Today, 17th March 2016, sees the publishing of the long awaited Macur review report looking into the Waterhouse Inquiry into child sexual abuse in care homes in North Wales.

Chris Saltrese Solicitors were the lead firm in representing those facing allegations at the Waterhouse Tribunal and have also represented defendants prosecuted under the current Operation Pallial. Commenting on the Macur Review , Chris Saltrese said:

“The Macur Review is to be commended on it thoroughness and clarity in dismissing claims of an establishment paedophile cover-up in connection with the Waterhouse Tribunal. In exposing the fact that the cupboard is bare, Lady Macur has performed an invaluable service in nailing irresponsible media practice and that of some politicians and public servants – not in covering up evidence, but in turning the wheels of the rumour mill. However, neither Waterhouse nor Macur has sought to question whether the nature and scale of alleged abuse now ratified was inflated by the process of disinformation both have identified. Nor whether the false media claims in 2012 giving rise to Operation Pallial’s reinvestigation of alleged abuse in North Wales care homes may have exacerbated this potential for institutionalised injustice. We therefore call for an independent review of all disputed convictions in connection with the North Wales police investigations and inquiries and an end to the two and a half year witch-hunt of Operation Pallial.”

This is Chris Saltrese’s full press release:

The Macur Review is to be commended on it thoroughness and clarity in dismissing claims of an establishment paedophile cover-up in connection with the Waterhouse Tribunal.

Indeed it documents how, far from being disregarded, even the most tenuous hearsay and rumour circulating among campaigners, the media, local politicians and employees was taken seriously and recorded in police investigations, only to be found at every turn to be groundless.

As previously known, the role in the media of the ‘suppressed’ Jillings report in inflating rumour proved to be pivotal. Contrary to speculation and media reports, and even statements by a former government minister Rod Richards in 2012, there were no establishment figures named leading to its non-publication. It was the general defamatory nature of the Report and its unreliability that led to this decision on legal advice.

In exposing the fact that the cupboard is bare, Lady Macur has performed an invaluable service in nailing irresponsible media practice and that of some politicians and public servants – not in covering up evidence, but in turning the wheels of the rumour mill. But outside the remit of the Review, and of Waterhouse itself, there are pressing concerns to be addressed.To what extent did innocent teachers and care workers become falsely accused and in some cases convicted as a result of this bonfire of the vanities going back to the original police investigation in 1991 on the back of sensationalist media reports?

The Macur Review uncovers serious false claims made in the notorious Newsnight and C4 reports in 2012 . It was as a result of these broadcasts that the Macur Review was itself commissioned together with the launch of Operation Pallial reopening police investigations in North Wales care homes. That Operation has resulted in a renewed witch-hunt, often on the most tenuous of evidence, against people who devoted their lives and careers to helping the most difficult and disadvantaged of children extending the gratuitous persecution by the media and the state to 25 years.

Neither Waterhouse nor Macur has sought to question whether the nature and scale of alleged abuse now ratified was inflated by the process of disinformation both have identified. Nor whether the false media claims in 2012 giving rise to Pallial may have exacerbated this potential for institutionalised injustice.

We therefore call for an independent review of all disputed convictions in connection with the North Wales police investigations and inquiries and an end to the two and a half year witch-hunt of Operation Pallial.
ENDS

For the full Mucur report here The_Report_of_the_Macur_Review__Redacted_Version_ [2,635KB PDF]