Rochdale council apologises to sexually abused children ahead of inquiry

Rochdale council has apologised for its “unforgiveable” failure to protect children who were sexually abused at a school, hostel and other institutions linked to the late politician Cyril Smith.

But victims said the apology was 50 years too late, with inaction allowing the local councillor and Liberal MP to evade prosecution until his death in 2010.

Steve Rumbelow, the chief executive of Rochdale Borough Council, said the abuse at Cambridge House hostel, Knowl View school and other institutions had “cast a long shadow over the town for many years and have undoubtedly caused pain to many people”.

“The council acknowledges that there were significant failings, both in the way that Knowl View School was managed, and in the council’s response to concerns about sexual abuse within and outside the school,” he added.

“That was, frankly, unforgivable. On behalf of Rochdale Borough Council, I would like to apologise sincerely to anyone who was failed by the council during those years.”

Two years after Smith’s death at the age of 82, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) stated the 29-stone politician abused young boys in the 1960s in his role as secretary of the Rochdale Hostel for Boys Association.

He had been accused of abusing eight children at the Cambridge House hostel in the town by spanking and touching them, with three separate files on his actions passed to the Crown Prosecution Service and Director of Public Prosecutions.

But no charges were brought and Smith was allowed to continue his political career, becoming the MP for Rochdale in 1972 and moving into the Liberal Democrats on the formation of the new party before leaving Parliament in 1992.

Martin Digan, a former social worker, claimed that in 1994 he discovered a report made three years earlier by a HIV prevention officer who warned Rochdale council that boys aged between eight and16 at Knowl View School were at risk of Aids.

Mr Digan said the report revealed that men travelled from as far away as Sheffield to visit the residential school, where Smith was the head of governors, and sexually abuse young boys.

Mr Rumbelow acknowledged that the council could “not turn the clock back” but would continue work with children’s services, police and protection agencies to safeguard young people.

He said the council was supporting the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which is holding its public hearing sessions next month into allegations of abuse and exploitation of children in Rochdale and across England and Wales.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was due to hold a preliminary hearing into institutional responses to child sexual abuse and exploitation facilitated by the internet on Tuesday.

Another hearing on Wednesday will specifically consider the abuse of children at Cambridge House, Knowl View and other institutions where their placement was arranged by Rochdale Borough Council.

Richard Scorer, a lawyer representing victims who were abused in Rochdale, said the council’s apology was welcome but not “comprehensive”.

“It is many years too late,” he told The Independent. “The evidence of abuse at both of these institutions has been around many decades, so this should have come long ago.”

Mr Scorer, a specialist abuse solicitor at Slater and Gordon UK, said the victims he represented believed Rochdale council was pushed into making the apology by the upcoming inquiry.

He added: “Our view is what’s driven the timing is the evidence that’s going to come out with this inquiry.

“I think it will be clear that there were significant failings on behalf of the council and that whole issue will be reinforced.”

The solicitor represents eight victims taking part in the inquiry who were abused at Cambridge House and Knowl View, but believes there are “many more”, adding: “One of the things the inquiry will need to be do is get a handle on just how pervasive this abuse was and how many victims and perpetrators were involved.”

Rochdale Borough Council declined to comment on Mr Scorer’s comments.

GMP launched an investigation into allegations of corruption involving Smith and others in authority in July 2014 but said no evidence had been found of a criminal cover-up of historical sexual abuse at Knowl View.

Last year it emerged no one would face prosecution following a separate “extensive and thorough” police investigation into reports of physical and sexual abuse at the school from 1969 until its closure in 1995.

GMP had previously investigated allegations of child abuse at Knowl View and other care homes across Greater Manchester, including an operation launched in 1998 that took six years before it led to the convictions of seven people.