Charles Thomson – Islington Survivors Network

Jason Swift among past tragic cases linked to Conewood site

Islington Gazette, 4th September 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

A children’s home at the centre of a new sex abuse claim was already linked to a succession of controversies and tragedies, including one kidnapping the killings of two teenage boys.

At least four people who worked at Islington Council’s former home in Conewood Street, later named Park Place, have previously been accused of abusing children, according to privileged council documents.

When another was convicted of kidnapping a child he met at the facility, a paedophile magazine sprang to his defence.

Schoolboy Jason Swift, killed by a child sex trafficking ring dubbed the Dirty Dozen, was linked to the building, as was another boy who was violently killed.

The home is now the subject of a lawsuit claiming a teenage girl was repeatedly sexually abused by strange men who entered her bedroom under the cover of darkness.

As lawyers representing the complainant urged other victims to come forward, the Islington Gazette explored the Conewood home’s murky past.

'Sally', now in her 40s, is suing Islington Council, claiming she was repeatedly sexually abused in her bed at Park Place in Conewood Street. She is seen her discussing the case with her lawyer Andrew Lord

Kidnap

In 1983, social worker John Picton (now deceased) snatched a 13-year-old boy he had met at the Conewood facility.

The boy had moved to an adjoining children’s home in Elwood Street by the time Picton took him.

The homes were joined by their back gardens, so staff and children could move between them.

Picton and the boy he abducted were tracked down almost two months later in Toulouse, France.

He was brought back to the UK and prosecuted, prompting a paedophile magazine called Minor Problems to lament his plight.

In an article titled ‘Affection is not a crime’, the paedophile rights newsletter claimed to have met Picton and been convinced “of his genuine concern for his chosen ‘son’”.

He was sent to prison for six months, which the paedophile pamphlet called an “inhuman wrong”.

Abuse Allegations

A 1999 council document revealed numerous historic abuse allegations at the Conewood home.

The document, by the council’s Child Protection and Reviews Service, was published under Freedom of Information laws at the request of Dr Liz Davies at the Islington Survivors Network (ISN).

It said two specific staff members were “alleged to be involved in abuse and pornography”.

A third was alleged to have watched a pornographic film with a child, at added.

Two girls separately reported being abused by unidentified persons at Conewood Street.

None of those allegations was dated in the file.

But a fourth identified staff member was “alleged to abuse boys through prostitution and described boys as his boyfriends” between 1986 and 1995, the report said.

After an “unsuccessful disciplinary hearing”, he went to work for another council.

As of 1999, none of these allegations had ever been investigated by police.

A 1999 Islington Council document, released under the Freedom of Information Act, detailed numerous historic abuse allegations linked to the Conewood Street home *(Image: ISN)*

Jason Swift

By 1999, police were aware of reports that Jason Swift had been linked to the Conewood facility not long before he died, the document continued.

Numerous staff and children have reported knowing him while he was there, said Dr Davies.

The Hackney teen was not a resident, she added, but attended an education facility there.

Jason, 14, was found in a shallow grave in Essex in November 1985.

He had died during a vicious gang rape by a paedophile gang known as the Dirty Dozen.

The tabloid press described him as a “rent boy”, despite him being a child incapable of consent.

Paedophile Sidney Cooke was convicted of manslaughter over Jason’s death in 1989, but how he first came to the attention of Cooke’s gang has never been properly established.

A 1999 document, released to Islington Survivors Network (ISN) under the Freedom of Information Act, said Jason Swift – later killed by a paedophile gang – had been linked to Conewood Street *(Image: ISN)*

Tony McGrane

Another Conewood boy wrongly described by tabloids as a “rent boy” also met a violent death.

Tony McGrane, 13, was found stabbed to death in a garage in Clerkenwell in October 1986.

His family denied lurid newspaper reports that he – a child incapable of consent – had been “selling sex in Soho”.

