August, 2011 Mark Smith writes
I returned from holiday earlier this month to an e-mail telling me that Richard Webster had died. I had never met Richard but had three or four telephone conversations with him and felt I knew him. He was a warm and open man whose curious and probing mind was all too evident even at the other end of a phone. Yet, although I felt I knew Richard, on hearing of his death I realised that I actually knew nothing about him, other than the rather stark biography offered on his website richardwebster.net, telling that ‘Richard Webster was born in 1950 and studied English literature at the University of East Anglia’.Bob Woffinden’s obituary in The Guardian, www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/31/richard-webster-obituary was, in that sense, very welcome in giving a bit more detail on Richard. I can’t help thinking that there is something quintessentially English about his life. The village postmaster, turned bookshop owner cum writer, writing, in Woffinden’s words, not for profit, ‘but to set down a scrupulously accurate record.’In his quest for this scrupulously accurate record, he exposed what is one of the great injustices of our time – the witch-hunt that has resulted in thousands of care workers and former care workers being investigated for abuse and the questionable convictions of perhaps hundreds of these.
This story is set out in Webster’s magisterial book ‘The Secret of Bryn Estyn’ (2005), which delves into the child abuse allegations and inquiries that erupted in North Wales over the late 1990s. The real secret of Bryn Estyn, as Woffinden says, ‘was that there was no secret at all; it was just an ordinary community home where staff did their best to look after difficult adolescents.’
One of the attractions for me in Richard’s writing was its reassuring solidity. When he committed any contentious argument to print you could be sure that he had at least a couple of lever arch files to substantiate what he was saying. And when he calls what has happened in respect of investigations against former care workers a witch-hunt, you can be sure that the use of the term is not a throwaway line, but is rooted in his deep understanding of cultural history. The strength of argument in ‘Bryn Estyn’ and Richard’s other writing is compelling. While many may not like what he has to say, because it deconstructs and destabilises received accounts of abuse in residential child care, I have not come across anyone who has been able to contest his evidence.
What is missing from Bob Woffinden’s obituary is any reference to Richard’s role in the unraveling of the Haut De La Garenne episode in Jersey. As events there were beginning to break, Richard phoned me to ask what I thought of it. I put my neck out and suggested that no bodies or unexplained human remnants would be found. He agreed and hung up saying he would need to go over to Jersey. The result of that visit and some fairly elementary detective work uncovered the fact that the finding purported to be a piece of human skull was in fact a piece of wood or coconut shell.
The issue of historical abuse is, I believe, one on which the very future of residential child care rests. We need to be able to come to an understanding of our past that is based upon the kind of reasoned and balanced evidence that Webster provides. For that reason,I consider ‘The Secret of Bryn Estyn’ to be one of the most important books to have been written on residential child care, although its scope extends to offer fascinating insights into the human condition more generally.
Professor Jean La Fontaine, who was instrumental in dismissing earlier satanic ritual abuse scares calls ‘Bryn Estyn’‘an extraordinary book … gripping and coherent ... a major achievement ... Webster has admirably succeeded in what the police … and two successive [inquiries] failed to do: discover what really happened.’ Evening Standard. Christian Wolmar, the journalist who wrote an earlier book on abuse in children’s homes, is also a somewhat grudging convert, noting that ‘It is unarguable that Webster has a powerful case. The book will make uncomfortable reading for all those involved in investigating these cases, from police and lawyers to journalists and judges. Webster's forensic skill ... could well have been used by all of them, too. . . [His] detailed exposition of how the "scandal" unfolded, despite scant hard evidence, should be required reading for newsdesks.' ?This last point becomes all the more salient in light of what we now know was going on at ‘The News of the World’. One can only wonder about the role of networks involving journalists, police and those alleging to have been abused in care in constructing a particular version of residential child care’s past. Richard’s work provides an important antidote to such accounts. Hopefully, it will receive the attention it deserves after his death.
