WEBVTT - Season 06 Episode 25 Extra: The Way Back Machine

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<v Speaker 1>This week's episode deals with disturbing themes of child sexual assault.

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<v Speaker 1>Parental discretion is advised. Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me

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<v Speaker 1>Richard McClane Smith, where for the weeks in between episodes,

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<v Speaker 1>we look at stories and ideas that, for one reason

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<v Speaker 1>or other, didn't make it into the previous show. In

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<v Speaker 1>our last episode, once there was a Way, we heard

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<v Speaker 1>the horrifying story of twelve year old Johnny Gosh, who

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen eighty two disappeared from the streets of West

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<v Speaker 1>des Moines in Iowa while out on its paper round.

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<v Speaker 1>Then two years later it happened again. This time it

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<v Speaker 1>was fellow newspaper deliverer and Des Moine resident, thirteen year

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<v Speaker 1>old Eugene Martin. Local police believed it was highly likely

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<v Speaker 1>that the two disappearances were linked. It's been said that

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<v Speaker 1>for many parents in the USA, these disappearances, coming so

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<v Speaker 1>soon after the high profile abduction of six year old

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<v Speaker 1>Eton Pats in New York and the murder of Adam

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<v Speaker 1>Walsh in Florida, also six years old, marked a moment

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<v Speaker 1>of profound change. No more could children be left to

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<v Speaker 1>roam the streets on their own or stay out after

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<v Speaker 1>dark when even supposedly safe Midwestern suburbs offered no protection

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<v Speaker 1>from monsters. A culture of stranger danger had taken hold,

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<v Speaker 1>which later became a full scale moral panic, with some,

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<v Speaker 1>including Johnny Gosh's parents, raising the possibility that their son

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<v Speaker 1>had fallen victim to a highly organized child abuse and

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<v Speaker 1>pornography ring that had links reaching far into the corridors

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<v Speaker 1>of power. One suggested link with the Franklin credit union

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<v Speaker 1>scandal soon morphed into a fanciful conspiracy theory that rich

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<v Speaker 1>and powerful individuals were facilitating the snatching of young children

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<v Speaker 1>from the street so that they might later be abused

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<v Speaker 1>and even murdered at depraved sex parties up and down

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<v Speaker 1>the country. This idea is echoed in much of the

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<v Speaker 1>present day preoccupations of Quanon followers, such as the supposed

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<v Speaker 1>Pizza Gate conspiracy, which alleges that a cabal of powerful

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<v Speaker 1>Satanists are currently engaged in the ritual abuse and murder

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<v Speaker 1>of America's children. Since it isn't actually known what happened

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<v Speaker 1>to Johnny Gosh or Eugene Martin, it isn't known if

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<v Speaker 1>they were sexually abused at all, although if they had

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<v Speaker 1>been abducted and murdered, the likelihood is high. In truth, however,

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<v Speaker 1>children are far more likely to be abused by someone

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<v Speaker 1>they know as opposed to a random stranger snatching them

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<v Speaker 1>from the street. More often than not, the abuse will

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<v Speaker 1>be perpetrated by a member or friend of the family,

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<v Speaker 1>or indeed somebody working within their local community in a

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<v Speaker 1>position of care or authority. Such details are of little

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<v Speaker 1>use for the Gosh and Martin family, however, since there

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<v Speaker 1>are of course exceptions to that rule, and of what

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<v Speaker 1>happened to Johnny and Eugene turned out to be one

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<v Speaker 1>such exception. For their families, that is the only experience

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<v Speaker 1>they would know, and in the absence of an explanation

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<v Speaker 1>as to what happened exactly, it's easy to see how,

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<v Speaker 1>in the desperate hunt for answers, anyone might start to

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<v Speaker 1>draw a number of disparate dots into something that begins

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<v Speaker 1>to look like a cohesive theory, no matter how outlandish

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<v Speaker 1>it might sound. And in the wake of numerous historical

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<v Speaker 1>cases of abuse recently coming to light across the world

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<v Speaker 1>from within religious institutions or care homes, for example, among

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<v Speaker 1>other supposedly good organizations, it can be easy to get

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<v Speaker 1>sucked into outlandish theories when the reality it's not always

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<v Speaker 1>a million miles away. Back in nineteen ninety three, forty

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<v Speaker 1>two year old Bulick Forsythe was an office manager for