Tony’s death was one of 16 child killings investigated under Operation Stranger – the same operation that investigated Jason Swift’s death – as being potentially linked to one another.

But a 19-year-old family friend from Finsbury, called Gary Whelan, was ultimately convicted of manslaughter over Tony’s death in 1989.

A 1999 document, released years later under the Freedom of Information Act, detailed a catalogue of abuse allegations linked to the Conewood Street home, known to Islington Council but, until that point, never investigated by police

New Allegation

In July, the Islington Gazette published a harrowing interview with a woman who says she was repeatedly sexually abused at Conewood in the 1990s.

Her lawyer Andrew Lord, at Leigh Day, has appealed for anyone with knowledge of the home at that time to make contact.

The council said it could not comment on active lawsuits.

However, it has previously admitted and apologised for decades of widespread abuse in its children’s homes, calling it “the worst chapter in this council’s history”.

Islington: Man says he was abused in Northampton Park home

Islington Gazette, 23rd February 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

‘Max’ says he was placed in Northampton Park children’s home, Canonbury – but Islington Council appears to have lost his care file *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

A man calling for support after he was left addicted to drugs after years of abuse in children’s homes found his care records had been lost.

Max – not his real name – says he was placed in two Islington Council children’s homes in the 1990s, where children and staff used drugs and he lived in fear of sexual assault.

But when he applied for his care records to support his bid for a £10,000 payout, the council could not find them.

“This is potentially very serious,” said Dr Liz Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN).

Councils are supposed to keep the records of looked after children for 75 years.

Dr Davies said she had referred several people with missing or incomplete files to a lawyer to see whether a legal action could be brought.

Islington Council would not comment on Max’s case, but said applicants to the support scheme did not necessarily need their care records.

However, Dr Davies said other applicants whose records were missing or incomplete had been turned down.

‘Children smoked crack’

Max said he was taken into care in 1993 and placed in the former Northampton Park children’s home, near Canonbury station.

He said some staff there openly smoked cannabis and permitted children in their care to smoke cigarettes and other substances.

He was given hashish, he alleged, and witnessed other children using crack cocaine.

The former children’s home at Northampton Park, near Canonbury station, is now private residential building *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

He was neglected, he claimed, with nobody noticing conditions he was later diagnosed with disorders like dyslexia and ADHD, which impacted his education. He left school with no qualifications.

The home was also rife with rumours of sexual abuse, he said.

“Other kids told me something bad was happening in the home,” said Max. “They said to keep away from certain people.”

At night, he claims, he would put furniture against his door and was frightened to go to sleep.

Heroin addiction

Max said he was later moved to another children’s home and got no help finding accommodation after turning 18.

His adulthood has been marred by heroin addition, which sabotaged his career in IT, and failed relationships. At one point, he lived in a hostel.

Only now he is clean and sober has he joined the dots between his childhood trauma and his destructive drug use.

“I was trying to forget,” he said.

Max, now in his 40s, still lives in north London – but has had a chaotic adulthood, marred by heroin addiction and depression. He is now clean and sober, and wants Islington Council to offer redress for the impact of his alleged childhood abuse *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

He now has constant pain in the left side of his body, which he believes is linked to his past heroin use.

He also has depression – not helped, he said, by living in a rented studio flat so dilapidated that he can’t use his own bathroom. He has to visit a relative daily to use theirs.

He is on the council’s bidding list for a one-bedroom flat, but several thousand places from the top.

Missing file

After admitting and apologising for decades of abuse in its former children’s homes, Islington Council set up the Support Payment Scheme, offering £10,000 to survivors.

Dr Davies helps survivors obtain their care records and file applications.

The Arrangements for Placement of Children Regulations 1991 say case files should be kept until the looked-after child’s 75th birthday – but Max’s cannot be found.

“It’s important to note that we do not require a care file to be supplied as part of an application for the support payment scheme,” a council spokesperson said.

“We don’t want potential applicants to be dissuaded from applying.”

