MN

Tom Watson MP, a supporter of Mandatory Reporting in Regulated Activities, made a statement in the House about the appalling safeguarding failures at Stanbridge Earls School in Hampshire and asked: “Will Ministers now urgently consider adequate research into the funding of mandatory reporting in regulated settings?”

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2014-03-24b.17.0#g18.3

Mr Gove replied: “I have had the opportunity, in a different context, to talk to one victim of abuse who, I have to say, made a compelling case for mandatory reporting in a regulated setting.”

On the 25th March the St Pauls + Colet Court child abuse case was reported in the Times and this article which you can read in full here, accompanied the piece.

Cheryl Gillan MP Chesham + Amersham and a signatory to our petition asked Mr Gove the following question:

‘The Secretary of State will be aware of the sentence handed out in Amersham Crown court last week to the former head teacher of the Caldicott preparatory school after years of abuse of children in his care. Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to my constituent Mr Tom Perry, who was brave enough to speak out about his own abuse? Will he agree to meet Mr Perry and me to discuss the possibility of mandatory reporting, as Mr Perry believes it would better protect our children in the future?’ Mr Gove’s reply is in the link: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2014-02-10b.555.5#g560.6

The meeting with the Secretary of State occurred just 17 days later at the Department of Education.

Mandatory Reporting is essential in order to provide greater likelihood that child sexual abuse disasters such as Caldicott School are avoided. Tom speaks to Ian Lee at BBC Three Counties Radio the morning after sentencing of Peter Wright:

Two days before the sentencing hearing of Peter Wright, the former headmaster of Caldicott School, Tom was interviewed by Jon Snow who asked about the dynamics of abuse and the progress on Mandatory Reporting. During the time Tom was in the Channel4 studio Hugh Henry who had abused pupils at Gayhurst school in Gerrards Cross as well as Caldicott and who featured on the same indictment as Wright, committed suicide by stepping onto the railway tracks at Amersham.

The Wright case finally permitted reporting restrictions to be lifted and the scale of abuse at Caldicott started to see daylight. There were other teachers against whom complaints were made, many were by then dead. This included Peter Hill the former Deputy Head to Wright, who committed suicide some years before Wright was first charged.

Here is a chronology of court appearances, indictments, and outcomes:

1. See the marvellous article by Peter O’Brian in the Toronto Globe and also his excellent interview on CBC
2. Complainants in the Geddes case came forward following the broadcast of the documentary Chosen
3. Complainants in the Addrison case came forward following the broadcast of the documentary Chosen
4. Complainants in Wright trails 1 + 2 came forward following the broadcast of the documentary Chosen
5. Each of the five complainants in the 2003 indictment gave evidence of bad character in both Trial 1 + 2 of Wright
6. See photo below this picture and link to CPS

Whenever an inquiry starts one can expect only to bring a proportion of perpetrators to court. And so it was with Caldicott.  Following the broadcast of ‘Chosen,’ a number of former pupils complained of sexual abuse by former Deputy Head George Hill who committed suicide some time before Wright was first charged in 2003. It is speculated sight loss contributed to his decision.

Restriction applied for large periods of time. Men silenced for decades where silenced once again. Reporting restrictions on the the cases of Addrison and Geddes and Henry applied until Wright’s conviction.  Finally the Caldicott cases were reported:

Here is the interview with Jon Snow.

Tom on C4 News QT from True Vision on Vimeo.

The Caldicott case which was reported extensively by Andrew Norfolk of the Times, seemed to be the catalyst for what followed. Just a few weeks later this article appeared, and many more followed.

You can read more articles about the trials and see the documentary that assisted get the cases to court here