The Children's Commissioner for Wales has backed calls for a new inquiry into the abuse of children at care homes in north Wales in the 1970s and 80s.
Keith Towler says he suspects a group of people were protected by each other's power, enabling the abuse to continue.
It follows criticism from Steve Messham, one of hundreds who were sexually abused during that period.
He says he was abused by a leading Thatcher-era Conservative politician.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "Allegations of crimes should be reported to the police and fully investigated.
"If someone is concerned that an allegation was reported in the past but not fully investigated, they should raise this with the police or relevant authority so that they can look again at what happened."
Mr Messham was one of hundreds of children abused in a case centred around the Bryn Estyn care home in north Wales.
But he says the Waterhouse Inquiry report, which looked into the allegations and came out in 2000, uncovered just a fraction of the abuse.
Mr Towler told BBC Radio 5 live: "What is interesting, in the last 24 hours or so, is to think of the terms of references that were set by the Waterhouse Inquiry.
"The fact that we have had someone... who was clearly the victim of appalling abuses in Bryn Estyn children's home... who is saying that what he wanted to say was outside the terms of references - and people told him that he couldn't say those things... is clearly wrong."
Mr Towler's comments came as culture minister Maria Miller said a public inquiry could be held into the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal if the BBC's own investigations failed to "get to the bottom" of the allegations against the former TV presenter.
The BBC has started probes into its culture and practices and the decision to shelve a Newsnight investigation into Savile.
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Mrs Miller said: "At this point we want the criminal investigations by the police to be able to proceed as swiftly as possible. We also want the BBC to consider these matters in detail for themselves and hold their inquiries.
"If the investigations are considered not to suffice because of issues around transparency, process or other such things, then a public inquiry remains an option."
Never publishedSince the Savile sex abuse allegations surfaced, politicians have been raising questions about other historic abuse cases.
During the 1970s and 1980s almost 40 children's homes in north Wales were the scene of child abuse in which youngsters were raped and abused by the very people who were paid to look after them.
In the early 1990s, allegations of the abuse started to surface and in March 1994 Clwyd County Council commissioned an independent inquiry into claims of widespread abuse across north Wales.
But the inquiry's report was never published and the copies were pulped to ensure the local authority was able to maintain its insurance cover.
In the wake of this, and amid growing public pressure, in 1996 the-then Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague, ordered an inquiry into allegations of hundreds of cases of child abuse in care homes in former county council areas of Clwyd and Gwynedd between 1974 and 1990.
End Quote Keith Towler Children's Commissioner for WalesListening to what has been going on in the last 24 or 48 hours leads me feeling that there are people walking around now who perhaps shouldn't have been, or should have at least answered for their actions in a criminal court"
The tribunal, led by Sir Ronald Waterhouse, heard evidence from more than 650 people who had been in care from 1974 and took almost three years to publish its report.
Counsel for the inquiry mentioned the existence of a shadowy figure of high public standing, but said that there was no substantial evidence to support the allegations.
The Waterhouse Inquiry identified 28 alleged perpetrators but they were never identified in public.
Mr Towler said: "It's easy for us now to feel really quite suspicious about why those constraints were put on the Waterhouse Inquiry because... for us now in 2012 that would be absolutely unacceptable."
Asked about suspicions that there had been a cover-up, he said: "The only way that you can clearly put that to bed is to say... that we will conduct that inquiry and we will allow that inquiry to go as far as it needs to go to make sure that the evidence that witnesses and victims want to give is fully heard.
"Unless you do that, that level of suspicion will always be around this, that there is a cover-up, that there is a containment exercise going on, that we have to protect somebody and nobody should be protected."
An investigation by BBC reporter Angus Stickler in 2000 revealed allegations of a much wider circle of abuse than that uncovered by the inquiry.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Abuse survivor Steve Messham: ''We have been swept under the carpet''
He uncovered allegations of widespread physical and sexual abuse of children not just by care system staff, but that children were being lent to paedophiles from all walks of life including businessmen, police, and a senior public figure in a paedophile ring stretching beyond the borders of north Wales, to Chester, London, Brighton and beyond.
Now reporting for BBC Newsnight and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Angus Stickler re-interviewed Mr Messham, one of the victims he spoke to in 2000.
Bryn Estyn deputy head, Peter Howarth, was jailed in 1994 for 10 years for sexually abusing teenage boys. He died in jail.
Anyone with information into these allegations - or who needs support on the issues raised in this article - can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk, or call their local police station by dialling 101.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Commissioner backs abuse inquiry
Dengan url
http://beritaberbagiceria.blogspot.com/2012/11/commissioner-backs-abuse-inquiry.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Commissioner backs abuse inquiry
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Commissioner backs abuse inquiry
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar