Newcastle City Council will have to pay £25,000 in legal costs for the assessment of whether to appeal against the decision in a libel action.The sum was revealed in answer to a written question at a public meeting of the council last night. IC Newcastle
NUSAWT gives legal advice for teachers facing criminal allegations
November 5, 2002 from Leave a Comment
If you have a criminal allegation made against you which is work related, eg physical or sexual assault, or theft and you have been called for interview by the police you should follow this advice NUSAWT
Child abuse trawls ‘snaring innocent’
October 31, 2002 from Leave a Comment
John Carvel, social affairs editor, reports on Select Committee’s findings. Guardian
Home Affairs Select Committee calls for new safeguards
October 30, 2002 from Leave a Comment
The Home Affairs Select Committee has called for a range of new safeguards to cover the investigation and trial of people accused of sexual abuse in children’s homes. In a report published today the Committee calls for audio or video recording of police interviews with alleged victims; anonymity for the accused; a tightening of the [...]
Shieldfield libel trial must not distract us from the real issues.
August 1, 2002 from Leave a Comment
The decision by the High Court to award libel damages to two nursery workers in Newcastle over allegations of child abuse raises searching questions about how such abuse cases should be dealt with in future by the judicial system…. Guardian
Councils advised on averting abuse libels
August 1, 2002 from Leave a Comment
New guidance on the conduct of local authority inquiries will aim to prevent a repeat of the libel action brought by two nursery nurses falsely accused of sexually abusing children in a Newcastle city council report. A consultation paper drawn up by the Law Commission recommends extending statutory qualified privilege, which protects reports discussed in [...]
Shieldfield Libel Case – Court Judgement
July 30, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Dawn Reed Christopher Lillie Mr Justice Eady Newcastle City Council Richard Barker Judith Jones Jacqui Saradjian Roy Wardel Court Service
Solictor says witnesses may have lied
June 12, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Prominent child abuse lawyer accepts that it’s possible that that some witnesses in a multi-witness prosecutions may have either exaggerated or invented allegations. Guardian
Scandal of child abuse witch-hunt
May 15, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Police inquiries into allegations of child abuse in care homes were yesterday branded a modern-day version of the Salem witch hunts. Cheshire Online
Miscarriages of justice ? (recommended reading)
April 11, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Campaigners claim that former staff in children’s homes are being convicted of crimes involving the abuse of children that they did not commit. Rachel Downey reports.Three weeks ago former care worker Roy Shuttleworth left prison after spending five-and-a-half years behind bars for abusing children. Throughout his sentence he maintained he did not commit the crimes [...]
Child abuse trials end as police are accused of ‘wild prosecutions’
April 11, 2002 from Leave a Comment
A three-year investigation into allegations of historic sexual and physical abuse at children’s homes in the North East ended last week with the final trial, that of Esme Allenby, who was cleared. Northumbria Police’s Operation Rose led to the charging of 32 suspects with 142 offences. A total of 260 residents and former residents of [...]
Police stand by five year ‘trawl’ for child abuse
April 4, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Police leading a huge but largely abortive child abuse inquiry denied yesterday they had encouraged false allegations and wrecked the lives of innocent teachers and care workers by “trawling” for evidence in children’s homes. Dozens of professionals in the north-east, backed by MPs, have lodged complaints about the blunderbuss effect of the five year Operation [...]
False accusers should face the law
March 28, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Pupils who make false allegations against teachers should have details of that complaint kept on their school records, a union demanded. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) also called for “some legal process” by which falsely accused teachers could have their names cleared. The union said the threat of bogus allegations was a constant [...]
This man should not have been jailed
March 26, 2002 from Leave a Comment
A leading criminologist claims South Wales headmaster Derek Brushett, who is serving a 12-year jail sentence for child abuse, should never have been convicted.Dr Bill Thompson said the Brushett case is one of many which should have not gone to court. Brushett was jailed for abusing 17 boys at Bryn-y-Don approved school in Dinas Powys, where [...]
‘Witch hunt’ claim over abuse inquiry
March 25, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Thirteen men have been jailed for a total of more than 100 years in South Wales Police’s biggestever child abuse investigation. But the style of the inquiry is the subject of growing national debate and will soon be discussed by Westminster’s influential Home Affairs Select Committee. Today the Echo exclusively publishes special testimonies prepared for five [...]
Landmark appeal ruling – abuse convictions overturned
March 15, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Two former Merseyside care home workers, imprisoned for serious sexual offences against boys in their care, yesterday had their convictions quashed by the court of appeal. Basil Williams-Rigby, 57, was convicted of 22 counts of abuse and jailed for 12 years in August 1999. Michael Lawson, 62, who served with Liverpool police for 15 years [...]
Manchester pays compensation to abuse victims
February 22, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Manchester City Council has made the first a series of payouts over physical and sexual abuse at its own children’s homes. Legal bosses at the Town Hall have, in the last few weeks, agreed out-of court settlements with seven alleged victims, although they have not admitted liability. Solicitor Peter Garsden, who handled the claims, says [...]
Council inquiry after accused teacher stalked by one of its Councillors
January 17, 2002 from Leave a Comment
Anglesey Council faces fresh controversy after claims that they incompetently handled a complaint against the headteacher of Ysgol Goronwy Owen, Mrs Ann Hughes. North Wales assembly member, Peter Rogers says that the authority may have bypassed disciplinary procedures, and is worried by allegations that the Council tried to make a false insurance claim for lost [...]
The case of Stephen Dowing – wrongly convicted
January 15, 2002 from Leave a Comment
A man who spent 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit has won his appeal against his conviction. Stephen Downing was found guilty in 1973 of the murder of typist Wendy Sewell, but that ruling was overturned at the Court of Appeal – ending one of the longest miscarriages of justice [...]
Abuse victims given compensation deadline
August 28, 2001 from Leave a Comment
Vvictims of physical or sexual abuse at a school for children with special needs in Wirral are being urged to come forward to join a group litigation action.A group of 10 claimants has already issued legal proceedings relating to claims for severe physical and sexual abuse from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s at [...]
Union says let teachers sue false accusers for libel
August 10, 2001 from Leave a Comment
A teachers’ union in Wales is calling for the parents of children who make false allegations against teachers to be sued for libel, writes Sue Learner. The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers Cymru said the move would make parents think twice about making an allegation and make them directly responsible for their [...]
How many unsafe convictions, how many children stolen?
July 15, 2001 from Leave a Comment
Sally Clark was sent to prison two years ago, condemned to life inside for murdering her two babies because – among other evidence – there was only ‘one chance in 73 million’ of the babies, born a year apart, both dying of natural causes. But the discovery of a cot death gene means that the [...]
Teacher Cleared of Abuse at Liverpool Crown Court
April 26, 2001 from Leave a Comment
A Liverpool religious education teacher John Tallon was cleared at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday after the jury deliberated for just 20 minutes of false allegations of abuse.He told the BBC of his “nine months of hell” after a teenager falsely accused him of indecently assaulting her. Mr Tallon was able to disprove the claims by [...]
Police May Use Lie (Polygrapgh) Detectors to Expose False Rape Claims
April 7, 2001 from Leave a Comment
Police test may expose false rape claims. Police are developing a “lie detector” test to help them to root out false rape allegations, it emerged yesterday. A checklist of 15 features found in the statements of genuine rape victims is being fine tuned by a Midlands police force as a means of assessing the credibility [...]