But Dr Davies said some previous applicants have been rejected under similar circumstances.

Max returned to the former children’s home with the Islington Gazette. He said the £10,000 support payment would help get his life back on track *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

In January, the Gazette reported on Zara, also not her real name, who was rejected after receiving an incomplete care file.

Like Zara, Dr Davies said Max’s memories – the names of staff and children at Northampton Park, and his descriptions of what happened there – are corroborated by other survivors.

But Zara was still turned down and told to apply to an appeal panel if she wanted to pursue payment.

The same happened to another applicant, Tony Darke, even with a care file.

Whistleblowing former Islington social worker Liz Davies said she had referred the cases of several people with missing files to a lawyer, to see whether legal action could be mounted over the apparent legal breaches *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

Max’s Dream

If Max received the £10,000, he said, he would first book some private therapy – something he started once before but could not really afford.

“If you want it on the NHS you have to wait forever and you might die before you ever get treated,” he said.

He says he would then invest in some IT training to try to get his career back on track.

“I think the main thing I need is to find a nine-to-five job,” he said.

“The payment would definitely improve some things in my life. It’s not something that would go to waste.”

Once he is back on his feet, he said, he would like to help other recovering addicts get their lives back on track.

The payment scheme is open to applications until May. Visit www.islingtonsupportpayment.co.uk.

Islington Survivors Network can be reached at 0300 302 0930 or islingtonsn@gmail.com.

Islington Council child abuse scheme faces fresh criticism

Islington Gazette, 15th February 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

Tony Darke, 55, says he applied to Islington Council’s Support Payment Scheme after suffering years of cruel and violent abuse in children’s homes – but has been told he will receive no pay-out unless he wins over an appeal panel *(Image: Tony Darke)*

A man forced to recount years of painful and humiliating abuse says he feels “kicked in the teeth” after his account was not believed.

Tony Darke has been rejected by Islington Council’s support scheme for abuse victims, despite his account being corroborated by others.

The 55-year-old lived in three children’s homes in the early 1980s, where he says he suffered neglect and “very violent” abuse.

But he says he has been refused financial help on grounds that there is insufficient evidence.

“You spill your guts out, remembering all this stuff you don’t want to remember, revealing all these intimate details, and it’s like you get kicked in the teeth in return,” he said.

Initial applications to the Islington Support Payment Scheme are done in writing – but Tony must now face an appeal panel.

“Now I’ve got to relive the whole thing again, but this time to a load of strangers,” he added.

The council told him months ago that it contact him soon with details – but he said he had heard nothing since.

It is the second time this year that the Islington Gazette has reported on applicants being rejected despite what the Islington Survivors Network (ISN) says is compelling corroboration.

Islington Council said it would not comment on individual cases.

A photo of Tony with one of the friendlier staff members inside one of the homes *(Image: Tony Darke)*

‘A knee in the back’

Tony was placed in care, aged 13, when his mother was deemed not to be coping.

He lived in homes in Conewood Street and Highbury Crescent, then Gisburn House in Hertfordshire.

The violent abuse started at Conewood, he alleged, with what he called “pin-downs”.

“It could be anything that triggered it,” he said. “They didn’t really need a reason. You might just swear, or say something they didn’t agree with.

“Everyone plays up sometimes – we were kids! It might be something like, it’s bedtime and you don’t want to go to bed.

“Two or three of them would basically jump you, wrestle you to the ground and hold you down by your legs, your shoulders, so you literally couldn’t move. It hurt. You’d have a knee in your back or chest. It was a lot of pressure.

“They only let you up when they decided. They lifted you up with your arms behind your back and took you off to your room.”

Sometimes, said Tony, he was grabbed by the throat.

Others were treated even worse, he claimed. He recalled one child who staff taunted constantly, then attacked if they reacted.

One of the few photos Tony Darke has of himself during his years in Islington Council’s care *(Image: Tony Darke)*

Self-harm

At Gisburne House, Tony alleged, staff gave cigarettes to children as a means of control.

