ISN News

15th October 2021

Islington Council will create Non-Recent Child Abuse Support Payment Scheme for survivors of abuse in children’s homes

Islington Council will set up a support payment scheme for people who suffered abuse while placed in the council’s children’s homes from 1966-1995.

The scheme will enable abuse survivors to receive a financial support payment of £10,000, without having to bring a civil compensation claim, and is designed to enable a payment more quickly than having to go through the trauma of the lengthy civil compensation process.

Payments will be made through a process that is as straightforward and quick to access as possible, and that minimises the need to re-live past trauma, or the risk of further trauma or harm.

The scheme will form part of the council’s wider support scheme which offers trauma counselling, specialist advice, support and assistance for care, housing, appropriate welfare benefits, access to further education and suitable employment, and support to access care records.

Earlier this year, the council consulted on its proposed scheme, and received 43 responses, from survivors, care-experienced adults affected by abuse, and organisations responding on behalf of groups of survivors.  The council carefully considered all comments and suggestions, and in response made a number of changes to the scheme. 

These include increasing the amount of payment from £8,000 to £10,000; expanding the categories of abuse; and procuring an independent advocacy service to assist an applicant where this is reasonably required.

The support payment scheme is not a compensation or redress scheme; it will sit alongside the existing civil compensation route, not replace it.  It has no bearing on any civil compensation claims that abuse survivors may bring, except that, in order to ensure fairness and compliance with constitutional requirements, a scheme payment would be offset against any later civil compensation claim payment, and any previous civil compensation claim payment would be offset against a scheme payment.

The scheme was approved at Islington Council’s Executive meeting last night (14 October).

Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz, Leader of Islington Council, said last night: “Abuse of children in Islington’s children’s homes was the worst chapter in this council’s history. Children, placed in our care, were subjected to terrible abuse, which has been deeply traumatic and had a devastating effect on their lives.

“As Leader of Islington Council, I again want to say we’re deeply sorry for the council’s past failures to protect vulnerable children in our care. I offer this heartfelt apology to anyone who has suffered abuse, and who continues to suffer because of it.

“We know that there is nothing that we can do to make amends for the trauma caused, but it is our responsibility as a council to address these past failings, and offer support.

“Payments will be made through a process that is straightforward and quick to access, and that minimises the need to re-live past trauma, or the risk of further trauma or harm.

“I’d like to put on record my heartfelt thanks to all the survivors and care-experienced adults affected by abuse, and organisations representing them, who have made a very valuable contribution to our consultation on this proposed scheme earlier this year.

“Thanks to their responses we have made a significant number of changes to the proposed scheme, including increasing the payment from £8,000 to £10,000, and expanding the categories of abuse.

“Islington Council today is a very different organisation, and protecting children from harm is our top priority. We remain rightly deeply sorry and ashamed for the failings of the past.”

The report approved by Executive is available to read in full.

ISLINGTON SURVIVORS NETWORK

Survivors of child abuse in Islington children’s homes and foster placements campaigning for justice

Statement to Islington Council Executive Meeting: October 14^th 2021

Islington Survivors Network welcome this opportunity to respond tonight to the proposed Support Payment Scheme for Survivors of Non-recent Child Abuse.

Firstly, we thank all the survivors in our network for waiting so long since hopes were raised for a financial scheme back in 2017. We know how difficult that long wait has been.  Secondly, we thank over 100 survivors who provided evidence so that ISN could produce a comprehensive response to the council consultation which has contributed so much to the scheme being presented by the council tonight. We acknowledge that the Council has made some important changes to their first proposal although not all our responses were agreed.

It has been a long journey for us since the Executive meeting in September 2017 when many survivors spoke one by one of their very personal experiences of abuse when they were children in Islington’s care system. In response we received an apology & admission of council culpability from Richard Watts (then council leader) when he acknowledged “it was the darkest chapter in Islington council’s history” and gave a “full commitment to addressing past failings”. Sadly, since this time 8 Islington survivors have died without justice.

