Social worker who groomed and abused children in massive 1980s Lambeth sex abuse scandal is jailed for another five years for more attacks
- Leslie Paul looked after children at South Vale assessment centre in Lambeth
- Paul, now 70, groomed four boys before abusing them between 1980 and 1988
- In 2016, he was jailed for 13 years for historical sexual offences against children
- On Monday, he was sentenced to another five years for attacks agains two boys
A social worker who groomed and sexually abused children in 1980s Lambeth sex abuse scandal has been jailed for another five years for more attacks on two boys.
Leslie Paul, 70, worked at the Lambeth council-run South Vale assessment centre on a temporary basis during the 1980s looking after vulnerable children.
The former special constable groomed four young boys with money and cigarettes before abusing them between 1980 and 1988.
Some were molested at the home itself, while others were abused at Paul’s flat in Herne Hill, south London.
In 2016, he was convicted of 17 historical sexual offences against children in his care and jailed for a total of 13 years.
On Monday, Paul was sentenced to another five years by Judge Freya Newbery after he was convicted of nine counts of indecent assault, two of indecency with a child and one of buggery against two boys aged 13 and 14, between 1981 and 1982.
Leslie Paul (pictured), 70, worked at the Lambeth council-run South Vale assessment centre on a temporary basis during the 1980s looking after vulnerable children
The five-year sentence will run consecutively to the 13-year sentence he is already serving.
Paul had admitted sexually abusing four boys at the home when he appeared at the Old Bailey in 2002.
He was charged as part of Operation Middleton, a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of abuse at Lambeth children’s homes.
A report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) looking into the allegations found that staff with Lambeth Council failed children in care and foster homes repeatedly from the 1960s.
Sexual and other abuse of children was ‘widespread’ in Lambeth Council’s residential and foster care homes during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the report said.
Paul molested underprivileged boys as young as 12 after starting work at South Vale in West Norwood in 1979.
Operation Middleton, a joint probe involving the Metropolitan Police and Lambeth Council, traced 200 victims between 1998 to 2003 and secured three convictions, including Paul.
Detective Constable Lisa Main, the investigating officer from Central Specialist Crime, described the care worker’s actions as ‘evil and calculated’.
In 2016, Paul was jailed for 13 years for 17 historical sexual offences against children. On Monday, Paul (pictured) was sentenced to another five years
She added: ‘The two victims who contacted us are now men and have been carrying the trauma of what happened to them for an incredibly long time.
‘They were young, in care and vulnerable, and they were preyed upon by Paul… He ruthlessly used and abused the trust placed in his position as a care worker in the most disgusting, evil and calculated way.
‘He behaved as if he thought he could get away with it.
‘I commend and thank these two survivors for coming forward to report to us what happened to them.
‘They have supported us steadfastly throughout our investigation and through the judicial process.
‘I hope the knowledge that no other victims will suffer at Paul’s hands will go some small way to bringing them some peace of mind as they look to the next chapters of their lives.
‘If you have been the victim of a historic sexual offence, I urge you to report it to us. Any discussion will be in the strictest of confidence, we will listen to you, and we will do everything in our power to bring any offenders to justice.’
Paul is already subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
ABUSE REVIEW INTO LAMBETH COUNCIL CARE HOMES
A report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has found staff with Lambeth Council failed children in care and foster homes repeatedly from the 1960s.
Sexual and other abuse of children was ‘widespread’ in Lambeth Council’s residential and foster care homes during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
An inquiry into Lambeth Council, held in the summer of 2020, examined five facilities – Angell Road, South Vale Assessment Centre, the Shirley Oaks complex, Ivy House and Monkton Street – dating back to the 1960s.
The inquiry said that by 2020, 705 former residents from Shirley Oaks, South Vale and Angell Road made complaints about sexual abuse, though the true number is likely to be much higher.
A number of victims reported sexual abuse to adults at the time, including to other staff or their social workers. But in many cases, this did not result in the investigation or prosecution of alleged offenders, or any disciplinary action being taken.
The report found some children were too frightened to tell anyone, or were threatened with violence by the perpetrator if they reported the abuse.
The London Borough of Lambeth and the children’s homes considered in the report – including Ivy House, which in 1987 was moved from the Shirley Oaks site to Warham Road, Croydon
The report found staff and councillors failed in their professional and statutory duties when it came to responding to extremely serious allegations of staff misconduct, including criminal behaviour, towards looked-after children.
It highlighted the case of Michael John Carroll, a member of staff at the Angell Road children’s home who had failed to disclose in the 1970s a previous conviction for child sexual abuse but was retained when this was eventually found out.
He was subsequently convicted in 1999 of 34 counts of child sexual abuse, including of two boys in the care of Lambeth Council between 1980 and 1983.
Carroll also had a role in staff recruitment and investigations at Angell Road.
The report found ‘clear evidence’ that sexual offenders and those suspected of sexual abuse were co-workers in Lambeth Council’s children’s homes at the same time.
The report said: ‘Through such poor practice and its failure to respond to concerns and allegations, Lambeth Council put vulnerable children in the path of adults known or suspected to be perpetrators of child sexual abuse.’
It described sex offenders as likely feeling ‘untouchable’, while children were left feeling ‘isolated and ignored’.
The report identified a ‘culture of cover-up’ and a ‘lack of concern for the day-to-day lives of children in its care’.
It said Lambeth Council was dominated by ‘politicised behaviour and turmoil’ during the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, and that the council sought to ‘take on the Government’ to the detriment of local services.
The report acknowledged there were ‘much-improved systems in Lambeth’, but said there was still evidence of a more recent case, from 2016, in which an allegation of rape did not result in a strategy meeting taking place to consider the claim.
A child died in the bathroom at Shirley Oaks in 1977 having previously alleged his house father, Donald Hosegood, abused him
The report added: ‘For several decades, senior staff and councillors at Lambeth Council failed to effect change, despite overwhelming evidence that children in its care did not have the quality of life and protection to which they were entitled, and were being put at serious risk of sexual abuse.
‘When systemic failures were identified, time and again they were minimised and levels of risk ignored.’
The report made a number of recommendations, including that the council publish an action plan to deal with the issues raised in the report, and for a review of recruitment and vetting checks of current foster carers and children’s home staff.
It also said Scotland Yard should consider whether there were grounds for criminal investigations into the council’s actions when providing information to the coroner about the circumstances of a boy’s death – known during the inquiry as LA-A2 – who died in the bathroom at Shirley Oaks in 1977 having previously alleged his house father, Donald Hosegood, abused him.
The inquiry heard LA-A2 was ‘slow at doing things’, and had trouble speaking, and that he was one of a number of people allegedly abused by Mr Hosegood.
Mr Hosegood later went on trial for 11 counts of rape and indecent assault involving four children, but the case collapsed after four days.
The inquiry heard Lambeth Council did not inform the coroner of the boy’s allegations.
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