GORDON ANGLESEA was today convicted of historic child abuse at Mold Crown Court.
The jury of six men and five woman unanimously found him guilty on four counts of indecent assault.
He was found not guilty of one charge of buggery.
Two men had claimed the retired North Wales Police superintendent abused them when they were teenagers in the 1980s.
The end of the case means Rebecca can reveal dramatic new developments in the case.
In 1997 a woman made an allegation that she had been indecently assaulted by Gordon Anglesea.
The woman — “ an adult acquaintance: of the family” — reported the matter to the North Wales Police.
LYING
GORDON ANGLESEA admitted lying about an indecent assault which took place some time in late 1996 or early 1997. The fact that Anglesea lied under caution has been suppressed by the North Wales Police for nearly two decades … .
Photo: Trinity Mirror
GORDON ANGLESEA admitted lying about an indecent assault which took place some time in late 1996 or early 1997. The fact that Anglesea lied under caution has been suppressed by the North Wales Police for nearly two decades … .
Photo: Trinity Mirror
The force submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service which decided there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute.
Lady Justice Macur, the deputy presiding judge of the Court of Appeal, recently re-examined the case.
She had been asked by David Cameron to review the work of the North Wales Child Abuse Tribunal of 1997-1998.
Lady Justice Macur reveals Anglesea “lied when first questioned under caution” about the alleged offence.
Her report was published in March this year.
She said the North Wales Child Abuse Tribunal knew about the case in 1997 but did not obtain the file because North Wales Police claimed it was “not relevant”.
Lady Justice Macur noted that Anglesea “on his own subsequent admission“ lied in his first police statement about what she calls “a relatively minor indecent assault”.
She does not reveal the nature of the lie — or why she considered the indecent assault “relatively minor”.
SUPPRESSED
LADY JUSTICE MACUR, the deputy presiding judge of the Court of Appeal, took more than three years and spent £3 million in her review of the work of the North Wales Child Abuse Tribunal. She said the Tribunal should have insisted on seeing the police file on the 1997 indecent assault allegation against Gordon Anglesea. It was relevant to the question of Anglesea’s credibility and could have altered the Tribunal’s verdict on the retired superintendent. When Lady Macur published her report in March this year, Anglesea’s name was removed because he was facing a criminal trial …
LADY JUSTICE MACUR, the deputy presiding judge of the Court of Appeal, took more than three years and spent £3 million in her review of the work of the North Wales Child Abuse Tribunal. She said the Tribunal should have insisted on seeing the police file on the 1997 indecent assault allegation against Gordon Anglesea. It was relevant to the question of Anglesea’s credibility and could have altered the Tribunal’s verdict on the retired superintendent. When Lady Macur published her report in March this year, Anglesea’s name was removed because he was facing a criminal trial …
It is only with today’s verdict that the story can be told.
Rebecca believes the Macur Review contains more redacted material about Gordon Anglesea.
We asked the Ministry of Justice for a copy of the report with all redacted references to the retired superintendent removed.
A spokesman told us they would not do so — even though the Anglesea trial is now over.
Rebecca will take this matter up with MPs in the House of Commons.
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IN ANOTHER dramatic development, North Wales Police have confirmed an investigation is under way into an alleged cover-up in the Anglesea case.
In April 2002 detectives interviewed a man in Liverpool’s Walton Prison who gave them information about an alleged abuser with a distinctive birthmark.
The detectives were part of Operation Angel, an investigation into further allegations against already convicted paedophile John Allen.
Officlal records show the prisoner handed detectives a piece of paper with the names of three of the men he said had abused him.
The third name on the list consisted of a Christian name: “Gordon”.
The witness noted that “Gordon” was “prim and proper dressed, birthmark on face …”
COVER-UP
NEARLY A quarter of a century ago, officers from North Wales Police turned a blind eye to a serious child abuse allegation against Gordon Anglesea. Now the force — prompted by concerns expressed by detectives from the National Crime Agency — have launched an inquiry into what went wrong.
NEARLY A quarter of a century ago, officers from North Wales Police turned a blind eye to a serious child abuse allegation against Gordon Anglesea. Now the force — prompted by concerns expressed by detectives from the National Crime Agency — have launched an inquiry into what went wrong.
Detectives from the National Crime Agency recovered internal North Wales Police emails which reveal senior officers were aware that “Gordon” could well be Anglesea.
One of the emails talked of “keeping quiet”.
A decision was taken not to investigate further.
Rebecca asked North Wales Police to confirm that the original interview was carried out by then Detective Sergeant Peter Challinor and Detective Constable Alun Oldfield.
A spokeswoman would only say “the names you have provided are not entirely correct”.
Peter Challinor reached the rank of Detective Superintendent before retiring.
Alun Oldfield is still a serving Detective Chief Inspector.
In a statement North Wales Police said:
“We can confirm that North Wales Police Professional Standards Department have received a complaint as a result of Operation Pallial that is being investigated.”
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A FULL account of the six-week Anglesea trial will be published in the next few days.
Rebecca was the only news organisation with a reporter in court throughout the hearings.
The trial was a bad-tempered affair with prosecution QC Eleanor Laws and Anglesea’s QC Tania Griffiths often sniping at one another.
The jury — who spent most of the trial waiting for legal arguments to finish — threatened a revolt at one point.
On several occasions, the judge lost patience.
He warned the trial was in danger of becoming a “pantomime”.
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