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Introduction

34.01  Ty Newydd at Llandegai is a rather forbidding stone building of the lodge type, which stands close to the A5122 road leading from the A5 and A55 trunk roads into Bangor; and it is about a mile south-east of the Maesgeirchen Estate, in which Ty'r Felin was located. It is now a bail hostel.

34.02  As we have said in paragraph 5.07(9), Ty Newydd was opened in 1978 as a hostel for up to ten boys aged 16 to 21 years and was so described in the 1979 Regional Plan for Wales. We have been told that it closed as a hostel in 1981 but it was visited in July or August 1981 by the Dyfed inquiry team, who commented:

"At the time of our visit the Officer-in-Charge was away on an extended period of sick leave and the Home was staffed by one temporary Child Care Officer. We regret to record that we were appalled by the physical state of the Home, its furnishings, decoration and grounds. There is a serious failure on the part of management in allowing the placement of young people in the care of the County Council in such surroundings, and then to expect them to prepare themselves for life in the community."

  However, we have not been informed of any complaint of abuse at the home prior to 1982.

  34.03  Ty Newydd re-opened as a community home in 1982 to provide accommodation for up to 12 (but more usually nine) boys and girls in the age range from about five to 18 years, who attended local schools or Ty'r Felin for education. The home closed on 31 January 1987.

  34.04  The number of complaints of abuse at Ty Newydd in the period from 1982 to 1987 would not justify a separate chapter on the home but it is necessary to give a brief account of it because the Officer-in-Charge from its reopening on16 August 1982 until she was suspended from duty on 1 December 1986 was Alison Taylor[496]. Thus, she was in charge for very nearly the whole of the second phase of Ty Newydd's history as a community home. For the same period she held the post of Supervisor of an Intermediate Treatment Centre known as Canolfan, at Llanallgo, near Meolfre in Anglesey, about 15 miles fromTy Newydd.

  34.05  We have not been given precise details of the staff establishment at Ty Newydd but it appears that the Deputy Officer-in-Charge from a date in 1982 or early 1983 until it closed was Anna Rees Ashton, who had been Officer-in-Charge of Pant yr Eithin Community Home at Harlech from October 1978 until that home closed in 1982. Peter Gadd, a former butcher and salesman, who was not professionally trained, joined the staff as an RCCO in August 1979 and remained at Ty Newydd until 30 May 1984, when he transferred to Y Gwyngyll and then later to Queens Park and to Cartref Bontnewydd. It seems that he was effectively Third-in-Charge under Alison Taylor at Ty Newydd and that he acted as Deputy from 8 March 1984 to 22 May 1984, whilst Anna Ashton was absent sick.

  34.06  According to Alison Taylor, Ty Newydd was in a state of considerable disrepair when she re-opened it; its quite extensive grounds were overgrown and the furniture and equipment inherited from the previous occupation were in "a disgraceful condition". Subsequently, she received "grudging sums" to spend on replacing broken beds and other essential items of furniture, but nothing else. She, some other members of the staff and the residents undertook decorating and general maintenance regularly and made periodic assaults on the grounds but, in her view, the physical conditions of Ty Newydd were barely fit to house children. It seemed to her that Ty Newydd was being deliberately run down in anticipation of its replacement by Cartref Bontnewydd, which opened as a community home in April 1988.

  34.07  The history of Ty Newydd in its second phase is very much bound up with the complaints and allegations made by Alison Taylor leading ultimately to her dismissal. We have already outlined this part of the background to our inquiry in Chapter 2 of this report and it is not central to our terms of reference. It is necessary, however, to fill in some of the detail because it is relevant both to Alison Taylor's own motivation and by way of illustration of the response of higher management to complaints when they were made. We will deal with Alison Taylor's activities, therefore, after considering such evidence that we have received of complaints by residents of abuse at Ty Newydd.

