "The best interests of the child are to be considered paramount" sounds great in theory, but why does it leaves thousands of fathers and children isolated and in despair?
Sometimes, to be a good dad, you have to be prepared to stand up and be counted. David Chick stood up in the name of his daughter, in the name of the children.
That'll Teach You by Michael James. Published by Recognition
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This is a well written but disturbing book. It is brutally honest and raw in places. Not good bed time reading if you have just been falsely accused. It does however highlight the power pupils can have over a teacher, and the presumption of guilt which is endemic in child abuse investigations.
What it shows is the the police and prosecuting authorities are not concerned with establishing the truth. Llike the school and child protection agencies are only concerned only to find evidence which fits the allegation - even though it is patently false.
It is a wake up call for every teacher. It should be compulsory reading on every teacher training courses.
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Kathy's Real Story : A culture of false allegations exposed
by Hermann Kelly
will be published on November 5th 2007
by Prefect Press, price £9.99
ISBN 978-1-906351-00-7
Kathy's Real Story : A culture of false allegations exposed
This is a compelling read and a shocking story, which begins with shame and ends with the triumph of an Irish family over false allegations of abuse. The family of best-selling author Kathy O'Beirne tells the real story behind her book, casting light on a destructive culture of false allegations hurting innocent people in Ireland.
Kathy O'Beirne's book, Kathy' s Story (Don't Ever Tell in Britain) alleged that she was abused by her father, experimented upon in a psychiatric hospital, raped by priests and then slammed up in a Magdalene Laundry where she had a baby at 14.
Abused or abuser'? Brave truth-teller or a money-grabbing fraudster' ?
See the evidence, hear from those who knew her as she grew up.
Read how friends were bribed to bear false witness and journalists threatened.
This book examines some of the most notorious accusations against lay and religious people in both Ireland and Britain, and explores if they stand up to close scrutiny and police investigation; it also looks at what effect a 1bn Government compensation scheme has had.
The book rounds off with a quick-paced ride through global best-sellers which have turned out to be literary frauds.
This gripping read is the ultimate antidote against misery literature. It is a parable of hope, showing that the truth is stronger than fiction, and more surprising too.
Journalist Hermann Kelly is a regular columnist with The Irish Mail on Sunday newspaper. He has done a wealth of research, interviewing Kathy O'Beirne, her family, co-author, publisher and many others.Written with the full cooperation of the O'Beirne family.
Buy Now: Prefect Press |