Other staff at Lambeth Council – staff, etc. – Peter Mandelson’s tenure, during which children in the ‘care’ of Lambeth Council children’s homes were being abused ‘on an industrial scale’::
- (Michael) John Carroll (Deputy Officer-in-Charge at Highland Road children’s home March 1978-; Officer-in-Charge at Angel Road children’s home January 1981-1990. The indictment before the court in 1999 contained 76 counts relating to child sexual abuse. (Michael) John Carroll was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.)
- June Mellor (June Carroll) (Deputy Officer-in-Charge at Highland Road children’s home 1977-; “June Mellor was later to become Michael John Carroll’s wife”)
- Frank Dixon Ward (Chief Executive 1977-1982) and Arthur John George (Chief Executive from 1982 onward)
- Steven Forrest (a Team Leader and a Senior Residential Care Officer at Angell Road children’s home 1982-1991)
- Valerie Howarth (Assistant Director of Social Services – Personal Services Division until 1982. Howarth in other words was employed by Lambeth throughout Mandelson’s tenure as an elected Councillor and departed the same year he left the council. Between joining Lambeth in 1976, and taking up the post of Director of Social Services in Brent in 1982, Howarth at some point trained the sister of Esther Rantzen: Lambeth social worker Priscilla Taylor. When Esther Rantzen co-founded ChildLine in 1986, she selected Howarth as her founding chief executive despite Howarth’s “notoriety” for failing children in the care system in Lambeth then Brent. “My sister reminded me that in spite of her notoriety Valerie was a skilled and experienced social worker,” Esther Rantzen unconvincingly told the press. As well as becoming Childline’s founding chief executive (in post until July 2001) Howarth served as “the new head of the Childline Counselling Service” from c. 1987 onward (The Sunday Times May 17 1987). Howarth was a member of the NSPCC Professional Advice Panel 1993-1994.
- Christopher ‘Chris’ Hussell (a Senior/Supervising Social Worker during Peter Mandelson’s Lambeth tenure)
- Theresa Johnson (a Social Work Student who did a practice placement at Angell Road children’s home for three or four months in 1981 or 1982)
- Lord Roger Liddle (n.b. elected to the council in 1982, so he joined it as Peter Mandelson was departing it. Lord Roger Liddle was the SDLP group Leader on Lambeth Council when he tried to recruit Mandelson to the SDLP. Peter Mandelson “seriously discussed” the possibility and “is said to have even accepted an enrolment form”. Lord Roger Liddle is friends with Peter Mandelson and would go on to work with him on numerous projects, including in the early 2000s as a fellow board member at Policy Network and Communications Ltd)
- Robin Osmond (the Director of Social Services 1977 – April 1988)
- Lord Herman Ouseley (the Race Relations adviser to Lambeth Borough Council)
- Leslie ‘Les’ Paul (worked at South Vale children’s home from September 1979 onward. Perpetrated scores of sexual assaults on children throughout his employment at Lambeth, until his dismissal in 1992. In 2016, sentencing Mr Leslie ‘Les’ Paul to 13 years’ imprisonment, Judge John Hillen told him: “If you were not part of a paedophile ring, you were at least knowledgeable about and in contact with a group of paedophile men.”)
- Jack Smith (Principal Officer Social Work during Peter Mandelson’s Lambeth tenure)
- Philip Temple (House Father at Shirley Oaks’ Rowan House children’s home 1975 – May 1977)
- Patrick Grant (Officer-in-Charge at Shirley Oaks’ Rowan House children’s home from August 1977. Following his December 1978 acquittal he worked at South Vale Assessment Centre July 1980 – Oct. 1981. “In 2019, Patrick Grant was convicted of eight counts of child sexual abuse, including in respect of one child who had been at Shirley Oaks in the care of Lambeth Council in the 1970s. Lambeth Council is now aware of at least 15 children who have alleged sexual abuse by Patrick Grant, eight of whom were in its care”)
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.