Evidence of what was branded by a British social services department as
“the organised abuse of young boys” and the “trade” of young victims in
Malta and Gozo has resurfaced after more than two decades following a
whistleblower’s recent allegations into an ‘elite paedophile ring’ that
is alleged to have included over 20 prominent members of the British
parliament, the judiciary and even religious figures.
The evidence of the organised abuse of and the trade in young boys in
Gozo and possibly Malta as well, deeds that were most likely perpetrated
between the 1970s and the early 1990s, resurfaced recently in the form
of a leaked 1993 ‘strictly confidential’ report drawn up by the Hereford
and Worcester Social Services Department – a report that had been
mysteriously buried at the time presumably by unknown people in
positions of authority in the UK.
Back in 1992, a certain Peter Righton had been charged with and was
later found guilty of the possession of what was described as “obscene
literature” pertaining to children and young boys under the age of 16.
The ‘literature’, in fact, consisted of photographs of nude young boys.
During the investigation, the police and Customs department carried out
a raid on Righton’s home, where they confiscated a “very substantial
amount of material” including letters, diaries, photographs, magazines
and videos”.
According to the report, “Righton was a great hoarder of letters and
documents and there are several boxes of letters which spell out in
chronological detail how Righton and a number of associates have kept in
contact for many years and how they clearly show an interest in the
abuse of boys.”
Among the correspondence uncovered during the investigation is damning
evidence of organised paedophilia in Gozo and possibly in Malta as well.
Written evidence of abuse and trade of young boys in Malta
According to the leaked 1993 ‘strictly confidential’ report: “There is
also written evidence amongst Righton’s belongings of links with P.I.E.s
in Sweden and Norway, as well as the organised abuse of young boys in
Gozo, Malta, and both Righton and … (name redacted) feature as being
involved in the ‘trade’ of young victims in the latter country.”
‘P.I.E.s’ refer to members of the Paedophile Information Exchange,
which had campaigned to legalise sex with children as young as four
years of age. Righton was known as P.I.E. member 51.
The redacted name is believed to be that of Righton’s former partner, who can only be named as Richard for legal reasons.
A BBC Inside Story documentary, The Secret Life of a Paedophile,
features the sordid story of Righton’s multiple crimes against
childhood. In the documentary, the link to which is provided below, it
is documented how: “Together they spent regular holidays in the
Mediterranean, where they sought the company of local boys.”
At the time the social services report was penned, the written evidence
of abuse in Gozo and Malta must have struck a chord with the Hereford
and Worcester Social Services Department, which gave the Malta abuse
pride of place as the first mention of tangible abuse to have emerged
from the vast collection of correspondence.
That evidence of the abuse carried out in Gozo and Malta are reported
as being stored at the West Mercia Police to this day and as such, the
Maltese police should have good reason to request access to them. There
are seven boxes of potential evidence of a powerful paedophile network,
including letters between Righton and other paedophiles that were
confiscated from Righton’s home at the time.
The cover-up and the new impetus
Whistleblower Peter McKelvie, a former child protection manager with
the Hereford and Worcester Social Services Department and was the one
who had written the 1993 ‘strictly confidential’ report, triggered a
police investigation in 2012 when he revealed there were seven boxes of
potential evidence of a powerful paedophile network, including letters
between Righton and other paedophiles, being stored by the West Mercia
Police.
And Righton was no run of the mill child sex offender. He had been a
very senior and respected figure in the field of residential child care,
and a former consultant to the charity the National Children’s Bureau,
whose patrons included the then Health Minister Virginia Bottomley.
After Righton’s home was raided in 1992, then British Health Secretary
Virginia Bottomley was reported to have been “shocked” and demanded a
full report. That, however, was last time Bottomley spoke about the
matter and no report was ever published.
Mr McKelvie made his concerns known to Labour MP Tom Watson, who then raised the matter in Parliament in 2012.
