The original Joint Enquiry Report consisted of five volumes totalling over 600 pages. The first volume of 42 pages contained an introduction, a survey of the Team's work, conclusions, the reasons for these, a section covering the effects of the Broxtowe case on the Social Services Department, a section on Police/Social Service relationships and finally the Recommendations. This volume was in effect a brief summary of our approach and findings and no personnel were identified. All the evidence for our findings was contained in a further 4 volumes of Appendices labelled Factual Investigations, Children's Disclosures and Research. The Factual Investigation volume contained reports on interviews and contacts with over 70 persons.
The original report was written on the understanding that it was a personal report for the Director of Social Services and the Chief Constable and included material that was given to us in the strictest confidence that this would be the case. There was no attempt to preserve confidentiality and the appendices identify children and suspected perpetrators of Satanic abuse.
With the need to make the report more widely available and usable it has been re-written in a shortened version so that it can stand on its own without the appendices. The team have, therefore, extracted the most important information which influenced their conclusions and recommendations and have incorporated it into a one volume report. Our findings, conclusions and recommendations have not been altered but we have taken the opportunity to clarify some of the statements made in the original report. We have also added some additional material on the significance of our findings and have made use of further relevant information which has become available in the last few months. This report is still a Joint Report and has the approval of the remaining members of both agencies.
7th June 1990 Signed.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENQUIRY
Stage 1 Preliminary Investigation into Background Material
Stage 2 Interviews with Senior Personnel in the Respective Departments
Stage 3 Places and People Investigated
Stage 4 Analysis of the Children's Disclosures
(i) Analysis of the Children's Disclosures
(ii) Research into Satanism and Witchcraft
(iii) Research into the International Scene (USA, Canada and Holland) and the literature from the USA
(iv) Interviews with Experts previously used by Social Services
Stage 5 The later disclosures of [Mary] and the other 'satellite' cases
RESEARCH INTO OTHER CASES IN THE UK
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS OF WORK DONE BY THE TEAM (Stage 1 - 5)
CONCLUSIONS
IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
RECOMMENDATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
In October 1987 seven children of an extended family in Nottinghamshire were removed from home on suspicion that they had been sexually abused by their parents and relatives. In February 1989 10 adults, both male and female, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court charged with 53 offences of incest, indecent assault and cruelty against 21 of the children of their extended family and extensive terms of imprisonment were imposed. It is generally agreed that this was the most serious case of multi-generational sexual abuse within an extended family known in Britain. The successful prosecution was the culmination of enquiries made by both Police and Social Services personnel co-operating together into what became known as the Broxtowe Case, Nottingham. It resulted in considerable praise from the media, local councillors and even the Prime Minister for the efforts of the police and social workers after the Crown Court Judge made named commendations in respect of the involved personnel.
The children had been made Wards of Court before the criminal proceedings commenced and the Judge gave permission for the children to be interviewed by psychiatrists instructed by the parties. Any further interviews by social workers or the police would have required the Court's further permission. This was a sensitive time as the furore over Cleveland had erupted three months previously. The children's foster parents were asked to keep diaries of anything they said or did that might be relevant to their future welfare. These diaries formed part of the evidence provided to the Wardship Court which resulted in all the children being committed to the care of the Local Authority. The disclosures made in these diaries indicated very extensive sexual abuse. They also appeared to suggest that the children had been subjected to something more than sexual abuse as the children talked about witch parties, the murder of babies, the killing of animals, the involvement of strangers and of being taken elsewhere to be abused. Nothing like the content of these diaries had ever been seen before and they eventually gave rise to the suspicion that the children might have been involved in some form of organised ritualistic Satanic abuse or witchcraft cult. Adult members of the extended family were interviewed by social workers and appeared to support this view.
The Police set up a separate unilateral investigation into these further revelations after a Senior Social Worker made a statement. The social workers were not invited or encouraged to take part in this investigation which was called "Gollom". The social workers have stated that they had little idea as to what, if anything, was actually being investigated. When the Police reported in their findings that they did not consider Satanic abuse or witchcraft was involved or that there were any other perpetrators, this was not accepted by Social Services staff. It would appear that the social work staff had formed a view that the Police had deliberately set out to discredit the corroborating adults. In their view the Police were trying to disprove and close down the investigation. They further considered that the Police did not have sufficient knowledge of this type of abuse and were not prepared to acquire it. In short the Social Services Department, having not been involved were not satisfied that the Police had undertaken a thorough investigation and additional information the social workers acquired about tunnels at Wollaton Hall and a swimming pool at an identified house appeared to strengthen this opinion.
The Police were concerned that the information contained in the children's diaries would be on their prosecution files and, therefore, available to the Defence in the Criminal Prosecution. They considered that there was a possibility that as potential witnesses the children and young adults would be discredited. Because of this the Police requested that no further diaries should be kept but this ran counter to the requirements of the Wardship Hearing and the need to understand the children's experience if they were to be helped. By June 1988 the Police refused to accept any more of the children's diaries. They indicated that they would no longer be prepared to investigate disclosures of this nature.
The only exception to this was an interview conducted with children who alleged that murders had taken place on a boat. Once again the social workers considered that the police had set out to discredit the children.
