Throxenby Hall: Another Death

Throxenby Hall: Another Death

by TIM HICKS

~~~~~

Introduction

The NYE has recently run a series of articles on the abuse of children at Throxenby Hall, Scarborough and Kirklevington Detention Centre (KDC), North Yorkshire. These articles have revealed more about what was going on at both institutions.

According to this BBC article here, seven hundred victims of abuse at KDC have come forward. It is believed that Officers from West Yorkshire, Northumbria, Cleveland, Durham, Lancashire and North Yorkshire Police (NYP) are under investigation in connection with the abuse that occurred at KDC. The investigation is codenamed Operation Magnolia and is led by Cleveland Police.

Throxenby Hall was a residential care home for boys. It housed about 60 boys aged 9 and over. It was run by the former North Riding County Council from 1946 until 1974 when responsibility for the home was transferred to the former North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) Social Services Department. It closed in 1991. NYCC became North Yorkshire Council (NYC) in 2023.

A former pupil at Throxenby Hall we have called “John” has come forward to the NYE and alleged that the NYCC Social Workers protected members of its staff that were abusing the boys at Throxenby Hall. “John” was at Throxenby Hall for two years in the 1980s. His evidence can be read here.

Other witnesses that were pupils at Throxenby Hall have confirmed that they saw the notorious rapist Councillor Peter Jaconelli at Throxenby Hall and that he took boys from Throxenby Hall into Scarborough with him.  

After each of these articles, the NYE ran an appeal for information, as we have below.

Savile linked to Throxenby Hall

As a result of the appeals, another witness has come forward to NYE senior reporter Nigel Ward, with startling new evidence.

He has confirmed that Jimmy Savile was a frequent visitor to Throxenby Hall in company with Peter Jaconelli. This is the first time Savile has been evidentially linked to the abuse at Throxenby Hall. Jaconelli was a NYCC Councillor (as well as being a Scarborough Councillor, Mayor and Alderman) so this gave him a justification to visit Throxenby Hall with his friend and co-offender, Jimmy Savile.

The concern is that they went to Throxenby Hall to collect the boys they wanted to take into Scarborough to abuse them there. This ensured that Jaconelli and Savile had a steady supply of young vulnerable boys from disturbed backgrounds to abuse. The ring of pervert NYCC Residential Care Officers who selected the boys for them was protected from arrest by NYCC Social Workers, probably at the request of Jaconelli.

The boys at Throxenby Hall were in a much more vulnerable position because they were resident and therefore not under the protection of teachers or their parents. Pupils from outside Scarborough were even more vulnerable because their parents were more remote. Based on other victims’ accounts, the abuse inflicted on these boys would have included being raped and forced to provide masturbation and oral sex to Savile and Jaconelli.

Another Death at Throxenby Hall

As a result of the NYE investigation (here), we now know that the death of pupil Martin Mennell in the swimming-pool at Throxenby Hall was probably avoidable and there was contributory negligence by NYCC’s Residential Care Officers.

This report from the Yorkshire Post alleges that “many” former pupils from Throxenby Hall have committed suicide because of the abuse they suffered there. Given the nature and the scale of the abuse inflicted on boys there, I find this allegation entirely credible. It apparently emanates from NYP Officers involved in the investigation into Throxenby Hall, called Operation Manuka, but predictably, my request to NYP Chief Constable Forber to confirm this has been ignored.

This witness has now confirmed the name of one of the former pupils that has died as a result of the abuse he suffered at Throxenby Hall:

[Extensively Redacted]

Operations’ Yewtree, Hibiscus, Manuka and Magnolia – Re-assessed.

The Metropolitan Police Operation Yewtree was supposed to get to the bottom of Jimmy Savile’s offending. Both Nigel Ward and I submitted evidence to detectives from the Metropolitan Police to assist in this investigation. The investigation was removed from the control of the Metropolitan Police and handed over to NYP in 2013.

Subsequently, following media criticism on the BBC by Nigel Ward, NYP referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Complaints (IOPC) and initiated another investigation into Savile and Jaconelli codenamed Operation Hibiscus.

Following media scrutiny, NYP was forced to admit that Jaconelli and Savile had raped multiple victims in Scarborough and Whitby and that although there were multiple complaints to NYP, they were all ignored.

