Tuesday, 8 March 2016 By Charles Thomson in Crime Robin Jamieson. Picture: Charles Thomson.
It's the first time in 25 years that they appear to be taking it seriously.
POLICE will conduct a formal review into claims that an alleged 'paedophile ring' in Shoeburyness was not properly investigated.
Whistleblowers claim that a case in the late 1980s, which saw two men convicted of abusing young boys, failed to take dozens of alleged victims seriously and failed to pursue other alleged abusers.
The claim has been made by three sources who worked in child protection in Essex at the time.
The whistleblowers are former district psychologist Robin Jamieson, former child abuse treatment centre manager Jenny Grinsted and probation contractor Rob West.
Mr Jamieson said: "It's the first time in 25 years that they appear to be taking it seriously."
Mr West worked in Southend at the time with the Rainer Foundation, a charity that helped young offenders, which had a base on Weston Road.
He told police how he was so involved in the late 1980s abuse investigation that he accompanied three of the alleged victims to the trial.
In an exclusive interview with the Yellow Advertiser, he said: "I personally got at least nine disclosures in one year of boys coming to me and telling me about their abuse. At least four or five of them were involved in that situation.
"We passed that stuff on, but nothing ever came back to us. That doesn't mean nothing was ever done, because sometimes the police do things and don't come back to you but certainly, talking to the young people, they were never approached by the police.
"Even when they were, I sometimes thought, 'Are the police trying to close them down?' Because I sat in on an interview on one occasion where they said, 'Right son, tell us who nonced you up.' Literally, I think they were more or less the words that were initially used by quite an aggressive police officer."
In 1990, a joint report by the Children's Society, where Ms Grinsted worked, and the Rainer Foundation suggested the problem had been far wider than the prosecution the prior year had indicated.
The report stated there had been an 'active paedophile sex ring' in Shoeburyness for at least 18 months and said a group of known victims had indicated there could be up to 80 victims.
The authors, who included Ms Grinsted, wrote that their report was focused on information from 25 boys who they knew very victims of the abuse network.
The report said local agencies' response to the problem had been 'patchy' and called for 'urgent action' but the three whistleblowers claim it was never properly acted on.
Mr West said he believed the alleged victims were overlooked because they were young offenders.
He said: "There was clearly a ring and it wasn't properly investigated by either the police or social services.
"It was partly because offenders were not treated as having any great value in society. The police hated them, they hated the police so these were lepers, the children who were being abused here."
Mr West claimed the lack of intervention had tragic consequences for several of the alleged victims, with some taking their own lives, but that he still had a list of dozens of the alleged victims.
He said: "I still see them from time to time. I've seen some of them at funerals of some of the other guys that are now dead."
Police Commissioner Nick Alston said he found it 'chilling' that large numbers of children may have been abused but never received adequate care afterwards.
He said: "For me, that is one of the great sadnesses in all of this; if there was a missed opportunity to provide safeguarding, which might have helped do what possibly could be done for people who had been abused.
"They were already in a bad place when they started. Many of these victims, according to Rob West, were in social care because they came from very difficult backgrounds, with crime and drugs problems. They were already vulnerable.
"Who do they reach out to? They reach out to the cops, they get nicked. They reach out to social workers, something else happens to them. They've got nowhere else to go, so they go to drink and drugs and they finish up in every bad place imaginable.
"Rob talked through where they all are they're in prison, they died of heroin, they're on the street. How do you escape from something like that? The chances of escape are pretty slight."
Mr Alston promised anybody who came forward to report abuse would be taken seriously and referred to a specialist officer.
He said: "Twenty years on, our whole view of looking at these things has changed so fundamentally, like not seeing people as victims; the concept of the streetwise kid and, 'it's their lifestyle'. That's all gone, thank God. So looking at this again through today's eyes, I think, is something we absolutely have to do."
Mr West said he was 'heartened' by a meeting with Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh last week.
He said: "I'm still trying to find a bit of closure for myself and I think social services and the police perhaps, and others, may need to be held responsible for some of the failings. But I also want to be a part of the voice for those survivors who never had any closure and are still suffering and were never compensated in any way."
Announcing the police investigation, Mr Kavanagh said: "At present, we have allegations but no victims, suspects or locations. But whether alleged abuse, especially organised and institutionalised, happened yesterday or 30 years ago, it's our duty to review it without fear or favour.
