Stories

Page 8

• Sexual Abuse

  I was sexually abused by a Scout leader when I was 12, back in the mid ‘70s – thankfully I only suffered one night, others had it much worse. I had only recently joined the pack and unbeknown to me (and my parents) it was a well known “secret”! I those days we had no one to turn to – your parents wouldn’t believe you.
• Sexual Abuse

  Whilst collecting my toddler child I walked into a sitting room where my younger cousin and his friends were with their scout leader. I witnessed the scout leader touching one of the boys inappropriately.
  The scout group wore kilts and the leader had my cousin’s friend on his lap and had his hand underneath the boy’s kilt. He did not stop when I entered the room and I collected my toddler and left my aunt’s house who was not at home.
  I told my mother who told my aunt who said that it was nothing that I was mistaken and that neighbours had said they’d seen things take place whilst my younger cousin was in the scout leaders car but that she believed they too were mistaken. Clearly, she was in denial and wanted to believe her son’s denials who was a young boy.
• Sexual Abuse

  It was when I was 17 and kept my pony on a field near my parents home in *****.
  A Scout Master also kept two horses there- they were on loan to him.
  Two young girls, aged about 10- 12 used to come to see the horses and the Scout master starting taking them for rides on one of his horses- he would put one of the girls on the saddle in front of him.. whilst riding round the 21.acres, concealed from public view he would put his hand inside their panties.
  One of the girls told me – I informed my mother- but she wouldn’t take any action. All I could do was tell the girl not to go near the man again and to tell her parents. She was reluctant to tell them.
  This story has stayed with me all my life- it happened in the 1960s.
  The mothers response was wrong and this man should have been exposed.
• Girl Guiding

  Our Girl Guide Pack Leader was moody. If the night didn’t go as she wanted, she would retreat to the stage and give us the cold shoulder treatment. The rest of the evening was spent in silence and we were left just sitting around. If we were all looking forward to a particular night, she would go out of her way to destroy that night. We were reduced to tears, made to march around the hall. One night I took the initiative and ran the night myself. We had a great time, she just sat on the stage and glared at us. Another leader joined and things became better.
• Adult Leader

  I was 11 when it started. He was the troop leader and a schoolteacher. He was popular with the other adults who helped run the troop. I helped put equipment away after scout meetings, events and camps. He used to give me lifts home, so my parents were reassured I was safe, even if I stayed out late. One time, in the cellar of the church hall, he lifted me up onto a box and undid my trousers. He took my trousers down, and my underwear. I hadn’t reached puberty. But he said I was beautiful. He took my penis in his mouth and held me by the bottom. It aroused me. I liked and admired him. So it seemed appropriate to follow his lead. It happened multiple times. On weekends, there would be activities that finished early or mid-afternoon. He took me back to his house. He felated me and then kissed me heavily on the lips. I didn’t like that. But didn’t feel able to object. He had me masturbate him to ejaculation. I didn’t like that either. But felt obliged. These visits to his home continued for about three years, always with the same sexual activities, until I told him about my starting to date people my own age. He had a sense that it wouldn’t be possible then.

  I had a strong suspicion that maybe four other boys had this kind of attention in the troop. But I didn’t know if they were ongoing or previous activities.

  I heard many years later that he had been convicted and jailed for multiple counts of child sexual abuse.
• Adult Leader

  When I was 7 ( in 1950) I was sexually abused by the Scout Leader who lived on the ground floor of my block of flats in ****.
  He told me that if I ever told my parents they wouldn’t believe me because he was a Scout Leader.
  I believed him and stopped going out in the courtyard where I had a garden so I wouldn’t see him. My life changed.
  I have carried this secret all my life. I shall be 80 this year. I was born in Aug 1943.
  About 5 years ago I consulted a psychologist and told him what happened. It was wonderful to finally be able to talk to a professional about this.
• Sexual Abuse

  When I was between eight and eleven in the **** scouts we were taught first aid the scout leader took me into a private room and said your main artery is at the side of your legs he then put his hand up my shorts and felt around. Another time we went camping in wales and he said a tradition in the scouts is called the gooley run which involved us taking our clothes off and running naked round the field while he watched I didn’t give it much thought then but I’m almost seventy five so it must have effected me as I still remember it vividly. I kept my scout awards paper and it’s got his initials on, he’s probably well dead by now we’re talking about the late fifties it’s probably too late to do anything but it’s a warning to others.
• Sexual Abuse

  I was in the Scouts from 11, and at 13 I met a leader who was 10 years older than me.
  He noticed that I was vulnerable already and he started grooming me. He gave me a webcam and we’d chat every night online. The abuse moved in-person, in empty car parks after school. Eventually, he asked me to stay at his house one night a week. The second time I stayed over he put on a 18 rated movie that scared the hell out of me. I froze at the first rape scene. He paused the movie but I still couldn’t move. He grabbed my shoulders, held me down and anally raped me. When he noticed he told me to stop crying, saying that he knew I liked it really.
  I have two vivid memories of later that night. The first lying there staring at the orange streetlight against the wall desperately trying not to be sick. The next being in the bathroom, trying to clean up the blood with toilet roll and wondering how I was going to hide it at school the next day if it didn’t stop. I kept going back until I was over 15.

