North Wales abuse cases report comes to light

Copies of a shelved report into abuse at residential children’s homes in north Wales in the 1970s and 1980s have been found

Copies of a shelved report into abuse at residential children’s homes in north Wales in the 1970s and 1980s have been found.

Officials have discovered copies of the report by John Jillings that preceded the Ronald Waterhouse inquiry into abuse at Bryn Estyn home in Wrexham and other centres. The Jillings report was commissioned in 1994 by the now defunct Clwyd county council to examine allegations of abuse but was not published, apparently because there were fears that the revelations it contained could lead to the authority being sued.

Since the scandal over abuse at the homes resurfaced, calls for the Jillings report to be found and published have been repeated.

A joint statement on behalf of the six councils in north Wales that succeeded Clwyd and the old Gwynedd council said: “We have now established that several copies of the report are in existence in local authority archives.”

The report and supporting documents were being made available to North Wales police and the National Crime Agency.

According to the statement, local authorities in north Wales were taking legal advice on whether the report “can or should” be disclosed under freedom of information legislation in full or in part.

It added: “The National Crime Agency is being consulted, as any public disclosure cannot compromise or prejudice the new investigation.”

In the House of Commons last week, the Labour MP Ann Clwyd called for the report to be published.

She said she had read the Jillings report shortly after it was completed. She said: “I saw it. I wasn’t supposed to see it. It was shown to me. I saw it at the time. It was subsequently pulped by the then Clywd county council because they were afraid of the attitudes of the insurers.

“I would say please get the Jillings report published because it shows buggery, rape, bestiality, violent assaults and torture, and the effects on those young boys at that time cannot be under-estimated.”

In radio interviews, Jillings, a respected expert on social services, has said his inquiry focused on staff members at the home and not people in public life.