Since 2014, ISN have established and co-produced with the council the Islington Non-recent Abuse Team Support Service and the Trauma Service which are highly valued by many of us. ISN are committed to campaigning for the interests of all survivors including those who are excluded from this Scheme such as those who were in Islington Council foster placements. We also reassure survivors that we will advocate for them, when they apply for the payment, drawing on our extensive research, knowledge and expertise. Importantly, alongside the council, we will campaign for the DWP to decide that receipt of the payment will not affect entitlement to or the amount of any UK benefits. It would be devastating for many ISN survivors if the DWP refused to make this dispensation.

ISN broadly welcome this Support Payment Scheme and look forward to contributing to the planning for mplemention  during the following months.  However, there is still much work to be done to make sure that eligible survivors receive this payment as intended by the council objectives of being straightforward, quick to access & avoiding risk of further trauma.

Website: islingtonsurvivors.co.uk

Voicemail: 0300 302 0930 Email: islingtonsn@gmail.com

Thursday, 14th October 2021 at 7:00pm

Watch video of meeting here

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Islington Gazette, 11.10.2021

Survivors of a historic child abuse scandal in Islington children’s homes are set to receive a £10,000 payment each.

The £16million fund is due to be agreed at the council’s executive meeting this week (October 14).

Individual payments have increased by a fifth after the council consulted survivors of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse by a council employee, a visitor introduced to a care home by the manager or a member of staff, or a volunteer, which took place in Islington-run children’s homes between 1966 to 1995.

The money will come from council reserves and people will initially have two years to come forward.

It is estimated that between 1,700 and 2,400 children lived in Islington children’s homes during the 30-year period, and 2,000 could still be alive.

Thirty-two survivors responded to the consultation.

The scheme is likely to be launched next spring and will be run independently of the council.

According to the council: “The support payment scheme… has been designed to enable eligible applicants to receive a payment more quickly than having to go through the trauma of the lengthy civil compensation claims process.”

Some people were concerned about plans to offset any civil compensation payment against this scheme’s payment, but it will not affect any civil claims survivors may bring.

The council said: “Whilst a scheme payment and a compensation payment are different, they are both coming from or on behalf of the council and the offset allows a fair distribution of a finite resource.”

There were 13 reports into complaints about children’s care in the years leading up to 1995 before the independent White report concluded that each of these looked at individual problems.

It said what happened was “a disastrous chapter in Islington’s history”, adding: “Each of these issues has been dealt with as a ‘straw in the wind’. No-one looked for the haystack, which was undoubtedly blowing.”

The report concluded that “Islington did not initiate the type of investigation they should have”.

Allegations include claims that some children in care were working as prostitutes at children’s homes, some were gang-raped and knifed and some children were introduced to drugs. Allegations were made about the abuse of 25 children.

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Just added to the ISN website:

Islington Survivors Network Response to Consultation: Islington Council Non-Recent Child Abuse Proposed Support Payment Scheme

and also:

Additional response to the Support Payment Scheme Proposal: Dr Sarah Nelson OBE

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Daily Mail, 19th May 2021

• Paul Lamb, 73, was found guilty of 19 sexual offences at court earlier this month
• His crimes began in early 70s in London – where he worked as Met Police officer
• By the 1980s, he moved north and was appointed manager of a children’s home
• Judge Tremberg sentenced him to 17-and-a-half-years in jail at Hull Crown Court

An ex-Met Police officer and children’s home manager who raped and abused underage girls across the UK for two decades has been jailed for 17 years.

Paul Lamb, 73, was found guilty of 19 sexual offences at Hull Crown Court earlier this month, including three counts of raping a girl under the age of 16.

The serial child abuser’s crimes began during the early 1970s in London – where he worked as an officer in the Metropolitan Police and had close ties with children’s homes in Islington.

