I am investigating allegations of abuse in relation to James Braid who was recently convicted at Portsmouth Crown Court. I would be please to talk to anyone, in confidence, about the case.
Alan Collins
Tel.: 02392492472
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Archive for the ‘sex abuse’ Category
Bay House School
Thursday, February 18th, 2010William Henry Smith School
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010Here is an article that recently appeared in
THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH · 23-29 NOVEMBER 2009
Abuse claims at West
Yorkshire school
More former pupils have contacted solicitors representing alleged victims of abuse at a West Yorkshire school after police questioned three men in their sixties on claims of sexual and physical assaults going back to the 1970s. And an ex-employee has claimed William Henry Smith School (WHSS) in Rastrick, Brighouse failed to investigate an assault on a pupil he claims he witnessed just two years ago.
WHSS is a non-maintained residential special school set up in 1920. According to its website it “provides high quality education and care for boys with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties”.
In the summer West Yorkshire Police quizzed three men in connection with alleged sexual and physical assaults dating back 30 years before releasing them on bail pending further investigations.
One former pupil, Mark Edson of Selby, believes some former pupils have received compensation, although he wasn’t one of them.
The law firm representing the former pupils, Verisona of Hampshire, wouldn’t confirm this. But Alan Collins, the solicitor working on the claims, said: “Media coverage has led to more ex-pupils contacting us. Usually in cases like this one most people don’t come forward so I am still looking for witnesses prepared to talk to me about the allegations as I wonder if we are still not getting the entire picture of the full extent of the abuse.”
Lee Varey from Halifax was a maintenance worker at the school from 2004 until he quit in 2007. He was impressed by the dedication of the staff and therefore “left bitterly disappointed when senior staff members failed to properly investigate an attack I reported on a young man aged 16 in which he was punched four or five times by a staff member”.
Varey, who claims this contributed to him leaving his post, said: “No one took a statement from him even though there were many staff that knew I was unhappy about what happened.”
WHSS was unwilling to respond to questions about Varey’s claims and whether it had carried out an investigation into them, issuing a statement saying: “Any such matters would be protected by Data Protection and as such we are unable to make any comment.
Haut de la Garenne
Wednesday, June 24th, 200922.06.09
PRESS RELEASE
St. Thomas’ Church Newport
Sunday, June 21st, 2009Were you in the choir at St. Thomas’ Church (Newport I.O.W.) in the 1960’s?
If so, please contact me in confidence.
Alan Collins
02392492472
Winton House
Sunday, June 21st, 2009Were you at Winton House School (Winchester) between 1970 and 1973?
If so, please contact me in confidence.
Alan Collins
02392492472
Portsmouth Northern Grammar School
Sunday, June 21st, 2009Were you at Portsmouth Northern Grammar School between 1965 and 1968?
If so, please contact me in confidence.
Alan Collins
02392492472
Vindication for victims
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009It is excellent news that Michael Aubin has pleaded guilty to some of the abuse charges that he faced arising out of the Haut de la Garenne investigation.
Claims had been made that Haut de la Garenne victims had been lying on fabricating in some way, but this admission of guilt demonstrates that the decision to investigate by Jersey Police was well founded, and to subsequently commence a prosecution.
The admission of guilt in my opinion re-inforces the victims’ claim for compensation for the abuse that they suffered as children at Haut de la Garenne.
Claiming damages for sexual abuse
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009The case of Raggett and the Preston Catholic College has been widely reported in the media.
The High Court’s decision to allow Mr Raggett to purue his case is very welcome news for abuse victims.
As in the Raggett case abuse victims often have thrown in their faces, when they seek justice, by defendants the “defence” they they are out of time.
Abuse victims invariably in my experience wait many years before coming forward and seeking justice, and this often because of the effects of the abuse they suffered. It is very unfair that the abuse has this additional insult in that it continues to plague them by obstructing their ability to get compensation. There is something very unpalletable that defendants have this windfall enabling them to have chance at avoiding to meet the victims’ claims.
