CARE HOME BOSS’S YEARS OF ABUSE
IT WAS an abuse of power which lasted 22 years and spanned at least three different children’s care homes in Wales. There are more than 20 victims, then vulnerable girls and boys, who are now scarred for life – many turning to drugs and alcohol to blot out the impact of sexual assault.
In total, some 120 boys were sent by 14 different local authorities into the care of hotelier and predatory paedophile John Allen.
There he raped, assaulted and beat his victims, mostly boys, as young as seven, assaulting them in the back of cars, in dorm rooms and out in the countryside on weekend breaks.
It is only now, five decades later that the horrific behaviour of one of the “most prolific child abusers of recent times” is being fully understood as another of his victims exposes his heinous actions in court.
Despite having no care qualifications, hotelier Allen set up a company named Bryn Alyn Community in Wrexham in 1968.
Charming, intelligent and charismatic, he was known for ruling with an “iron fist” at the portfolio of 11 homes he went on to oversee.
The accounts of his behaviour are mixed. One of his victims even described him as “like a God”, subjecting a regime of violence and intimidation, yet at times others found him “personable, anxious to be on the best terms with people”.
By 1969, only one year after Bryn Alyn was formed, Allen’s abuse of his victims had already begun.
Most came from “dysfunctional, chaotic” backgrounds and were in dire need of care and protection. It was also those victims who felt noone would believe their word if they were to raise alarm.
Some were groomed with expensive gifts after each incident, others described being pestered, threatened and subjected to violence.
To avoid his grasp, one victim told how he would hide under the seats of the community handyman’s van, who would protect him from Allen.
Another told investigators Allen rented a flat for him to live in – a place where the predator could subject him to sexual abuse in private.
Heartbreakingly, most of the victims told the court they had no choice but to put up with Allen’s attentions as they became “hardened to the abuse”.
While complaints were made with social workers and from time to time with the police, these were never investigated. And it wasn’t just sexual assault. Speaking previously, Wrexham gym owner Stephen Fong described how he was left bloodied and bruised by the “father figure” after being moved to his care home as an 11-year-old in 1975.
Mr Fong maintains he was physically rather than sexually abused by Allen and told how being punched, kicked or smashed around an office, a bedroom or a hallway “was the norm”.
Prosecuting at Allen’s second trial in 2014, Eleanor Laws QC said: “[The victims] said the staff appeared to be either fearful of him or were colluding with him. He created what has been described as a sexualised atmosphere within the homes, alongside a culture of fear.
“He was seemingly, without being called to account, able to sexually abuse these boys on a regular basis.”
The truth about Allen did not come out for years. Between 1969 and 1990, he was able to continue his abuse at three homes – Bryn Alyn, Pentre Saeson and Bryn Terion.
Even when he did first appear in court, in 1996, the full scale of his crimes was not revealed. Then he was convicted of indecently assaulting six boys between the ages of 12 and 16 in the 1970s.
He was then jailed for just six years. That year the Waterhouse Inquiry was launched to look at the issue of abuse of children in care in the Gwynedd and Clwyd areas between 1974 and 1996.
It sat for 203 days, cost £13m, and took evidence from 650 people who had been in care from 1974. Throughout it, Allen continued to deny any wrongdoing.
Sir Ronald Waterhouse, a retired judge, concluded that there was a paedophile ring operating in the Wrexham and Chester areas, with adults targeting boys in care; however, an order banned the identification of the 28 alleged abusers in the report. And there was criticism of it.
Although he had been convicted of indecent assault, the full story of Allen’s monstrosity remained hidden.
At the same time a separate, internal investigation into historic sex abuse was being compiled by Clwyd council, named the Jillings Report, it was completed in 1996 but not published until 2013 over fears it would trigger compensation claims.
Once he finished his six-year sentence from 1996, Allen was able to live freely in Suffolk.
By November 2001, further complainants came forward to speak out against Allen for the first time.
Although he was charged with “serious sexual allegations” relating to a number of boys, the trial did not go ahead because of a legal technicality which does not exist today.
