Paedophile John Allen, the proprietor of a care facility in Wrexham and a convicted paedophile serving a life sentence for child sexual abuse, has deceased while incarcerated.
John Allen, who managed multiple Bryn Alyn community children’s homes in Wrexham, was found guilty of eight offences involving five boys from 1976 to 1992.
The 78-year-old, John Allen, was incarcerated for a minimum of 11 years in 2014 for 33 sexual crimes. Subsequent victims emerged, leading to Allen’s conviction in December 2019 on seven additional charges of indecent assault and one count of a grave sexual offence against minors. He was incarcerated for an additional fourteen and a half years.
Judge Rhys Rowlands told Mold Crown Court John Allen’s victims were subjected to “seriously depraved behaviour”.
HM Prison Service has confirmed that John Allen has died at HMP Bure, a prison for sex offenders, aged 83.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Bure prisoner John Allen died on May 3, 2025. As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
John Allen ran the care homes for 20 years and they were one of the UK’s largest providers of residential care for children.
However, many found themselves subjected to repeated abuse at John Allen’s hands. The National Crime Agency said Allen would sexually abuse the boys in one of his cars, offices, at hotels or in the snooker room at his home in Wrexham.
Children’s charity the NSPCC said Allen’s “reign of terror over a dark period of several decades puts him high up the scale of the most prolific child abusers of recent times”.
Judge Rowlands said John Allen had shown “sheer wickedness in taking advantage of children” in his care.
John Allen was arrested as part of Operation Pallial, external, an independent investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) into recent allegations of past abuse in the care system in north Wales.
No police forces or police officers have been held accountable form allowing John Allen to continue raping children for decades.
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