1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,439
Speaker 1: This week's episode deals with disturbing themes of child sexual assault.

2
00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:20,479
Speaker 1: Parental discretion is advised. Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me

3
00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,520
Speaker 1: Richard McClane Smith, where for the weeks in between episodes,

4
00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:27,120
Speaker 1: we look at stories and ideas that, for one reason

5
00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,560
Speaker 1: or other, didn't make it into the previous show. In

6
00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,040
Speaker 1: our last episode, once there was a Way, we heard

7
00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,600
Speaker 1: the horrifying story of twelve year old Johnny Gosh, who

8
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,320
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty two disappeared from the streets of West

9
00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,600
Speaker 1: des Moines in Iowa while out on its paper round.

10
00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:50,320
Speaker 1: Then two years later it happened again. This time it

11
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:54,960
Speaker 1: was fellow newspaper deliverer and Des Moine resident, thirteen year

12
00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:00,279
Speaker 1: old Eugene Martin. Local police believed it was highly likely

13
00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:05,120
Speaker 1: that the two disappearances were linked. It's been said that

14
00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,679
Speaker 1: for many parents in the USA, these disappearances, coming so

15
00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:13,080
Speaker 1: soon after the high profile abduction of six year old

16
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,440
Speaker 1: Eton Pats in New York and the murder of Adam

17
00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:21,280
Speaker 1: Walsh in Florida, also six years old, marked a moment

18
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,920
Speaker 1: of profound change. No more could children be left to

19
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,279
Speaker 1: roam the streets on their own or stay out after

20
00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:35,680
Speaker 1: dark when even supposedly safe Midwestern suburbs offered no protection

21
00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:41,000
Speaker 1: from monsters. A culture of stranger danger had taken hold,

22
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,440
Speaker 1: which later became a full scale moral panic, with some,

23
00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,240
Speaker 1: including Johnny Gosh's parents, raising the possibility that their son

24
00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:54,160
Speaker 1: had fallen victim to a highly organized child abuse and

25
00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,640
Speaker 1: pornography ring that had links reaching far into the corridors

26
00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:04,120
Speaker 1: of power. One suggested link with the Franklin credit union

27
00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,920
Speaker 1: scandal soon morphed into a fanciful conspiracy theory that rich

28
00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:13,400
Speaker 1: and powerful individuals were facilitating the snatching of young children

29
00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:16,639
Speaker 1: from the street so that they might later be abused

30
00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,680
Speaker 1: and even murdered at depraved sex parties up and down

31
00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:25,320
Speaker 1: the country. This idea is echoed in much of the

32
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:30,120
Speaker 1: present day preoccupations of Quanon followers, such as the supposed

33
00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:34,520
Speaker 1: Pizza Gate conspiracy, which alleges that a cabal of powerful

34
00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:38,840
Speaker 1: Satanists are currently engaged in the ritual abuse and murder

35
00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:44,320
Speaker 1: of America's children. Since it isn't actually known what happened

36
00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,640
Speaker 1: to Johnny Gosh or Eugene Martin, it isn't known if

37
00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:51,240
Speaker 1: they were sexually abused at all, although if they had

38
00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:57,040
Speaker 1: been abducted and murdered, the likelihood is high. In truth, however,

39
00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,800
Speaker 1: children are far more likely to be abused by someone

40
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,680
Speaker 1: they know as opposed to a random stranger snatching them

41
00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,919
Speaker 1: from the street. More often than not, the abuse will

42
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,040
Speaker 1: be perpetrated by a member or friend of the family,

43
00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,760
Speaker 1: or indeed somebody working within their local community in a

44
00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:21,720
Speaker 1: position of care or authority. Such details are of little

45
00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,320
Speaker 1: use for the Gosh and Martin family, however, since there

46
00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,640
Speaker 1: are of course exceptions to that rule, and of what

47
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,799
Speaker 1: happened to Johnny and Eugene turned out to be one

48
00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:36,000
Speaker 1: such exception. For their families, that is the only experience

49
00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:40,000
Speaker 1: they would know, and in the absence of an explanation

50
00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,080
Speaker 1: as to what happened exactly, it's easy to see how,