Comments
John Molloy writes "I am reluctant to make any comment on the death of Richard Webster because I know nothing of the man or his writings. Having read all the positive comments about him, I intend to get a copy of “The Secret of Bryn Estyn” and to read it carefully. Mark Smith’s obituary, and the contributions that have followed, have raised a number of interesting issues for me that leave me feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"I was horrified when I first read of the allegations of satanic abuse in the Orkney Islands. Equally, I was shocked by the out-of-control ‘crusade’ nature of what happened at Cleveland. These two scandals in particular helped to influence my thinking in dealing with issues that emerged in a centre where I worked where a number of sexual abuse allegations against two male staff emerged. The British experience helped to “keep me honest” in how I approached my situation. That said, my reading of the numerous enquiries into sexual abuse in Britain did little to prepare me for what I was experiencing in Ireland. I read aspects of every report published around that time, or at least the commentaries on the reports. That was because, with the exception of the Hughes Report into allegations about Kincora, there were no reports available in Ireland at that time. It was not until the mid- 1990’s that the first emerged. The issues raised in the Ryan Report, the two separate Murphy Reports (swimming coaches and clergy), Madonna House, Kilkenny, etc had not as yet surfaced.
"The salacious interest in ritual satanic abuse here did not manifest itself in the Irish media in the same way as in Britain. There was nothing salacious for the media to frenzy-feed on here, given that catholic priests and brothers, and indeed nuns were a dominant grouping in the abuse of children in Ireland. There is a well perpetuated myth in Ireland that no one knew of what was going on. It is self-evident that this is not true. Apart from the abusers and the abused, there were those who knew of the culture that existed in Ireland throughout the nineteen forties, fifties and sixties in particular. Even in our National schools, the stories told and experienced by those of us who went to Christian Brother Schools of sadism, brutality and “being interfered with” were widespread. Everyone knew. Nobody cared. As school boys in the nineteen sixties we even joked in school about why we had to sit on Brother O C’s knee to have our homework corrected!
"The media were gutless, as were the authorities, be they in education, policing, or care. The culture of Catholic control did not allow for stories to be published, and even worse, I would argue, that in Irish Society, there were many who assumed that a good education made it acceptable.
"While there seemed a crusade at times in Britain that went over the top in trying to 'out' all kinds of child abuse, I believe the Irish experience to have been a far more insidious and dangerous scenario.
"There are few things worse than allegations being made about a person. Regardless of the facts, there are usually two immediate camps formed. One represents those who can believe no bad about the person, the other represents those who believe no good about the person. Usually the person involved falls between both in isolation, lost in a limbo of having lost their reputation regardless of how good all their previous work was. Where the allegations are false this isolation and devastation takes on a much greater significance.
"My experiences, in Ireland, are that there is no great malevolence in what happens – just a total lack of awareness of the impact of what that devastation and isolation is like. Social Work investigations are carried out in a slow dragged out manner where the powers that be show a reluctance to bring the matter to closure ‘just in case’…. It often takes threats of legal action to get the matter sorted.
"I read the comments about people being 'regarded as guilty until proven innocent.' I do not find such language useful in this area. While the expression 'innocent until proven guilty' is a legal phrase used widely in every day use, we need to remind ourselves that it is a phrase that only has relevance in the context of justice dealt out by the Courts. It is a fact that a number of high profile cases of inappropriate sexual activity, allegations of abuse, and use of child pornography have gone to court in Ireland where cases have collapsed on technicalities. We have to say that in these cases the person has not been proved guilty. In legal language they are therefore innocent; innocent 'in the eyes of the law'. While I do not know how the British legal systems work, (I dare not mention Birmingham or Guildford) I am aware that in Ireland it is very difficult for any one of middle class back-ground who can afford good legal council to be convicted, unless they prove really inept in the defence of their abuse, or carrying out of their abuse.