"If you have information about such crimes or are yourself a victim or survivor of sexual abuse as a child during this period, I need you to come forward and contact us directly on 101, asking to speak to a specialist officer within our Child Abuse Investigation teams." http://www.yellowad.co.uk/article.cfm?id...hyear=2016
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
CHILDREN who did not receive appropriate care after disclosing abuse by a sex ring' later developed mental health problems and took their own lives, whistleblowers have claimed.
Essex Police last week announced a probe into an alleged Shoebury paedophile ring cover-up' in the 1980s/90s, after a Yellow Advertiser investigation resulted in three whistleblowers reporting concerns to the authorities.
Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh and Police Commissioner Nick Alston announced the investigation last Tuesday, March 8, and called on victims to come forward.
Two whistleblowers Rob West, who worked for young offenders' charity the Rainer Foundation, and psychologist and former NHS manager Robin Jamieson said victims who were denied counselling became disturbed', developed addictions and, in one case, went on to abuse children.
In May 1990, two men were convicted for their roles in what Essex Council described in official documents as a sex ring' targeting adolescent boys'; Denis King, then aged 55 and living in Cunningham Close, Shoebury, and Brian Tanner, then 57 and living in Beedell Avenue, Westcliff.
Essex Police this week confirmed King was convicted of four counts of gross indecency and three counts of attempted buggery, while Tanner was convicted of three counts of gross indecency and three counts of attempted buggery.
King was jailed for four years, Tanner for three.
Tanner has since died and King no longer lives in Essex.
A report published weeks later by two local charities the Rainer Foundation and the Children's Society said the handful of boys involved in the court case were the tip of a large iceberg'.
It said the number of victims could be as many as 80, aged 11 to their early 20s'.
The authors based their findings on assessments of 25 youngsters known to have visited King's flat.
But Mr West who attended court with some alleged victims in 1990 said almost none received appropriate aftercare.
Mr West, now a probation officer, said Rainder received disclosures from 12 to 15' boys, but institutional failures meant only two were case conferenced' a formal process which would have made the children eligible for counselling.
He said: "Even boys that were in court with me couldn't be case conferenced couldn't be seen as children in need and protected in formal ways.
"Only two people I know actually got case conferenced. All the others either committed suicide, died of overdoses, ended up on serious sentences. One became an abuser himself that I know of. Others are sleeping rough."
The 1990 Rainer Foundation/Children's Society report said the impact on the alleged victims was enormous'.
It described how at least two attempted suicide, all suffered depression, some began self-harming, the majority were exceptionally confused' about their sexuality, some graduated into the local rent boy scene' and some began displaying abusive behaviour' towards younger children.
The report said local welfare agencies were struggling to come to terms' with the situation and had only offered a patchy response'.
Mr Jamieson said: "Over the next few years I knew that some of those children got a bit older and ended up in the mental health service. They were very damaged children."
Mr Alston said he felt great sadness' at the troubled lives' the alleged victims had gone on to live.
He said: "There's an opportunity here to see whether any of those people are perhaps prepared to engage again, if not with police then a professional agency, to see whether there's anything, even at this stage, which can be done to help them."
Anybody with information can call Essex Police on 101.
Specialist helplines for victims:
National Association for People Abused in Childhood 0808 801 0331.
SERICC (south and west Essex) 01375 380609.
CARA (mid and north Essex) 01206 769795.
SoSRC (Southend) 01702 667590.
National Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse 0808 800 5000. http://www.yellowad.co.uk/article.cfm?id...hyear=2016
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Wednesday, 23 March 2016 By Charles Thomson in Crime Police Commissioner Nick Alston and Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, pictured last year, jointly announced the historic abuse probe earlier this month. A FOURTH whistleblower has agreed to cooperate with a police probe into an alleged paedophile ring 'cover-up', after being tracked down by the Yellow Advertiser.
The source managed a charity project in Essex and worked with young boys who had been abused by men in Shoebury in the late 1980s.
The source said he and colleagues had felt 'deep regret' for 25 years over the way the allegations were handled by authorities, and that he was 'delighted' police were reinvestigating.
