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The overall position in 1974

5.01  The resident population of the new administrative county of Gwynedd on 1 April 1974 was about 226,500, of whom 60,152 were aged under 18 years. The total number of children in care was 290, of whom 189 were the subject of care orders. The total number of children in residential care was then about 80 as against 122 who were in foster care[56].

Local authority community homes in Gwynedd in 1974

  5.02  There were six local authority community homes within Gwynedd at that time, namely:

Voluntary homes in Gwynedd in 1974

  5.03  The only two registered voluntary homes in Gwynedd shown in the 1971 Regional Plan were Bontnewydd and Benarth, both stated to be in Caernarvon. Neither was described as controlled or assisted. The former was a children's home built in 1907 and known as Cartref Bontnewydd. It was established by a Methodist body of trustees with the object of providing a service for orphaned children and for those who could not be cared for within their own families; and it remained open as a children's home until 1983, being categorised as "other residential arrangements for children outside the community home system" in the 1979 Plan. Benarth was, in fact, at Llanfairfechan and was listed in the same way as Cartref Bontnewydd in both the 1971 and 1979 Plans. We have no information as to when it opened and closed or about the voluntary organisation that managed it but it has been unnecessary to pursue the details because we have not received any complaints about it.

  5.04  In the 1979 Regional Plan a third registered voluntary children's home in Gwynedd was listed under "other residential arrangements", namely, Arne Hall (Dr Barnardo's), Llandudno. Again, we have not been given any information about its relevant dates but the only complaint about it made to us was of a physical assault prior to 1 January 1970 and thus outside our terms of reference.

Other residential establishments for children in 1974

  5.05  The only unregistered private residential home for children listed in the 1971 Plan as being used by a Gwynedd local authority was Bryn Alyn, Wrexham said to be used by Anglesey County Council. Caernarvonshire County Council was said to have two places at a home for the mentally handicapped with the address Social Services Department, Maes Imclay, Caernarvon, about which we have not had any complaint. Finally Merionethshire was said to have residential accommodation available at Gwynfa Residential Unit.

The overall change in the placement of children in care by 1985

  5.06  By April 1985, midway through the period under review, the total number of children in care in Gwynedd (280) was almost the same as it had been in April 1974 but the number in residential care had declined from 80 to 23, whereas the total of children fostered/boarded out had risen from 122 (approx 42%) to 176 (approx 63%). For Wales as a whole the comparable percentage of children fostered/boarded out at that date was about 48.

Local authority community homes in Gwynedd in 1985

  5.07  The number of local authority community homes within Gwynedd had by then been reduced to five. (1) 5 Queen's Park Close at Holyhead and (5) Ty'r Felin remained and three new homes had been established, namely:

Private residential homes and schools for children in Gwynedd in 1985

  5.08  In the 1979 Regional Plan, two private residential establishments for children in Clwyd were named as being used by Gwynedd. They were the Bryn Alyn Community at Wrexham and Care Concern's school at Ystrad Hall, Llangollen[57]. Nothing further need be said here about the former but by 1985 Care Concern had opened two residential schools within Gwynedd itself. The first of these was Cartref Melys in the Sychnant Pass near Conway, which was provisionally registered as a residential school on 1 October 1975, in view of the demand for places at Ystrad Hall School. It was granted full registration as a residential special school on 23 December 1976 for up to 20 emotionally disturbed children aged 11 to 17 years. The permitted number of children was increased progressively to 28 by 1981 and the school was given SEN approval[58] for that number of children on 12 December 1983 but we have been told that it closed in or about July 1986. We are aware of two complaints only in respect of this school, one of which was against an unidentified member of staff. Neither complainant has provided evidence to the Tribunal and we do not discuss the school further in this report.