Various meetings by senior officers of both departments were held to try and find a way out of this impasse but no satisfactory resolution appeared to be reached and the children continued to make disclosures identifying locations and additional perpetrators. It is indisputable that a profound mistrust had developed and the awareness of this was not helped by the knowledge that the Cook Programme would be including Nottingham in its presentation of a programme on the Satanic abuse of children.
In April 1989 a Joint Memorandum outlining the Social Services' perspective of the disclosures and enquiry work was submitted by the Principal Solicitor and Assistant Director of Children's Services to the Chief Executive. The memorandum did not express a view as to whether Satanic abuse was a reality but it did express grave concern that further children could be at risk and that it was no longer possible to investigate this. The memorandum made the point that if a child was abused as a consequence of the lack of investigation then it would be very damaging for the Local Authority. The memorandum was, therefore, written to draw attention to this and compel further action.
The Joint Enquiry Team
The Chief Constable, Mr. R. Hadfield and the Director of Social Services, Mr. D. White, recognised that massive differences of opinion had developed between officers of their respective departments and positive action was needed to progress further. Their decision was that a Joint Unit staffed by Police Officers and Social Workers who had no involvement with the evidence gathering, file preparation and trial of the extended T. Family should be set up. The staffing for the Joint Unit was decided by the respective Chief Officers and the following personnel were selected on a full-time basis:-
Detective Sergeant George THORPE (West Bridgford CID)
Detective Constable Wendy GLENN (West Bridgford CID)
David LONG, Senior Social Worker (Radford Social Services Office)
Margaret GREGORY, Senior Social Worker (Kings Mill Hospital, Mansfield)
For operational purposes the Unit was jointly managed by Detective Superintendent Bob DAVY, (Deputy Head - Nottinghamshire CID), and John GWATKIN, (Area Director, Nottinghamshire Social Services - Newark), who retained the responsibility for their respective posts. The Joint Unit worked from accommodation at West Bridgford Police Station, Nottingham, and had access for advice and guidance to Chief Officer level, in the case of the Police - Mr. E. GRIFFITH, Assistant Chief Constable (Operations), and in the case of Social Services - Mr. B. NEWELL, Deputy Director of Social Services.
The Terms of Reference for the Joint Unit were outlined as follows:-
d) You are asked to explore these items and seek to resolve them.
A Joint Memorandum to the staff seconded to the Unit was issued by the Director of Social Services and the Chief Constable, and brief information giving details of the Joint Unit was circulated within the two Departments.
The Team's Work
The team commenced work on the 10th July 1989 and immediately arranged a meeting with the social workers responsible for the children of the extended T. family. At this meeting it was emphasised that the purpose of the Enquiry was the protection of known or unknown children from abuse and that it was not an Enquiry into the conduct of staff. We have tried to keep to the spirit of this and no individuals of the respective departments are named in this report. We have not interviewed any staff or obtained any information with the purpose or intention of making judgements on staff although inevitably views may be formed from our findings.
It must be emphasised that these original conditions imposed upon the Enquiry Team prevented us from interviewing the relevant staff with regard to their work with particular children. We have come to some of our conclusions based upon the records and additional interviews with children who were not part of the original enquiry. Inevitably this report cannot give a complete picture but hopefully will point the way to further work.
During the course of an enquiry which lasted five months the following areas of work were covered by the Team:-
[Mary]
[Amy]
[Lily] and [Alice]
[Neil]
[Reggie] and [Melissa]
[Colin] and [Florence]
[Clara]
[Donna] and [Teresa]
14. Attendance at presentations in respect of Satanic/ritualistic child abuse at Reading and Mapperley (Child Line). A representative was sent to the Area Directors' and BASPCAN presentations.
15. Research into Satanism/Witchcraft and the international experience (a bibliography is attached).
The Enquiry proved to be extremely complex and led in unexpected directions.
After re-reading the original report which was unnecessarily repetitious we have decided on the following format:-
The Development of the Enquiry
STAGE 1 Preliminary investigation into background material.
STAGE 2 Interviews with Senior Personnel in the respective departments.
STAGE 3 Places and People investigated.
STAGE 4 Analysis of the Children's disclosures
Research into Satanism and Witchcraft.
Research into the International scene and the literature from the USA.
Interviews with the experts used by Social Services
STAGE 5 The disclosures of [Mary] and the other satellite cases.
Research into other cases in the UK.
Summary of Findings
Conclusions
Implications of the Findings:-
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENQUIRY
It should be noted that the following stages through which the Enquiry progressed overlapped to some extent but we consider that it is important to illustrate how the Team's views developed.
STAGE 1 - Preliminary Investigation into Background Material
We knew nothing about the Broxtowe cases when we started and our first endeavour was to acquire and read all the background information that appeared to be relevant or that was offered to us. This included the following:-
- The official Police files
- The Wardship papers on Social Services files
- The Children's files
- The Diaries that had been kept by the foster parents
We made it clear at the outset that we would want to look at anything that was considered to be relevant but obviously in this respect had to depend upon the social workers who knew the case well.
