Male nurse, 71, given an MBE by Prince Charles battered and sexually abused young children in his care at a notorious children's home
- Trevor Francis painted himself as an 'upstanding citizen' in Fife, Scotland
- He took over management of St Margaret's children's home from ANOTHER paedophile and promised a new regime would protect the vulnerable kids there
- A jury found him guilty of sexually abusing children and he will be sentenced next month
Trevor Francis was found guilty of two
counts of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour towards
young girls and three assaults
A nurse who was given an MBE by Prince Charles has been exposed as a child abuser who attacked young children at a care home.
Trevor
Francis, who once painted himself as an 'upstanding citizen', is soon
to be sentenced after being found guilty of two counts of sexual assault
against children.
Now 71, Francis, a
trained nurse, took over as manager of St Margaret's children's home in
Elie, Fife, in 1973, after its previous manager, David Murphy, was found
to be a paedophile.
Francis was part of a new regime at the home that should have removed the children from the threat of abuse.
He
was given an MBE in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours for his services
to the community in Aberdour, Fife, where he worked as a station
master.
But behind the facade others
described him as 'creepy' and a 'Jekyll and Hyde character' who
subjected kids there to brutal physical attacks and sickening sexual
assaults.
Francis's name came up during the probe into Murphy in the late 90s.
But it was only when one brave victim came forward in 2014 that police were able to build a case against him.
They proactively visited former residents of the home who told their stories of abuse at his hands.
Share this article
Now Francis has been warned he faces a jail term when he returns to Dundee Sheriff Court to be sentenced next month.
Three
girls - aged 14 to 16 at the time- told a jury that Francis would creep
into the girls' dormitory at the home in the night and sexually assault
them.
One told how he touched her on the chest under her bedsheets while another said he had touched her genitals under her covers.
A
male resident at the home told how he had once run away and got as far
as Kirkcaldy where he was picked up by police and taken back.
Francis took him into a laundry room and attacked him as punishment.
Other victims told how Francis slapped them in the face and beat them with a slipper in violent rages.
Fiscal
depute Eilidh Robertson told the jury: 'He is a manipulative, violent
and predatory person who abused the trust of these vulnerable people who
he was paid to protect.
Francis was given an MBE in the 2012
Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to the community in Aberdour,
Fife, where he worked as a station master
'But
instead he perpetrated physical and sexual abuse towards them and
managed to stay undetected because of his Jekyll and Hyde personality.
'The accused might seem mild mannered - an upstanding citizen, a family man.
'His wife was at pains to tell you that her Trevor would never have acted like that.
'We are dealing with an intelligent, manipulative man who can turn on and off that predatory, violent behaviour.'
Giving
evidence in his own defence Francis said he was 'relatively easy going'
and claimed to have had a good relationship with the kids at the home.
In a bizarre exchange he said: 'Come hell or high water they wanted me to watch Top of The Pops with them every week.
'It helped me relate to the kids and know about acts like Gary Glitter at the time.
'I suppose that's the wrong name to use today though.'
He added: 'Not in any situation would I have dreamd of doing what I'm accused of doing.
'It is totally inappropriate and totally wrong.
'But they say I did it.'
Francis, 71, of Manse Street, Aberdour, Fife, denied a total of nine charges on indictment.
However,
a jury of eight men and seven women took two and a half hours to find
him guilty by majority of two offences of using lewd, indecent and
libidinous practices and behaviour towards young girls and three
assaults.
One further lewd and libidinous charge and three assaults were found not proven.
Defence solicitor Kerr Sneddon asked that Francis be released on bail ahead of sentencing.
Sheriff
Alastair Brown deferred sentence until next month for social work
background reports and released Francis on bail meantime.
He said: 'A prison sentence is a serious possibility.'
Francis
was given the MBE in 2012 for his services to the community in
Aberdour, Fife, where he was station master for more than 20 years.
As
well as manning the ticket office in the village he spent up to six
hours a day maintaining floral displays at the station, winning awards
for his work.
He had taken over at St
Margaret's from prolific paedophile David Murphy, who died in jail in
2001 after being jailed for a 30-year campaign of sexual and physical
abuse at various homes.
Children in his
care were subjected to an appalling regime of abuse. Some were forced
to stand naked for hours, girls were spanked on their bare bottoms, boys
were forced to shovel coal in their pyjamas. One practice, known as
'shakey wakey', involved boys being dragged from assembly and their
heads slammed against walls.
Social
workers, police and council officials to prevent Murphy from working
with children again after the first allegations surfaced in the early
1970s.
Even when he was removed from
one home he was allowed to continue looking after children as officials
did not want to get involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment