The Leicestershire Children's Home Scandal, Frank Beck, and a Labour MP
Posted on September 30 2016
The role of the former MP and peer Greville Janner in the alleged sexual abuse of boys is examined in a new book on a notorious children’s home scandal.
Canbury Press published Abuse of Trust by Mark D’Arcy and Paul Gosling on Monday 12th August, 2016.
The book recounts the regime of sexual abuse in the 1980s of children being cared for in Leicestershire County Council run by manager Frank Beck.
A new chapter deals with one of Beck’s alleged accomplices: Greville Janner, MP for Leicester West between 1974 and 1997.
The book contains new material about the influential politician's behaviour and the decades-long campaign to unmask him as a paedophile, including threats made to a prominent campaigner.
Publication of Abuse of Trust has coincided with troubling developments in the public inquiry into institutional child abuse. One of the 12 cases under investigation by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse is the Leicestershire children’s home scandal.
Janner died Baron Janner of Braunstone in December 2015 aged 87, while charged with 22 counts of the historical abuse of boys. He had been ruled unfit to stand trial in a criminal trial because of his advanced dementia.
A highly-critical review by the Crown Prosecution Service in 2015 found that police and prosecutors had missed at least three chances to prosecute him.
As the recriminations over the allegations against Janner continue to swirl, the Independent Police Complaints Commission Criminal has served gross misconduct notices on 11 individuals in an ongoing investigation by into the case.
Abuse of Trust: Frank Beck and the Leicestershire Children’s Home Scandal was first published in 1998.
At the time of its publication, little could be reported about Janner, a Labour Party stalwart who was ennobled by Tony Blair, who praised his contribution in the foreword to his autobiography, To Life!
Martin Hickman, managing director of Canbury Press, who acquired the rights to Abuse of Trust from Bowerdean Publishing, said:
“The paperback of Abuse of Trust has been out of print for years and the binding was falling apart. I am hoping this edition will ensure that the lessons of child protection failings are learnt for future generations.
“It will also fill in some of the background about what Leicestershire Police have described as highly credible allegations against Janner. Only a few hundred copies have been printed of this new edition.”
Paul Gosling, who wrote the new chapter on the Labour MP, said:
“The original Abuse of Trust (ISBN: 9780906097304) book sold out several years ago. In recent years there has been a growing demand for the rare available copies of the book – to the extent that individual copies were being advertised at several hundred pounds.
“The serious child abuse allegations against Greville Janner meant there was substantial interest in the story around Frank Beck. But the demand for the book went far behind a desire to learn more about the proven evilness of Beck and the allegations against Janner, which this version of the book examines in detail.
“Across the UK there has also been a recognition that it is only by examining the child abuse cases — and Beck's was one of the very worst, perhaps the very worst case of institutional abuse of children — that these perverse criminalities can be prevented in future. For that reason, there has been a significant demand for new copies from social work students and by social services authorities, some of which have wanted new staff to read the book.”
Abuse of Trust Frank Beck and the Leicestershire Children’s Home Scandal
By Mark D’Arcy and Paul Gosling With a new chapter on the Labour MP Greville Janner
ISBN 9780993040788
Hardback, 320pp, £25
Publication date: 12 August 2016