STAGE 2 - Interviews with the Senior Personnel in the Respective Departments who had been involved in the Broxtowe case and its aftermath
a) The Police
We considered that it was important to find out what had actually been investigated in the Gollom enquiry, and the findings. Without this knowledge we had no way of knowing at what stage it had ended. We also considered it important to find out the Police perspective on the case. From this interview we learned that the continuation of the Diaries had caused the Police anxiety as they constituted a threat to the successful prosecution. We could surmise that the Police felt betrayed that their request had apparently been ignored. It became clear that the Police had checked locations more thoroughly than the Social Services Department had realised and had, for example interviewed neighbours of the T. family.
We were told that the Police had approached this investigation with an open mind and even a sense of anticipation of something interesting. They had, however, been rapidly disillusioned by the lack of evidence and a realization that the corroborating adults were in their view totally unreliable. In an attempt to explain this they had analysed the Diaries and had come to the conclusion that the children and foster parents were influencing each other, possibly through the fortnightly foster parent support meetings.
The Police were highly suspicious of the involvement of the media and Mr. W, particularly after they discovered that the media, who wanted to make a good T.V. programme, had supplied Mr. W. with the Satanic indictors that he used when briefing the foster parents.
The Police speculated that the Social Services Department had been manipulated.
b) Social Services
As with the Police we considered it important to find out their perception of what had happened since the original criminal Enquiry. We also needed to be aware of the disclosures that they considered had not been investigated to their satisfaction and the disclosures that had not been investigated at all.
We also wanted to know on what they based their current thinking. The Social Services staff stated that their concern was due to their perception of the Police attitude and they thought investigations may not have been thorough because of this. More recent information appeared to cast doubt on the Police findings. They did not feel that the Police could in any case investigate properly if they had no knowledge of what they were investigating. Their view that the Broxtowe case could involve Satanic ritual abuse, with the implications that other adults would be involved and other children would be at risk, was based upon the following:-
In another interview we were given a briefing on the knowledge acquired about Satanic abuse and its implications.
STAGE 3 - Place and People Investigated
A decision was made at the start of the Enquiry that these investigations would include both the Police and the Social Workers in order to obtain a balanced view.
We started the Enquiry with an open mind and did not know where it would lead us. Indeed one of the team was sufficiently worried that he went Ex-Directory and if anything, with hindsight, would feel that he had been initially biased towards the ritualistic Satanic viewpoint, after preliminary discussions with staff and a perusal of the information presented to him. All of the team were prepared to believe that Satanic abuse could be a reality and we approached our task with an initial premise that it was true until proved otherwise. It followed from this, for example, that strenuous efforts were made to locate tunnels under Wollaton Hall and the Police Support Unit was used in an attempt to establish that they were there. Some bones were found in a small storage cellar behind the gentleman's toilets and although the "room" appeared to have been unused for many years and the taxidermist gave a reasonable explanation, the Home Office pathologist was called in to examine the bones.
Likewise when we arranged to interview the three adults who appeared to corroborate the children's disclosures it was decided to allow them a free interview without any probing questions that might discredit them. [Mandy], for example, gave us a lengthy detailed description of the rooms and tunnels used under Wollaton Hall and the following day she was given every opportunity there with her social worker to verify what she had told us. With regard to [Vivian]'s allegations, although they appeared to be absurd, enquiries were made at the Queen's Medical Centre regarding the disposal of foetuses.
A number of places had been indicated by the adult witnesses and by the children during 1988 as locations for Satanic ritual abuse ceremonies. Many of these had been investigated during the Gollom enquiry but were reinvestigated. They included the following:-
Wollaton Hall The children and [Mandy] and [Jane] identified tunnels and a room. They do not exist.
St Mary's Church The children identified tunnels and an underground room. They do not exist.
Private Dwelling, Ruddington [Mandy] identified a room under the stables. It does not exist.
Old Lodge Gates The children and [Mandy] identified tunnels running to Wollaton Hall. They do not exist.
Private Dwelling, Derby Road The children, [Mandy] and [Jane] alleged an underground room, tunnels leading to Wollaton Hall and an outdoor swimming pool. The former do not exist and the latter which is indoors did not exist at the time of the disclosures. (On audio tape [Mandy] claimed that it was an outdoor swimming pool and that the police must have been blind if they could not see it.)
Private Dwelling, Lenton Avenue [Jane] identified a swimming pool. It does not exist.
With respect to these premises it is clear that the children and the adults of the extended family had not been telling the truth.
As [Mandy] and [Vivian] were the corroborating adults from the extended family we interviewed them and the audio-tapes are available. [Mandy] gave us an amazing description of the rooms under Wollaton Hall, the entrances and the tunnel lit by torchlights leading to Derby Road. On being taken to Wollaton Hall she could not identify anything and it was apparent that she had little knowledge of the place. The Enquiry Team took [Vivian] for a trip into Derbyshire and although it was obvious that she had no idea where she was she identified a house that she claimed had a butler, a secret passage and an underground room with four dead bodies in it. The Enquiry team later visited this property and found that it was a complete fabrication.
[Jane] the third corroborative member of the extended family had already made a statement of retraction to the Police on the 22nd August 1988. She confirmed to us that this second statement was the truth and that she still stood by it. In it she states that she was interviewed by her social worker about 20 times before she made her Affidavit to the Wardship Court about witch parties and big houses. In this statement [Jane] claims that The information she gave subsequently misled the Wardship Court and that her evidence was the result of "pressure" from her social worker. She comments that the only things that she knows about witchcraft and magic are "the things I've seen on the telly" and with reference to [Mandy] "I know she is telling lies". At this stage of the Enquiry we did not realise the possible significance of this Statement.
