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CHILD-ABUSE ALLEGATIONS UNPROVEN - BUT DAD HAS BEEN DENIED CONTACT WITH HIS CHILDREN FOR 12 YEARS
A father
who was stopped from seeing his children for 12 years after wrongly being labelled a child-abuser has spoken exclusively to
the Evening Telegraph about his ordeal.
Reporter Paul Costello spoke to him about his anguish and discovered that
despite being cleared he is still battling to repair the shattered relationships with his children.
It is every father's
nightmare - being falsely accused of abusing your own children.
But for one Derby man this nightmare came true.
The
father, whom we are calling Mr A because he cannot be named for legal reasons, says he was denied access by social services
following an allegation in 1991 that he physically and sexually abused some of his children.
But the long fight to
clear his name has now ended after Derby City Council paid him £7,500 in an out-of-court settlement.
An investigation
a year ago found the claims to be "unsubstantiated" and in a letter to Mr A the council apologised for mistakenly classing
him as a "serious risk to children".
He says three of his five children, two boys and a girl - who are now grown up
- have been robbed of a father and he is now fighting to repair the damage caused by the claims.
The pain of being
denied the right to watch them grow up is still etched on his face.
Mr A (43), said: "It's been 15 years of hell.
"It's
a very long time for a man to have accusations like this hanging over him and they almost led to me losing my sanity.
"The
money paid to me is irrelevant. What's been taken away from me cannot ever be returned.
"My daughter and two sons are
now teenagers and I've not seen them since all this started.
"I'm never going to get those years without my children
back and I dread to think the damage that not having a father has done to them."
The three children are currently ignoring
his letters.
He did have some phone conversations with his eldest son but they have now been broken off.
Mr
A said: "He's got a lot of negativity in him and I don't want to say it's because he has not had a dad, but the situation
can't have helped."
He was first informed of the allegations against him during a case conference with social services,
where he was told his eldest daughter and son, had made claims of abuse.
An internal investigation by Derby social
services in 1992 found the allegations could not be proven and no criminal charges were ever brought against him.
But
he says access to his daughter was never reinstated and claims he was allowed to see his sons only once a month and that this
was while being supervised by social workers.
He claims his repeated court applications for access were denied on the
basis of recommendations by social services, which were run by Derbyshire County Council until the city council took over
responsibility in April 1997.
Eventually, he gave up his bids for access and after being physically attacked on a number
of occasions he left Derby to live in London in 1994.
He said the violence was a result of the community's belief that
he was a pervert.
When the claims first surfaced he was employed and living in Normanton.
Before moving to London
Mr A also lived in Littleover.
He said: "I know the beatings were because of the allegations of child abuse.
"Once
I was beaten up so badly that I was admitted to hospital with multiple injuries, my head swelled up like a football.
"There
were even more than 30 threatening and malicious phone calls made to me.
"This was all too much, so I packed up and
left for London.
"Within the space of a few years I had lost my job, my home and, most importantly, my children."
The
situation flared up again in March 2002, when the mother of another of his children, a young son, was told by social services
to stop contact with him on the basis of the unproven allegations made in 1991.
During a case conference with social
services she was informed that her former partner was a serious risk to children.
Worried his relationship with a fourth
child was also about to be destroyed he reported the city council to the Local Government Ombudsman, an independent arbitrator
who investigates complaints against local authorities.
The city council responded to his complaint with an investigation
- which took almost a year - and, during that time, Mr A had no contact with his son, who was put on the "at risk" register.
However,
the city council finally issued an apology in February 2003 through a letter from service manager Steve Garside.
Daniel
Adamson, corporate complaints officer for the city council, also rectified the authority's position in a letter written to
the Ombudsman.
It said: "Our investigations show that the original (1991) allegations could not be substantiated, so
the (2002) recommendation was not justified."
Mr A then began a claim for damages at the High Court of Justice alleging
the city council had breached the Human Rights Act in relation to his right to a private and family life.
But the city
council has now agreed the out-of-court settlement.
Mr A said: "My case has been a nightmare.
"I only hope that
what I've been through will help stop other parents from suffering a similar fate."
In a statement, Derby City Council
said: "We can make no comment about Mr A's specific allegations other than to observe that there was litigation between him
and the council.
"There has, however, been no trial and no findings of liability."
The litigation was settled
by a Consent Order, to which Mr A agreed, in the following terms: "???the defendant makes no admissions as to any matters
raised in the claim form or particulars of claim or the claimant's case."
Mr A also has another teenaged daughter,
whom he has never been stopped from visiting. He is a member of Unity Injustice, a group set up to offer support and advice
to parents being denied access to their children by social services.
Co-founder Yvonne Coulter, of Derby, said: "There
are many more innocent parents like Mr A out there and I just hope that what he's been through will help open doors for them.
"The
public need to know about this case and, hopefully, it will help change the system."
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