Abuse of Trust

Mark D'Arcy is a parliamentary correspondent for the BBC and presents BOOKTalk on the BBC Parliament television channel. When Abuse of Trust was first published he was the BBC's local government and social affairs correspondent for the East Midlands, and a former political commentator for the Leicester Mercury. Paul Gosling is an experienced journalist, author, researcher, lecturer, and broadcaster. He specialises in the economy, accountancy, the co-operative sector, public services and personal finances. A freelance journalist for 27 years, he has written for most quality UK and Irish national newspapers. He is a former Leicester City councillor.

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