All of these adults will tell you anything, have suggested the impossible and have been found to be lying in every respect that could actually be checked. They are highly suggestible and will related anything that comes into their heads. We would suggest that the video tape made by [Mandy] is a good example of this. In our view they could not be considered corroborative witnesses of anything that the children have said. It has been put to us that even if unreliable it was too much of a coincidence that they were talking about witch parties independently of the children. We know, however, that the Social Services Departments Affidavits with copies of the children's diaries attached were left in the Broxtowe households. At the very end of the Enquiry after the Report had been typed we found evidence from the files that [Jane] had been shown copies of the children's Affidavits with the attached diaries by her social worker.
At the end of these investigations we could not find any evidence to support the children's disclosures and in our view the apparent corroboration by the adult members of the family was illusory.
STAGE 4 - Analysis of the Children's Disclosures
Research into Satanism and Witchcraft
Research into the International scene and the literature from the USA
Interviews with the Experts used by Social Services
We decided that we needed to try a different approach as we were left with the children's disclosures on the one hand and a total lack of supporting evidence on the other. It was at this point that the previous investigation had broken down. At the December 1988 meeting the Police reported that there was no evidence and the social workers replied that they were left with the children's stories. It is interesting to note that the Canadian and Dutch experience had been the same and they had fared no better than Nottinghamshire. We have the advantage, however, that our investigations had been done together as one 'protective' agency and there was no dispute over the findings.
(i) Analysis of the Children's Disclosures
We decided that we needed to undertake a much more detailed study of the Children's Diaries as they were the "foundation stone" for the belief in the existence of Satanic ritual abuse in the Broxtowe cases and the view that other children were at risk. The children in the Broxtowe case talked about the following:-
The following contain our observations on these disclosures extracted from the full report:-
The Form of the Disclosures
The children were not interviewed formally by social workers but the foster parents kept diaries recording anything unusual that the children said or did.
It is important to realise that contrary to normal disclosure work, we do not have "a story" informing us of Who? Where? When? How? The children have never been formally interviewed on the "Satanic" allegations recorded in the diaries except for claims of murders on a boat in December 1988. The nature of the disclosures, therefore, is what might be termed a "flow of consciousness" rather then any connected story. For example, in a normal disclosure you might have a story in which a child roughly indicates when it was taken on a journey to a house, how it was taken, who it was with, where it was and what happened there.
Although it has been stated that social workers were convinced by the number of children telling the same story the significant diaries really reduce to four children in three foster homes.
The Need to Interpret
We have been told that we must suspend disbelief and that children should be believed by the first statement that needs to be made is that the diaries cannot be taken literally but have to be interpreted. If we do not accept this we would have to accept the following as literal true statements:-
"the family kill a big sheep with their fingernails and take it to the hospital to get better and bring it back" (CH 21.1.88)
"My mum flies on a broomstick" (JB 22.1.88)
"They throw lots of babies in the bins. I was murdered when I was a baby and shoved in the bin" (LW 26.2.88)
"They kill all of us at the parties. I'm Superman at the parties and I kill the witches" (CH 25.4.88)
In fact most of the children disclosing would actually be dead. It is clear to us that anybody looking at these diaries must interpret and it is insufficient to say that "they were telling the truth" or "we believe the children".
Furthermore, we do not consider that suspending disbelief should also mean a suspension of commonsense or the use of critical faculties. We have looked at these diaries within their context, without being selective, with an awareness of possible influences upon the foster parents and the children and with knowledge of basic child psychology.
The Context of the Disclosures
The first fact that strikes you is that until Mr. W. briefed the foster parents with the Satanic indicators all four children were talking entirely about their family, of which seven are ESN, being involved in sexual abuse and what they call witch parties. There are only vague references to strangers.
The second, even more pertinent fact, is that until Mr. W.'s presentation of the Satanic indicators all the children are talking about sexual abuse and the witches parties at their homes. It is not until the 5.3.88 that they start to talk about a big house with a swimming pool and even then, only with reference to sexual abuse and nothing 'Satanic'. They only start to identify other locations in the context of witch parties in July 1988 when the foster parents had been asked to take the children around to identify locations.
The children all lived in typical semi-detached council houses on council estates. As we all know the walls of these houses are paper thin, the rooms are very small with the average living room being 14' by 12' and they have open gardens. In our experience it is virtually impossible on council estates to keep anything secret that can be seen or heard (unfortunately sexual abuse is often neither) and information and particularly anything of a spicy or bizarre nature passes around very quickly.
The family were under constant surveillance from the authorities and from an interview with a neighbour it is clear that they attracted attention to themselves as these families often do. The neighbour states that she had "seen young children naked in the garden eating their own excrement and running around the garden naked or [with] very little on even on freezing cold days". She adds that "any talk of witchcraft or any type of Satanic practices regarding the family surprises me a great deal. I have never head or witnessed anything like that on this estate before". The neighbours do maintain that the family used to frequently return from the pub and continued 'parties' with a lot of shouting and swearing.