From April 1970 to September 1972, Lamb committed his first rape of an underage girl and was also found guilty of two counts of indecent assault on a female aged under 16 in that period.

By the 1980s, Lamb had moved north and was appointed manager of the Brook Cottage children’s home in Driffield – a post he held from 1984 to 1987.

Whilst there, Lamb began sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, getting her drunk before abusing her and inappropriately touching her while she pretended to sleep.

It is said Lamb took her virginity when she was aged 16, raping her in the flat at the children’s home and in his family home while his wife and children were upstairs.

The victim’s evidence was read out in court by Judge David Tremberg, where it was heard: ‘I was about 15 or 16 and got back from the pub and carried on drinking at Paul’s flat [Brook Cottage].

‘It was spirits but I can’t remember what, I was legless. I remember waking up in the double bed.

‘I felt disgusted because I knew what he had done – have sex with me. When I woke up he brought me a cup of tea. He said the cleaner was downstairs and that I needed to get back into my room.

‘I felt hungover. After that Paul kept commenting that I wasn’t a virgin. It was like he was gloating.’

In her evidence the victim said she never consented to any of the sexual assaults and felt ‘frightened of what he would do’ if she spoke out.

In 1986, Lamb was subjected to a disciplinary hearing after the victim drunkenly told others in the home of the abuse he put her through.

Other girls made similar reports. He never returned to Brook Cottage.

But the young girl and Lamb kept in touch after she left the children’s home, with Lamb admitting to police that he had a sexual relationship with her when she was at least aged 19.

However, evidence in court suggested Lamb sexually assaulted her when she stayed with him and his family at his home. The victim last saw Lamb when she was aged 23 or 24.

Judge Tremberg, reading the evidence, said: ‘I didn’t want to hurt his family. I hated him but he was like a father figure. I hated him after he raped me.

‘It was a kind of love hate thing. I still wanted him to be the person I wanted him to be – like a father figure. I still wanted to be part of that family.’

The victim decided to give evidence of the abuse Lamb put her through in July 2019 after police found her possessions at Lamb’s home in Fishergate, York.

A diary was found where the victim set out the sexual abuse and rapes against her.

Earlier this year, Lamb appeared at Hull Crown Court to stand trial for 20 sexual offences – allegations he described as ‘ludicrous’ and ‘totally fictitious’.

However, a jury found him guilty of 19 of them, including 16 offences of indecent assault and three counts of rape.

Judge Tremberg sentenced him to 17-and-a-half-years in prison. 

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Hull Daily Mail, 19th May 2021

Paul Lamb’s sickening crimes spanned over two decades

This is the face of the sick former Met Police officer and children’s home manager who raped and abused underage girls across the UK for two decades.

Serial child abuser Paul Lamb was brought to justice earlier this month after a jury at Hull Crown Court found him guilty of 19 sexual offences, including three counts of raping a girl under the age of 16.

The 73-year-old’s sickening crimes began in the early 70’s in London where he worked as an officer in the Metropolitan Police and had close ties with children’s homes in Islington.

From April 1970 to September 1972, Lamb committed his first rape of an underage girl and was also found guilty of two counts of indecent assault on a female under 16 in that period.

By the 1980’s, Lamb had moved north and was appointed manager of the Brook Cottage children’s home in Driffield, a post he held from 1984 to 1987.

Whilst there, Lamb began sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, getting her drunk before abusing her and inappropriately touching her while she pretended to sleep.

It is said Lamb took her virginity when she was 16 years old, raping her in the flat at the children’s home and in his family home while his wife and children were upstairs.

The victim’s evidence was read out in court by Judge David Tremberg, where it was heard: “I was about 15 or 16 and got back from the pub and carried on drinking at Paul’s flat [at Brook Cottage].

“It was spirits but I can’t remember what, I was legless. I remember waking up in the double bed.

“I felt disgusted because I knew what he had done – have sex with me.