"I stated some of the comments made in respect of the death of Richard Webster made me uncomfortable. Most were made in a British context with which I am not familiar. Over my thirty five years in this line of work allegations were made against me. One of these was a very serious allegation and caused me great distress. I fought to have my name cleared and did so successfully. When I consider what some of the young people in my care have experienced at the hands of staff members I have worked alongside, I have no doubt that the balance of justice still hangs in favour of the perpetrators. My distress is a price I was more than willing to accept. While we may talk of the hundreds who have been falsely accused, our real energy should be devoted to building robust systems that protect both young people and staff."
Mark Smith responds " I agree absolutely about the feigned surprise at what was or wasn't going on, especially in Ireland. This is the one point I would maybe depart from Richard Webster - I think he should perhaps have considered that there was what we would now call physical abuse (which was probably in the past thought of as discipline). The divide between abuse and 'normal' upbringing is one that interests me. It raises a whole load of
other questions about assumed effects of such abuse or treatment - one of my worries is that we risk constructing 'victims' and then not being able to offer them the promised 'release' or whatever it is a therapeutic discourse promises ."
|
Noel Howard writes about 'the death of Richard Webster', " We all accept the truism that there are two sides to every story. Saddened by the death of Richard Webster it strikes me that he was someone who critically saw that there are often many sides to every story.
"I read The Secret of Bryn Estynin the summer of 2009 and alternated that with reading extracts from the voluminous Ryan Report which had been published in May of that year.All I will say is that it was a disconcerting, challenging and uncomfortable experience reading both. With the benefit of hindsight I can say it was an extremely worthwhile experience. It has crystallised for me much of what I believe to be necessary in creating a culture where natural justice has a part to play when allegations of sexual abuse against those who work with children are made. Indeed, and this perhaps does need to be said ad nauseam, it is perhaps the only highly significant area where the accused is guilty until proven innocent contrary to one of the fundamental principles of our system of justice. Unfortunately, and this has also to be said over and over again, any genuine, critical questioning of particular abuse allegations can leave one very much on the margins in an atmosphere and climate (particularly in Ireland for obvious reasons) where so much has emerged in recent years around the institutional and clerical abuse of children. Indeed, we have not seen the last of such reports in Ireland, though they do not all have to do with children in care.
"But back to Richard. Of course anyone involved in working with children should read The Secret of Bryn Estyn. It’s a real page turner and I believe anyone who has read it must have paused on many occasions and asked “how could this have happened?” Richard was far from an apologist for child abusers – he simply contested that, yes, child abuse does take place, it takes place in society at large and in some residential units. In subtitling the book on Bryn Estyn The making of a modern witch hunt he clearly saw how bureaucratic self justification, innuendo, half truths, downright lies and the suggestion of compensation led to the lives of innocent caring adults being shattered. The bungled efforts to find and convict the abusers dragged those innocent of any wrongdoing into a nightmare that has to be read about to be believed.
"The UK legal system, as with Ireland, is there to convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent. In relation to child abuse allegations those innocents become victims of another kind – good people falsely accused or forever guilty by association who must often question what naïve, altruistic motive made them become part of a profession in the first place that just might change the miserable, blighted lives of children in care. After years perhaps of doing just that and doing it well, the merest hint of suspicion can bring them and those close to them down, never to recover. Some such idealists appear in Richard’s book on Bryn Estyn.
"Others also appear. In the light of recent revelations around News International in the UK we can appreciate a little more the lengths to which “respected” individuals in various “respected” walks of life will go to facilitate others in getting and making a story that satisfies the whetted, prurient appetites of those who believe that there is much more wrong with human nature than right.
In his forensic, patient analysis, Richard has much to say about how the characters and lives of good people can be shredded when suspect agendas are set, often masquerading as a search for the truth. His detailed study of the Waterhouse tribunal and report is fascinating and all in all, The Secret of Bryn Estyn classically shows how those at the highest level in their respective professions sometimes just cannot see the wood for the trees.