Complaints by residents of abuse at Ty Newydd

  34.08  We know of only one complaint by a resident of sexual abuse by a member of the staff at Ty Newydd. This was made by a former girl resident against a male member of the staff many years after the alleged event and related to one occasion only. There was no corroboration of the allegation and no evidence in support of it has been presented to the Tribunal.

  34.09  Five other complainants are known to have alleged that they were struck by a member of staff at Ty Newydd. One man alleged that he had been slapped in a corridor by Nefyn Dodd when the latter was visiting Ty Newydd; and two former girl residents told the police that they had each been slapped once by Alison Taylor, but one of the two said that she had deserved it. A third former girl resident told the Tribunal that she had been struck across the head once by another (male) member of staff (X) on one occasion for refusing to join in football and that she reported this to Taylor. However, we received no evidence in support of their allegations.

  34.10  The only Ty Newydd complainant who gave oral evidence to the Tribunal was there briefly in May 1984 and for just over three months a year later, when he was 15 years old. His allegations were directed against X, who (he said) liked to push people around and to abuse them vocally, but who was not physically threatening. However, the witness added that on one occasion X did grab him by the throat and pin him against the wall, apparently for giving cheek. In consequence, the witness stole a tin of petty cash and absconded to get away from X.

  34.11  A log entry by Alison Taylor on 12 August 1985, the day of this incident (on which the witness was transferred to Queens Park), read:

"Absconded 12.45 after argument with X over lunch. Bangor police informed immediately. Picked up on way to Bangor. Returned to Ty Newydd by 136 Rogers. Next hour spent in being extremely abusive, offensive and threatening to self (AGT) and X. Finally assaulted X and ran off. Bangor police informed. Arrangements made via O G Evans for transfer to Queen's Park Close."

  When this entry was put to the witness, he said that it was completely inaccurate. It is to be noted also that a petty cash box was recorded as missing in the Ty Newydd log on 9 August 1985 and in the daily log on 10 August 1985. When it was recovered about £20 was said to be missing and PC Rogers took a statement from the complainant witness dealing with the amount that he said was in the box.

  34.12  To sum up, we have not received any persuasive evidence of either sexual or other physical abuse at Ty Newydd. It appears that any use of physical force by staff rarely exceeded a slap in provocative circumstances. Whilst living conditions at Ty Newydd were far from ideal, the few witnesses who commented on the atmosphere there described it as relaxed and the female complainant against X told the police that Alison Taylor was very helpful.

Alison Taylor's complaints and the criticisms of her

  34.13  It was probably inevitable that there would be conflict between Alison Taylor and Nefyn Dodd from the moment that she took up her appointment as Officer-in-Charge of Ty Newydd. Their views about how to run a residential home for children differed greatly and Taylor was placed in the unusual (and, in her view, inappropriate) position of reporting to Dodd, a fellow Officer-in-Charge, as her line manager. To underline the latter's dominant position, Gethin Evans sent a memorandum to Taylor on 10 August 1982, six days before she became Officer-in-Charge, outlining Dodd's duties and responsibilities[497].

  34.14  A complicating factor in the Dodd/Taylor relationship was that Dodd's base was at Ty'r Felin but he was frequently elsewhere visiting other community homes or headquarters. He was not, therefore, readily available for discussion on many occasions. Dodd's instructions were that messages were to be left with the senior person available on duty at Ty'r Felin but Alison Taylor was unwilling to relay sensitive information to persons whom she regarded as junior members of staff. Moreover, June Dodd effectively his Deputy during this period was quite often unavailable because Nefyn Dodd did not drive and she had to act as his chauffeur to and from other community homes. Thus, the seeds of persistent tension and irritation were well sown.

  34.15  In the four years following Taylor's appointment to Ty Newydd there were two parallel developments of complaints and criticisms: on the one hand there were complaints to headquarters by Taylor about the system and about some individual cases of alleged maltreatment and, on the other hand, criticisms from headquarters of Taylor's own conduct, some of which she attributed to Dodd as instigator.