Asked whether he would cooperate with Essex Police's review of the case, he said: "Yes. Anything I can do to try and get justice for those kids, count me in. A hundred per cent."
Police Commissioner Nick Alston and Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh announced earlier this month that police would review how the alleged ring was investigated and how victims were treated.
In May 1990, two men were convicted for their roles in what Essex Council described in official documents at the time as a 'sex ring' targeting 'adolescent boys'.
Two charity workers who dealt with the young victims have now come forward and reported that boys had disclosed abuse by far more men than the two who were prosecuted.
Along with a third whistleblower who was an NHS manager they have also claimed many victims were never interviewed by police and the majority were never given appropriate after-care.
The trio have told police that boys who were denied proper support went on to develop mental health problems, with some committing suicide or dying of drug overdoses.
The fourth whistleblower told the YA he personally received the first known disclosure of abuse by one of the victims, then helped prepare multiple victims to testify in court.
He said he had been impressed by police's initial work but was left upset by the outcome.
He told the YA: "I really couldn't fault the early stages of the investigation. I saw they were properly excited as police officers 'Hey, this is really something we can get our teeth into, we're really going to go gung-ho', and all that kind of stuff.
"And then it just got to a point where, for some reason, that drive went and they were kind of saying, 'Well, we've got enough'. The thing that frustrated us most was the failure to ever identify anyone other than these two blokes."
The new source is listed as a co-author on a 1990 report, based on accounts by 25 known victims, which said at least two boys had already attempted suicide, others had begun self-harming, some had 'graduated into the local rent boy scene' and some had begun displaying 'abusive behaviour' towards young children.
However, despite police having been in possession of a copy of the report since early this year, the source said officers conducting the review had not yet contacted him.
With his permission, the YA provided the whistleblower's contact details to the Police Commissioner's office.
Staff thanked the YA and said they would pass the details to investigating officers.
Anybody with information about the case can call Essex Police on 101.
Specialist helplines for victims:
National Association for People Abused in Childhood 0808 801 0331.
SERICC (south and west Essex) 01375 380609.
CARA (mid and north Essex) 01206 769795.
SoSRC (Southend) 01702 667590.
National Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse 0808 800 5000. http://www.yellowad.co.uk/article.cfm?id...hyear=2016
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Wednesday, 30 March 2016 By Charles Thomson in Crime Government papers show police seized a diary, which contained names and addresses of individuals in London, from the home of a convicted paedophile in the late 1980s but it later reportedly went missing'.
The book was taken from the home of a man jailed a year later for his role in what Essex Council described as a sex ring' targeting adolescent boys'.
He and one other man were convicted in 1990 of child sex offences, but four whistleblowers have now come forward to report that several young victims disclosed abuse by far more men.
Two sources both former charity workers who helped prepare the victims for court have separately told the YA that boys reported abuse by gangs of men in Essex and London.
Essex Police announced in early March that it was conducting a formal review of the original investigation after the whistleblowers whose accounts were described by Police Commissioner Nick Alston as credible' said multiple victims were never interviewed, other alleged perpetrators were not prosecuted and most victims never received appropriate after-care.
The force confirmed last week that it was searching for the missing' diary as part of the review.
Essex Council records from 1989 describe a meeting where police officers discussed the alleged paedophile ring with Social Services, charity workers and staff from a local school.
The papers state that one of the officers from Leigh CID told the meeting that police were following up' names and addresses of individuals in London, found in the diary.
But the Yellow Advertiser has seen typewritten notes, dated six months later, of a meeting between charity workers, where it was reported that the book had since gone missing'.
Multiple whistleblowers have told the YA they recall being told at the time, by people involved in the case, that the diary had been lost.
Essex Police confirmed last week that it was investigating what happened to the evidence.
A spokesman said: "Police are aware of the existence of a notebook from an investigation into abuse by two convicted offenders in the 1980s, which may contain information relevant to our current review.
"We are now examining our records to establish what happened to the notebook and what investigations took place at the time as a result of the information it contained."
Officers have urged anybody with information about the alleged paedophile ring, or anybody who was a victim, to contact them by dialling 101.
Alternatively victims can call one of these specialist helplines:
National Association for People Abused in Childhood 0808 801 0331.
SERICC (south and west Essex) 01375 380609.
CARA (mid and north Essex) 01206 769795.
