Abuse of Trust : Frank Beck and the Leicestershire Children's Home Scandal
Autor Mark D'Arcy, Paul Goslingen Limba Engleză Hardback – 11 aug 2016
'An important and in-depth analysis' — DR LIZ DAVIES, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, UK
Frank Beck ran a series of children's homes in Leicestershire. He told social services managers he was calming difficult children through the use of a novel regression therapy.
In reality he was heading a brutal regime of terror and sexual abuse, which lasted for 13 years.
In this classic book, first published in 1998, journalists Mark D'Arcy and Paul Gosling investigate the delays in stopping Beck — and highlight the lessons for safeguarding vulnerable children.
This new edition looks at the role of Greville Janner MP, a lawyer, backbencher and influential figure in the Labour Party. Janner repeatedly avoided prosecution over the Leicestershire care scandal, despite being named as an abuser during the criminal case against Beck. A new chapter deals with Janner's dominance of the local Labour Party, his influence within the wider parliamentary party, and the failed police investigations into him.
Abuse of Trust, first published in 1998, has long been viewed by social work professionals as an important audit of this case. Gosling and the BBC journalist Mark D'Arcy, his co-author, investigate how Beck and his cronies came to rampage through children's homes in Leicestershire for more than a decade.
While he was in charge of care homes owned by Leicestershire County Council, Frank Beck sexually and physically abused more than 200 looked after children. He managed to shrug off complaints and investigations into his conduct.
EXTRACT
Beck was a remarkable man. For 13 years he committed acts of rape, violence and emotional abuse against vulnerable boys and girls who were sent by Leicestershire County Council to the children’s homes where he was in charge. There is strong evidence to suggest that he killed one of them. That wasn’t known – although it was suspected by a few – at the time of his trial. But the five life sentences, plus 24 years, he received for his crimes in 1991 were among the harshest punishments ordered by a British judge since the abolition of the death penalty.
The abuse was brutal, even bestial. The consequences for the victims were in many cases devastating. To this day, they live with a legacy ofemotional problems and physical scars. Yet this was a man who enjoyed a high professional reputation as a committed, caring social worker. A man whose novel approach to therapy for troubled children was featured in articles in professional journals and on a TV documentary. A man whose abilities with children had come to be seen as indispensable to the child care system in Leicestershire.
What came to be called the Beck case combined all the elements seen separately in other cases. At the centre there was a charismatic abuser who had drawn lesser acolytes into his orbit. They practised a dangerous and damaging quack therapy on vulnerable children. There was systematic sexual abuse and terrifying violence – all accompanied by an almost unbelievable catalogue of negligence and failure by some managers and politicians. Even Beck’s trial and conviction were not the end. They merely marked the start of a new phase ofofficial investigations, press recrimination, and a long drawn out legal battle for compensation for the victims.
There are lessons to he drawn from every aspect of Frank Beck’s career: about the survival of such a man in a position of trust for more than a decade; about attitudes toward delinquent, disturbed or simply unwanted children; and about the interplay between the council, the courts and the media as the full extent of the scandal emerged.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Characters
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Beck the man and his career Page 19
The Poplars, Market Harborough 30
The Ratcliffe Road Adolescent Unit 37
The Beeches 55
Confusion at County Hall 72
The child care strategy 83
Regression therapy 95
A charmed life? 113
Living to fight another day... 138
Investigation and arrest 153
The trial 167
Official inquiry 183
The case for the defence 191
Scant compensation 201
Beck’s network of abusers 217
Those who did not survive 236
A better future? 251
Greville Janner 277
Bibliography
Index
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9780993040788
ISBN-10: 0993040780
Pagini: 288
Ilustrații: 1 glossary; 1 bibliography; 1 iondex
Dimensiuni: 135 x 216 x 25 mm
Greutate: 0.52 kg
Ediția:New edition with chapter on Greville Janner MP
Editura: Canbury Press
Colecția Canbury Press
ISBN-10: 0993040780
Pagini: 288
Ilustrații: 1 glossary; 1 bibliography; 1 iondex
Dimensiuni: 135 x 216 x 25 mm
Greutate: 0.52 kg
Ediția:New edition with chapter on Greville Janner MP
Editura: Canbury Press
Colecția Canbury Press
Cuprins
LIST OF CHARACTERS. Includes Nasreen Akram, Peter Bastin, Frank Beck, John Cobb, Anne Crumbie, Henry Dunphy, Dorothy Edwards, Colin Fiddaman, Tim Harrison, Ian Henning, Masud Hoghughi, Greville Janner, Peter Jaynes, Mr Justice Jowitt, Andrew Kirkwood QC, George Lincoln, Sue Middleton, Peter Naylor
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Includes Christian Wolmar, Tim Schadla-Hall, Steve England and the staff at Leicester Mercury library, Suzy Gibson, Allan Levy QC. 'To all the victims, the council officers, the politicians and the others whose painful memories were raked over for us to produce this book'
INTRODUCTION. For 13 years Frank Beck committed acts of rape, violence and emotional abuse against vulnerable boys and girls who were sent by Leicestershire County Council to the children’s homes he ran. He probably killed one of them. Lessons should be drawn from every aspect of Beck’s career
1. BECK THE MAN HIS CAREER. 'Frank Beck cut an unlikely figure for a social worker. He was tough, uncompromising and very, very strong. His arms were as thick as the thighs of the children in his care. If you did not know he had been a marine who had seen active service, you might have guessed.'