51
00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,400
Speaker 1: in the desperate hunt for answers, anyone might start to

52
00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,560
Speaker 1: draw a number of disparate dots into something that begins

53
00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:56,640
Speaker 1: to look like a cohesive theory, no matter how outlandish

54
00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,800
Speaker 1: it might sound. And in the wake of numerous historical

55
00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,560
Speaker 1: cases of abuse recently coming to light across the world

56
00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,960
Speaker 1: from within religious institutions or care homes, for example, among

57
00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:15,080
Speaker 1: other supposedly good organizations, it can be easy to get

58
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:20,039
Speaker 1: sucked into outlandish theories when the reality it's not always

59
00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:31,440
Speaker 1: a million miles away. Back in nineteen ninety three, forty

60
00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,040
Speaker 1: two year old Bulick Forsythe was an office manager for

61
00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:40,000
Speaker 1: Lambeth Council Social Services in South London. A trusted and

62
00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:44,640
Speaker 1: efficient employee, Bulick's primary job was to manage ten properties

63
00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,160
Speaker 1: belonging to the council, as well as drawing up numerous

64
00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:52,440
Speaker 1: health and safety policies for them. His home was a

65
00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,880
Speaker 1: ground floor flat in Foster Court at the corner of

66
00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:00,200
Speaker 1: Clapham Park Road and King's Avenue in Clapham, London, where

67
00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:04,000
Speaker 1: he'd lived for four years. Although he lived there alone,

68
00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,240
Speaker 1: his wife, Dawn, who was American and six months pregnant

69
00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,400
Speaker 1: with their first child, was in the process of moving

70
00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,080
Speaker 1: to the UK to join him. Bulick is said to

71
00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,520
Speaker 1: have mostly kept himself to himself and was thought to

72
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,720
Speaker 1: have had few friends, and there was no reason to

73
00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,400
Speaker 1: suspect anything untoward when he clocked off from work on

74
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:31,359
Speaker 1: one afternoon in February nineteen ninety three. That Wednesday, February

75
00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,320
Speaker 1: twenty fourth, however, was the last time anyone would see

76
00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:39,760
Speaker 1: him alive. According to an episode of Crime Watch, a

77
00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:45,160
Speaker 1: British TV show dedicated to solving unsolved crimes, broadcast five

78
00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:49,320
Speaker 1: months later. At nine am on the morning of Thursday

79
00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:53,600
Speaker 1: twenty fifth, one of Bulick's neighbors noticed his curtains were

80
00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:59,080
Speaker 1: wide open. Thirty minutes later, another neighbor, a resident of

81
00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 1: eighteen years is, claim to have witnessed three men who'd

82
00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:07,200
Speaker 1: never seen before, leaving Foster Court from the direction of

83
00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:12,040
Speaker 1: Bulich's flat. The men were described as being smartly dressed

84
00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:16,520
Speaker 1: and carrying briefcases in their hands and folders under their arms.

85
00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,400
Speaker 1: That same neighbor saw a white car parked up behind

86
00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:26,800
Speaker 1: the property that he'd also never seen before. That day,

87
00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:31,279
Speaker 1: Bulick failed to show up at work. At five pm,

88
00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,000
Speaker 1: A colleague went round to his flat to check on him,

89
00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:39,000
Speaker 1: but found nobody home, although strangely, the curtains were by

90
00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,880
Speaker 1: then closed, suggesting that someone at least had been inside

91
00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:49,000
Speaker 1: the property since nine am that morning. Sometime later in

92
00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:53,400
Speaker 1: the early hours of Friday, around one am, another neighbor

93
00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,760
Speaker 1: described hearing a commotion outside their window and the sound

94
00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,920
Speaker 1: of people running hurriedly from the air. A short time

95
00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:08,039
Speaker 1: after that, Bulick's flat went up in flames. When firefighters

96
00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:12,080
Speaker 1: finally brought the fire under control, Bulick's dead body was

97
00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:16,800
Speaker 1: found inside, and autopsy revealed that he'd most likely been

98
00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:21,120
Speaker 1: murdered way back on the Wednesday night after being violently

99
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,720
Speaker 1: beaten around the head by a hard object. As mentioned

100
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,920
Speaker 1: in the episode of Crime Watch, some important documents was

101
00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:38,640
Speaker 1: said to be missing from his flat. Now a word

102
00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,800
Speaker 1: from our sponsor Better Help. It can be tough to

103
00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,800
Speaker 1: train your brain to stay in problem solving mode when

104
00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,200
Speaker 1: faced with a challenge in life, but when you learn

105
00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:50,320
Speaker 1: how to find your own solutions, there's no better feeling.

