There have been a number of inquiries and investigations about child sexual abuse in Rochdale.^[1], ^[2] Rochdale Borough Council initiated a specific review to consider its involvement in responding to allegations of child sexual and physical abuse at Knowl View School and other institutions it owned or managed. However, this review was halted in 2014 due to an overlap between an ongoing police investigation and the allegations that the review was considering. The review was not restarted and was terminated by Rochdale Borough Council in 2016 in light of the Inquiry’s investigation.

The Inquiry considered whether children were sexually abused or exploited at Cambridge House hostel and Knowl View School.^[3] It also examined whether Rochdale Borough Council and other organisations were aware of allegations of child sexual abuse and whether they took appropriate steps in response.

This section of the report provides an overview of this investigation. A full report was published in April 2018 and is attached as an appendix to this report.^[4]

Overview of Cambridge House and Knowl View School

Cambridge House was a hostel that took in young working boys. Knowl View School was a residential school for boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Both institutions were based in Rochdale and were subject to allegations of child sexual abuse from the 1960s into the 1990s.

Cambridge House opened in 1962 and provided working boys and young men aged between 15 and 21 with somewhere to live. Each boy and young man paid a contribution to the hostel depending on the level of their income. Some, but not all, of those at Cambridge House were in the care of, and placed there by, Rochdale Borough Council.

Knowl View School was established by four separate local authorities (including Rochdale Borough Council) as a residential school for ‘maladjusted boys’ and accepted its first pupils in 1969. The school housed boys between the ages of 7 and 16, and provided accommodation for many of its staff.

Significant concerns about the sexual abuse of boys in both institutions were repeatedly raised over a period of 30 years. During this time, reports of child sexual abuse were brought to the attention of a number of statutory agencies in Rochdale. The Inquiry considered whether the response of these agencies was appropriate and sufficient.

The Inquiry also considered the involvement of Cyril Smith in both institutions, including allegations that he sexually abused boys in Cambridge House and Knowl View School. The Inquiry considered whether he had used his political influence to disrupt any investigation into his reported conduct at Cambridge House.

The Inquiry’s findings

Child sexual abuse at Cambridge House

The Inquiry heard evidence that boys from Cambridge House were sexually abused by Cyril Smith under the guise of medical examinations and the disciplining of boys who played truant, were too ill to work or ran away.^[5], ^[6], ^[7]

... and then he says, ’I just want to check you to see if you've got any nits or any ‒ you know, that you have washed yourself properly’, or something like along them lines … So he said, ’I want to you to take your pants off’, so I took my pants off, my underpants, and my T-shirt, and I stood there with no clothes on. He asked me to face the wall. I outstretched my arms and then ‒ and then he started ‒ he started running his hands through my hair, and sort of doing all that ‒ …

A witness and former resident of Cambridge House

Child sexual abuse at Knowl View School

The Inquiry heard that there was a “wealth of evidence” that boys at Knowl View School were sexually abused,^[8] and that the abuse took place within the school and elsewhere in Rochdale.

Perpetrators included a member of staff who abused children at Knowl View School.

... he would watch me shower, tell me how to masturbate in the shower. At the time, I was only ten years old. I didn't know what masturbation was. I just thought I was washing myself.

A witness and former resident of Knowl View School

A convicted perpetrator named Roderick Hilton was repeatedly able to gain access to boys within the school. Evidence provided to the Inquiry showed that sexual activity between boys resident in Knowl View also took place and that it was known to staff. Notably, a report in 1976 described sexual abuse between these boys as a “subcultural tradition”.^[9]

During the public hearing, Richard Farnell ‒ the leader of Rochdale Borough Council from 1986 to 1992 and the serving leader at the time of the hearing ‒ testified about his lack of knowledge that child sexual abuse had taken place at Knowl View School. Mr Farnell said that he “had no recollection” of it being brought to his attention.^[10] This is despite compelling evidence presented to the Inquiry suggesting otherwise. The Inquiry found that Mr Farnell “sought to shirk his responsibility and render himself totally unaccountable for the ills of Knowl View and the children who suffered. This is the opposite of honest, dutiful and responsible leadership.”^[11] Some weeks following the public hearing, Mr Farnell resigned as leader of Rochdale Borough Council.

Child sexual exploitation in Rochdale

The Inquiry heard evidence that boys at Knowl View School (and care homes) were also exploited for money by men around Rochdale. This happened as recently as the 1990s and took place in locations including the public toilets on Smith Street, directly across the road from the offices of Rochdale Social Services. There were reports that men from all over the north west of England came to Rochdale to exploit and sexually abuse these boys.^[12]

Evidence presented to the Inquiry showed that the sexual exploitation of boys from Knowl View was known to the school, to Rochdale Borough Council’s Social Services and Education departments and to the police. The Inquiry considered how and why child sexual exploitation in Rochdale could have been allowed to continue without effective action being taken.

The Inquiry found that “the sexual exploitation of children from the school at Smith Street toilet was known about by the authorities from at least 1989 … the records of individual children convey a total lack of urgency on the part of the authorities to address the problem and treat the matters involved for what they were ‒ serious sexual assaults … rather boys as young as 11 were not seen as victims, but as authors of their own abuse.”

Cyril Smith

The Inquiry heard evidence that Cyril Smith was heavily involved in Cambridge House and involved to a lesser extent in Knowl View School. It heard that Lancashire Police conducted an extensive investigation into Cyril Smith in 1969 and 1970 in relation to the alleged indecent assault of eight boys ‒ six of whom had been resident in Cambridge House. Lancashire Police concluded that Cyril Smith should be prosecuted and submitted a comprehensive report to the Director of Public Prosecutions on 13 March 1970. A decision was returned six days later advising that there should be no prosecution as the charges were stale, the allegations could not be corroborated and the characters of some of the boys would be likely to render their evidence suspect.

Cyril Smith went on to receive his knighthood in 1988. The Inquiry received evidence that those involved in the appointment ‒ the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the House of Lords Political Honours Scrutiny Committee ‒ were informed of and deliberated the Lancashire Police investigation in 1970 before deciding that Cyril Smith should be knighted.

Another opportunity to prosecute Cyril Smith for the alleged assaults at Cambridge House arose in 1998, following a wider police investigation by Greater Manchester Police into child sexual abuse in and around Manchester. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to bring charges against Cyril Smith because he had been informed in 1970 that no further action would be taken. The CPS was also concerned that it would be an abuse of the process of the court to commence a prosecution so many years later.

These investigations, and the multiple concerns and local rumours, show that many were aware of allegations of child sexual abuse by Cyril Smith. The Inquiry found that he was “well-informed and was willing to attempt to persuade any accusers to keep quiet”, and that there was an “... unwillingness to consider that someone in a position of public prominence might be capable of perpetrating abuse”.^[13]