2. THE POPLARS, MARKET HARBOROUGH. 'The Poplars provided Beck’s first real test as a therapist and a manager. Outwardly he was a success. But behind closed doors children were beaten and subjected to abusive therapies and staff were reduced to subservience. The pattern was set for his future crimes'
3. THE RATCLIFFE ROAD ADOLESCENT UNIT. 'Beck’s apparent success with his therapeutic approach to childcare was to have its reward at his new and bigger children’s home... A brochure set out its aims: to provide a stable environment for adolescents with severe emotional disturbances...'
4. THE BEECHES. 'A solid Edwardian mini-mansion, ivy-covered, with trees all around and a huge glass conservatory at one side, it looked like an ideal environment for troubled children. A place where they could play and feel secure, while skilled social workers helped them deal with their problems.'
5. CONFUSION AT COUNTY HALL. 'Both local government and the child care system were being thoroughly reformed when Beck joined Leicestershire County Council. His career coincided with shifts in the conventional wisdom about child care and changes in the political control and direction of the council'
6. THE CHILD CARE STRATEGY. The child care strategy introduced by Leicestershire County Council in the early 1980s was one of Labour’s key policy commitments from the 1981 election. It rested on a simple principle: too many troubled kids were dumped in institutions, and more should be fostered...'
7. REGRESSION THERAPY. 'Frank Beck brought together the respected psychoanalytic ideas of Sigmund Freud, Michael Balint, Bruno Bettelheim and Barbara Dockar-Drysdale, with the practices of Canada's Warrendale home into a theoretical hotchpotch that gave him a cover for the sexual abuse of children
8. A CHARMED LIFE? Complaints against Beck from reliable witnesses rained down on his bosses. Some alleged serious violence and sexual abuse; others seemed less serious but had disturbing overtones. Council officers might have been suspended or at least investigated but Beck seemed to be Teflon-coated
9. LIVING TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY... A complaint of sexual abuse finally ended Beck’s career at Leicestershire in March 1986. But the complaint was not about abuse against children. The victims were two male social workers at The Beeches. Beck had made advances to them during staff supervision sessions
10. INVESTIGATION AND ARREST. The complaint which finally led to Beck’s arrest came from Pat Holyland, a former Ratcliffe Road resident, who now lived in Loughborough, a town to the north of Leicester. She had been convicted of neglecting her children... and began counselling and parenting classes
11. THE TRIAL. Beck entered the dock at Leicester Crown Court on 17th September 1991. For the media, there was a horrifying story to be told in salacious detail. For the politicians and professionals at Leicestershire County Hall, there was the prospect of career-shattering revelations
12. OFFICIAL INQUIRY. Andrew Kirkwood QC – an expert in child care law and a barrister for 25 years – was put in charge of an inquiry ordered by the Department of Health into Leicestershire County Council management’s response to allegations and other evidence of abuse in children's homes
13. THE CASE FOR THE DEFENCE. Various miscarriages of justice were unravelling, and some people such as Lord Longford chose to believe that Beck had been wrongfully convicted. Beck had a close network of friends and they and his foster sons steadfastly argued his total innocence long after his death
14. SCANT COMPENSATON. By the time it reached the High Court, on January 23, 1996, the Beck victims’ battle for compensation had been raging for six years. Eight former children in care were suing Leicestershire County Council for damages. Many more had already accepted settlements
15. BECK'S NETWORK OF ABUSERS. The Kirkwood Inquiry and the police investigation – after checking the offenders in Leicestershire, Clwyd, Merseyside and Calderdale – concluded there was no network of child abusers around Frank Beck. The finding that there was no Leicestershire network was bizarre.
