IN THE DOCK

Police methods of investigating allegations of past abuse in children's homes have come in for severe criticism from witnesses appearing before an influential committee of MPs. Steve Flood listened in

Earlier this year, the home affairs select committee announced that it was to hold an inquiry into police methods of investigating allegations of past abuse in children's homes. The announcement was a victory for Claire Curtis-Thomas MP, who has campaigned on the issue since 1998 and who last year set up an all-party group at Westminster, which now has 60 members drawn from both Houses of Parliament.

It is probably no coincidence that the committee's decision to carry out an inquiry has been taken under the chairmanship of Labour MP Chris Mullin. Mr Mullin is well known for his campaigning interest in miscarriages of justice. For many years, he campaigned on behalf of the Birmingham Six who were convicted of the two pub bombings in Birmingham which killed 21 people in 1974. Their convictions were eventually overturned in 1991.

The committee started to hear oral evidence in May when MPs interviewed three prominent journalists, Bob Woffinden, David Rose and Richard Webster, all of whom have been highly critical of police methods in historic abuse cases. And in June, Claire Curtis-Thomas appeared before the committee. She told MPs she was convinced that miscarriages of justice have taken place because of deficiencies in the prosecuting process.

Ms Curtis-Thomas said she accepted that there has been widespread abuse of children. �s a country, we have been guilty of ignoring the cries of children who were abused in institutions over many decades,' she said. But there was now an ��ver-zealousness' on the part of some people involved in investigations. Her overriding concern is that the judicial process can be relied upon to reach a fair verdict, not that inquiries should not be taking place.

A week after hearing evidence from the journalists, the committee also heard evidence from a child psychotherapist, a residential social worker and two teachers who had all been wrongfully accused of abusing children. The committee also heard from three solicitors who have represented care home workers accused of abuse. At the heart of their criticisms is the alleged practice of indiscriminate police trawling for witnesses among former residents once an allegation has been made.

Trawling

Neil O'May, a solicitor with Bindman and Partners, described the practice of trawling as contacting ex-residents of a care home or other institution ��hen there has been no suggestion at all, even by the original complainant' that a crime has been committed against those ex-residents, nor that they have witnessed a crime. But current practice sometimes goes further, he said. �Nt's often turning up on the doorstep. It's investigating when there's no evidence of a crime.'

All three solicitors said such methods could never be legitimate. For Chris Saltrese, who has been involved in this area of the law for the last six years, the situation was clear. �rhe police are actually creating the evidence themselves and that's leading to people going to prison for offences which they haven't committed,' he said.

A particular problem has been the changes over the last decade on the law relating to similar fact. Courts are now hearing cases where there are multiple complainants, but where there is no independent evidence other than the statements of the accusers. Mr O'May said this is leading to convictions on a ��o smoke without fire' basis.

For Mr Saltrese, the burden of proof is being reversed. �Nt is the defendant who has to establish their innocence,' he said. �rhe police are gathering evidence, the facts of which are disputed. There is no dead body, there is no blown safe, there is no blood on the carpet.'

Influencing witnesses

Solicitor Linzi McDonald represented the ex-Southampton football manager David Jones, whose trial collapsed when the key witness for the prosecution refused to give evidence. She said the defence team had one witness who had been prepared to give evidence that police had encouraged him to make allegations against her client. �Me was willing to come to court to say that when he was interviewed by the police in relation to complaints against another care worker, he was encouraged - and I will use the word encouraged - to make allegations of abuse against David Jones,' she said.

Both Mr Saltrese and Mr O'May claimed the police do sometimes lead witnesses. �rhey suggest scenarios, they suggest names, they show photographs,' said Mr Saltrese. Mr O'May said the police adopt a number of different attitudes towards potential witnesses. ��ome are extreme such as, �pe've got this nonce, are you going to help us get him?? to simply reciting what one witness has said to another witness as the preliminary to obtaining a statement.' At the heart of the problem was an underlying assumption that ��here are paedophiles in this home', he said.

Solicitors disagreed about the extent to which compensation was a factor behind the allegations. Mr O'May said that in his experience, compensation was not the number one motivation. Mr Saltrese, on the other hand, thought the ��esire to claim undeserved financial compensation' was the ��verriding motivation in making false allegations'.

The home affairs committee will be continuing to hear evidence during July.

STEVE FLOOD