  I didn’t tell anyone about my scout leader for 10 years. I eventually realised he was a risk to kids and always had been, and he was still a leader. So I reported him to the police. He was arrested and bailed, but then he killed himself before the police could charge him. I have the police investigation log that says had he not killed himself they had enough evidence to have a reasonably high chance of conviction. But he was never actually convicted, so The Scout Association essentially just act like he didn’t do anything wrong. They said that I wasn’t their problem or priority because I’m no longer a member of Scouting but he was. They also told the people who were supporting me that they should be careful that I didn’t accuse them of anything because I was “vulnerable and damaged”. That was said by one of their safeguarding officers, despite that safeguarding officer having never met me. That safeguarding officer insinuated that I would make a false accusation when she had absolutely no basis for it.

  The Scout Association didn’t tell anyone in the local community what he’d been accused of, there was a uniformed guard of honour at his funeral, and they didn’t attempt to check if he’d done it to anyone else. When I went public after the inquest into his death, so that parents in the local area would put two and two together and check that their kids were ok, I got a lot of pretty nasty public online abuse linked to the article from members of the Scouts. The most memorable being a trustee of my old Scout Group telling me that I was a liar and was going to burn in Hell. The Scout Association did nothing to stop them, despite the fact that these were comments on the newspaper’s social media post of the article. So it was viewable by anyone in the local community, including children and young people he could have also abused.

  I doubt I’m the only one he abused, but I doubt that anyone else will ever come forward. They’ll have now seen that the local Scouting community won’t have their backs based on the reaction to me speaking out. I wouldn’t have had to do that if The Scout Association had taken their duty of care seriously and checked that he hadn’t abused other kids.
• Sexual Abuse

  I was brought to Scouts in 2006 by someone I’d met through a friend. Within a couple of weeks he had convinced the leaders to let me join the older section where he was, shortly after this he turned 18 and remained coming to the group, we were told he was a young leader.

  During the next few weeks and months I was groomed into a sexual relationship with this leader. I repeatedly refused to consent to sexual acts but was continually coerced, blackmailed and worn down to letting them happen. This was not consent. These acts happened before scout meetings in the grounds of the church, in local parks and on several occasions at camps. One time I was seen by the group leader coming out of the tent I had been made to share with the abuser, when he saw this I was told by the leader to make sure the camp organisers didn’t find out. My welfare was not of his concern at that time at all. I was also asked about rumours of a relationship between me and this young leader at a separate camp by a female leader, in front of a group of his friends, she now denies this happened but I clearly remember it and remember that it was not a true opportunity for me to confide in her, as how can any 13 year old accuse someone of rape in front of his best friends.

  I reported by abuse to the police in 2016 after undertaking training on child sexual exploitation, unfortunately due to evidential difficulties and I believe the lack of support from the scouts (including one scout leader telling witnesses to not say more than they had to and discouraging them from talking about another possible victim) my case was laid on file and could not proceed to charging the individual at that time. This devastated me as the police investigation had been a hugely difficult experience to go through.

  After the police investigation was laid on file, my dad emailed the scout head office about my situation and what they were going to do to try and help us secure a conviction. This was when we found out that the report of the period of abuse never made it to head office, the leader had gone against their safeguarding policy and kept the information to himself. From then on it was clear the scouts do not take safeguarding seriously, we were treated with contempt throughout and after a really poor internal review we had to force them to an external review, when we discovered internal emails and communications which essentially blamed me for what happened. This external review gave them 20-something action points. I very much doubt they have acted on all of these in any sort of effective way. Everything they have done has been to get me to shut up and leave them alone, dealing with the scouts has felt like a separate period of abuse.

  From my experience of abuse, I have been delayed in my career, been diagnosed with complex-ptsd and have found that I lost most of my childhood years to the impact of it. I don’t want this to happen to others.

  I am extremely concerned for the welfare of victims who come and speak to the scouts about their experience, as well as TSA’s lack of proactivity when it comes to making changes to protect the thousands of children in their care. TSA needs to do better, their duty first and foremost must be protecting the children in their care not taking care of their own reputation.
• Insufficient Training

  I volunteer with a Scouts group. However, upon first expressing an interest in volunteering, I was able to take a group of children and work with them on activities without a DBS, guidelines or safeguarding training. Although other leaders were present, further guidance should have been offered for safety of young children.

  I have been with the group for some time now and even with the DBS, I still have had no contact from the central organisation or from leaders in the groups I work with on how to engage and safeguard children.
  With the knowledge of what can happen, it’s so very important that all adults involved with Scouts has some form on online or in-person training on safeguarding, PREVENT and H&S basics.