  5.09  The second Care Concern school to open in Gwynedd was Hengwrt Hall School at Rhydymain, between Dolgellau and Bala (not to be confused with Hengwrt House, which became registered as Ysgol Hengwrt[59]). This was provisionally registered on 12 August 1976 and achieved full registration on 24 January 1977 as a residential special school for up to 25 physically and mentally handicapped children, categorised at the time as ESN(S)[60] . The permitted number of children was increased in July 1980 to 35 and the school was granted SEN approval on 12 December 1983 for up to 35 boys and girls aged five to 16 years with severe learning difficulties. That approval was ultimately withdrawn on 3 April 1989 and the school was sold to new proprietors in November 1991. This history and the restoration of SEN approval to the school on 15 July 1996 under its new name of Aran Hall School are dealt with later, in Part VIII of this report.

Residential homes and schools run by Paul Hett

  5.10  The other private residential schools and children's homes about which we have received complaints are: Ynys Fechan Hall at Arthog, eight miles from Dolgellau on the coast; Dol Rhyd School, Barmouth Road, Dolgellau; and (confusingly) Hengwrt House at Llanelltyd, near Dolgellau. All three of these establishments were run by Paul Hett. The first of these was found by the Welsh Office to be operating as an unregistered school for about a dozen pupils in 1974. According to Hett the property was acquired with the aid of a large mortgage in 1974 and he started the school with three pupils. He was suddenly inundated with applications with the result that he took holiday placements immediately, mainly from Gloucestershire, and he began the academic year with 12 pupils. All the children came from local authorities (primarily in Lancashire initially) and included those subject to care orders, children on remand and emergency placements. Registration as a school was granted by the Welsh Office in 1975 but this was subsequently transferred to Dol Rhyd School in 1976 as provisional registration. This house, which had formerly been the senior girls' house at the well known Dr Williams' School for Girls, was acquired on 1 December 1975 and, by February 1976, 30 boys were enrolled there, including three of primary school age. It appears that Dol Rhyd took over from Ynys Fechan Hall as the school and the latter became merely a residential annexe until it was destroyed by fire in September 1981; but it was not until 15 February 1979 that the Welsh Office agreed to give Dol Rhyd final registration for up to 34 emotionally and behaviourably disturbed boys in the age range of 11 to 16 years.

  5.11  Hengwrt House was acquired by Hett in October 1980, according to his own evidence. It was ten minutes' walk from Dol Rhyd and he had already discussed with the Welsh Office his intention to establish there a junior section of his school for 15 pupils. Thus, he intended to raise the full establishment to about 50 pupils and also to include girls. In the event Hengwrt House appears to have been treated as part of Dol Rhyd until April 1986.

  5.12  Various concerns about the running of Dol Rhyd were expressed to the Welsh Office during the 1980s, including anxieties about harsh treatment of pupils. At this time Ynys Fechan Hall re-opened briefly in October 1984, after re-building at a cost of £350,000, as a school for dyslexic children but it closed in May 1985, when its pupils were transferred to Dol Rhyd. It was sold in September 1986 to Barry Young and was registered by the latter with Gwynedd County Council in 1992 as a private children's home for up to 11 boys and girls. It remains open and we have not received any complaints about it during Young's regime. Hett's aim for Dol Rhyd from 1983 onwards had been to secure approval to admit pupils with statements of SEN under section 11(3)(a) of the Education Act 1981 but this was refused by the Secretary of State in April 1984 and again in April 1987. In the interim period Dol Rhyd had accommodated a reducing number of dyslexic pupils. By July 1987 the school had been discontinued and it was removed from the Register of Independent Schools on 12 August 1987. It was then re-opened by Hett's former wife and her sister as a unit (called Cerrig Camau) for young adults with learning difficulties and registered as such by Gwynedd County Council.