Despite this the social workers have accepted that the family were having witch parties at which sheep were being slaughtered in the front room or the back garden and the front garden and were subsequently left in the garages in wheelie bins, that abortions were committed in the front room, that more than eight witches danced around singing in the front room, that later one of the children had her stomach cut open on a table in the front room and that [Mary] witnessed seven children being killed along with acts of cannibalism. We do not consider that the belief that this could be kept secret matches basic commonsense or reality. Outside of the babies and the children, sheep are large, noisy, difficult animals and when one was slaughtered by an Indian on a council estate in Leicester it hit the national newspaper headlines the following day. In our view another explanation has to be sought.
The Diaries of Individual Children
[Craig]
[Craig] was only 3 years of age when he left home in December 1986 and was only 4 years of age when he was trying to recall events that could only have happened between July and December 1986, i.e. between 2 ½ and 3 years of age. [Craig] is particularly significant because he had been in care for a year before the other children and some major themes start with him; witches (27.11.87), killing sheep (21.1.88), babies being killed (21.1.88), Selina (3.3.88), blood in the bath (27.2.88), Mr. Brown, the first stranger identified (10.3.88), Mr Pooh Pants (22.1.89). [Craig]'s diaries for November, December 1987 and January 1988 are clearly talking about his family at home, "my granddad's a monster, both daddies are clowns, etc. He mentions daddy dressing up as a witch (21.11.87) but according to his foster parent he went to his school panto on the 9th December where an older girl was dressed as a witch and since getting home (and subsequently) had never stopped talking about the family being witches who hurt him.
It is clear that anybody who has hurt or frightened [Craig] is a witch, monster or clown. His description of witches, who are all members of his family is the traditional one of a young child; they fly on broomsticks, have black teeth, long sharp fingernails, long black hair, dance around singing "witchy, witchy, witchy" except that they also sexually abuse him, bite his bum and pooh on the carpet. In with this he mixes Dracula, Soldiers, Swords and Dragons and shooting with guns. [Craig] is the first to introduce the idea of babies and children being killed but as you would expect of a child of this age he has no real concept of killing or death and quite happily and unchallenged talks about killing a baby and "then it was alright, killing a relative (who is of course still alive), killing all the children at the parties and himself killing the witches, [James] being killed and [Rebecca] being killed and made better. [Craig] also complains that his social worker has murdered him because she shouted at him.
Likewise, [Craig] introduces the concept of sheep being killed with bare hands, sticks and knives but also being taken to hospital to be made better. He clearly refers to his father being big mister but this is later translated into the master who organises the Satanic rites. After he had witnessed his foster mother giving a blood sample at hospital and on the same day watches 'Jaws' (which contains sufficient blood and water for anybody) he accuses the foster mother of having a bath full of blood, a theme that he pursues for some months. It is clear that [Craig] has a fascination and strong identification with Superman and in March talks about Superman's girlfriend being Lina (actually Lois Lane or Miss Lane). His speech is never clear and on questioning he answers 'S'Lina' which become 'Selina' because of the significance in the literature of a Selina as a Satanic figure. Likewise he mentions a little puppet but corrects himself, this was translated by social workers into poppet as these are the dolls that witches are supposed to stick pins in (although they are actually "moppets").
In March [Craig] is talking about the black staff at his nursery (an Indian lady) and in May he begins to talk about Mrs. Brown. In May he is the first child to identify locations away from the family home - a Church where the murderers hang you and the house with the swimming pool.
[Charles]
He was only 21 months old when he left home to be placed in the same foster home as his brother. Not surprisingly he says very little except that on the 7 July 1988 he claims that his daddy took a baby up in a balloon and stabbed it and them cooked it. His foster mother records that on the 31 August 1988 after his social worker left he had talked non-stop about ghosts and snakes. His only other comment was in June 1988 when he passed the Church at the back of Wollaton Park (previously identified by the other children) and stated that it was the Devil's Church.
[James]
[James] was the oldest child at 7 years 4 months when he left home but is ESN. As with [Craig]'s diary November, December 1987 and January, February 1988 he talks exclusively about his family being monsters, witches and clowns who hit and burn him at their homes, He has the same concept of witches as [Craig] and claims that they have curly black hair and broomsticks. He tends to agree with [Rebecca] or is prompted by leading questions, e.g. shown book of animals, asked about sheep at witch parties, asked about strange men at witch parties, asked about house with swimming pool, asked about Tony, asked about Mr. Brown, asked about going to a farm and the boat.
Interestingly he tells his foster mother that [Rebecca] was wrong about the babies. Of similar age to his sister and in the same foster home with her his disclosing cannot be separated from [Rebecca]'s as it is clear that the foster mother discusses things with them together. [James] claimed that [Mary] was present at the witch parties which she now denies.
[Rebecca]
As with [James] starts to talk about the family having witch parties at home in July 1988 two months after [Craig]. However, it is [Rebecca] on the 5 March 1988 who first tells about being taken in a car with a driver who is a stranger to a house where they are sexually abused in a secret bedroom and videoed. She is supported by [James] on the 17 March 1988 who talks about two large houses with swimming pools and the children being transported by taxi. [Lily] confirms this and adds that they go in the car with Uncle Brown.