According to Mr McKelvie, who has spent many years trying to see the
truth uncovered: “We still don’t know who gave the order to shut down
the original police investigation. In my opinion that person is just as
guilty as Peter Righton and his network of child abusers. The decision
to shut it down is likely to have been taken by Michael Howard and/or
Virginia Bottomley. Howard was Home Secretary at the time, with overall
responsibility for policing, and Bottomley was Health Secretary, with
overall responsibility for children’s homes and social work.”
Mr McKelvie was in fact the source for Mr Watson’s parliamentary
question and he was also involved in a BBC Inside Story documentary
which exposed Righton 20 years ago.
Mr McKelvie said recently, “At the time of his arrest in 1992 for
possession of indecent images of children, Peter Righton was about to
undertake work for the Department of Health as an expert in child care.
“He had long been at the very top of the social work profession and his
positions included consultant to the National Children’s Bureau,
Director of Education at the National Institute of Social Work and a
lecturer on social work practice at the Open University.
“A BBC (Inside Story) documentary The Secret Life of a Paedophile aired
in 1994 laid bare the truth about Righton, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a
dangerous and well connected predatory paedophile who in his lifetime
sexually abused boys in the UK, Sweden, Malta, Denmark and Holland.”
20 establishment well known people ‘in elite paedophile ring’
Renewed calls for investigations came once again last month after Mr
McKelvie alleged that there are up to 20 prominent British public
figures in an alleged paedophile ring.
Judges, peers and MPs are among 20 prominent public figures who abused
children for decades, a former child protection manager has said.
He told the British press last month that there is evidence linking the
former politicians to an alleged paedophile network, and Lord Warner,
the former health minister, said the allegations were credible.
The former child protection manager in Hereford and Worcestershire
said: “I believe there is a lot of strong evidence, and information that
can be converted into evidence if it is investigated properly, that
there has been an extremely powerful elite, among the highest levels of
the political classes, for as long as I have been alive.
“There has been sufficient reason to investigate it over and over again
certainly for the past 30 years, and there has always been a block, and
the cover-up and collusion, to prevent that happening.
“We are looking at the Lords, the Commons, the judiciary – all
institutions where there will be a small percentage of paedophiles, and a
slightly larger percentage of people who have known about it but have
felt in terms of their own self-interest and self-preservation and for
political party reasons, it has been safer to cover it up rather than
deal with it,” he told the BBC.
“I would say we are looking at upwards of 20 and a much larger number
of people who have known about it and done nothing about it, who were in
a position to do something about it,” he said.
“Righton died without facing a criminal trial for the abuse of dozens
of boys, whose abuse he recorded in sickening detail in his diaries,
entitled ‘Some Boys’.
”Today, many questions remain over how Righton managed to escape
justice during his lifetime. The same questions are being asked about
Savile, Sir Cyril Smith and Sir Peter Morrison, which is why survivors
and campaigners are seeking an urgent independent inquiry into organised
networks of abuse by powerful individuals of the most vulnerable
children in our society. “
The extent of Righton’s child abuse allegedly involved rapes, beatings
and young boys being moved between paedophiles “like a lump of meat”,
according to Mr McKelvie.
Children’s homes provided “supply lines” for child abuse and were
targeted by “people in power” during the 1980s, he said. “Sexual abuse
of children is a power drive, that’s what a lot of it is about.
“What I am suggesting is that it’s possible that people who were
authoritative, powerful, in particular communities did sometimes have
access to children’s homes. I had to fire two managers of children’s
homes... for abusing children in their care.”
British Home Affairs Secretary Theresa May has announced two new
inquiries. Political parties and MI5 will have their files examined in a
probe into allegations of child sex abuse by politicians, while the BBC
and religious organisations would fall under the remit of a major new
inquiry into whether those in power turned a blind eye to abuse claims.
Lord Warner said the Home Secretary must “clean the Aegean stables” in order to maintain public trust in the establishment.
Righton died in 2007 at the age of 81 but many of his victims, in
Malta, Gozo, possibly elsewhere in the Mediterranean and in the UK live
on with their traumatic memories.
The BBC Inside Story documentary on Peter Righton can be viewed at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Hli-iPilDII
Evidence of ‘organised abuse’ and ‘trade’ of young boys in Gozo resurfaces - The Malta Independent