“Most of the kids in there smoked,” he said.

He said some staff at Gisburne were cruel.

“If you misbehaved you would go without dinner, or get a cold dinner. Or they banned you from going home at weekends to your family,” he claimed.

Staff drove children into the woods in the middle of the night in a Transit van and dumped them there, he said. They were split up and told to find their own way home in the dark.

Files show that by the end of Tony’s time in care, he was “beset by anxiety”, with “no confidence and low self-esteem”, and was self-harming.

One a camping trip, files record that he stuck his feet in the campfire. He bit his fingers until they bled, punched walls and scratched his arms.

He was deemed a potential suicide risk and described as very thin. He was caught shoplifting items to sell so he could buy food.

Dr Liz Davies claimed the Islington Support Payment Scheme was making ‘inconsistent’ decisions, with with some applicants rejected despite having no less proof than others who were approved *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

“Ridiculous”

After admitting and apologising for decades of abuse in children’s homes, Islington Council’s Support Payment Scheme opened in 2022, offering £10,000 pay-outs to victims.

Tony applied last spring but received a letter on October 12 – his 55th birthday – saying he would receive no payment due to insufficient evidence. It said he could appeal.

The networl’s Dr Liz Davies described the decision as “ridiculous” and “inconsistent”.

“Tony has no less evidence than others who’ve received payments,” she said.

“Others have described the same sorts of abuse in the same homes, naming the same staff. Lots from Gisburn, for example, describe the night runs in the woods.

“Files prove Tony was in the homes. He names other children who were in the homes with him, some of whom I know have already successfully applied.”

Islington Council said all applications were “treated equally and carefully assessed”, adding: “We do not regard an application as having been ‘rejected’ when in fact it has been referred to the independent appeals panel for further consideration.”

The payment scheme is open to applications until May. Visit www.islingtonsupportpayment.co.uk.

Islington Survivors Network can be reached at 0300 302 0930 or islingtonsn@gmail.com.

Islington Council refuses claim under abuse payment scheme

Islington Gazette , 22nd January 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

Zara – not her real name – says she was abused in this former children’s home – and even has a photograph of herself standing outside. But Islington Council has refused her a payout, saying there is no evidence she was ever there *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

Islington Council has refused to pay an alleged abuse survivor, claiming there is no evidence she was in one of its children’s homes – even though she has photos and witnesses.

The woman, now in her 50s, says she was neglected in two Islington children’s homes in the 1980s, where children smoked, drank and used drugs with staff members’ knowledge.

When she fell pregnant on their watch, she says the staff then tried to force her to get an abortion.

But when she applied to the Islington Support Payment Scheme, set up to help survivors of widespread abuse in the borough’s children’s homes, the council said there was insufficient evidence Zara – not her real name – had been in their care

Dr Liz Davies, a whistleblowing former Islington social worker whose decades of campaigning led to the fund’s creation, blasted the “ridiculous” decision.

Dr Davies, founder of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN), said she help Zara compile and submit her application, which included photos of her inside one children’s home with staff and other residents.

A witness has also told the Islington Gazette that she was Zara’s roommate in one of the children’s homes and had already informed the scheme of this before Zara was rejected.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Annabelle, whose name has also been changed. “She was there. I mentioned her on two different occasions. I mentioned in my application the things we would get up to and how Zara would protect me.

“It’s just crazy. There are other people who know her and know she was there too.”

Annabelle said she was with Zara in two children’s homes: 11-12 Highbury Crescent, then 80 Highbury New Park.

Islington Council would not comment on Zara’s case.

Zara said the stress and upset of having her application refused had left her unable to sleep *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

Islington Gazette: Zara said the stress and upset of having her application refused had left her unable to sleep

“We are having to spill out all our traumas, only for them to reject us,” said Zara.