  34.16  It would not be helpful to trace these developments in great detail. Alison Taylor's opinion, with which we agree, was that her line management arrangements were unworkable and she made her views known. It is also clear that she was reproved from time to time for approaching headquarters direct instead of through Nefyn Dodd. What is less clear from her own and other evidence is how her complaints of maltreatment of children in residential care developed.

  34.17  On the basis of Taylor's own written statement to the Tribunal (called Statement Number One and undated but received in 1997), her history of relaying complaints by children in residential care whilst employed by Gwynedd County Council was as follows:

(1)  In late 1976, whilst at Ty'r Felin, she reported to D A Parry, the Deputy Director of Social Services, that she had witnessed un-named girls being slapped across the face by the Officer-in-Charge, Haydn Jones. The latter went on extended sick leave and did not return.

(2)  She reported to Dodd the complaint referred to in paragraph 33.14 but he said that he did not believe the allegations and instructed her to drop the matter. Taylor must be wrong about this, however, because Dodd arrived at Ty'r Felin nine months later.

(3)  She did not report the incident in 1980 outlined in paragraph 33.69 but she warned Dodd and Roberts that she would report any subsequent assault to the police. It was an error of judgment by her, in her opinion, not to report it to the Deputy Director of Social Services.

(4)  Whilst on attachment at Bryn Estyn she reported to her college supervisor a complaint by a boy resident, who later committed suicide, that he had been sexually abused by Peter Howarth (but it was ambiguous as to whether that boy or others had been abused). She had understood that Arnold was to be informed.

(5)  She did not report similar complaints made by two boys to her on the day that she left Bryn Estyn because neither could face reporting the allegations and she respected their wishes.

(6)  At Ty Newydd on 26 May 1984 she wrote a memorandum to the Director of Social Services, Lucille Hughes, about the alleged assault on a Ty Newydd resident by John Roberts, which is outlined in paragraphs 33.102 and 33.103, but the Director did not investigate the matter, as far as Taylor is aware.

(7)  On 30 July 1985 she sent a written report to Dodd about an incident at Ty Newydd on 24 July 1985 referred to in paragraph 34.10 in which X was alleged to have slapped the third girl resident across the face. This followed a longer report, three days earlier, about inappropriate hostile behaviour on the part of X when the girl had been visited by her mother and brother on 14 July 1985. Taylor said that she had a telephone conversation about the matter with Gethin Evans, who interviewed X, but the former told her later that nothing was to be done about the complaint because X had been under stress. She had commented that it was a bad precedent.

(8)  On 3 February 1986 she and her Deputy and a police officer were told by the complainant of the incident involving June Dodd that has been described in paragraphs 33.90 and 33.91. She made a complaint, which was dealt with by Gethin Evans, whose finding was that the boy had merely been pushed into a chair. She was told by Gethin Evans that she was creating trouble unnecessarily.

 34.18  Alison Taylor did refer in her Statement Number One to the Tribunal to one other alleged incident that occurred before her suspension from duty. The alleged victim on this occasion was the first of the two witnesses referred to in paragraph 33.101, who attended a local school from Ty Newydd from mid 1982 until early 1984. According to Taylor, there was an occasion during this period when an altercation occurred at Ty Newydd between a local schoolmaster and Nefyn Dodd on the one hand and the boy (who was refusing to attend school) on the other in the course of which voices were raised and the boy was roughly handled in the hallway by the schoolmaster, who was abusing him vocally, encouraged by Dodd. Taylor said that the boy wanted to report the incident but saw no point in doing so because any complaint would have to be made through Dodd. She did not, however, report the incident herself and, in his statement to the police, made in 1992, the alleged victim, who was then 23 years old, said that he was not hit or otherwise ill treated by any of the staff at the school and that he could not recollect any relevant incident other than those that had occurred when he was attending school at Ty'r Felin.