These Diaries March-May 1988 in which they talk about an unknown place and strangers are interesting in that only sexual abuse is described without any mention of witchcraft parties, slaughter of animals, babies, etc, It is the only part of the Diaries that has received any sort of corroboration to the extent that one of the prisoners when interviewed in prison claimed that his wife had a friend called Mr. Brown who went off with her and the children and that she had another friend called Roy who was a taxi driver, There must be a suspicion that the children might have been taken elsewhere to be abused by paedophiles although reference should be made to the section "influences on the children".
Unfortunately this information was never extracted together and the children were never interviewed by social workers or Police to ascertain whether they could tell a coherent story of what, when, who, where, how, etc. If they were abused in this way with the involvement of strangers it could have happened only six months previously. [Rebecca]'s diaries for April and May 1988 are missing and we next find her talking about other locations where witch parties took place in August 1988 after questioning by her foster mother. At this stage she claims that her father cut her stomach open in the living room and that the doctors and nurses at the hospital were witches who came to the witch parties at the Archway, Wollaton Park. At this point it is worth commenting on the cutting up and stabbing of children in a council house living room. We know that [Rebecca] had previously been to hospital and had an operation scar on her stomach identified as his by the surgeon.
Subsequently in the desire to believe [Rebecca] it was suggested that Satanists were clever people and that they had cut her along the same scar so it could not be noticed. We know that this is medically impossible. All surgeons can recognise their own operations and scar tissue does not heal or if it does would be puckered and very distorted. If you had watched too many westerns in which bullets are cut out shoulders you might believe that operations could be conducted successfully in a dirty council sitting room.
However, in reality it is doubtful whether a G.P. could do this without serious medical consequences and even a skilled surgeon with sterilized instruments and trained nurse would have difficulty in a non-sterile room never mind in the middle of a witch party. Likewise in believing the children there appears to be little conception of the consequences of stabbing and mutilating animals or children. We have been told that plastic sheeting would be put on the floor (assuming that all the furniture had been taken out) but blood under pressure, as any policeman knows, would splatter the walls and ceiling extensively and the smell of mutilated babies in wheelie bins or garages would be overpowering. In our view there is no way that this sort of practice could take place in a semi-detached council house undetected. Initially [Rebecca] talked about dolls not real babies. [Rebecca] claimed that [Mary] was present at the witch parties which is now denied by [Mary].
[Kelly]
Her diaries are missing but in any case as the youngest of the B. children she would tend to agree with her brother and sister.
[Lily]
[Lily] was aged 5 years when she left home with [Maggie] and joined her older sister [Anna] who had been in care for eight years. In the diaries for November, December 1987 and January she is consistent with [Craig], [Rebecca] and [James] in identifying home and the family, except that she talks about parties but not specifically witches. The main content during this period is of the family at home burning her with sticks. After Mr. W.'s presentation on the 9th February 1988 she talks on the 19th February 1988 about the murder of babies and the bath being full of blood. In March to May 1988 she agrees with [James] and [Rebecca]'s story about the house with the swimming pool but after that says nothing significant until months later when she talks about the fantastic castle, murders on a boat, Mr Pooh Pants and a local vicar's involvement.
On the 8.5.89 after watching a Blue Peter programme on the caves under Nottingham she identifies this as a place where there were monsters.
[Maggie]
The same age as [Rebecca] and, therefore, the second oldest child. [Maggie] despite being in the same household as [Lily] says nothing except in reply to direct questioning: 'Yes' in support of [Lily] talking about the big house (10.3.88) until 10 months later when she claims that all the family killed and ate a man on a boat and Mr. Pooh Pants burnt a body. Otherwise she never talks about witch parties, killing of animals, babies etc.
[Anna]
Aged 11 years at the time of the disclosures [Anna] had been in care since 1980 when she was 2 and a half. The only disclosures she made are in January 1988 having been prompted by her sister's talk. She then talks about witches, a "baby doll" with a willie being used, being buried in the garden, eating spiders, etc. We know from the records that at the time [Anna]'s favourite library books were witch stories. [Anna] talks about either her uncle or grandfather being dressed as a devil and being called Master. This has been taken as significant but we do not accept that any child younger than three would remember the name used by anybody eight years ago. Children may recall traumatic events but have little memory of verbal communication as it has little significance to them at that age.
[David]
Although slightly older than [Craig] when he left home [David] says nothing of significance.
[Claire]
Left home at 20 months, the same age as [Kevin] but says nothing.
[Alice]
Left home at 2 and a half years, the age at which [Craig] remembers so much but says nothing.
Patterns Suggesting 'Contamination'
It has been claimed that there were many children talking independently and that this was strong corroborative proof. However, a foster parent told us that she took [Lily], [Maggie] and [David] to visit [Craig] on the 20.10.87, the day after they came into care, and again two days later and that there was continued contact between the children. A careful reading of the diaries would suggest some sort of communication between them or their three foster parents. We would offer the following as examples:-
Killing Sheep
21.1.88 [Craig] tells his foster mother of killing sheep at witch parties - they both agreed they had sheep.
9.2.88 (After Mr. W.'s briefing) Foster mother asks [James] about sheep at witch parties.