“When I woke up he brought me a cup of tea. He said the cleaner was downstairs and that I needed to get back into my room.

“I felt hungover. After that Paul kept commenting that I wasn’t a virgin. It was like he was gloating.”

In her evidence the victim said she never consented to any of the sexual assaults and felt “frightened of what he would do” if she spoke out.

In 1986, Lamb was subjected to a disciplinary hearing after the victim drunkenly told others in the home of the abuse he put her through. Other girls made similar reports.

He never returned to Brook Cottage.

But the young girl and Lamb kept in touch after she left the children’s home, with Lamb admitting to police that he had a sexual relationship with her when she was at least 19 years old.

However, evidence in court suggested Lamb sexually assaulted her when she stayed with him and his family at his home. The victim last saw Lamb when she was 23 or 24.

Paul Lamb’s crimes in full

April 1970 to September 1972

• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (12 months in prison concurrent)
• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (12 months in prison concurrent)
• Rape of a female under 16 (78 months in prison)

December 1982 to September 1984

• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison consecutive)
• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)
• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)

January 1984 to September 1986

• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)
• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)
• Rape of a female under 16 (78 months in prison consecutive)
• Rape of a female under 16 (78 months in prison concurrent)
• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)
• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)
• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)
• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)

February 1986 to February 1987

• Indecent assault on a woman over 16 (18 months in prison concurrent)

December 1985 to July 1988

• Indecent assault on a woman over 16 (27 months in prison consecutive)
• Indecent assault on a woman over 16 (27 months in prison concurrent)

September 1984 to September 1986

• Indecent assault on a girl under 16 (6 months in prison consecutive)

February 1984 to August 1987

• Indecent assault on a woman over 16 (3 months in prison consecutive)

October 2019

• Possession of an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child (4 months in prison concurrent)
• Possession of extreme pornographic images depicting a sexual act with a dead/alive animal (4 months in prison concurrent)

TOTAL SENTENCE: 17 years and 6 months in prison

“I didn’t want to hurt his family. I hated him but he was like a father figure. I hated him after he raped me,” said Judge Tremberg, reading the evidence.

“It was a kind of love hate thing. I still wanted him to be the person I wanted him to be – like a father figure.”

“I still wanted to be part of that family.”

The victim decided to give evidence of the abuse Lamb put her through in July 2019, after police found her possessions in Lamb’s home in Fishergate in York.

A diary was found where the victim set out the sexual abuse and rapes against her.

Earlier this year, Lamb appeared at Hull Crown Court to stand trial for 20 sexual offences, allegations he described as “ludicrous” and “totally fictitious”.

However, a jury found him guilty of 19 of them, including 16 offences of indecent assault and three counts of rape.

Judge David Tremberg sentenced him to 17-and-a-half-years in prison.

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Islington Gazette, 14th May 2021

By Emma Bartholomew

An Islington police officer who raped a teenage girl in the ’70s has been jailed for 17-and-a-half years.

Paul Kenneth Lamb, 73, of York, was found guilty of 19 sex offences at Hull Crown Court on May 7, following historical allegations of child abuse.

Lamb had previously pleaded guilty to charges relating to indecent images found on his digital device.

The charges were brought against Mr Lamb as part of an investigation into offences which took place during the 1970s in Islington, and in the 1980s in Yorkshire, when he ran a care home.

At the time of his offences in the ’70s, Lamb is understood to have been living in police accommodation in Caledonian Road and the victim was supposed to have been being looked after in a council-run children’s home.

Det Supt Phil Gadd said: “I am pleased Lamb was found guilty for his sickening and incomprehensible actions against vulnerable victims and that he will now serve a very long time behind bars.”

He commended Lamb’s victims for their “bravery and perseverance” throughout the long investigative process. 

“They have displayed dignity and courage throughout this incredibly difficult time as their patience and understanding has been invaluable whilst we built a strong case against Lamb.

