Detention centre guard a 'prolific sex offender'
An officer at a notorious detention centre for young offenders was "possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history," an inquiry has concluded.
Neville Husband was sentenced in 2003 for abuse at Medomsley, County Durham, where hundreds of young men were exposed to physical and sexual assault by prison staff from 1961 to 1987. He died in 2010.
A study by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Adrian Usher, highlights a string of missed opportunities to prevent abuse and failures by the Home Office, police forces, and prison administrators. Durham Police has apologised. The Ministry of Justice has been asked for comment.
According to the study, prisoners who protested were not believed and were therefore unable to safely disclose abuse (often to the very people who had assaulted them). It warned that what had happened was a "cautionary tale" and that mistreatment was "still a problem" throughout the youth custody system.
Young men aged 17-21 at Medomsley were held for three or six months for a variety of low-level criminal convictions. It was designed to shock prisoners with a "short, sharp shock," but the inquiry revealed physical abuse and summary punishments were endemic. Sexual assaults were often concentrated in the institution's kitchen, where Husband assaulted young prisoners.
Chief Constable Rachel Bacon said the study made for "extremely difficult reading" and exposed "shameful policing at the time."
"I want to express sincere regret to those individuals and their families for those tragedies," she said. "Thousands of young men were let down by the system and are now living with the scars left by the violence. Those victims were, and still are, our greatest worry."
'Extent of the Horrors'
Mr Usher wrote in the report: "I have chosen to omit several of the most graphic details about the abuse, but I think it is necessary to make it clear that the horrors that some young men suffered were real."
According to the study, some of those who served time at Medomsley said the experience haunts them to this day. In 1985, Peter Toole, a Newcastle man, was sent there.
"You weren't even in for a minute and the assault began," he said. "I just thought, 'This is it, this is Medomsley, get on with it and take it on the chin.'"
Jimmy Coffey left Medomsley when he was 18 in 1979. "I was just seeing violence, cruelty, and mistrust throughout the first week," he said. "I still have problems now with flashbacks."
Medomsley had existed for 26 years "effectively outside the law's reach," according to the inquiry. Another officer, Leslie Johnson, was jailed in 2005 for sex attacks on prisoners, in addition to Husband's earlier conviction. Other guards were convicted of physical assaults and misconduct in a public office.
