I said, Mum gave it to me. He [father] grabbed it [bicycle] out of my hand and stomped and stomped and stomped. Smashed it to bits. Unkind. When I left school, he opened the door, looked at me and said, ‘Out!’ And he opened the door. And I went out ... I was then sleeping rough. Norman Wisdom
She took the girls – she had to – and the moment she stepped over the threshold of the judge’s quarters they were snatched from her – physically snatched from her. She was told she mustn’t attempt to follow them. She now knows they were held in the children’s home for a period of weeks, and the French social services calmly handed them back to the English social services, who calmly handed them back to the father, who by that time was working with other men to abuse children. The paper now has injunctions to stop us telling the truth about children who have been unlawfully taken from their parents. Brian Gerrish, lecture British Constitution Group 2009, The State of the Nation
Once one of America’s top Republicans, Lawrence King is serving a fifteen year prison sentence for a multi-million-dollar fraud. His financial crime is only half the story. Conspiracy of Silence, withdrawn Discovery/Yorkshire Television 1994
Boys Town has cash reserves of $500 million but still raises up to $35 million annually solicited from the public by begging letters and promotional videos. ibid.
From 1979 Larry King developed close commercial ties to Boys Town. And Boys Town’ youngsters were sent to work for his companies. But King used Boys Town not just as a source of young boys for his business, he prostituted them at sex and drugs orgies. ibid.
Those perpetrators named by the children were some of the richest and most influential citizens in positions of power in the state. ibid.
The parties involved ever more sadistic abuse. ibid.
The FBI used Troy in an attempt to persuade fellow witness Alisha Owen into abandoning her evidence about Larry King’s nationwide network of powerful paedophiles. ibid.
Mother: It’s because I’m shaking her. Horizon: Battered Baby: From Generation to Generation, BBC 1986
Children came with a wide variety of behaviour and disorders and symptoms: some were homicidal, quite a few were suicidal, some were non-speaking and mute, others were widely delusional, all had a most traumatic history behind them which explained their behaviour. Although it was sometimes difficult to ascertain their story. Horizon: Bruno Bettelheim: The Man Who Cared For Children, BBC 1987
In this area of South London alone two small children were beaten or starved to death by their parents in the past two years. The vast majority of battering or abusing parents were themselves battered and abused as children. Horizon: Newpin: A Lifeline, BBC 1989
In the seventies doctors came up with a new explanation of why some babies with no physical injuries developed sudden brain damage: they called it shaken baby syndrome, and suggested parents were the culprits. Carrot or Stick? A Horizon Guide to Raising Kids, BBC 2011
Increasing awareness of abuse passing down generations turned the spotlight on mothers in a new way, not just to blame them but to try and help them too. ibid.
Back in 1984 US Customs had seized some child pornography addressed from the Midlands in the mail to Arnold Friedman. Capturing the Friedmans, John McDermott, postal inspector
The first arrested was Arnold Friedman, a retired school-teacher, who was charged with sodomising boys aged eight to eleven. ibid. local news report
Eighteen years old Jesse Friedman also stands accused of sex abuse. ibid. local news report
‘I had a good family, right? Where did this come from?’ ibid. Elaine
There was a dirth of physical evidence. ibid. rozzer
After spending six weeks in jail Arnold is allowed home under house arrest to prepare for his trial. ibid. caption
‘I don’t believe your father because your father has never been honest with me.’ ibid. mother to son, taped argument
Inside, he pleaded guilty to more than forty counts of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. ibid. news report
‘They said it was all my fault ... And then I went berserk. I had been betrayed.’ ibid. Elaine
Exposure investigates allegations that away from the cameras Jimmy Savile was far from a genial eccentric. He stands accused of being a sexual predator. Exposure: The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, ITV 2012
Both say they contracted a sexually transmitted disease from him. ibid.
14-year-old singer Coleen Nolan had her own unpleasant experience with Savile on the show. ibid.
He was using his celebrity status to gain access to teenage girls. ibid.
Savile’s warped attitude to sexual abuse. ibid.
We now know Jimmy Savile was a predatory paedophile for more than forty years. Many of his victims say they were attacked when they were at their most vulnerable. Exposure Update: The Jimmy Savile Investigation, ITV 2012
The Jimmy Savile investigation: He is now reviled as a paedophile … a mighty fall. ibid.
More victims came forward. ibid.
Four weeks ago an ITV documentary broadcast allegations that one of this country’s best known TV stars, a man of the people, a friend of royalty, a devout Catholic who comforted the sick, was a child abuser. And he’d been allowed to get away with it unchecked for fifty years. Panorama: Jimmy Savile – What the BBC Knew, BBC 2012
More than 200 people have claimed they were Savile’s victims. ibid.
Just how much BBC staff really knew about Savile’s abuse? ibid.
He always had at his disposal a camper van. ibid.
Among the guests on Clunk Click were young people from hospitals and other institutions. ibid.
Gary Glitter also appeared on Clunk Click. ibid.
The BBC could be the target of thousands of claims. ibid.
Boys were targetted too. ibid.
Rumours were being picked up by Fleet Street. But still the story didn’t come out. ibid.
The Newsnight editor suddenly applied the brakes. ibid.
This is Father Oliver O’Grady, a former Catholic priest. The Church knew he was a child abuser. Instead of reporting O’Grady, the Church hid him from the authorities. No mistake but part of a secret Church directive. The man responsible for enforcing it was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Panorama: Sex Crimes and the Vatican, BBC 2006
Four years ago this priest – Father Sean Fortune – was at the centre of Ireland’s biggest child abuse inquiry. The scandal exposed details of a secret Vatican decree which seemed to shelter the perpetrators and silence the victims of abuse. ibid.
An oath of silence was part of the secret Church decree called Crimen Sollicitationis. The Directive was written in 1962. ibid.
In 2001 he [Ratzinger] created the successor to the Decree: in spirit it was the same – overarching secrecy with a threat of excommunication. He sent a copy to every Bishop in the world. ibid.
Almost 4,500 US priests have been accused of raping or sexually abusing children. ibid.
There are over seven US priests who face allegations of child sexual abuse living with the support of the Church here in and around the Vatican. ibid.
O’Grady does not appear on the Irish sex offenders’ register. ibid.
The army, air and sea cadets – youth organisations where nearly 130,000 children in British seek fun and adventure. Overseen by the ministry of defence, the state is responsible for the welfare of cadets. Children who join the cadets make a promise to serve loyally, but for some that promise was betrayed. People in positions of power abused their trust and committed the most serious crimes, crimes that in many cases were covered up. Panorama: Cadet Abuse Cover-Up, BBC 2017
We’ve found a pattern – of senior member of the cadet forces who knew abuse was going on but didn’t report it to the police. ibid.
This Sunday the 90th Academy Awards will take place. For the first time in many years one power-figure will not be welcome. More than 100 women have now come forward with stories of sexual harassment, assault and rape going back decades. Panorama: Weinstein: The Inside Story, BBC 2018
This is the inside story of how one of Hollywood’s most powerful men suppressed allegations of sexual abuse for decades. ibid.
‘Will you at least lift up your shirt and show me your tits … You know in that moment you may not make it.’ ibid. Katherine Kendall, victim
In 1980 he made his first film. ibid.
Harvey Weinstein has admitted that over the last 30 years he has settled up to nine claims of harassment against him. ibid.
The New York Times published allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein; more serious allegations would follow in The New Yorker magazine. ibid.