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<v Speaker 1>Lambeth Council Social Services in South London. A trusted and

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<v Speaker 1>efficient employee, Bulick's primary job was to manage ten properties

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<v Speaker 1>belonging to the council, as well as drawing up numerous

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<v Speaker 1>health and safety policies for them. His home was a

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<v Speaker 1>ground floor flat in Foster Court at the corner of

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<v Speaker 1>Clapham Park Road and King's Avenue in Clapham, London, where

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<v Speaker 1>he'd lived for four years. Although he lived there alone,

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<v Speaker 1>his wife, Dawn, who was American and six months pregnant

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<v Speaker 1>with their first child, was in the process of moving

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<v Speaker 1>to the UK to join him. Bulick is said to

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<v Speaker 1>have mostly kept himself to himself and was thought to

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<v Speaker 1>have had few friends, and there was no reason to

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<v Speaker 1>suspect anything untoward when he clocked off from work on

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<v Speaker 1>one afternoon in February nineteen ninety three. That Wednesday, February

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<v Speaker 1>twenty fourth, however, was the last time anyone would see

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<v Speaker 1>him alive. According to an episode of Crime Watch, a

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<v Speaker 1>British TV show dedicated to solving unsolved crimes, broadcast five

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<v Speaker 1>months later. At nine am on the morning of Thursday

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<v Speaker 1>twenty fifth, one of Bulick's neighbors noticed his curtains were

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<v Speaker 1>wide open. Thirty minutes later, another neighbor, a resident of

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen years is, claim to have witnessed three men who'd

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<v Speaker 1>never seen before, leaving Foster Court from the direction of

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<v Speaker 1>Bulich's flat. The men were described as being smartly dressed

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<v Speaker 1>and carrying briefcases in their hands and folders under their arms.

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<v Speaker 1>That same neighbor saw a white car parked up behind

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<v Speaker 1>the property that he'd also never seen before. That day,

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<v Speaker 1>Bulick failed to show up at work. At five pm,

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<v Speaker 1>A colleague went round to his flat to check on him,

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<v Speaker 1>but found nobody home, although strangely, the curtains were by

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<v Speaker 1>then closed, suggesting that someone at least had been inside

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<v Speaker 1>the property since nine am that morning. Sometime later in

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<v Speaker 1>the early hours of Friday, around one am, another neighbor

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<v Speaker 1>described hearing a commotion outside their window and the sound

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<v Speaker 1>of people running hurriedly from the air. A short time

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<v Speaker 1>after that, Bulick's flat went up in flames. When firefighters

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<v Speaker 1>finally brought the fire under control, Bulick's dead body was

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<v Speaker 1>found inside, and autopsy revealed that he'd most likely been

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<v Speaker 1>murdered way back on the Wednesday night after being violently

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<v Speaker 1>beaten around the head by a hard object. As mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>in the episode of Crime Watch, some important documents was

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<v Speaker 1>said to be missing from his flat. Now a word

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<v Speaker 1>this day, Bulick for science murder remains unsolved. In twenty thirteen, however,

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<v Speaker 1>a witness claiming to be a former colleague of his

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<v Speaker 1>toll police that Bulick had confided in her shortly before

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<v Speaker 1>he died that he believed child sexual abuse was taking

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<v Speaker 1>place on Lambeth Council property. It later transpired that at

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<v Speaker 1>the time of his death, the London Metropolitan Police, in

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<v Speaker 1>what was called Operation Bell, were conducting an investigation into

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<v Speaker 1>scores of allegations from children living in Lambeth Council care

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<v Speaker 1>homes who claimed they were being sexually and physically abused

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<v Speaker 1>by staff members. The allegations also included reports that videos

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<v Speaker 1>and photographs had been made of the abuse and implicated

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<v Speaker 1>police and some local politicians. Simultaneously, in the wake of

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<v Speaker 1>these allegations, an internal review was set up conducted by

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<v Speaker 1>Lambeth Council, in which it was uncovered that Bulich had

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<v Speaker 1>indeed spoken to a colleague shortly before he died, telling

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<v Speaker 1>her that he suspected hard abuse was taking place in

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<v Speaker 1>council properties and he was gearing up to reveal everything

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<v Speaker 1>he knew to the police. Three days later, he was murdered.