"I was fortunate to have had the privilege of exchanging a few emails with Richard. He referred to the twelve years he had spent, unintentionally in the first place, researching the Bryn Estyn story. He felt he had had enough after all those years and said “I am also, I have to confess, battle weary, and sometimes feel that I have been engaged in a war which cannot be won – not at least by conventional means.”
"He elaborated on his battle weariness in an email to a colleague in Europe to which I am privy. It’s really a beautifully haunting line considering all he had done. It goes “Sometimes you just want to take your tin hat off and get back to tilling the soil in the fields you left before you went off to war.”
Like so many others who do good things and fight their own private wars Richard probably felt he never won the war he engaged in. Yet, somehow I feel he did. For those who have faced false allegations Richard’s victory was not a pyrrhic one. In his outstanding study of what really happened around Bryn Estyn and other care homes at the heart of his research, he succeeded in finding what two high powered enquiries and the police did not - the truth of what really happened. For that we should be eternally grateful.
"Interestingly, he said his real study was human nature and he certainly unearthed the very best and worst of that in the Secret of Bryn Estyn.
Only the actions of the just, Smell sweet and blossom in the dust. (James Shirley 1596-1666)."
Cynthia Cross comments, "I went to the launch of Richard Websters book, 'The Secret of Bryn Estyn' at Portcullis House Westminster on 10/03/2005.
"To most people it must seem a long time after the closing of New Barns in 1992, due to a child protection inquiry, and the subsequent acquiting of all 7 defendents in February 1996 after 3 months in Bristol Crown Court; but some things never go away. New Barns was a unique therapeutic community for children, practicing shared responsibility between adults and children. Nearly all adults lived in as the job was seen as living with children, and using every situation that occurred in daily life as therapeutically as possible. All workers were part of the therapeutic team and whether they were primarily teacher or child care orientated they were paid on the same pay scale .... I could go on.
"The work of Richard Webster was extremely important to us; he was someone who was not only prepared to challenge the validity of some of the attacks on residential care,(When some people were implying and sometimes openly saying that all residential child care workers were suspect) but also put in the research work to prove his point. He was therefore heard and respected by a number of important people. The book launch hosted by Claire Curtis-Thomas was an example of this.
It is sad that he died so young, we have lost a valuable ally."
Max Smart comments, "Such sad news to read of Richard Webster's death, and I am grateful for this highly illuminating and reflective obituary by Mark. My take on Bryn Estyn affair is similarly controversial. My gut reaction to the issues of historical abuse is not to deny that some abuse took place and that victims of these abuses have been scarred and traumatised.However, some context has to be placed on accounts, such as time and culture of society at the time. If no such context is placed then the lens in which abuse is viewed and measured is from the luxurious position of hindsight, where care practice and culture is different than the time it was taking place. If the time and context of the culture is not taken into account, then if our care practices are viewed 40 years down the line, it may look as if our practices were like the "Spanish Inquisition". Secondly I'm concerned that current methods of investigating historical abuse seem to turn "natural justice" upon its head. Natural justice would assume innocence until proven guilty. Historical abuse appears to view alleged perpetrators as guilty until proven innocent.Thirdly, I always assumed that police on receiving a report of a crime being committed, investigate it, attain evidence as to alleged guilt or innocence and proceed to the judicial stage on this evidence if it is required. This seems markedly different in the way that enquiries are handled when it comes to investigating historical abuse, where police appear to contact people to seek out a crime. When this is combined with the apparent incentive of "compensation" it can become a significant source for concern about whether the ends of justice are met. Finally, it concerns me, that just like the "Ryan Report" in Ireland, and likely the "Time to be Heard" report due in Scotland, it seems that the great financial beneficiaries here are lawyer who have made miilions. So I have many mixed feelings about the way that historical abuse has been considered. There is not a shadow of a doubt that the abuse of children and young people, whether it be in residential care or foster care, is unacceptable and is to be utterly condemned, and those who commit it should be accountable, and those who suffered should have justice. However, the unintended consequence of the hysteria created in some of these scandals, is to discourage males going into care work and at times to create sterile care environments where people are afraid to touch a child for fear of allegation".