25.2.88 Foster mother asks [Lily] about animals at witch parties.
Blood in Bath
26.2.88 [Lily] tells foster mother about bath full of blood.
27.2.88 [Craig] claims bath full of blood to his foster mother.
17.3.88 [James] tells his foster mother that sheep's blood is put in the bath.
Killing Babies
21.1.88 [Craig] tells his foster mother about killing babies.
10.2.88 [Lily] tells mother about killing babies.
11.2.88 [Craig] tells foster mother about killing babies.
21.2.88 [Rebecca] tells foster mother about killing babies.
Mr. Brown
10.5.88 [Craig] tells foster mother about Mr. Brown.
12.5.88 [Lily] tells foster mother about Mr. Brown.
[Rebecca]'s Stomach Being Cut by Father
28.8.88 [Rebecca] tells foster mother about being cut.
19.9.88 [Rebecca] tells foster mother again about being cut.
11.2.89 [Craig] tells foster mother about [Rebecca] being cut.
Mr Pooh Pants
14.2.87 [Craig] tells foster mother about Mr. Pooh Pants.
1.3.87 [Craig] tells foster mother about Mr. Pooh Pants again.
13.4.87 [Lily] tells foster mother about Mr. Pooh Pants.
1.5.87 [Craig] tells foster mother again about Mr. Pooh Pants.
2.5.87 [Maggie] tells foster mother about Mr. Pooh Pants.
Big House with Swimming Pool
9.3.89 [Rebecca] tells foster mother about the big house with the swimming pool.
10.3.89 [Lily] tells foster mother about the big house with the swimming pool.
14.3.89 [Craig] tells foster mother about the big house with the swimming pool.
Selina
3.3.89 [Craig] tells foster mother about Selina.
21.3.89 [Craig] tells foster mother about Selina again.
8.4.89 [Lily] tells foster mother about Selina.
6.5.89 [Craig] repeats it to foster mother.
12.5.89 [Lily] repeats it to foster mother.
Influences upon the Foster Parents
On the 9.2.88 Mr. W. having been contracted to Social Services as an expert gave a presentation to the foster parents using the Satanic Indicators of an alleged American Expert. These were passed around the foster parents. One foster parent claims great stress was laid upon them and they were told what to look for. These indicators emphasize transportation to other places, animal sacrifices, drinking of blood, eating flesh, defiling children with urine and faeces, monsters and ghosts, a mysterious church, killing of children etc.
This expert signs himself MSW Medical Social Consultant. The British Embassy in Washington has informed us that Mr. M. is described by a Senior FBI Officer as just a social worker with no medical background and his opinions are not taken very seriously. Mr. M. is unpublished and has no education pedigree. It is our opinion that these indicators had a profound effect upon both the foster parents and the social workers. Prior to this the children had not talked about anything but their own family and 'abuse' at their homes. From this time the foster parents appear to take the children's perceptions as reality and do not question them. The style of the diaries changes with the foster parents taking an interrogative approach in a desire to elicit more information and using many leading questions e.g.
Have you been to this big house?
Do you know Tony?
Is Mr. Brown there?
Have you ever been to a farm?
The foster parents are quite clearly trying to find out whether any strangers have been involved and whether there are any other locations used. The foster parents, according to one foster parent, were asked to take the children around to identify places and photos were used to identify other people. This foster mother states that she eventually refused to take the children to try and locate places. It is not surprising to us that after the 9th February the killing of children, (and by the 7th July 1988 the eating of them), the slaughter of animals, the identification of doctors and nurses and vicars as witches (as well as a whole congregation) and the identification of Churches and hospitals takes place. The children knew the foster parents wanted them to identify places and people and would have wanted to please them.
Influences upon the Children
It has to be taken into account that children of this age have a wish to please adults. They are taught from an early age to give the right answer, i.e. the one that pleases adults. They do not have an adult sense of reality and their perceptions are a confused mixture of imagination, fantasy and actuality. This particularly applies to disturbed children trying to make sense of their past. It is easy to confuse and manipulate very young children and they can become quite adept themselves at manipulating adults. There are occasions in the diaries when the children deflect the adults from naughty behaviour by talking about their experiences. Children are also adept at getting attention by telling adults what they want to hear. If you ask a child to identify animals used at witch parties from a book they will obviously talk about the animals most familiar to them, i.e. cats, cows, dogs, rabbits and sheep. (Ba Ba Black Sheep is one of [Craig]'s favourites.) After that sheep will continue. Most adults are unwilling not to identify somebody at an identity parade and any young child shown a photograph will answer in the affirmative, particularly if that arouses interest.
Children will almost always say yes (as happens in the diaries) when asked a leading question. When [Craig] talks about chopping up Jesus and eating him off a silver plate as a three year old he could just as easily be thinking of the Communion when it is stated 'eat, this is my body' and 'drink, this is my blood' and a wafer is given off a silver plate. When he appears to talk gibberish about M's baby being killed on the 26 February he had been watching Jaws and it could easily be an admixture: knife in tummy (the shark is knifed), comes back to life again (the shark does) put in a cage (this features in the film) and 'they shooted her' (the shark is shot). With young children one can only listen to them and then use our commonsense to interpret. With the foster parents having been influenced by Mr. W. we would be surprised if they in turn did not unwittingly influence the children. It would seem to us highly likely that by May 1988 the children would be identifying all sorts of places for witchcraft parties as they would know the adults were looking for them and it would please them. In our view the desire to please adults would probably rule everything out they say after May 1988 unless they were properly questioned by people who were not caring for them.