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<v Speaker 1>Operation Bell concluded in nineteen ninety two, the year before

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<v Speaker 1>Bulich was killed, four individuals in total were charged with

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<v Speaker 1>committing abuse. One was found not guilty because their twelve

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<v Speaker 1>year old accuser was too upset to give evidence in

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<v Speaker 1>the trial, while another was acquitted because it was decided

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<v Speaker 1>not to pursue the accusation because it was more than

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<v Speaker 1>three years old. Only one of those charged was found guilty.

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<v Speaker 1>The man was employed by Lambeth Counsel from nineteen seventy

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<v Speaker 1>nine to nineteen ninety one, and before that had worked

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<v Speaker 1>as a part time volunteer for the Metropolitan Police. Throughout

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<v Speaker 1>his time in the care homes, numerous children made allegations

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<v Speaker 1>against him, accusing him of raping them and photographing them,

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<v Speaker 1>among other offenses, but they were continually dismissed. In the end,

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<v Speaker 1>he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

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<v Speaker 1>After this man's conviction, it was decided not to look

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<v Speaker 1>any further into what exactly had been taking place in Lambeth,

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<v Speaker 1>but the abuse allegations did not stop. In nineteen ninety nine,

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<v Speaker 1>a second investigation was carried out by the police, which

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<v Speaker 1>this time resulted in five more arrests, including a second

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<v Speaker 1>arrest for the man convicted in nineteen ninety two. He

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<v Speaker 1>was convicted again and sentenced to only another eighteen months,

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<v Speaker 1>while a second man was charged and sentenced to ten

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<v Speaker 1>years is in prison. One of those accused killed himself

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<v Speaker 1>before the conclusion of his trial, another had the charges

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<v Speaker 1>dropped when it was decided there was not enough evidence

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<v Speaker 1>to pursue with the case, while the last was also

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<v Speaker 1>facing a charge for firearms offenses at the time he

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<v Speaker 1>was accused of indecent assault. When he pled guilty to

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<v Speaker 1>the firearms offenses, it was decided that would be sufficient

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<v Speaker 1>and the indecent assault charges were discontinued. In the end,

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<v Speaker 1>it wouldn't be until twenty twenty one that the full

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<v Speaker 1>scale of what had been going on was finally uncovered.

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<v Speaker 1>An independent inquiry into child sexual abuse found more than

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<v Speaker 1>seven hundred allegations against Lambeth Council care home staff from

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<v Speaker 1>at least three separate homes, with the true extent of

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<v Speaker 1>the abuse thought to be even higher. It was also

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<v Speaker 1>disclosed in the report that during Operation Belle it was

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<v Speaker 1>discovered that the man, first convicted in nineteen ninety two,

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<v Speaker 1>had made a film showing the abuse of a child

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<v Speaker 1>in the care of Lambeth Council. Concerns have endured that

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<v Speaker 1>he was involved in the large scale production of pornography

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<v Speaker 1>and in decent images of children, and that other staff

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<v Speaker 1>from Lambeth Council may have been involved. The report also

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<v Speaker 1>recommended that police launch an investigation into the death of

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<v Speaker 1>a boy found dead in a bathroom at Lambeth's Shirley

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<v Speaker 1>Oaks care home in nineteen seventy seven. At the time,

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<v Speaker 1>staff at the care home neglected to tell the coroner

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<v Speaker 1>that the boy had accused one of the staff of

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<v Speaker 1>sexually abusing him shortly before he died. The children in

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<v Speaker 1>the care home were overwhelmingly black, and it is thought

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<v Speaker 1>that racism played a significant part in their stories being

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<v Speaker 1>dismissed and in the minds and actions of their abusers.

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<v Speaker 1>If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support us,

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<v Speaker 1>you can now do so via Patreon. To receive access

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<v Speaker 1>to add free episodes, just go to patron dot com

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<v Speaker 1>forward slash Unexplained Pod to sign up. Unexplained the book

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<v Speaker 1>and audiobook featuring ten stories that have never before been

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<v Speaker 1>covered on the show. Is now available to buy worldwide.

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<v Speaker 1>You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones,

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<v Speaker 1>among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music,

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<v Speaker 1>are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and

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<v Speaker 1>rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel

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<v Speaker 1>free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas

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<v Speaker 1>regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you

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<v Speaker 1>have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.

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<v Speaker 1>You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com

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<v Speaker 1>or Twitter at unex Explained Pod and Facebook at Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>dot com, Forward slash Unexplained Podcast