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Two Devon schools part of sex crime inquiry

Tuesday, 16 October 2018 16:25

By Ed Oldfield, Local Democracy reporter

Hearings will be held in 2019

Two residential special schools in Devon are involved in an investigation by the national child sex abuse inquiry.

 

Chelfham Mill School near Barnstaple and Marland School near Torrington are among those being looked at when public hearings start next year.

 

Privately-run Chelfham Mill School for boys with emotional and behavioural problems was closed in 2015 after allegations of physical abuse led to a police investigation. After a two-year inquiry, groundsman Peter Weyman was convicted of indecency against a boy at the school in the 1990s, and offences against another boy before he moved to Devon.  Weyman, then aged 67, of Cleveland Close, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, was jailed for 17 years at Exeter Crown Court in February after admitting 11 offences.

At the time of its closure, the school had 41 boys aged seven to 18, most living at the school. Most of the pupils who were sent to the school had a statement of special educational needs and were funded by local authorities from around the South West. 

Marland School, with a residential school at Peters Marland, near Torrington, is for children with social, emotional and mental health needs. A case of historic sexual abuse in the 1980s came to light with the conviction last year of former employee Steven Joyce, of Erme Drive, Ivybridge, for a series of offences. In September the sentence for the former house parent at the residential school, then aged 66, was doubled to 14 years and four months at the Court of Appeal.  Joyce had faced earlier investigations in 1991 and 2011. Marland School is now structured with day schools at Bideford and Barnstaple and a residential school at Peters Marland for up to 40 boys from across Devon. 

The school was rated good in all aspects at its last Ofsted inspection in November 2016. It is now one of 10 special schools in the Devon-wide SENtient Co-operative Foundation Trust and is overseen by Devon County Council. 

A spokesman for Devon County Council said: “We have already confirmed that we are co-operating with the inquiry. “The school has also been co-operating with Devon and Cornwall Police on these historic allegations.”

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was set up in 2016 to investigate concerns that organisations were failing to protect children, following a series of high-profile cases including churches, politicians and celebrities. The inquiry has been gathering information and is now moving into phase one of its investigation into residential schools. It is inviting people and organisations affected to take part ahead of the hearings next year.

A statement from the inquiry said: “Children with special educational needs are amongst the most vulnerable children in our society. Some children with special educational needs are in residential special schools for 52 weeks of the year and have little contact with their families/their community.  Some children are unable to tell people about abuse due to sensory impairments or learning difficulties; others have behavioural problems which can obscure signs of abuse and which can act as a barrier to being believed.”

The residential schools investigation will consider non-recent abuse in now-closed residential schools for boys with behavioural/emotional problems and prep schools; residential music schools, and residential special schools. The inquiry will be looking into the residential special school sector “in some detail”.

A preliminary hearing will be held in London on January 16, followed by sessions over two weeks to hear evidence from witnesses.

A statement from the inquiry said: “Evidence from a number of these schools will focus on the measures they currently have in place for protecting children from child sexual abuse, including peer on peer abuse, rather than evidence of failures to protect children.”

The inquiry will publish a report on closed schools before moving to the stage of public hearings.The second phase of the investigation will cover issues including governance and management; inspection and monitoring; recruitment and termination of employment; whistleblowing and reporting; peer on peer abuse; safeguarding culture. 

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