Gordon Anglesea found guilty of child sex abuse
A former North Wales Police (NWP) senior officer has been found guilty of historical child sex offences after pleading his innocence for over two decades.
A former North Wales Police (NWP) senior officer has been found guilty of historical child sex offences after pleading his innocence for over two decades.
Gordon Anglesea, 79, from Old Colwyn, was convicted of one charge of indecent assault against one boy, and three charges of indecent assault against another.
The former Wrexham superintendent denied the charges, with his defence funded by the Police Federation.
Offences are alleged to have taken place between 1982 and 1987 with boys ages 14 and 15 when Anglesea was an inspector.
He was granted bail until his sentencing hearing, which will take place at a date yet to be fixed.
It is understood that before 1994, Superintendent Peter Ackerley, the officer heading the police investigation into child abuse in childrens homes across North Wales, recommended that Anglesea should be prosecuted on the grounds that more than one witness claimed they were abused by him.
The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring charges.
In 1994, Anglesea sued The Observer the Independent on Sunday, Private Eye and HTV, the holder of the ITV franchise in Wales after they suggested he was abusing children on his visits to the Bryn Estyn childrens home just outside Wrexham.
It is understood that the judge in the libel case was not aware of the forces recommendation to prosecute Anglesea.
Despite testimonies from several people that claimed to have been abused by him, he was awarded £375,000 in libel damages.
Anglesea was arrested and charged last year by detectives from Operation Pallial, a National Crime Agency investigation into claims of historical sex offences in the North Wales care home system.
The operation was established in 2012 by Home Secretary Theresa May following new allegations being made.
Nine people have been convicted of abusing children in care as a result of the operation, including care home owner John Allen who was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2014.
Mold Crown Court heard how Anglesea would subject juvenile offenders to drill parades, naked sit-ups and squat thrusts, then loiter round the showers with a smirk on his face.
One of the victims told the court of how he was grabbed by the hair and indecently assaulted, while Anglesea called him scum and told him he had the power to send him away.
He was also accused of lying under oath about the amount of times he visited the showers at the former attendance centre at Wrexham, which he ran in the 1980s.
The prosecution said both victims had been left “damaged” by the abuse and led “chaotic” lives of crime and drug and alcohol addiction.
Assistant Chief Constable Richard Debicki said: I would like to apologise on behalf of the force to those whose lives he so traumatically affected.
Nothing anyone can do now will change the past, but I can assure people that the way in which we now investigate sexual abuse, the investment which goes in to it and the significance it is given is considerably different to how it ways in the past.
NWP now has the Amethyst Team which deals solely with victims of sexual abuse. They are a dedicated, highly trained team of national standing whose approach to working with victims has resulted in more people having the confidence to come forward to report crimes.
The Amethyst Team deals solely with victims, seeing them through from reporting to case conclusion. They have a track record of a high level of reporting which shows that victims have the
confidence to come forward.