16. THOSE WHO DID NOT SURVIVE. Dale Elkington died of an AIDS-related disease. Runaway Darren Bradshaw died when the car he stole crashed. Absconder Andy Biggins died sniffing glue. Simon O’Donnell died. The death of Mohammid Aslam Ibrahim was linked to Beck's abuse
17. A BETTER FUTURE? The Beck case was not simply another instance of a sexual predator operating undetected within an otherwise healthy, competent institution. Leicestershire’s child care services were subverted to such an extent that Beck and his followers could sexually abuse young children at will
18. EPILOGUE: GREVILLE JANNER. Police first heard allegations of child sex abuse by Greville Janner in 1989 – during the investigations into Frank Beck, two years before Beck’s trial. In the Crown Prosecution Service in 1991 the feeling was that there were grounds for a further investigation into Janner
19. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Full listing of reference material into Frank Beck and Leicestershire care homes, such as the Henriques Report by Sir Richard Henriques, the Leicestershire Inquiry 1992 by Andrew Kirkwood QC, 'Institutional Abuse: Leadership, power and rights explored' by Graham Coates & Jocelyn Jones
20. INDEX. Full index with page references to individuals and incidents. Such as the As: Abbey Park, Abuse of Trust, Acknowledgements, Aden, Aggressive psychopath, AIDS-related disease, AIDS-related illness, Allan King, Allan Levy QC, Adam Simmonds, Alzheimer’s disease, Amsterdam, Andrew Kirkwood QC
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Includes Christian Wolmar, Tim Schadla-Hall, Steve England and the staff at Leicester Mercury library, Suzy Gibson, Allan Levy QC. 'To all the victims, the council officers, the politicians and the others whose painful memories were raked over for us to produce this book'
INTRODUCTION. For 13 years Frank Beck committed acts of rape, violence and emotional abuse against vulnerable boys and girls who were sent by Leicestershire County Council to the children’s homes he ran. He probably killed one of them. Lessons should be drawn from every aspect of Beck’s career
1. BECK THE MAN HIS CAREER. 'Frank Beck cut an unlikely figure for a social worker. He was tough, uncompromising and very, very strong. His arms were as thick as the thighs of the children in his care. If you did not know he had been a marine who had seen active service, you might have guessed.'
2. THE POPLARS, MARKET HARBOROUGH. 'The Poplars provided Beck’s first real test as a therapist and a manager. Outwardly he was a success. But behind closed doors children were beaten and subjected to abusive therapies and staff were reduced to subservience. The pattern was set for his future crimes'
3. THE RATCLIFFE ROAD ADOLESCENT UNIT. 'Beck’s apparent success with his therapeutic approach to childcare was to have its reward at his new and bigger children’s home... A brochure set out its aims: to provide a stable environment for adolescents with severe emotional disturbances...'
4. THE BEECHES. 'A solid Edwardian mini-mansion, ivy-covered, with trees all around and a huge glass conservatory at one side, it looked like an ideal environment for troubled children. A place where they could play and feel secure, while skilled social workers helped them deal with their problems.'
5. CONFUSION AT COUNTY HALL. 'Both local government and the child care system were being thoroughly reformed when Beck joined Leicestershire County Council. His career coincided with shifts in the conventional wisdom about child care and changes in the political control and direction of the council'
6. THE CHILD CARE STRATEGY. The child care strategy introduced by Leicestershire County Council in the early 1980s was one of Labour’s key policy commitments from the 1981 election. It rested on a simple principle: too many troubled kids were dumped in institutions, and more should be fostered...'
7. REGRESSION THERAPY. 'Frank Beck brought together the respected psychoanalytic ideas of Sigmund Freud, Michael Balint, Bruno Bettelheim and Barbara Dockar-Drysdale, with the practices of Canada's Warrendale home into a theoretical hotchpotch that gave him a cover for the sexual abuse of children
8. A CHARMED LIFE? Complaints against Beck from reliable witnesses rained down on his bosses. Some alleged serious violence and sexual abuse; others seemed less serious but had disturbing overtones. Council officers might have been suspended or at least investigated but Beck seemed to be Teflon-coated
9. LIVING TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY... A complaint of sexual abuse finally ended Beck’s career at Leicestershire in March 1986. But the complaint was not about abuse against children. The victims were two male social workers at The Beeches. Beck had made advances to them during staff supervision sessions
10. INVESTIGATION AND ARREST. The complaint which finally led to Beck’s arrest came from Pat Holyland, a former Ratcliffe Road resident, who now lived in Loughborough, a town to the north of Leicester. She had been convicted of neglecting her children... and began counselling and parenting classes
11. THE TRIAL. Beck entered the dock at Leicester Crown Court on 17th September 1991. For the media, there was a horrifying story to be told in salacious detail. For the politicians and professionals at Leicestershire County Hall, there was the prospect of career-shattering revelations
12. OFFICIAL INQUIRY. Andrew Kirkwood QC – an expert in child care law and a barrister for 25 years – was put in charge of an inquiry ordered by the Department of Health into Leicestershire County Council management’s response to allegations and other evidence of abuse in children's homes
13. THE CASE FOR THE DEFENCE. Various miscarriages of justice were unravelling, and some people such as Lord Longford chose to believe that Beck had been wrongfully convicted. Beck had a close network of friends and they and his foster sons steadfastly argued his total innocence long after his death
14. SCANT COMPENSATON. By the time it reached the High Court, on January 23, 1996, the Beck victims’ battle for compensation had been raging for six years. Eight former children in care were suing Leicestershire County Council for damages. Many more had already accepted settlements
15. BECK'S NETWORK OF ABUSERS. The Kirkwood Inquiry and the police investigation – after checking the offenders in Leicestershire, Clwyd, Merseyside and Calderdale – concluded there was no network of child abusers around Frank Beck. The finding that there was no Leicestershire network was bizarre.