“They have had to carry with them the trauma of his criminal actions since their childhood and I sincerely hope that they are now able to feel some sense of justice has been achieved and they can look to hopefully move forward knowing he is in prison where he belongs.

The Islington Survivors Network (ISN), which supports people who were abused in council-run homes and foster care between the ’60s and ’90s, reported the Islington crime to the Met four years ago.

They are concerned that the case against Lamb wasn’t brought sooner, and claim they were told by officers in 2018 that Lamb couldn’t be traced. 

But a spokesperson for the Met said the investigation had been passed to Humberside police “as they were conducting an investigation into a number of linked offences relating to the suspect who had moved to that area”.

Former Islington council social worker Liz Davies, who founded ISN, said: “We are relieved that Paul Lamb can no longer harm children. He had access to an Islington children’s home where the children should have been safe.

“At that time paedophiles had taken over the Islington homes in a systematic way and hundreds of children suffered the horrors of sexual and physical abuse and neglect.”

She added: “ISN is delighted that at last this serial abuser has been brought to justice, and glad to have helped police in their investigations, both in London and Hull. 

“We are however deeply angry that Lamb was only able to abuse children across Britain for so long because in Islington, where he abused children long before Hull, council and social services covered up the vile abuse in its children’s homes. 

“For decades it protected the many paedophiles who ran or worked in its homes, or, like Lamb, were allowed freely to visit them and prey on the children there. 

“They got away with this despite the many attempts by victims, whistle blowers and campaigners since the 1990s to expose these paedophile rings and protect children in care.

“We wish all the victims find peace now – they have been immensely courageous and the Hull police listened and heard and acted with caring and sensitivity.” 

Cllr Richard Watts, leader of Islington Council – which is currently consulting on whether to pay survivors of abuse who lived in its care homes a support payment of £8,000, without having to bring a civil compensation claim – said: “Abuse of children in Islington’s care homes was the worst chapter in the council’s history, and we are deeply sorry for the council’s past failure to protect vulnerable children.

“We strongly believe any new allegations or evidence of crime relating to non-recent child abuse should be reported to the police, so prosecutions can be successfully brought.

“We ask anyone with information about non-recent abuse to come forward and contact police so allegations or evidence of abuse can be properly investigated.

“The council today is a very different organisation from in the 1960s-1990s, and today protecting children from harm is its top priority.”

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Islington Tribune, 14th May 2021

by Callum Fraser

The assault dates back to the 1970s when the teenager was in an Islington children’s home

A FORMER police officer who raped a girl from an Islington children’s home has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison.

Paul Lamb, 73, was convicted and sentenced at Hull Crown Court this week after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting girls under the age of 16 from children’s homes in Yorkshire and Islington in the 1970s and 1980s.

But the case has infuriated the Islington Survivors Network (ISN), which supports people who were abused in council-run homes over a 40-year period, as they say the Met Police allegedly failed to pursue Lamb years ago.

While the ISN was told Lamb could not be traced, he was found when the group typed his name into a web search and discovered he was living in Yorkshire.

Former Islington council social worker Dr Liz Davies, who founded ISN after blowing the whistle on the “vile abuse” in children’s homes, said: “We are relieved that Paul Lamb can no longer harm children. He had access to an Islington children’s home where the children should have been safe.

“At that time paedophiles had taken over the Islington homes in a systematic way and hundreds of children suffered the horrors of sexual and physical abuse and neglect.”

Among other convictions, Lamb was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and one count of raping a girl under the age of 16 between 1970 and 72 in Islington.

The girl, who was in her early teens when she met Lamb, lived in the Sheringham Road children’s home in Highbury.

He was a serving Met officer and it is under­stood that he lived in police accommodation nearby at the time.

He later left London with his family and moved to Yorkshire and then became a manager of the Brook Cottage children’s home in Driffield where he abused more girls in the 1980s, the court was told.