SoSRC (Southend) 01702 667590.
National Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse 0808 800 5000. http://www.yellowad.co.uk/article.cfm?id...hyear=2016
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Wednesday, 1 July 2015 By Charles Thomson
Former NHS employee Robin Jamieson came forward after reading YA reports about payouts for alleged abuse
EXCLUSIVE
THE LEADER of Essex County Council has issued a public appeal for evidence of a possible child abuse "cover-up" in the 1980s and 90s.
David Finch said the authority and Essex Police were keen to investigate recent allegations about a "paedophile ring" operating at County Hall.
Cllr Finch urged witnesses to come forward after a former NHS manager made a speech at the Houses of Parliament last week, where he made allegations of a child abuse "cover-up".
The claims were made by Robin Jamieson, who was district psychologist managing 20 staff for Southend in the early 1990s and sat on the Child Protection Committee.
Mr Jamieson made a speech at a "whistleblowers event" at Westminster last Tuesday in front of MPs, barristers and campaigners.
He claimed that in the 1990s he was approached discretely by junior staff with alarming allegations, suggesting serious failures in child protection.
He said he reported the concerns to the council but found the response "insulting and threatening".
He claimed he informed the police but had no knowledge of any subsequent investigation.
In a statement issued after Mr Jamieson's speech, Cllr Finch said: "We are aware that there have been some historical child abuse concerns in relation to individual members of staff employed by Essex County Council in the 1980s and early 1990s.
"We know that these concerns were investigated at that time by the council and Essex Police and appropriate actions were taken in accordance with the evidence available at the time.
"There was no evidence of an organised cover-up, nor indeed was there sufficient evidence at the time for further investigations to take place.
"However, these are clearly very serious allegations. If Mr Jamieson, or anyone else, has evidence of a 'cover-up' or of agencies failing to properly investigate such concerns, we would very much welcome the information and would fully investigate such concerns together with Essex Police."
Mr Jamieson spoke out after reading a series of exclusive Yellow Advertiser reports about compensation payments for alleged abuse.
The YA revealed in January that County Hall paid almost £100,000 compensation in 2014 for alleged abuse, including £90,000 for two cases in 1993 in the Vulnerable Children and Young People department.
However, civil servants refused to answer any questions about the payments. They claimed releasing even basic details such as answering 'yes' or 'no' to whether anybody was convicted in each case could identify the alleged victims.
In subsequent Freedom of Information responses, County Hall reclassified the alleged abuse pay-outs as personal injury claims, making them indistinguishable from pay-outs for minor accidents like cut fingers.
l If you have knowledge of abuse or a 'cover-up' at County Hall, Essex Police can be reached by dialling 101, the NSPCC child abuse hotline is at 0808 800 5000 and County Hall is at 01245 430430.
::Well, what a surprise....not. Fancy the paper work going missing. Both the court and the police papers...mmmm...probably waiting for the rest of it to be shredded too.
Thursday, 7 April 2016 By Charles Thomson in Crime Police Commissioner Nick Alston and Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, pictured last year, jointly announced the Shoebury review last month. Picture: Steve Neale. RECORDS of a court case which saw two men convicted of abusing boys in Shoebury have been lost.
Staff searched the Chelmsford Crown Court archive last month at the Yellow Advertiser's request, but could find no trace of the prosecutions.
The YA was seeking paperwork on Dennis King and Brian Tanner, who were jailed in May 1990 for their role in what Essex Council described in official papers as a sex ring' targeting adolescent boys'.
Surviving police records show King, then 55 and living in Cunningham Close, Shoebury, was jailed for four years after admitting four counts of gross indecency and three counts of attempted buggery.
Tanner, then 57 and living in Beedell Avenue, Westcliff, got a three-year term for three counts of gross indecency and three counts of attempted buggery.
Tanner has since died and King no longer lives in Essex.
The YA had sought further details from the court, but staff could not locate any records.
Court officers said it was not unusual for detailed paperwork on court cases to be destroyed after seven years.
However, brief records which are usually kept even after the main files are destroyed could not be located either.
A year-long YA investigation into historic abuse allegations culminated last month in Essex Police announcing a review of the King and Tanner case, after three whistleblowers reported serious failures' in the original investigation.
