Eyewitness 'saw Thatcher aide take boys to abuse', Cyril Smith 'sexually and physically abused young boys'

Cyril Smith 'sexually and physically abused young boys'
Simon Israel Home Affairs Correspondent
Tuesday 27 November 2012 UK

Greater Manchester police have concluded that the former Liberal MP, Sir Cyril Smith, was guilty of physical and sexual abuse of young boys over a period of many years.

Allegations came from eight young men back in 1970. They alleged that Cyril Smith subjected them to various forms of abuse in the early sixties.

All were living were living at the privately run children's home Cambridge House hostel, in Rochdale, at the time, or were dependent on Cyril Smith for employment, money or welfare.

Lancashire Police opened a file and sent that off to the director of public prosecutions with 80 pages of evidence and a one-page letter from the then chief constable of Lancashire. He wrote -

"Any charges of indecent assault founded on these allegations, as well as being stale, would be , in my view, completely without corroboration. Further, the characters of some of these men young men would be likely to render their evidence suspect."

Outdated way of thinking

Today the Crown Prosecution Service says that way of thinking has gone and that, given the same today, Sir Cyril Smith would have been prosecuted

Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor, said: "Prosecutors and police now recognise such crimes normally occur in private and that victims are often targeted because the offender doubts they will be believed.
http://www.channel4.com/news/cyril-smith-sexually-and-physically-abuse-young-boys 


Exclusive: Eyewitness 'saw Thatcher aide take boys to abuse'
Tuesday 06 November 2012 UK

A former resident of the Wrexham care home at the centre of abuse allegations tells Channel 4 News that he saw evidence of abuse, and remembers seeing Sir Peter Morrison at the care home five times.

The former resident told Channel 4 News that although he did not recognise Sir Peter at the time, he later realised it was him.

Sir Peter, who died in 1995, was Margaret Thatcher's parliamentary private secretary and was at the heart of the Tory establishment during the 1980s. Recently, he has been publicly linked to abuse at the care home.

The former resident, who was not abused himself, said: "Going through some stuff recently and I saw his face. I know now he was the MP for Chester at the time. Morrison. Red, wavy hair. I recognised him straight away.

"I saw him at Bryn Estyn, he turned up in a car, boy went off in his car, don't know if he was in it. It was definitely his car, I saw him arrive in it then we went to bed and we saw it drive off....

David Cameron ordered an urgent investigation into whether the north Wales child abuse inquiry "properly did its job" after fresh allegations of abuse at Bryn Estyn emerged. It is alleged that a senior Thatcher-era politician, who has not been named, was involved....

Describing allegations of abuse from other residents, the former resident told Channel 4 News: "They said there was more than one, they said they were made to drink, there was a lot of people there, there was a party almost....

The resident said he did inform police: "I made a statement to South Wales Police with regard to some alleged offences in SW area - a statement was taken but didn't hear anything else about it."

However, describing the effect the events had had on him, he said: "I've been carrying this around for 35 years. It's destroyed every relationship in my life. I don't trust anybody. http://www.channel4.com/news/exclusive-eyewitness-saw-thatcher-aide-take-boys-to-abuse