Town hall chief says that he’s sorry – at eighth time of asking

ROCHDALE’S council leader has personally apologised for abuse suffered by boys at Knowl View in the 1980s and 1990s - but only after being asked to do so eight times by a journalist.

After being slammed at the national child abuse inquiry, Coun Richard Farnell initially insisted he did not ‘have anything personal to apologise for’. Only after being bombarded repeatedly with the same question did he finally say sorry.

The barrister acting for Knowl View victims at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) had said in her summing up a few minutes earlier that Coun Farnell should ‘apologise’ and take ‘personal responsibility’.

Following Laura Hoyano’s scathing assessment, Coun Farnell was asked by ITV whether he personally apologised for the abuse - much of which took place when he last led the council between 1986 and 1992 - he initially said ‘the council has currently apologised and I support the apology’, referring to a statement released by the town hall’s chief executive on the authority’s behalf ahead of the hearing.

Asked again whether he apologised to the victims personally, he said: “I certainly apologise for the failings of the council.”

Pushed again for a personal apology, he said: “I don’t have anything personal to apologise for.” When asked why not, he said: “You’re getting it wrong. The council, of which I’m part, has apologised.”

While giving evidence to the inquiry earlier this week Coun Farnell had insisted personal culpability did not lie with him but with senior officers, a view that was fiercely criticised in yesterday’s summing up.

Pushed further by journalist Daniel Hewitt on whether as a ‘human being’ - regardless of what he knew at the time - he was ‘personally sorry’, he said: “I certainly am and I’ve said that to the inquiry.”

When it was pointed out that he had not personally apologised to the inquiry, he said: “I’ve made this clear on a number of occasions. I am personally, um, regret, I bitterly regret...”

Asked then why he could not say the word ‘sorry’, he said: “I personally apologise for what happened to those boys at Knowl View. I deeply regret - I’m sorry as to the failings of the council in dealing with that matter. I’ve made that clear on more than one occasion.”

Coun Farnell was then asked whether he was sorry for any ‘personal failings’. “What I’ve said is very clearly people have to account for their own individual actions,” he said. “I made that clear to the inquiry and I stand by that. What we need to do is wait for the inquiry to report.”