Former charity workers Rob West and Jenny Grinstead, and retired NHS manager Robin Jamieson, told police that several of the boys whose testimony formed the case against King and Tanner had actually reported abuse by far more men, who were never prosecuted.
They also claimed many alleged victims were never interviewed by police and most of those who were interviewed still did not receive proper after-care.
Their allegations are corroborated by contemporaneous records and have since been echoed by a fourth whistleblower, who was found by the YA and has agreed to cooperate with the Essex Police review.
Essex Police confirmed this week that officers conducting the review have been instructed to track down all surviving paperwork connected to the two men's offending histories.
The YA revealed last week that police are also searching for an address book seized from King's flat, which, according to contemporaneous paperwork, went missing'.
Essex Police has called on victims and witnesses to come forward and assist with the review.
Police Commissioner Nick Alston said: "There's an opportunity here to see whether any of those people are perhaps prepared to engage again, if not with police then a professional agency, to see whether there's anything, even at this stage, which can be done to help them."
Anybody with information can call Essex Police on 101.
Specialist helplines for victims:
National Association for People Abused in Childhood 0808 801 0331.
SERICC (south and west Essex) 01375 380609.
CARA (mid and north Essex) 01206 769795.
SoSRC (Southend) 01702 667590.
National Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse 0808 800 5000.
Magda Hassan Wrote:'Are the police trying to close them down?' .... by quite an aggressive police officer."...
2nd cop who came 'round to my flat in N-u-T, c.late2012, asked, "What do you think they're trying to do?" I'd not considered this in those terms, pausing to think, I replied "It's like they're trying to shut me down", to which, of course, I get refs even now. By his line of questioning, I soon sussed - after he'd gone, that he knew.
Kinda reminds me of Dead Kennedys 'Police Truck' (I've had this 7" inserpt since '81/'82, & fine convenience-whore guiltifying it makes I'm sure).
And another thing, I heard this thru' my pillow listening surreptitiously to the radio and rushed-out the next day an' bought it, my first punk record; now, I get carhorns thru' my pillow at night as I'm dropping-off to sleep.
Martin Luther King - "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Albert Camus - "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion".
Douglas MacArthur — "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
Albert Camus - "Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."
I remembered later last night, that after I'd scanned and cleaned-up the above img, and printed it, later-on the same night, I'd got a 'msg' of "shows his real thinking", which is the pat klepto-ref'ing I usually get & misses the point deliberately, of "A Frightening Communication Gap".
Incidentally, popped-along to the local hospital yesterday to drop-off a couple of docs at 'Neurology'; seems they don't have one anymore, must be elsewhere, but the fella on the Reception desk misheard me twice and kept sending me to 'Urology'; shit eh?
Martin Luther King - "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Albert Camus - "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion".
Douglas MacArthur — "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
Albert Camus - "Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."
![[Image: RJb.jpg]](http://www.yellowad.co.uk/images/news/2016/RJb.jpg)
Robin Jamieson. Picture: Charles Thomson. ![[Image: Rob2.jpg]](http://www.yellowad.co.uk/images/news/2016/Rob2.jpg)
Rob West.![[Image: alstkav11.jpg]](http://www.yellowad.co.uk/images/news/2016/alstkav11.jpg)
Police Commissioner Nick Alston and Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, pictured last year, jointly announced the historic abuse probe earlier this month. A FOURTH whistleblower has agreed to cooperate with a police probe into an alleged paedophile ring 'cover-up', after being tracked down by the Yellow Advertiser. ![[Image: MC-Police-Tape0791.JPG]](http://www.yellowad.co.uk/images/news/2016/MC-Police-Tape0791.JPG)
Government papers show police seized a diary, which contained names and addresses of individuals in London, from the home of a convicted paedophile in the late 1980s but it later reportedly went missing'. 
:Well, what a surprise....not. Fancy the paper work going missing. Both the court and the police papers...mmmm...probably waiting for the rest of it to be shredded too. ![[Image: alstkav12.jpg]](http://www.yellowad.co.uk/images/news/2016/alstkav12.jpg)
Police Commissioner Nick Alston and Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, pictured last year, jointly announced the Shoebury review last month. Picture: Steve Neale. RECORDS of a court case which saw two men convicted of abusing boys in Shoebury have been lost.