Abuse investigation in Scotland

The BBC reports an abuse investigation in the Highlands, involving “multiple victims”. The investigation is taking place in Muir of Ord area and involved allegations going back to the 1990′s.

Child abuse investigations typically begin in this way, with perhaps one or two disclosures by victims, which then leads the police down a trail of investigation.

Child abuse cases have appeared in family and criminal courts for decades although prior to the 1990’s these tended to centre on individual abusers.  However society only became aware of the wide-scale extent of the problem following the police investigations that began in the 1990’s into care homes and schools. The police investigations were followed by compensation claims brought against the local authorities and other organizations charged with the care of children. Christian Wolmar’s book “Forgotten Children” estimated in 2000 that there were as many as 15,000 potential claimants in the United Kingdom. The criminal and civil cases have attracted huge media interest as they proceeded through the courts. Other cases involving the abuse of children outside of institutions have also come to light, for instance the convictions of Catholic priests and the prosecutions of celebrities such as Gary Glitter, Jonathan King and Christopher Langham.

 The investigations undertaken by the police involved the location of thousands of former care home residents. Inevitably this mode of investigation (known as “trawling”) led to the charge that the prosecutions were flawed and that miscarriages of justice were occurring. In 2001 to 2002 the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee undertook an enquiry entitled “The Conduct of Investigations into Past Cases of Abuse in Children’s Homes” (published by HMSO HC 836-1). The Committee was concerned to look into allegations that the trawling methods employed by the police were suspect, and moreover that witnesses were fabricating or exaggerating their account in order to gain compensation. The Committee also looked at making changes to the criminal justice and compensation system. Some of the Committee’s recommendations can now be seen in the Domestic, Crime and Victims Act 2004.