The Report of the Macur Review (Revised Redacted Version) An independent review of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the former county council areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd in North Wales since 1974 The Right Honourable Lady Justice Macur, DBE December 2017 Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons dated 5 December 2017 for The Report of the Macur Review An independent review of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the former county council areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd in North Wales since 1974 (Revised Redacted Version) The Right Honourable Lady Justice Macur, DBE, Lady Justice of Appeal Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 5 December 2017 HC390 © Crown copyright 2017 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] ISBN 978-1-5286-0022-4 CCS0817897938 12/17 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Contents Foreword 1 Summary 3 Chapter 1: Introduction 15 Chapter 2: Methodology 25 Chapter 3: Background and Delay to the Establishment of a Tribunal of Inquiry 41 Chapter 4: The Tribunal’s Constitution and Parties 75 Chapter 5: The Scope of the Tribunal 107 Chapter 6: Procedure Adopted in the course of the Inquiry by the Tribunal 135 Chapter 7: Freemasonry 197 Chapter 8: Establishment Names 207 Chapter 9: Paedophile Ring 239 Chapter 10: Concluding Remarks and Recommendations 249 Appendices 253 Appendix 1: Lady Justice Macur DBE’s letter of appointment dated 14 January 2013 255 Appendix 2: The Macur Review Team 257 Appendix 3: Appendix 4 of the Tribunal Report ‘Lost in Care’: Note by the Chairman of 259 the Tribunal on its procedures Appendix 4: Blank pro forma detailing the universal process adopted by the Review 271 Appendix 5: The Macur Review Issues Paper 273 Appendix 6: Acronyms 285 Foreword In conducting this Review I have adhered to the principles of thoroughness, independence and transparency throughout as I hope will be apparent herein. The length of this Report belies the thousands of hours spent in investigating documents relating to the Tribunal of Inquiry into “the abuse of children in care in the former county council areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd since 1974” and in considering the additional information obtained from ministerial papers, interviewees and other contributors. I am grateful to all who have contributed their views and information and for the co-operation of many in the production of documentation and in particular those I invited to meet with me. I have proceeded at all times on the basis that there was something to find rather than nothing to hide. I have been conscious of a public interest in the examination I have conducted into the integrity of the Tribunal of Inquiry, but have not underestimated the impact that the knowledge of this Review may have had upon those who gave evidence of childhood abuse and may have assumed that the publication of the Tribunal Report, “Lost in Care”, marked an end to a difficult life chapter for them. I have endeavoured to ensure that this Report addresses the terms of reference set to me in a straightforward fashion and with sufficient detail to demonstrate the conclusions I draw mindful, however, that its length should not deter the reader. I hope that this Report may bring a conclusion to the question mark raised against the Tribunal and achieve the finality that many participants in that process will desire. The Right Honourable Lady Justice Macur, DBE December 2015 The Report of the Macur Review | 1 2 | The Macur Review Summary Introduction 1. The following is a summary of the main conclusions that I have reached and express at the end of each of the chapters in this Report. I do not reproduce them verbatim. I nevertheless hope that interested parties will be inclined and able to devote the time to read the report as a whole. My detailed conclusions and the narrative text in support of them are contained within the Report itself. My concluding remarks and specific recommendations are found at the end of this Report. 2. This Review was commissioned by government and announced on 8 November 2012 at a time of significant public concern about allegations of widespread historic child sexual abuse involving celebrities and establishment figures, said to have been protected from scrutiny by reason of their standing in society. Long standing disquiet re-emerged that the statutory inquiry into the abuse of children in care in the former county council areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd since 1974, announced on 17 June 1996 and chaired by Sir Ronald Waterhouse (“the Tribunal”), had failed to discover such individuals’ participation in the abuse or had otherwise concealed it. That is, the Tribunal’s Report, ‘Lost in Care’ published in February 2000, did not include the names of establishment figures as had been expected. 3. The terms of reference set to this Review require that I consider the scope of the Tribunal and whether or not it sufficiently investigated specific allegations of child abuse in North Wales care homes falling within its remit. I have been asked to make recommendations to the Secretary of State for Justice and the Secretary of State for Wales. 4. Given the context in which this Review was commissioned and the, at least, implicit allegations of a government ‘cover up’, I have interpreted that part of the terms of reference which refers to “the scope” of the Tribunal to necessitate an examination of the actions of the Welsh Office (as it was then) and other government departments leading up to the establishment of the Tribunal. The second part of the terms of reference needs no further explanation. 5. My letter of appointment rightly anticipated that the Review envisaged would be predominantly document based, but did not preclude me seeking to interview those likely to be able to clarify issues arising. In addition, I have invited and considered contributions from interested parties; an ‘Issues Paper’ with suggestions of broad areas of interest has sought to prompt relevant written submissions. Individuals have been able to contact the Review by a variety of means. I held a public meeting in Wrexham, North Wales, with the aim of engaging local people in geographical proximity to the former Gwynedd and Clwyd county council boundaries and the Tribunal’s hearings. The Report of the Macur Review | 3 6. A significant delay to the start of this Review was caused by the failure of the Wales Office (as it became from 1 July 1999) to archive, properly or at all, the Tribunal documents. As a consequence, documents and materials were forwarded to me in a state of disarray. A preliminary inspection of materials received by the Review revealed that the Tribunal’s computer database was missing; later established to have been destroyed. 7. Every single document of the million plus pages of materials provided to the Review has been examined with a view to isolate those relevant to the Review and to ensure that nothing of relevance was concealed or contained in what appeared to be extraneous papers, or for leads to any materials or information which was excluded, concealed, overlooked or ignored. Manuscript comments on the documents have been scrutinised. This manual inspection took more than six months to complete. Materials were scanned on to an electronic document management system. The subsequent electronic search of the materials available to the Tribunal resulted in the identification of over 1,400 potential complainants of physical and sexual abuse for detailed analysis by the Review. 8. Interviews have been conducted with individuals closely involved with the Tribunal process and those who appeared to have information relevant to the Review on the basis of their written submissions. I have interviewed those involved in the police investigations and those who worked on the prosecution files of individuals accused of ill treatment, physical abuse, and/or sexual abuse of children in care in Gwynedd and Clwyd in the relevant period. 9. I am aware of other investigations and events that have arisen during the course of my Review and have sought information and made enquiries, as appropriate. In this regard, I have examined material and documents held by the Home Office relating to the loss or destruction of files, believed to relate to claims of child abuse and a dossier compiled by the late former MP, Mr Geoffrey Dickens. 10. I have provided a full account of my findings to the Secretary of State for Justice and the Secretary of State for Wales, but have advised that redaction of some parts of the report will be necessary to protect the integrity of pending and current criminal investigations and proceedings. Further, I have urged caution regarding the public identification by name of complainants, contributors to the Tribunal, and those individuals accused of abuse or speculated to be involved in abuse, who have not been subject to a police investigation, have not been convicted of a criminal offence and/or whose name is not in the public domain in the context of child abuse.