Child abuse charges against social worker dropped

The trial of a senior social worker accused of sex attacks on vulnerable boys has been thrown out of Newcastle Crown Court.

Brian Tansey stood accused of five counts of abuse at Washington Hall Residential School on Wearside and targeting others during a trip with a different school.

The case against the 69-year-old was dropped on its second day due to inconsistencies in the first alleged victim’s account of what happened.

Prosecutor Paul Greaney QC said the evidence contained huge variations about how and when the abuse started and meant there was no reasonable chance of conviction.

Speaking in the Sunderland Echo, he added: “It represented, to say the least, a huge departure from what he has said in evidence in chief and from what he had said previously.

“All in court were struck by that change and the difference in his account.

“His evidence in cross examination was so inconsistent with anything he has previously said and so inconsistent with how the case was opened by me that we could not continue.”

Mr Greaney said jurors could not now be asked to consider the evidence against the very high standard of proof required to secure a conviction.

Judge Forster entered not guilty verdicts in relation to each charge Tansey faced and said the “right decision” had been made in the light of the difficulties.

The judge commended those concerned in Operation Viola, which the case was part of, which saw two social workers jailed for a total of almost 40 years for attacks on boys in similar circumstances.