106
00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,400
Speaker 1: A therapist can help you become a better problem solver,

107
00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,960
Speaker 1: making it easy to accomplish your goals, no matter how

108
00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,920
Speaker 1: big or small. Better Help is committed to facillating great

109
00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,440
Speaker 1: therapeutic matches, so they make it easy and free to

110
00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:09,480
Speaker 1: change therapists if needed. It's more affordable than traditional offline therapy,

111
00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,840
Speaker 1: and financial aid is available. Better Help wants you to

112
00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:17,400
Speaker 1: start living a happier life today. Just fill out a

113
00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,840
Speaker 1: brief survey and get matched with a therapist today, and

114
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:24,560
Speaker 1: you can switch therapists anytime if you so wish. When

115
00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,320
Speaker 1: you want to be a better problem solver, therapy can

116
00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:31,480
Speaker 1: get you there. Visit better help dot com slash unexplained

117
00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,320
Speaker 1: one zero today to get ten percent off your first month.

118
00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:46,800
Speaker 1: That's better help dot com slash unexplained one zero. To

119
00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:53,600
Speaker 1: this day, Bulick for science murder remains unsolved. In twenty thirteen, however,

120
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:57,080
Speaker 1: a witness claiming to be a former colleague of his

121
00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,280
Speaker 1: toll police that Bulick had confided in her shortly before

122
00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,520
Speaker 1: he died that he believed child sexual abuse was taking

123
00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:11,120
Speaker 1: place on Lambeth Council property. It later transpired that at

124
00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,000
Speaker 1: the time of his death, the London Metropolitan Police, in

125
00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:19,880
Speaker 1: what was called Operation Bell, were conducting an investigation into

126
00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:24,440
Speaker 1: scores of allegations from children living in Lambeth Council care

127
00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,640
Speaker 1: homes who claimed they were being sexually and physically abused

128
00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:34,880
Speaker 1: by staff members. The allegations also included reports that videos

129
00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:38,880
Speaker 1: and photographs had been made of the abuse and implicated

130
00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 1: police and some local politicians. Simultaneously, in the wake of

131
00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:50,320
Speaker 1: these allegations, an internal review was set up conducted by

132
00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,320
Speaker 1: Lambeth Council, in which it was uncovered that Bulich had

133
00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:58,640
Speaker 1: indeed spoken to a colleague shortly before he died, telling

134
00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,800
Speaker 1: her that he suspected hard abuse was taking place in

135
00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:06,120
Speaker 1: council properties and he was gearing up to reveal everything

136
00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:11,040
Speaker 1: he knew to the police. Three days later, he was murdered.

137
00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,800
Speaker 1: Operation Bell concluded in nineteen ninety two, the year before

138
00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:22,080
Speaker 1: Bulich was killed, four individuals in total were charged with

139
00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:27,120
Speaker 1: committing abuse. One was found not guilty because their twelve

140
00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,280
Speaker 1: year old accuser was too upset to give evidence in

141
00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:34,839
Speaker 1: the trial, while another was acquitted because it was decided

142
00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,480
Speaker 1: not to pursue the accusation because it was more than

143
00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:44,840
Speaker 1: three years old. Only one of those charged was found guilty.