  34.19  It was early in 1986 when Alison Taylor approached Councillor Keith Marshall, a member of the Gwynedd Social Services Committee to complain of maladministration in the Social Services Department and violence by staff to children in residential care. She said in a subsequent letter to the Prime Minister (then the Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher MP) that "by late 1985 the burden of (her) knowledge was too great to ignore" and she had failed to get any positive response from the Social Services Department. Councillor Marshall consulted another councillor, who was then Vice-Chairman of the North Wales Police Authority and who advised that Taylor's allegations should be reported to the police. The result was that Detective Chief Superintendent Gwynne Owen, the head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the North Wales Police, met Taylor and Councillor Marshall at the latter's home in Bangor on 20 February 1986.

  34.20  The subsequent history of Taylor's complaints and representations prior to the setting up of this Tribunal has been summarised in Chapter 2 and is dealt with more fully in Chapter 49. It is necessary to say here, however, that Detective Chief Superintendent Owen listed the complaints that she made to him under nine different heads of which a number were organisational or administrative and only four heads related directly to alleged abuse of children in care. Taylor referred to eight cases of alleged abuse at Ty'r Felin and Ty Newydd, including the incidents mentioned in sub-paragraphs (6), (7) and (8) of paragraph 34.17. Four of the other allegations related mainly to conduct of Nefyn Dodd at Ty'r Felin; and there was reference to suspected homosexual activity by a member of staff at another community home, which has not been supported by any evidence subsequently. Taylor did not allege, however, that these other allegations had been reported by her to higher authority before her meeting with Detective Chief Superintendent Owen.

34.21  In the event Taylor's allegations were investigated by the North Wales Police to the extent that the matters complained of constituted criminal offences and we deal with that investigation in Chapter 51 of this report. Councillor Marshall did not disclose to others the source of the allegations but it became widely known or believed that Taylor had instigated the investigation and her relationships with some colleagues deteriorated further.

  34.22  Before this happened Alison Taylor had already been the subject of some criticism. We have recounted in paragraphs 33.18 and 33.19 how she received an official reprimand in February 1978 whilst still at Ty'r Felin. On 8 June 1984 she received a formal oral warning from Gethin Evans[498] for failing to meet a group of six magistrates on 4 May 1984 when they visited Ty Newydd, although she had been on the premises in her office at the time. Her explanations included confusion about the date of the visit and the after effects of influenza but they were not regarded as satisfactory. In March 1985 she was criticised by Nefyn Dodd for appearing at a Court hearing in respect of a resident without prior consultation with him and for consulting a higher officer without informing him. In May 1985 Taylor herself was complaining to the County Personnel Officer about various allegations said to have been made against her, including one that she was "never at work". There were also exchanges of correspondence about the needs of Ty Newydd, including repairs, with Dodd and headquarters, to which the reply (on 26 November 1985) was that the Director was most anxious that no great expense should be incurred at Ty Newydd "with its closure imminent". On 11 November 1985, in response to further criticisms by Taylor, Dodd wrote of her:

"In terms of progress/development it is sincerely felt that this worker remains the victim of her own folly, in that she fails miserably to exploit her own potential, and persists with her insatiable appetite for mayhem and conflict with management and area based child care worker teams, whilst less experienced O-i-Cs, potentially less capable, use their personal talents and attributes to the full, for the benefit of client children and the dept."

  34.23  It seems likely that Alison Taylor had become increasingly isolated from management by 2 October 1986 when she was visited at Ty Newydd by the Chairman of the Social Services Committee, Councillor Eric Davies. A number of community workers were undertaking renovations, including painting, and Councillor Davies discussed with Taylor her various complaints and concerns. But his report three days later on the discussion concluded:

"Finally, having interviewed this person, at length, I am of the opinion that she is a most unfit person to be in charge of a children's home, and that she is a blatant trouble maker, with a most devious personality, and one in my estimation who is very much involved with the anonymous letters[499] which have been circulating.