“I had a panic attack and hyperventilated when I found out. It’s traumatising to be subjected to all this – to go back over what’s happened to you, only for them to slap you in the face and still keep insulting you time and time again. It’s upsetting.

“All of this has brought back memories for me. It’s very emotionally draining. I’m waiting for a doctor’s appointment because I’m not sleeping properly. Sometimes I’m sitting in my house and I get very tearful because it’s all resurfacing.

“The most hurtful part is that the proof is all in there. I included photos. They’ve clearly not even looked at my application.”

Dr Davies helped Zara apply for her council records before applying to the scheme, but when they were supplied, said Zara, the contents were “almost completely missing”.

“I was in the homes for four years and my file was about four pages,” she said.

“There was no mention of her being in the children’s homes in her file,” said Dr Davies. “So I knew I really had to prove it.

“I attached photos of her in her room, with the manager, nursing her newborn baby with other residents and even standing outside the front door with the number 80 on it.”

This photograph shows Zara stood outside 80 Highbury New Park, said Dr Liz Davies, and is part of a collection of photos she has of herself at the home, including posing with staff *(Image: ISN)*

Islington Gazette: This photograph shows Zara stood outside 80 Highbury New Park, said Dr Liz Davies, and is part of a collection of photos she has of herself at the home, including posing with staff

But in December, Zara was told her application had been rejected.

“I wrote to the lawyers straight away and said, ‘There must be a mistake here, I sent you all the photographs’,” said Dr Davies.

“Then I remembered another survivor had mentioned Zara in her own statement and already been paid out.

“So this is a failure on their part, in my view. But instead of pulling back and apologising, they said, ‘We know it’s disappointing but she will soon hear from the appeal panel’.”

“It’s not about the money,” said Zara. “It’s about getting justice for things that people feel like they’ve gotten away with.”

Dr Liz Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN), helped Zara submit her application and has condemned its rejection *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

Zara, who was in the homes in the 1980s, said she was still dealing with the consequences.

“It was mainly neglect,” she alleged. “We were left on our own. When you were in a predicament, there was no one there for you.

“Kids would be smoking, drinking, taking drugs. I was afraid of taking drugs so I didn’t do it, but used to drink alcohol. The staff would see us and do nothing. They’d even take us to the pub.

“At the time it seemed great, but it wasn’t. I’m grown now but I still have issues in my life because I didn’t get the guidance I needed when I was young.”

Left to her own devices by the staff, said Zara, she fell pregnant as a teenager.

“They tried to force me to have a termination,” she claimed. “I wanted to have my child but they keep taking me to a clinic in Euston, even though I didn’t want to go.

“I think maybe they wanted me to have a termination because I fell pregnant in their care. It was evidence of their neglect.”

Zara said she would fight against Islington Council’s decision for herself and others *(Image: Charles Thomson)*

Islington Gazette: Zara said she would fight against Islington Council's decision for herself and others Zara said she would fight against Islington Council’s decision for herself and others (Image: Charles Thomson)

Zara said she would fight against her rejection to inspire others to do the same.

“It’s not right and it’s not fair,” she said. “I don’t see why they should get away with it..

“I’ve always been the one that’s quiet and just expected to take everything on the chin, but I’m not doing that. This life has taught me to be strong.

“There are other people out there far worse off than me and if this is how they’re going to treat them too, it’s not right.”

Islington Council sent a lengthy statement but it did not address Zara’s case. It reiterated the council’s apology for past abuse in its children’s homes and said its support scheme remained open to applications.

Contact: Islingtonsn@gmail.com for assistance in claiming the Support Payment: Call voicemail 0300 302 0930 @theIslingtonSN

Roger Moody

North London: Youth worker Roger Moody was a proud paedophile

Islington Gazette 28th March 2023

By Charles Thomson Investigations Reporter

A proud paedophile managed to continue working with children even after authoring books, articles and pamphlets advocating sex between men and children.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, youth worker Roger Moody called for the age of consent to be abolished, even writing a book bemoaning “simplistic and bigoted” attitudes towards paedophiles.