Operation Manuka resulted in three arrests, but no convictions, despite multiple victims and the industrial level of abuse that was perpetrated at Throxenby Hall.

Despite the millions of pounds and thousands of hours CID time that have been expended on Operations’ Yewtree, Hibiscus, Manuka and Magnolia, they did not reveal that Jaconelli and Savile were abusing children from Throxenby Hall. Nor have these investigations revealed that the neglect and abuse at Throxenby Hall were probably contributing factors in the deaths of multiple children who were pupils there. None of the NYCC Residential Care Officers at Throxenby Hall have been convicted of anything, none of the NYCC Social Workers that protected them have even been interviewed by NYP. None of the Police Pfficers that covered up the abuse in Scarborough and KDC have even been interviewed under caution.

As usual, the Police have been completely ineffective and the NYE is the only investigative organisation that has revealed this previously undisclosed aspect of the Peter Jaconelli paedophile ring,

The Police Response

Most people would think that the Police and those officials responsible for ensuring that the Police Service is efficient would be pleased that local media was supporting the investigations by developing new lines of enquiry, revealing more information and identifying new witnesses about serious crimes against children.

However:

• The NYE’s enquiries to NYP over the Police investigation into Throxenby Hall have been ignored by successive Chief Constables. NYP CID has made no attempt to exploit the new witnesses and evidence that the NYE coverage has generated, although the NYP Force Intelligence Bureau routinely reviews all NYE articles.

• NYC has refused to comment. The NYE’s enquiries asking if NYC will issue an apology for the abuse the children in its care and the death of Martin Mennell resulted in a NYC Media Officer asking me to address my request to NYP.

• NYC Councillors Carl Les and Councillor David Jeffels are refusing to comment on when they became aware of the allegations surrounding Peter Jaconelli.

• York and North Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime Jo Coles is ignoring all requests from the NYE for comment on the involvement of NYP Officers in acquiescing to the abuse of children in Scarborough, Whitby, Throxenby Hall and KDC.

• Chief Constable Forber of NYP, Chief Constable Webster of Cleveland, Chief Constable Robins of West Yorkshire Police (WYP), Chief Constable Hatchett of Lancashire Police, Chief Constable Jardine of Northumbria Police and Chief Constable Rachel Bacon of Durham Constabulary are all refusing to respond to media enquiries from the NYE on Operation Magnolia.

• Commissioner Storey for Cleveland Police (the lead Force for Operation Magnolia and responsible for investigating its own Officers and the Officers from the above Forces accused of witnessing the abuse at KDC and failing to intervene) refused to comment because he had received a briefing from the Cleveland Police.

• Deputy Mayor Lowe for WYP responded by asking which other Forces the NYE had contacted about KDC, but did not bother to respond further.

• Commissioner Grunshaw for Lancashire Police, Commissioner Dungworth for Northumbria Police and Commissioner Allen for Durham Police just didn’t bother responding to our enquiries about the involvement of Officers from their Forces in the abuse of youths at KDC.
  

Some of the NYCC Residential Care Officers that inflicted this abuse at Throxenby Hall and the NYCC Social Workers that protected them are still alive and could still be prosecuted. There are still active investigations into Throxenby Hall and KDC. Yet the NYE has been met with a wall of silence and inaction by NYC and all the Police Forces whose Officers are alleged to have been involved in the cover -up.

Could this be because there are alleged to be Police Officers who could still face charges?

Surely not.

NYE Appeal for Information

If you have had a bad experience of being strip searched or if you were badly treated in an NYP Custody Suite. Or were at Throxenby Hall, or Kirklevington Detention Centre, please contact the NYE in complete confidence using the letters@nyenquirer.uk email address.

The NYE would particularly like to hear from:

• Anyone who knew Martin Mennell, who drowned in the Throxenby Hall swimming pool.
  

• Any former pupil of Throxenby Hall who knew Graham Atkinson, who was a pupil at Throxenby Hall, who died on 23rd November 1975.

Right of Reply

If you are mentioned in this article and do not agree with the views expressed in it, or if you wish to correct any factual inaccuracy, please let me know using the letters@nyenquirer.uk email address with your views, and a correction will be published, if appropriate.