Grooming scandal: Kids’ boss went on to advise after it was hit by abuse
THE council boss in charge of children’s services during Manchester’s grooming scandal was later given a role by Chetham School of Music in the wake of its own sex abuse shame, the Manchester Evening News can reveal.
Pauline Newman, 66, was among senior council officials who were part of a ‘gold command’ team that met with police during Operation Augusta, the investigation into the gang that was dropped in 2005.
Last week, a report commissioned by mayor Andy Burnham revealed how young victims were plied with cash and drugs and raped under the noses of Greater Manchester Police and Manchester council for years.
The review said authorities were well aware that a large number of children were being exploited by a group of Asian men, predominantly working in the restaurants and takeaways of south Manchester.
Among those children was Victoria Agoglia. The joint police and council investigation Operation Augusta was launched in the wake of her death, at the age of 15, in September 2003, five days after she was injected with heroin by a 50-year-old man.
The investigation went on to identify 97 potential suspects and 57 potential young victims. But little more than a year later, it was shut down ‘for resource reasons,’ the report said. No individuals involved in the investigation were named in Mr Burnham’s report. However, the review refers to a number of people with key roles within Manchester council in relation to Operation Augusta, and the awareness authorities had of child sexual exploitation in the city between 2004 and 2005.
The report says that once Operation Augusta was launched, ‘a gold command structure was put in place, and this included senior officers from the city council.’ A social worker was also embedded with the police investigation team. It says: ‘A gold command meeting was held at Manchester Town Hall on 1 July, 2004, and this included the city council’s Director of Children and Families Services and her assistant director.’ Pauline Newman, 66, was the Director of Children’s Services at this time. Mrs Newman no longer works for the council, taking early retirement after nine years in the post. She did not respond to the M.E.N’s request for comment. However, during her career at Manchester council, Mrs Newman did comment on a separate child sexual abuse scandal that also related to authority care homes, codenamed Operation Cleopatra by police.
The council paid more than £2m to a group of 168 alleged victims of sexual and physical abuse in care homes across Manchester between 1997 and 2002.
In her role as director of children’s services, Pauline Newman said in 2007: “We also work very closely with other agencies involved with young people in the city to prevent abuse of any kind in all settings.”
But Mr Burnham’s report gives a brutal assessment of the council’s care for children in care on Mrs Newman’s watch.
Since her retirement, Mrs Newman has continued to hold a number of governor roles in Manchester schools. In 2014, she was nominated as a governor of Chetham’s School of Music and then chair of the safeguarding committee until last year.
In this role, she reported to the Safeguarding Commission, set up by Chetham’s in the wake of its own sex abuse scandal in 2013.
Inspectors visited the institution following a number of serious allegations of sex abuse against teachers past and present, including former director of music Michael Brewer who was found guilty of sexually abusing a student when she was 14 and 15.
Two independent reports found senior staff and governors at the specialist school had failed to ensure the safeguarding of pupils’