In 2017, the ISN facilitated an interview between the Met and one of his victims as part of operation Winter Key, an investigation into historic child sexual abuse cases.

Dr Davies says she heard nothing back for months and then followed up with an email in 2018.

She added: “In March 2018 they [the Met] told us that their intel couldn’t find Lamb but we then gave them his address which we had found online.

“We asked whether the information had been shared with Islington and Yorkshire Local Authority Designated Officers responsible for the Children’s Workforce in order to assess the risk if he was still in contact with children.

“We heard no more until Humberside Police contacted us last year.”

The ISN intends to submit a formal complaint to the Met. Lamb was sentenced on Friday to 17-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of 19 non-recent sexual offences.

Islington Council has set up a payment scheme which could see people who suffered abuse in its care between 1966 and 1995 receive up to £8,000.

Dr Davies said: “Islington Survivors Network is delighted that at last this serial abuser [Lamb] has been brought to justice, and glad to have helped police in their investigations, both in London and Hull.

“We are however deeply angry that Lamb was only able to abuse children across Britain for so long because in Islington, where he abused children long before Hull, council and social services covered up the vile abuse in its children’s homes.

“For decades it protected the many paedophiles who ran or worked in its homes, or, like Lamb, were allowed freely to visit them and prey on the children there.”

The Tribune put all of Dr Davies’ accusations to the police.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “At this stage, we are currently unable to say if this information was acted upon by officers from the Met.”

A Humberside Police spokeswoman said: “A non-recent allegation of sexual assault was made to Humberside Police during an investigation leading to the arrest of Paul Kenneth Lamb in 2019. Details of the Met Police Service investigation were received via Operation Hydrant, and contact with the victim in London was made.”

Islington Council leader Richard Watts said: “Abuse of children in Islington’s care homes was the worst chapter in the council’s history, and we are deeply sorry for the council’s past failure to protect vulnerable children.

“We strongly believe any new allegations or evidence of crime relating to non-recent child abuse should be reported to the police, so prosecutions can be successfully brought.” He added: “The council today is a very different organisation from in the 1960s-1990s, and today protecting children from harm is its top priority.”

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“The victim is at the highest level of our priorities. There is nowhere for perpetrators to hide, we will pursue them relentlessly”

“We take all reports of sexual abuse seriously and regardless of how much time has passed, we will seek justice for those who have been affected”

Detective Superintendent Phil Gadd

York Press, 8th May 2021

A 73-year-old York man has been sentenced to 17 and a half years in jail after being found guilty of multiple historic sexual offences.

A jury at Hull Crown Court found Paul Kenneth Lamb guilty of 19 non-recent sexual offences. He’d previously pleaded guilty to charges relating to indecent images found on his digital device.

The charges were brought against Mr Lamb as part of an investigation into offences which took place during the 1970s in London and 1980s in North Yorkshire, Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire area.

Detective Superintendent Phil Gadd, investigating, said: “I am pleased Lamb was found guilty for his sickening and incomprehensible actions against vulnerable victims and that he will now serve a very long time behind bars.

“I want to thank the victims and commend them for their bravery and perseverance throughout the long investigative process. They have displayed dignity and courage throughout this incredibly difficult time as their patience and understanding has been invaluable whilst we built a strong case against Lamb.

“They have had to carry with them the trauma of his criminal actions since their childhood and I sincerely hope that they are now able to feel some sense of justice has been achieved and they can look to hopefully move forward knowing he is in prison where he belongs.

“In recent years, Humberside, as with other forces, has reviewed how it works with victims of crime, and in particular, victims of sexual crime. The victim is at the highest level of our priorities. There is nowhere for perpetrators to hide, we will pursue them relentlessly.

“I would like to thank the team who have worked tirelessly over the past two years to ensure the victims were given the support and confidence to bring Paul Lamb to justice.

“We take all reports of sexual abuse seriously and regardless of how much time has passed, we will seek justice for those who have been affected.”