I would very humbly suggest that Ty Newydd be closed as soon as possible, and that this lady's services be dispensed with at the earliest possible time."

  34.24  In her letter of 1 December 1986, in which she instructed Taylor to remain off duty and away from Ty Newydd, the Director of Social Services (Lucille Hughes) said:

"I have become increasingly concerned that the spirit of professional trust and co-operation between you and your colleagues in the residential child care sector, which is so necessary for the efficient running of that service, has broken down."

  Taylor was informed that the Director wished to investigate the situation and, in a further letter dated 13 January 1987, the Director said that she had concluded that the breakdown in professional relationships was a real one and was the direct result of Taylor's work performance and attitude over a considerable period. Taylor was formally suspended from the latter date on full pay pending consideration of the matter in accordance with the County Council's disciplinary procedures.

  34.25  The Area Officer of NUPE was subsequently supplied, by letter dated4 February 1987, with "examples of the kind of work performance and attitudes on Mrs Taylor's part which (had) led to the breakdown in professional relationships between members of the Residential Child Care section and Mrs Taylor". It was alleged that her behaviour and attitude had created insecurity, anxiety and mistrust of her amongst a substantial number of colleagues, undermining the effectiveness of the Department's services to children; that her management of Ty Newydd had been seriously deficient, including failure to pull her weight in respect of time-keeping and duties; that she had consistently failed to co-operate with management and had ignored or undermined the administrative/managerial process; that she had not acted in an acceptable professional manner towards the children; and that she had attempted to create rifts and tensions between Nefyn Dodd and other colleagues by untruths and deceit.

  34.26  Various members of the staff at Ty'r Felin and Ty Newydd, including Ashton and Gadd, supplied written statements to the County Council in support of these allegations. It is not within our remit, however, to adjudicate upon them. Although Taylor was summarily dismissed following a meeting of the County Council's Disciplinary Panel on 2 November 1987, which Taylor did not attend, she appealed against that decision and began proceedings for unfair dismissal. Before a hearing of either took place a compromise was agreed on 25 August 1989 under which Taylor accepted voluntary redundancy together with financial compensation and costs in full settlement of her claim.

Conclusions

  34.27  We do not think that grave criticism would be justified of the manner in which the very limited number of contemporary complaints about abuse atTy Newydd were dealt with. The most serious contemporary complaint emanating from there related to abuse at Ty'r Felin rather than Ty Newydd and is referred to in paragraph 34.17(6). There is no evidence before us of any effective response by headquarters to that complaint about John Roberts and, in our judgment, the failure to investigate it was a glaring omission. Less severely, we do criticise also the response to the complaint about X[500] because, in our view, on the limited evidence before us, a formal disciplinary investigation should have taken place, whether or not X was suffering from stress at the time.

  34.28  It is clear that Alison Taylor was a thorn in the side of higher management from the moment when she returned to Gwynedd after professional training. In our view this was attributable to a substantial degree to the decisions to give Nefyn Dodd wide additional responsibilities and to retain him as Officer-in-Charge of Ty'r Felin. There were faults on both sides but Alison Taylor's complaints about Nefyn Dodd and John Roberts, although at times exaggerated, have been substantially vindicated by our own findings. In the event Dodd's position as her line manager placed her in great difficulty and she would have failed in her duty to the residents in care if she had remained silent.

  34.29  It is more difficult to evaluate Taylor's own performance as Officer-in-Charge of Ty Newydd. There is no persuasive evidence that she acted contrary to the interests of the children in her care and there is some evidence that her relationship with them was good. It seems likely, however, that she had failings as a manager and leader of staff with the result that she did not endear herself to many of her colleagues, who were not prepared to support her when major disciplinary proceedings were taken against her.

Footnotes:

496   See paras 2.08 to 2.22 and 33.11 to 33.21.

497   See paras 33.23 and 33.24.

498   The Head of Children's Services.

499   We have received no evidence about these.

500   See para 34.17(7).