Description
An inquiry has concluded that Neville Husband, an officer at the notorious Medomsley detention centre in County Durham, was "possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history."
Husband was jailed in 2003 for abusing five teenagers at the facility, where hundreds of young men aged 17-21 endured physical and sexual attacks by staff from 1961 to 1987. He died in 2010.
The report by Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Adrian Usher details missed opportunities by the Home Office, police, and prison managers to halt the abuse.
Durham Police and the Ministry of Justice have apologised, with the latter doing so "on behalf of all governments, past and present."
Inmates' complaints were dismissed, leaving them to report abuse to their assailants. The report calls it a "cautionary tale," warning that mistreatment of the vulnerable remains "still an issue" in youth custody.
Designed for "short, sharp, shock" sentences for low-level offenses, Medomsley saw endemic physical violence and summary punishments. Sexual assaults often occurred in the kitchen, where Husband raped inmates.
Chief Constable Rachel Bacon called the report "extremely difficult reading," exposing "shameful failings by police at that time." She added: "On behalf of Durham Constabulary I wish to publicly offer my sincerest apologies to those victims and their families for those failures. Thousands of young men were let down by the system and are continuing to live with the wounds left by that abuse. Those victims were, and remain, our primary concern."
Usher stated: "I have chosen to omit many of the most heinous details of... abuse but I believe it is necessary to include enough to make clear the extent of the horrors that some of those young men endured." He noted the "silence of many" enabled the abuse to persist undetected.
The report found:
- Police dismissed allegations without recording them and threatened inmates with return to Medomsley if they persisted.
- Leadership was either aware and complicit, or lacked curiosity and incompetent.
- Victims had never received a public apology; all bodies should "examine their organisational consciences."
- Two inmates' deaths in 1981-82 were "arguably avoidable."
Survivors like Peter Toole (sent in 1985) recalled: "You weren't even in for a minute and the abuse started. I just thought 'this is it, this is Medomsley, just get on with it and take it on the chin'."
Jimmy Coffey (sent in 1979 at 18) said: "For that first week I was there, I was just continually seeing violence and cruelty and spitefulness. I still have problems now with flashbacks."
The Ministry-ordered inquiry said Medomsley operated "effectively beyond the reach of the law" for 26 years. Besides Husband, storeman Leslie Johnson was jailed in 2005 for sexual assaults, and other guards for physical attacks and misconduct.
Labour Under-Secretary for Justice Jake Richards apologised in an open letter, pledging a panel to improve youth custody safeguarding. He said: "I want to recognise that none of this would have come to light without those who bravely came forward to report the abuse. Please be assured that ministers and government officials are taking this extremely seriously and we will put the voice of victims at the centre of our work moving forward. I know these words cannot change what has happened in the past, but I hope they demonstrate this government's determination to take proper action."