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IICSA published its final Report in October 2022. This website was last updated in January 2023.

IICSA Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

Accountability and Reparations Investigation Report

B.4: St Leonard’s

22. St Leonard’s was a children’s home in Essex operated by Tower Hamlets London Borough Council (Tower Hamlets) from the late 1960s until it closed in the early 1980s. It comprised a series of family cottages, run by a house father and house mother together with other members of staff.[1]

Allegations of sexual abuse

23. Paul Connolly told us that children at St Leonard’s were often “snatched” from their dormitories and raped.[2] It was “a brutal environment in which sexual and physical abuse were ever present”.[3] He had fought off attempts to snatch him:

“if I had not hidden under the bed most nights with my wooden-handled kitchen knife, I would have been raped, as well as the other boys”.[4]

When the police contacted Mr Connolly in the course of their investigations into abuse at St Leonard’s, he found out that six of the eight boys with whom he had shared a dormitory had died. He told us that each had taken their own lives, “in one way or another”, by drug overdose and suicide.[5] He believes that his mental and physical scars will never leave him. He still chooses to sleep on the floor downstairs and feels that he will never be able to sleep in a bed again.[6]

24. AR-A15 gave evidence that, while at St Leonard’s, he was made to sit on a priest’s lap and could feel his erection. Haydn Davies, who worked at St Leonard’s, forced him into mutual masturbation, drugged and raped him.[7] AR-A15 told us that, as a result of the abuse, he has sought help all his life but that therapy has been no help.[8]

25. During the course of the hearings, a representative of Tower Hamlets gave an apology on behalf of the Council to all victims and survivors, and thanked them for their courage in coming forward to seek justice.[9]

Police investigations

26. In 1995, a former resident informed the Director of Social Services at Tower Hamlets that he had been sexually abused whilst at St Leonard’s. As a result, the Metropolitan Police, in Operation Hamoon, interviewed a number of former residents and sent a file about the investigation to the Crown Prosecution Service. Four residents made allegations that Alan Prescott and Davies, who both worked at St Leonard’s in the 1970s, committed acts of indecent assault, buggery and indecency with children. The Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute.[10]

27. The same former resident complained about a lack of action in 1996. Internal enquiries continued at Tower Hamlets and the Director of Social Services asked the police to undertake an investigation into inappropriate behaviour by staff at St Leonard’s.[11]

28. Operation Mapperton commenced in 1998. The Metropolitan Police and Tower Hamlets first sought to identify former residents and find out whether any wished to disclose allegations of abuse. A police inquiry team then set about gathering witness evidence and progressing criminal investigations into the men identified as abusers.[12] The police investigations resulted in two successful convictions:

  • In 2001, Prescott, who had run St Leonard’s from 1968 to 1984,[13] pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault and was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.[14]
  • William Starling, a former house parent,[15] was convicted of 19 counts of abuse of 11 residents, including a number at St Leonard’s, and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment.[16]

Proceedings against Davies were stayed by the court, as evidence from previous criminal investigations into him was missing.[17]

Litigation

29. In total, 58 claimants brought civil claims against Tower Hamlets for the abuse they suffered at St Leonard’s. Solicitors were first instructed in 2000, before the criminal trials. In March 2002, the court made a group litigation order which arranged the management of the claims. In March 2003, Tower Hamlets admitted liability, subject to the issue of limitation and to individual claimants proving that they suffered injuries and resulting losses. Between 2002 and September 2003, settlements were negotiated in all but one of the cases. The final claim was eventually resolved in 2005. The civil cases settled for £1.3m in damages.[18]

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