Horrors of abuse that shame our 'caring' professions

How did authorities manage to miss a case of sex abuse against two young sisters for 30 years, asks Michael Howie

THREE decades after a "catalogue of horrors" were inflicted on two defenceless little sisters, justice finally caught up with Norman Carden.

Carden, 61, from Paisley, was jailed for ten years in May for what a judge described as "despicable conduct" towards the girls.

Details of the case made harrowing reading. The sadist repeatedly exposed himself to the girls and made them perform sex acts. The sisters were also forced to dance naked for his friends, their faces were rubbed in dog faeces, and one was thrashed with a belt.

Alarmingly, Carden was only made to face his depraved past some 20 years after social workers were first told of the abuse, which spanned nearly a decade.

The case has raised searching questions of the authorities involved. First, how could they have failed to detect the abuse?

Perhaps more seriously, how could they have refused to inform the police after one of the girls found the courage to speak out?

Child protection campaigners are calling for an independent inquiry into the handling of "historic" sex abuse cases such as that of Carden to ensure lessons are learned to prevent needless suffering in the future.

The Scotsman has learned that the sisters were the subject of a social work supervision order as the abuse went on. Officials from Strathclyde Regional Council's social work department were concerned they were being neglected, as Carden was an alcoholic.

However, they never seriously suspected he was involved in their abuse, even though one of his friends was investigated and arrested by police for sexually abusing the children.

The supervision order was imposed in November 1978. The girls were taken into care three years later, for reasons of neglect.

While the abuse was being carried out, the girls were visited by social workers up to three times a month. But they quickly discounted the possibility the girls were being abused. One source told The Scotsman the arrest of Carden's friend led social workers to believe sexual offences "could no longer be part of the equation".

In June 1979 one of the girls turned up at school with a large diamond-shaped mark on her forehead. A concerned teacher reported the matter to social workers, who visited the girls' home the following day.

But the victim did not disclose that Carden was responsible for the mark, and the matter was dropped.

In 1986 one of the girls, then aged 17, finally opened her heart to social workers about the abuse inflicted by Carden. But the social work department failed to report the allegation to police.

The second girl was sexually assaulted in care. The sisters continued to tell of their ordeal but the allegations were never passed to the police for further investigation.

Carden was eventually unmasked two years ago, when the youngest victim found the courage to contact police herself.

Both women, now in their thirties, are struggling to come to terms with their lost childhoods. The youngest victim is still receiving counselling and the oldest suffers from clinical depression.

Their plight has triggered an angry reaction from campaigners, who say it is "inconceivable" that social workers did not alert the police to the abuse, even when one of the girls spoke out in 1986.

Sandra Brown, who set up the Moira Anderson Foundation, a charity supporting abuse victims, told The Scotsman: "This is a staggering catalogue of horror that illustrates how children can be subjected to abuse even when professionals have flagged up suspicions and when regular visits have been made to a home.

"A lack of action from the authorities ensures the abuser carries on, often for many years, with impunity, and the most vulnerable members of society are left traumatised for life.

"It seems inconceivable – given the amount of training social work staff receive – that when disclosure was made at 17 by one of these children, it was not reported to police and it took until 2006 and the bravery of the younger victim to see Carden dealt with at last."

She said the Carden case had echoes of a growing number of "historic" sexual abuse cases in recent years, such as that of Neil and Hannah McNeil, jailed for a total of 20 years for a catalogue of sex crimes involving five children over two decades.

"A tragic pattern is developing. It is astonishing that such abuse has gone undetected for so long. It's bad enough that social workers failed to pick up the signs at the time, but not informing the police when victims actually summon the courage to speak out is inexcusable," Ms Brown said.

"What sort of signal does this send out? It says 'don't bother speaking out, because no-one will do anything about it'."

She added: "There's no doubt other people are suffering in silence because they still don't think anyone will take them seriously.

Things have improved, but there's still a long way to go."

Ms Brown welcomed the Scottish Government's decision to set up a "truth and reconciliation forum" to support adults who suffered sexual abuse as children.

But she added: "This does not go far enough. What we need is an independent inquiry. There is a clear parallel between abuse in children's homes and cases like Carden. We need to make sure lessons are fully learned, so people can be confident they will be taken seriously."

A spokesman for Renfrewshire Council said social workers chose not to inform the police because the victim did not want to press charges.

"There have been reports that no action was taken by social workers despite there being documented concerns about Norman Carden's behaviour," he said.

"However, both of Carden's victims were taken into care precisely because social workers were so concerned for their welfare.

"It was only in December 1987, six years after one of the victims was taken into care, that allegations of abuse were made against Carden to Strathclyde Regional Council social workers. But the victim wasn't willing to pursue the matter at that time."

The spokesman said council officials, police and health professionals now worked "much more closely" to protect children.

'Long process' of tackling abuse

IT HAS taken several decades for Scotland to come to terms with the problem of child sex abuse, according to one of the country's leading experts.

Tim Huntingford, who chairs Renfrewshire's Child Protection Committee and has 30 years' experience in the field, said social workers were almost completely blind to the issue when the likes of Norman Carden were abusing children behind closed doors.

The former chief executive of West Dunbartonshire Council said that, in the 1970s and 1980s, there was an almost universal ignorance of sexual abuse among social work professionals.

"I was doing some research and found a manual of procedures for the old Strathclyde social work department from about 1978.

"In that, there's a discussion about child protection. At the time it was called 'non-accidental injury', and it was about six pages long. It made absolutely no mention of sexual abuse at all."

He said it was only after the Cleveland child abuse scandal in 1987 that a national consciousness about the tragic reality of child sex abuse started to emerge, adding: "That broke down the psychological barrier for sexual abuse victims, which has led to so many cases now coming to light."

More recently, tragic cases like the death of Edinburgh baby Caleb Ness at the hands of his brain-damaged father exposed a failure by many professionals to share information about vulnerable children – which experts claim is crucial for protecting children from abuse and neglect.

Mr Huntingford said police, social work and other partner agencies now work much more closely to ensure any warning signs that a child may be suffering abuse are picked up.

This is reflected by a massive growth in the number of case conferences involving police, social workers, teachers, health professionals and others to discuss children who are at risk.

In 1997, 2,717 such conferences were held. Last year, the number was 4,608.

The number of children referred to dedicated child protection committees has also risen, from 6,346 in 1997 to 11,960 last year.

But Mr Huntingford warned that many people remain reluctant to voice any suspicions they have about possible abuse going on next door, which he described as "a major obstacle to protecting children".