Ian Merry

To: The Honours Forfeiture Committee. Cabinet Office. Correspondence Team

70 Whitehall London SW1A 2AS

e-mail: publiccorrespondence@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Dear committee members I am taking the time to tell you of an appalling situation regarding the awards of honours to the following people:

Mr Christopher Heginbotham OBE 2009.

Mr Paul Farmer CBE 2016

Ms Tink Palmer MBE 2017.

It appears to me that these awards have been granted for failure of the grossest kind, that of playing significant roles in the sexual abuse of children and despite evidence to the contrary allowed a number of paedophiles to practice their wicked misdeeds untrammelled.

I am not alleging that these people are paedophiles themselves and I will now outline my interest in this matter.

My narrative commences in 1983 when I went to work at Feversham School in Newcastle upon Tyne. Feversham School was a day and residential school that catered for meeting the needs of extremely vulnerable children of both genders aged from 6 to 11 on admission. The children were characterised as suffering from emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Feversham Scool was owned by MIND, (formally known as the national association for mental health) and the day to day running of the school was ceded to a Board of Governors in a trust deed.

I lived in a flat attached to the school along with my wife and two small children who were born during my tenure at the school. I was employed as a Senior Residential worker who took overall control of the school after school hours.

In 1983 I noted that the Principal of the school was an alcoholic with paranoid tendencies who frequently appeared under the influence of alcohol during the school day. His name is Roger Stansfield and he retired to his native New Zealand in the 1990's. The Principal resided in a house in the grounds of the school and set back from the main campus and he used to slip off to his house to top up his alcohol content during the school day. He was also responsible for interviewing and employing all staff including teachers and residential social workers.

During my tenure at the school from 1983 to 1987 I became concerned and then alarmed about practices involving the control of children. Some of them were forcibly stripped of their clothing and locked into their bedrooms if they became an absconding risk. There were other common practices involving cruelty and callous behaviours by staff towards the children.

Alongside these terrible matters I noted that two members of the residential staff were given license to take children out individually often for spurious reasons. I collected enough evidence about these two men that clearly pointed to unprofessional relationships with certain children, and some children alluded to them being abused by these two men. It confirmed what I already suspected, enough for me to act on their concerns.

I knew about child sexual abuse due in part to my own experiences, (I was sexually abused by an adult male in the mining village in South Yorkshire where I was brought up). I also took an active role in researching Institutional Child Sexual Abuse during the 1980's and obtained a number of documents related to Inquiries across the country following allegations of child sexual abuse in residential homes and schools. I became an autodidact regarding these matters and it led me to believe that a number of male staff were engaging in child sexual abuse of boys resident at the school.

I tried to enlist support from a number of staff only to find that they were reporting back to the Principal about my concerns. I even went to see the Chair of the Board of Governors at the time, Professor Tony Edwards, professor of education at Newcastle University. He nodded sagely at all I told him and he said he would need to act. He did act as I found out the following day when I was called to see the Principal and it became clear that Professor Edwards had informed him about my allegations. The Principal charged me with unprofessional conduct and initiated disciplinary procedures against me.

I realised that I had no future at Feversham School and could not trust any member of staff so I was forced to resign. I had to render myself and family as homeless citing the eviction notice I was given to vacate my tied accommodation.

I then set down my concerns in my resignation letter and sent copies to all the Board of Governors at their home addresses along with two other copies, one to Mr Christopher Heginbotham then CEO of MIND and Lord Ennals who was chair of MIND at the time. Lord Ennals telephoned me to say that he regarded my allegations as a serious matter and he would convene an independent Inquiry team to look into my allegations. This was in late 1987 and the Inquiry team were in position in January 1988.

The Inquiry team consisted of two people, Mr John Rogers then a Barrister and QC who had acted for clients in mental health tribunals and Ms Gillian Cornwell who was a newly qualified Guardian Ad Litem for children. Ms Cornwell changed her name to Tink Palmer. Both these people have had successful careers, Mr Rogers becoming the leading circuit court judge in Wales and Ms Palmer an internationally known figure on child protection matters.

The Inquiry Team interviewed me for two days in January 1988 and then came back to me branding me a liar and choosing to believe the paedophiles. This had a terrible impact on my life and as a result my career was blighted, and my marriage failed and I have been beset with mental and emotional health difficulties ever since that period of my life. My physical health has also suffered and I cannot work after 37 years of public service. I can honestly say that working for MIND made me mentally ill. I live in relative poverty.

Meanwhile the paedophiles must have thought their prayers were answered as they were given free range to continue their wicked practices. We now know they continued to prey on vulnerable children. The school remained open until 1996 when it closed for good, but not before the two paedophiles went to work in other childrens' social work roles giving them more access to even more vulnerable children.

In the late 2000's former children came forward to make serious allegations against the paedophiles causing Northumbria Police to investigate. These matters concluded in Newcastle County Court in 2012 when both these men were given lengthy prison sentences.

The victims/survivors are now bringing civil actions against MIND seeking damages for the sexual abuse they suffered as pupils of Feversham school.

Mr Heginbotham former CEO of MIND covered up these matters at the time and as a result should forfeit his OBE.

Mr Farmer as present CEO should also forfeit his CBE as he has continued the cover up this scandal by continually frustrating the survivors call for a full Inquiry into these matters.

Lastly Ms Palmer should not be awarded her MBE because she presided over an inept and incompetent Inquiry that allowed at least two paedophiles to continue to work with vulnerable children for over a decade.

All three should hang their heads in shame.

This has been a lengthy exposition because I felt that anyone reading it will need to have all the relevant facts at their disposal and I am hoping that the cabinet office who award honours will pursue due diligence in the future and investigate any allegations fully against any candidate put forward for honours.

I would also ask you to consider taking part in a government consultation regarding the mandatory reporting of the abuse of children by all, which I support.