Nigel Hinks comments, "I am ashamed to confess to not knowing the name of Richard Webster. Having read both obituaries I felt moved by his portrayal, and also another premature passing. There is a counter view that should perhaps be distanced from any response to any individual's pursuit of justice and balance, or anything perceived as directly challenging such tributes to Richard Webster. There has to be due recognition of how unbalanced and prejudicial media reporting has whipped up frenzy, and methodical evidential reporting is crucial in challenging this form of journalism.Yet we also know that abusers sought out these settings for their systematic criminality. To condemn all on the basis of irresponsible enquiry, designed for headlines alone, is equal to indifference.
"My position, as a young social worker in the early 70's, seeking to intervene in the damaged lives of children and young people, is tinged with the regret and guilt of unwittingly delivering them to the doors of such institutions (in North Wales) and to (some of) those hiding behind their labels of 'specialist carers'."
Bob Forrest comments, "I was sorry to hear about Richard Webster and pleased that Mark mentioned his contribution to the debunking of the Jersey farce.It's such a pity that Webster's work is relatively unknown to the general populace.I of course mentioned The Secret of Bryn Estyn to Eddie Frizzell, who chaired the Scottish government's investigation into the Kerelaw affair and I am still trying to get my copy of it back from my MSP. It is sad that so many people in influential positions still refuse to allow facts to influence their opinions.
"A couple of years ago I sat in on an employment tribunal considering the sacking of 2 Kerelaw teachers. A witness for Glasgow Cuty Council,one of the education directors, was asked by the teachers' lawyer why he believed the one witness who said "black" as opposed to the seven witnesses who said "white".He replied that he believed the seven were in collusion. When asked whom he would have believed if seventy witnesses had said "white", he said that he would still believe the one who said "black" because the others were in collusion!!As you could imagine there was an audible gasp from the public gallery! I immediately emailed Frizzell to suggest that he and his team would benefit from a visit to the employment tribunal to gain some insight into Glasgow City Council's thought processes but in the event Glasgow threw in the towel the very next day and accepted that the teachers had been wrongfully dismissed!!
"The sad thing is that no lessons ever seem to get learned from the Bryn Estyn,Shelburne,Kerelaw experiences nor indeed from Orkney,Cleveland and goodness knows how many others."
Jeremy Millar comments, "There is certainly a fear factor present in challenging the establishment orthodoxy. My instinct tells me that rampant abuse was never an issue but that small pockets of abusive practice probably did exist either in the shape of a ‘charismatic leader’ or a rogue individual able to charm and dupe residents and colleagues. My take on the whole issue is more structural in relation to the way anglo american society views children and oppresses them in adult dominated settings. The answer is to empower children to challenge abusive adults and expose their practice to scrutiny. Social pedagogic approaches work in this way and promote inclusiveness for children. It will come as no surprise that I practised this position as a young person. A teacher at the school was persecuting a sister of my best mate because of my mate’s dislike of his attitude. We organised a rota whereby 2-3 of us would follow this teacher everywhere he went in the school at 5 paces behind. We would meet him coming out of the staff room and follow him to class and so on. He tried to address us but we totally blanked him. He quickly laid off the sister but couldn’t take any measures against us as it would have been humiliation in front of his colleagues.
"Once you have been empowered through direct action it never leaves you and I believe that adult society is subconsciously scared of offering this option to children. Instead we promote procedural approaches to conflict resolution that don’t deliver and develop apathy and cynicism. The young people who take direct action outwith the procedures are pathologised and come into care where their legitimate rage is held up as their problem. We drug them, lock them up and gently browbeat them into accepting their lot and their potential seeps away bit by bit as they drift in the system."
