A YOUTH worker cleared of alleged sex offences against boys is furious at a cloud of secrecy hanging over a council’s refusal to let him return to work.Secret talks between the authority’s youth service and police are being held about Harold Penfold, but he says if they don’t come clean about the content of these he will force an industrial tribunal hearing.Mr Penfold, still under suspension from his duties at the Phoenix Youth Centre, Tadworth, was cleared of the alleged offences by Kingston Crown Court in November last year.But he said: “Surrey County Council’s youth service are treating me as if they are now putting me on trial, as if they believe I am guilty. “This delay is casting a slur over my character. I have done nothing. I endured more than a year of distress because of false allegations against me, and now this. “I have done nothing to be ashamed of so I suggest they come clean.”Mr Penfold, a self employed builder of Hatch Gardens, Tadworth, met with Youth Service officials in December, but was told a joint risk assessment was being taken with Surrey Police…
Surrey Online