THE HODGE AFFAIR

Victims of child abuse accuse Hodge

Independent, The (London), Nov 13, 2003 by Paul Waugh

WHEN MARGARET Hodge was appointed to the newly created post of minister for Children just five months ago, she told friends that at last she had her dream job.

Yesterday, as two victims of child abuse threatened legal action and a third demanded the resignation of the former Islington council leader, the dream looked like it had turned into a nightmare.

The decision by Demetrious Panton, 35, Douglas Fitch, 28, and Yvonne Williams, 40, to come forward throws into doubt how long Ms Hodge will remain in post. The three, who were subjected to abuse at the hands of different paedophiles in Islington children's homes, have horrific stories of the suffering they endured in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mr Panton, who had been placed in care at the age of 10, was one of the many victims of Bernie Bain, a notorious paedophile who was head of one of the borough's care homes. He complained about Bain on three occasions, in 1979, 1985 and 1992, but no action was taken by the council. Bain, whose predilection was for boys aged seven or eight, was never brought to trial in Britain.

Unlike many abuse victims, Mr Panton went on to university and a good job. He is employed as a consultant on urban renewal with clients that include Sure Start, the Government's under-fives project under Ms Hodge's control.

Mr Fitch and his brother, Michael, were harassed by Roy Caterer, a sports instructor at a boarding school used by Islington. Caterer was sent to prison for seven and a half years for abusing seven boys and two girls.

Mr Fitch claims that Ms Hodge should have listened to senior social workers who raised suspicions about paedophiles and has approached lawyers to sue her. He said: "I hold Hodge responsible for what happened to me and I will not rest until I get justice."

Ms Williams was sexually abused every day from the age of 10 for six years by Jeffrey Wildjones, the superintendent of her Islington- controlled home. Ms Williams said: "For the sake of all the children she did wrong by, I think it's high time she resigned."

Ms Hodge made her political reputation at Islington, where she was leader for 10 years from 1982. A moderniser before New Labour was created, she was a close neighbour of Tony Blair. Her husband, Henry Hodge, was a solicitor who gave Cherie Blair her first brief as a barrister.

The Islington child abuse scandal has dogged her since 1992 when the London Evening Standard exposed how, for two decades, children in the borough's care homes were molested, driven into prostitution and raped by people in positions of trust. Ms Hodge initially derided the reports as "gutter journalism" but, within two years, accepted that there had been abuse and blamed her initial response on "misleading information" from officials. Meanwhile, she was elected MP for Barking in 1994.

The Standard was vindicated in 1995 by an independent report which recommended drastic change in the way the council operated. The whole issue appeared to have died down as the years went by and was not raised when she was appointed as an Education minister in 1998.

The chaos of Mr Blair's reshuffle this summer obscured Ms Hodge's elevation to minister for Children, a job that brought together areas such as youth justice, child care, Sure Start and teenage pregnancy units. But, within a fortnight, the Standard published testimonies from two former Islington social workers, who claimed publicly for the first time that Ms Hodge failed to back them over allegations that children in care had been subjected to sex abuse.

Ms Hodge insisted she did not ignore a single allegation of abuse. She went further, declaring that her experience in Islington made her "well equipped" to learn the lessons of past mistakes. Her supporters claim she has done invaluable work in pushing a national childcare strategy and other areas, and is the victim of a media witch-hunt.

However, it is Ms Hodge's belief that she was being unfairly harassed over her past that has, itself, brought the issue to its climax. Mr Panton is threatening to sue Ms Hodge for libel over her complaint to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, in which she described Mr Panton as "an extremely disturbed person". The programme brought into question Ms Hodge's role when she was leader of Islington council.

Some of Ms Hodge's allies doubt whether legal action will really go ahead or simply be threatened. Tony Blair is also loathe to give his old friend's head on a plate to the press.

But, last night, Ms Hodge's future as Children's minister was, undoubtedly, in the balance.