It is understood a crown court judge ruled that Allen would not receive a fair trial because of previous publicity about his convictions.
Instead it took until the launch of Operation Pallial for the convicted paedophile to return to court once more in 2014 charged with historical offences against 18 boys and one girl aged between seven and 15.
Of those, only one had given evidence to the Waterhouse Inquiry, the rest coming forward thanks to the police operation to investigate sexual abuse in North Wales care homes.
During a horrifying six-week trial the jury heard how one teenager had been told he needed to be assessed before being taken to a room, undressed and placed on a table.
It was then that he was sexually assaulted while being held down by another member of staff.
“It was really rough,” the man told the court, before going on to describe years of anxiety attacks and antidepressants.
As the weeks went by, the jury of Allen’s trial were introduced to one victim after another – each with their own tale of abuse to tell.
One man told how he had been sexually abused in the back of a Rolls Royce and then assaulted in a hotel.
Another was abused in a utility room and bathroom when he was taken from his dorm, promised new clothes and shoes and subjected to violence.
In another case, a man told how he was raped during “wild games” on a mountain range where children from the homes were taken on the weekend.
The man told Mold Crown Court how the army-type games had been in full swing when Allen forced him onto the ground on the pretext someone was coming.
On other occasions he would pretend to be asleep when Allen would enter the dorm room at night and abuse him. When he ran away to tell police they didn’t believe him, instead phoning his abuser to pick him up.
In total, Allen was found guilty of 27 indecent assaults, one count of indecency with a child and six other serious sexual assaults.
In 19 victim statements read aloud, tales were told of victims living “sad and troubled lives”.
Sentencing Allen, Mr Justice Openshaw told the court: “Some have had nervous breakdowns. A number have attempted suicide. Some have been in prison.”
On December 1, 2014, Allen was jailed for life. Addressing the paedophile, Mr Justice Openshaw described him as “high up the scale of the most prolific child abusers of recent times”.
Despite being put behind bars, John Allen’s case was far from over.
Only days after his sentencing Bryn Alyn Care Home finance manager Des Frost took to the press to reveal how his warnings were ignored by the police.
It was claimed two detectives had visited Frost to hear the allegations, but the claim was dismissed, allowing Allen to continue to prey on vulnerable boys until the early 1990s.
Mr Frost recalls speaking to Allen about a suspicious black eye he had received, where he was told the manager had clambered through a caravan window in the dark, where a 16-year-old boy was living, but had been thumped when the teen thought he was being burgled.
Speaking in 2014, Mr Frost claimed: “I was a senior manager at Bryn Alyn care home so my report should have sounded alarm bells.
“I didn’t expect screaming squad cars turning up, but I expected police to, at the very least, contact me for the names of the children claiming they were abused.”
Last month, nearly six years after he last appeared in the dock, Allen appeared in court for a third time.
Now 78, he was convicted of eight further sexual charges against five boys dating back between to 1976 and 1992.
In one case of indecent assault the defendant had encouraged two other men to take advantage of a youngster, the three of them acting together.
Despite denying all charges, he was found guilty of 16 charges of indecent assault, two of illegal sex acts and two of trying to carry out other illegal sexual acts and on
Wednesday was sentenced to 14-and-a-half years in prison.
Running concurrently with his life sentence, it means Allen’s earliest release of September 1, 2025, will now be put back.
An NSPCC spokesperson said: “John Allen was supposed to be caring for vulnerable boys but took advantage of his position to commit child sexual abuse on a massive scale.
“The fact he has been brought back to court and given further jail time for these terrible crimes is thanks to the bravery of the victims in coming forward and sharing their stories.
“We now hope these individuals receive all the care and support they need to put these horrendous experiences behind them.”
NCA senior investigating officer Philip Marshall said: “Allen used his position of trust to abuse boys who were young, vulnerable and from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“He controlled and manipulated his victims, and rewarded them by giving cash and gifts that any young boy would want.
“The victims have been incredibly courageous coming forward to the NCA many years later.
“Allen and others who committed crimes against defenceless children in North Wales care homes have been brought to justice, and I hope their victims can take some comfort in that.”