But press cuttings from the late 1980s and early 1990s show he was still managing to get jobs working with children.

Earlier this month, the Islington Gazette interviewed a Met Police officer who said he was abused by Moody in the 1990s and recalled him being a volunteer at an Islington adventure playground.

In 2020, that officer was one of two people to approach the Islington Survivors Network (ISN) and report historic abuse by Moody.

Others made allegations decades earlier, but Moody was acquitted at trial.

Moody died in 2022.

The Gazette interviewed a Met Police officer who said he encountered Roger Moody as a direct result of neglect at the former Highbury Crescent children’s home.

‘Boy lover’

Roger Moody was a left-wing activist, campaigning against human rights abuses in the developing world.

In 1971, he even wrote for the Islington Gazette from Bangladesh, where he was delivering aid.

He lived in Caledonian Road at the time and was a “youth worker” in the Bemerton Adventure Playground in Copenhagen Street, Barnsbury.

But in 1975, when Moody outed himself as a paedophile, that should surely have spelled the end of his work with children.

He outed himself in a letter to Peace News, later calling it “the first confessional article by a boy-lover to appear in the British radical press”.

In a follow-up, he claimed sex only occurred between children and paedophiles “because the kids really want it”.

Alarmingly, the address he gave in those letters – in Dartmouth Park Hill, Kentish Town – was also the exact address of a “children’s community centre”.

Trial

In 1978, Moody was charged with child sex offences.

He was acquitted in 1979 at the Old Bailey after the judge banned the jury from seeing his pro-paedophile articles.

In one, he had called on paedophiles to adopt “revolutionary” tactics against their “repression”.

“Specifically, this means we don’t work to lower the age of consent, but to abolish it,” it said.

Ten days after his acquittal, he was arrested again after being seen hand-in-hand with a ten-year-old boy.

No charges followed.

Roger Moody rote a book titled ‘Indecent Assault’, described on the jacket as ‘a defence of paedophilia’ (Image: Charles Thomson)

“Indecent Assault”

In 1980, Moody wrote a book called Indecent Assault, described on its jacket as “a defence of paedophilia”.

“I defend the rights of children to make mutual physical relationships with people of any age,” he wrote, describing young boys as “provocateurs”.

He even dedicated the book to “the boys”, writing: “By the time they are full grown, I trust that most of what this work describes will have become redundant ritual”.

In 1986, he wrote a chapter for another pro-paedophile book – “The Betrayal of Youth” by Warren Middleton, a former vice-chairman of the Paedophile Information Exchange.

He called his chapter: “Ends and Means: How to Make Paedophilia Acceptable”.

“The Dodger”

Despite his pro-paedophile advocacy, Moody continued finding work with kids.

In 1989, the Chelsea News and General Advertiser reported that he had just quit his job as a “youth worker” with the North Kensington Amenity Trust.

Now known as the Westway Trust, it was set up in partnership with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

“All employment matters would have been handled by the charity, not the local authority,” said Westway.

Roger Moody wrote to the Islington Gazette in 1991, saying he had recently been working in schools (Image: Newsquest)

A 1991 letter from Moody to the Islington Gazette, bemoaning “falling standards” in schools, revealed another job with children.

“As a youth worker who until recently worked in a school-based youth project, I was very disturbed to read your report,” he wrote, giving his address as Liverpool Road.

It was at around this time that the Met Police officer interviewed by the Gazette recalled Moody also volunteering in an Islington play park.

Islington Council said it had found no records of Moody being a past employee.

Moody’s death last year provoked tributes from academics and human rights campaigners, seemingly unaware of his murky past.

Among those who wrote eulogies was Thomas O’Carroll, former chairman of Paedophile Information Exchange.

He titled his: “Rodger the Dodger, who beat the rap”.

The Islington Survivors Network can be reached on 0300 302 0930 or by emailing islingtonsn@gmail.com.