144
00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:48,559
Speaker 1: The man was employed by Lambeth Counsel from nineteen seventy

145
00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:52,840
Speaker 1: nine to nineteen ninety one, and before that had worked

146
00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:58,000
Speaker 1: as a part time volunteer for the Metropolitan Police. Throughout

147
00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:02,160
Speaker 1: his time in the care homes, numerous children made allegations

148
00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:06,560
Speaker 1: against him, accusing him of raping them and photographing them,

149
00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:12,800
Speaker 1: among other offenses, but they were continually dismissed. In the end,

150
00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:16,520
Speaker 1: he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

151
00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,560
Speaker 1: After this man's conviction, it was decided not to look

152
00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:25,720
Speaker 1: any further into what exactly had been taking place in Lambeth,

153
00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:38,920
Speaker 1: but the abuse allegations did not stop. In nineteen ninety nine,

154
00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,800
Speaker 1: a second investigation was carried out by the police, which

155
00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,960
Speaker 1: this time resulted in five more arrests, including a second

156
00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,199
Speaker 1: arrest for the man convicted in nineteen ninety two. He

157
00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:55,760
Speaker 1: was convicted again and sentenced to only another eighteen months,

158
00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,679
Speaker 1: while a second man was charged and sentenced to ten

159
00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:04,480
Speaker 1: years is in prison. One of those accused killed himself

160
00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:08,560
Speaker 1: before the conclusion of his trial, another had the charges

161
00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,720
Speaker 1: dropped when it was decided there was not enough evidence

162
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,679
Speaker 1: to pursue with the case, while the last was also

163
00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:19,280
Speaker 1: facing a charge for firearms offenses at the time he

164
00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,400
Speaker 1: was accused of indecent assault. When he pled guilty to

165
00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,640
Speaker 1: the firearms offenses, it was decided that would be sufficient

166
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:33,240
Speaker 1: and the indecent assault charges were discontinued. In the end,

167
00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,040
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be until twenty twenty one that the full

168
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,400
Speaker 1: scale of what had been going on was finally uncovered.

169
00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:46,280
Speaker 1: An independent inquiry into child sexual abuse found more than

170
00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:51,679
Speaker 1: seven hundred allegations against Lambeth Council care home staff from

171
00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,720
Speaker 1: at least three separate homes, with the true extent of

172
00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:59,760
Speaker 1: the abuse thought to be even higher. It was also

173
00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:04,200
Speaker 1: disclosed in the report that during Operation Belle it was

174
00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,080
Speaker 1: discovered that the man, first convicted in nineteen ninety two,

175
00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:12,480
Speaker 1: had made a film showing the abuse of a child

176
00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,680
Speaker 1: in the care of Lambeth Council. Concerns have endured that

177
00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,120
Speaker 1: he was involved in the large scale production of pornography

178
00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,920
Speaker 1: and in decent images of children, and that other staff

179
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:29,040
Speaker 1: from Lambeth Council may have been involved. The report also

180
00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:33,120
Speaker 1: recommended that police launch an investigation into the death of

181
00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:37,079
Speaker 1: a boy found dead in a bathroom at Lambeth's Shirley

182
00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:41,640
Speaker 1: Oaks care home in nineteen seventy seven. At the time,

183
00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,440
Speaker 1: staff at the care home neglected to tell the coroner

184
00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:48,600
Speaker 1: that the boy had accused one of the staff of

185
00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:53,840
Speaker 1: sexually abusing him shortly before he died. The children in

186
00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,320
Speaker 1: the care home were overwhelmingly black, and it is thought

187
00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:01,080
Speaker 1: that racism played a significant part in their stories being

188
00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:05,319
Speaker 1: dismissed and in the minds and actions of their abusers.

189
00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:14,200
Speaker 1: If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support us,

190
00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,760
Speaker 1: you can now do so via Patreon. To receive access

191
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:21,040
Speaker 1: to add free episodes, just go to patron dot com

192
00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,880
Speaker 1: forward slash Unexplained Pod to sign up. Unexplained the book

193
00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,440
Speaker 1: and audiobook featuring ten stories that have never before been

194
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,920
Speaker 1: covered on the show. Is now available to buy worldwide.

195
00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:35,600
Speaker 1: You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones,

196
00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:40,360
Speaker 1: among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music,

197
00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,000
Speaker 1: are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and

198
00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,960
Speaker 1: rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel

199
00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,320
Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas

200
00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:52,400
Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you

201
00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,520
Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.

202
00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:58,440
Speaker 1: You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com

203
00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:02,920
Speaker 1: or Twitter at unex Explained Pod and Facebook at Facebook

204
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,239
Speaker 1: dot com, Forward slash Unexplained Podcast