  5.13  As for Hengwrt House, Hett applied for it to be registered separately from Dol Rhyd and it was provisionally registered in the name of Ysgol Hengwrt on 14 April 1986 as an independent residential school. The application was for up to 20 boys and girls aged 11 to 18 years and Hett had in mind a small, family orientated special school for disadvantaged teenagers, concentrating on vocational courses for the 14 to 16 age range. The school had a very unhappy history, however, because successive inspectors were critical and there were a number of allegations of sexual abuse that were not satisfactorily resolved. The number of pupils on the roll fluctuated at a very low level and fell to two in January 1990 after Brent London Borough Council removed their six placements at the school. It was then removed from the register in March 1990, restored provisionally in September 1990 and again removed on 9 December 1991. Registration as a children's home was refused by Gwynedd County Council in October 1992 and the Registered Homes Tribunal dismissed Hett's appeal in April 1993. In his evidence to the Tribunal on 20 January 1998 Hett described Ysgol Hengwrt as "an empty school with a dream" and himself as "headmaster of a residential special school with no pupils since 1993".

Further change in the placement of children by 1996

  5.14  When Gwynedd County Council ceased to exist the number of children in residential care within the county had been reduced further to 18 (from the starting point of 80 in 1974) and there were 139 children in foster care (122 in 1974). The figures given are those as at 31 July 1995 in the report of Adrianne Jones, which are the latest for that county before us. The total given for the number of children looked after was the sum of the two figures, 157.

Local authority community homes in Gwynedd in 1996

  5.15  Ty'r Felin (with nine places then) had closed in November 1995 and only two local authority community homes remained open. These were (1) 5 Queen's Park Close (five places) and:

(10) Cartref Bontnewydd, Bontnewydd, Near Caernarvon:  We have already outlined the earlier history of this former private children's home[61]. Since 11 October 1984 part of the building has been used by the same trustees as a family placement centre operating in partnership with Gwynedd County Council (now Gwynedd Council and Anglesey County Council under a joint agency agreement) as a fostering service. The rest of the building was re-opened in April 1988 as a local authority community home for up to seven children, following the closure of (9) Ty Newydd. It remains open. 

Bryn Melyn (Farm) Community

  5.16  It is necessary to mention one new private children's home established in Gwynedd after 1985 because it has attracted public attention from time to time. That is the Bryn Melyn (Farm) Community established at Llandderfel, near Bala by Brendan McNutt in 1986. It began then as a private children's home for young people in the age range of 15 to 18 years and was later registered under the Children Act 1989 for up to ten children. It now has a number of units accommodating one child at a time across North Wales which are open to children from both inside and outside the United Kingdom. The main criticism that has appeared in the press has been that allegedly extravagant amounts have been spent providing placements or holidays abroad for residents and accompanying staff at the expense of local authorities but this is not a criticism that has been made to us. We have not received any complaint of abuse of children in the care of the Community but we are aware that the Welsh Office was informed in 1994 that an unstable woman from outside the home had had sexual intercourse with a 15 year old resident there and had been successfully prosecuted subsequently for indecent assault. This incident had occurred prior to registration of the home and a collateral allegation about drugs had been found to be unsupported by any acceptable evidence.

The scope of our account of alleged abuse in Gwynedd

  5.17  In the light of this summary we discuss in Part VII of this report the detailed history of alleged abuse in the local authority children's homes within Gwynedd between 1974 and 1996. We deal firstly with the homes in the Bangor area, (5) Ty'r Felin and (9) Ty Newydd; then with the Anglesey homes (7) Y Gwyngyll at Llanfair P G and (1) 5 Queen's Park Close, Holyhead; and lastly with (10) Cartref Bontnewydd. We continue in Part VIII of this report with the allegations that have been made in respect of Hett's three schools/children's homes in the Dolgellau area and with the history of Hengwrt Hall (later Aran Hall School). Complaints in relation to foster care in Gwynedd are dealt with in Part IX.

Footnotes:

56   Children in Care in England and Wales, March 1974, Cmnd 6147. Caernarvonshire (79) and Merionethshire (30) both relied heavily on foster care. The percentage of children in care in community homes was only 29 in both counties.

57   See paras 4.10 to 4.14 and 4.23 to 4.28.

58   See Appendix 6, paras 38 and 39.

59   See paras 5.10, 5.11 and 5.13.

60   Educationally Sub-normal (Severe).

61   See para 5.03.