Fortunately in the Raggett case the court was prepared to exercise its limited discretion to allow the claim to proceed out of time. The Defendant’s claim that it was prejudiced by the “delay” does not appear to have been borne out by the evidence.
The case reinforces my opinion that for an abuse claim to procced there needs to be sound evidence, eg, documents and/or other other witnesses. If you can get evidence to bolster the claim then that may go along way to defeat a defendant’s arguement that it has been prejudiced by delay.
For more on the Raggett case I suggest you go to The Times (6th May 2009). There is also a piece by Ruth Gledhill.
Alan Collins
Tel.: 02392380112
Doing the right thing
Friday, March 13th, 2009
I was pleased to see reported in The Australian today that the Church of England was providing assistance to sexual abuse victims. For so long there has been denial and rejection, but out of a ghastly story come some good news.
The newspaper’ headline was:
THE child abuse scandal that forced an Anglican archbishop to resign, after two Adelaide priests blew the whistle on pedophiles preying on the Church of England Boys Society in three states, has led to the jailing for at least a decade of a former youth leader.
The article went on to state that Andrew Dawson-Ryan, 60, was jailed for 18 years on 17 counts of having unlawful sex with boys, indecent assault and gross indecency, with a non-parole period of 10 years.
Dawson-Ryan was the fifth former leader of the Church of England Boys Society in South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania to be found guilty of abusing childrenbetween 1972 and 1988
The newspaper went on to report that an Anglican church spokesman said assistance was being provided to seven of Dawson-Ryan’s victims. The church is hoping any other sex abuse survivors will come forward after hearing of yesterday’s sentence.
The church in South Australia has assisted about 80 victims, paying $4 million compensation, since churchmen Don Owers and the late Andrew King went public over the abuse scandal in 2003.
The pair had spent years unsuccessfully lobbying church leaders for an investigation.
Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide Ian George resigned in June 2004 after the church bowed to pressure for an investigation, which was scathing of its treatment of victims.
Judge Barrett said Dawson-Ryan had taken advantage of his position as a “trusted father figure” after taking the boys on camps and interstate trips.
Sentencing Dawson-Ryan, the judge said the former youth leader had not admitted his guilt.
“I do not know to what extent the community can be confident you will not succumb again to the temptations that led you to this offending,” Judge Barrett said.
Louis Victor Daniels was jailed in Tasmania in 2005 for sexually abusing 11 boys between 1976 and 1987.
Another former Anglican priest in Tasmania, Garth Hawkins, was jailed in 2003 for sexually abusing eight boys in the 1970s and 1980s.
Queensland resident Raymond Frederick Ayles was sentenced to four years in 2006 for sexually assaulting a boy while a leader of the society in Adelaide in the 1970s.
John Elliott, who ran a branch of the society in Tasmania before becoming a priest in Queensland, pleaded guilty in 2003 to 10 counts of sodomy and 18 charges of indecently dealing with boys in the 1970s.
For more on this story log-on to The Australlian’s website at: www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
If you want to discuss the case or anything elkse on my blog I will be pleased to hear from you.
Alan Collins
alc@verisona.com
02392380112
13th March ‘09
Redress WA
Tuesday, February 17th, 2009In December 2007, the Western Australian Government having expressed its regrets that abuse has taken place and recognized that many people continue to suffer as a result of the abuse they experienced as children in State care announced a $AD 114 million Redress WA Scheme for those adults who, as children, were abused and/or neglected in WA State care.
- an ex gratia payment
- an acknowledgement of the abuse and/or neglect
- an apology
- support to fill in the application form
- counselling services
- an opportunity to record their personal story.
The scheme is such that victims do not need to be a State ward to be eligible for
Further details of the scheme can be found at its website: www.redress.wa.gov.au
This is a model that is to be applauded. It is an enlightended way of addressing the needs of abuse victims and society at large.
Litigation is often for victms yet another insult, and so a redress scheme that avoids this is welcome.
I hope that other governments take note and act.
Alan Collins
Tel.: 02392380112