16. THOSE WHO DID NOT SURVIVE. Dale Elkington died of an AIDS-related disease. Runaway Darren Bradshaw died when the car he stole crashed. Absconder Andy Biggins died sniffing glue. Simon O’Donnell died. The death of Mohammid Aslam Ibrahim was linked to Beck's abuse
17. A BETTER FUTURE? The Beck case was not simply another instance of a sexual predator operating undetected within an otherwise healthy, competent institution. Leicestershire’s child care services were subverted to such an extent that Beck and his followers could sexually abuse young children at will
18. EPILOGUE: GREVILLE JANNER. Police first heard allegations of child sex abuse by Greville Janner in 1989 – during the investigations into Frank Beck, two years before Beck’s trial. In the Crown Prosecution Service in 1991 the feeling was that there were grounds for a further investigation into Janner
19. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Full listing of reference material into Frank Beck and Leicestershire care homes, such as the Henriques Report by Sir Richard Henriques, the Leicestershire Inquiry 1992 by Andrew Kirkwood QC, 'Institutional Abuse: Leadership, power and rights explored' by Graham Coates & Jocelyn Jones
20. INDEX. Full index with page references to individuals and incidents. Such as the As: Abbey Park, Abuse of Trust, Acknowledgements, Aden, Aggressive psychopath, AIDS-related disease, AIDS-related illness, Allan King, Allan Levy QC, Adam Simmonds, Alzheimer’s disease, Amsterdam, Andrew Kirkwood QC
Recenzii
'Abuse of Trust looks at the case of the long dead Frank Beck, a charismatic social worker who got away with abusing possibly up to 200 children for two decades before finally being caught and convicted.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to remind themselves about sheer nastiness, brutality and cover ups that seem to dog this area.'
— DAVID HENCKE, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, 'Abuse of Trust: A horrible reminder of a child sex scandal as the Jay inquiry prepares to examine Greville Janner', DavidHencke.com
'An important and in-depth analysis of one case among the many... involving members of the 'establishment', where child victims of sexual crime, adult survivors and those professionals supporting them have been silenced and denied justice.'
— DR LIZ DAVIES, EMERITUS READER IN CHILD PROTECTION, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, UK
'Few books have managed to get to the heart of a story of abuse as thoroughly and accurately as Abuse of Trust...
Its message is a chilling reminder of how charismatic abusers like Beck and, indeed, Savile, were able to operate so effectively and for so long in the system despite countless warning signs.'
— CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to remind themselves about sheer nastiness, brutality and cover ups that seem to dog this area.'
— DAVID HENCKE, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, 'Abuse of Trust: A horrible reminder of a child sex scandal as the Jay inquiry prepares to examine Greville Janner', DavidHencke.com
'An important and in-depth analysis of one case among the many... involving members of the 'establishment', where child victims of sexual crime, adult survivors and those professionals supporting them have been silenced and denied justice.'
— DR LIZ DAVIES, EMERITUS READER IN CHILD PROTECTION, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, UK
'Few books have managed to get to the heart of a story of abuse as thoroughly and accurately as Abuse of Trust...
Its message is a chilling reminder of how charismatic abusers like Beck and, indeed, Savile, were able to operate so effectively and for so long in the system despite countless warning signs.'
— CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
Descriere
'Few books have managed to get to the heart of a story of abuse as thoroughly and accurately as Abuse of Trust.' — CHRISTIAN WOLMAR, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
'An important and in-depth analysis' — DR LIZ DAVIES, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, UK
Frank Beck sexually and physically abused more than 200 looked after children while working as a residential care home manager for Leicestershire County Council. This books shows how he got away with it. It is a new edition of a paperback originally published in 1998, with an additional new chapter on the role of Greville Janner MP.
'An important and in-depth analysis' — DR LIZ DAVIES, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY, UK
Frank Beck sexually and physically abused more than 200 looked after children while working as a residential care home manager for Leicestershire County Council. This books shows how he got away with it. It is a new edition of a paperback originally published in 1998, with an additional new chapter on the role of Greville Janner MP.