During the course of this Enquiry we have looked for possible external influences upon the children. We know, for example, that [Mandy] who was the main baby-sitter for the family claims that she always wanted to be a witch. It is apparent that much library material for children of this age is about witches, monsters, wizards, ghosts, etc. However, we were particularly interested in the local authoress Helen Cresswell who writes about witches and whose books are used in local schools. Children are taken on school field trips to Rufford Park and Wellow as the 'Secret World of Polly Flint' is based upon these places. When we randomly asked an eight year old what she remembered about this she replied 'under the ground, room, the park, tunnels, boats, dancing around and weird people!'
'The Secret World of Polly Flint' was shown on children's television in 1987 and includes the following: the park, the lake, rings of dancers, spiders, magic secret time tunnel, abbey, animals graves, powers, the ice house, boat and witches.
In 1988 a second book the 'Moondial' was shown on children's television. This includes the following: a big house with a smaller one nearby, church, hospital, tunnel, monster, Mr. Wolf, Devil's Child, ghost, sticking pins in a wax image to cause death, graveyard, witches, cats, the Devil, grotesque coloured masks, a lion mask and rings of chanting children. It might also be significant that there are also pumpkin lanterns (mentioned by one of the children when they are taken in their garden) and also a secret room, four poster bed with hanging curtains, a raised circular pool, a clock that goes tick-tock at a large house.
A four poster bed, a raised pool, a secret room, a grandfather clock are all mentioned in the children's description of the big house with the swimming pool. We do not know whether the children watched these T.V. programmes and would have liked to ask them but were not able to do this.
Of more interest is the discovery that the NSPCC Unit use symbolic objects in helping children to understand good and bad concepts in their therapy work. According to one of the staff these were used with [Claire] and [Anna] and the social workers were advised of their use. [Craig] had six therapy sessions between January and August 1987 well prior to the disclosures. A teacher at a local school used the material in one of the satellite cases. The material used includes the following:-
Conclusion
Our interpretation of the diaries based on the foregoing does not support the view that the children have been involved in organised Satanic ritual or witchcraft ceremonies. All our research both in this country and abroad has revealed that no actual physical empirical evidence has been found anywhere at anytime for Satanic abuse. If you still wish to believe that it exists logically you would have to accept that an organisation has the unique ability to keep it secret. Even relatively secret organisations such as the Masons and the Mafia have never managed to achieve this. At least it would mean that the followers were extremely clever, powerful, wealthy, sophisticated people who could use their power and wealth to ensure privacy.
If this is the case, as it must be, such people would hardly get involved with a family of ESN adults living on a council estate who are the subject of gossip by their neighbours, who are known to the police and who are subject to surveillance by the authorities. It would be too great a risk as they would be discovered within a week. Such a family could not handle it, and could not keep it quiet. The most that we can deduce from the diaries is that these children have been sexually abused and that they may also have been terrorized by sadistic adults who found it amusing to frighten them. This could fit in with the adults laughing (not a normal practice one would assume at ritualistic ceremonies) as the children describe. It could be true that the children have been deliberately burnt (there is plenty of medical evidence for this) made to drink alcohol, locked in the garages, pushed into wheelie bins.
It could even be true that they were made to eat spiders and faeces and had worms put on them and that the adults wore halloween type masks or even used realistic baby dolls to frighten them. If this was the case children of this age trying to make sense of the past would talk of the family being witches, monsters, etc. We know from talking to the adults that one dog was run over in the road and that another dog and its puppies were killed with a knife to save vets bills because they had a disease. We also know from the adult prisoners that at parties after the pub the children were given home-made alcohol to drink which would eventually put them to sleep.
It is possible that the children were taken elsewhere to be sexually abused for money as this part of the disclosures stands out on its own but even here we must be careful as [Craig] identifies Mr. Brown after seeing a brown lady at Nursery and the children's description of a secret room, four poster bed, raised pool and grandfather clock all feature in a T.V. programme shown in the same year. It is true, however, the baby was thrown out with the Satanic bath water as it was never properly investigated by seeking the Judge's permission to interview the children with the police. In summary we came to the conclusion that the Diaries:-
We therefore concluded that although the children may have been terrorized by their sadistic family as well as being sexually abused we could not support the theory of organised Satanic abuse from these diaries.
(ii) Research into Satanism and Witchcraft
Our second approach was to check the reliability of the base knowledge on Satanic abuse that had been presented to us and which we had initially accepted in good faith. We, therefore, did our own research into Satanism and Witchcraft and considered the likelihood of it being involved in the abuse of children. An extensive bibliography is attached at the end of this report.
Our historical research revealed that no empirical evidence was ever produced in the witch trials and convictions were solely based upon confessions made by the accused to priests, who already completely believed in the reality of witchcraft and Satanism. The starting point for the priest was usually a disturbed child who was led into making an accusation (e.g. Scotland an