Leslie Paul
(Picture: Handout)A former Lambeth social services worker who sexually abused boys in his care at a notorious children’s home has been jailed for a further five years.
Leslie Paul, 70, abused his position to prey on youngsters at the South Vale assessment centre in West Norwood, grooming them with gifts of money and cigarettes before molesting them.
Children who fell into Paul’s clutches have described the “bad room” at the children’s home which he used for sexual abuse, locking them inside and sometimes pretending to be carrying out medical examinations.
A girl who went to Paul’s home saw pictures of topless children on the wall “like horror films or films about serial killers”, and said she tried to report the abuse to Lambeth Council in the 1990s but was instead threatened with legal action.
Paul has now been convicted four times of sexually abusing children, in 1994, at the Old Bailey in 2002, and in 2016 when he was jailed for 13-years for offences against four victims.
While behind bars, two more victims came forward to say they had been abused and Paul was convicted again last autumn of 12 further offences dating back to the early 1980s.
Judge Freya Newbery jailed Paul for a further five years, adding to the 13-year sentence he is already serving.
“You used your position of trust and authority to sexually abuse boys in your care”, she said. “There was severe and life-long psychological harm caused by your sexual abuse of them. It has affected their whole lives.
“Sexual abuse has a toxic and very particular effect on children, even if it is a part of their lives for a short period. In these cases, it did have really serious consequences.”
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse revealed last year how Leslie, employed by Lambeth Council between 1979 and 1991, has been accused of abuse by 43 children.
A catalogue of concerns were raised about Paul’s interactions with children during his employment, but instead of investigation he was promoted to the role of team leader at South Vale in 1989.
Paul had also been a special police constable in the West End and was stopped in suspicious circumstances in the toilets at Piccadilly Circus in 1979. But he remained in the force for a further two years before resigning citing pressures at work.
In his latest trial, Inner London crown court heard how Paul had preyed on two boys, aged 13 and 14, at South Vale where he was said to be popular among staff.
One boy revealed how he was taken to a common room, referred to by children as the “bad room” under the guise of a bogus check for worms.
Another boy said he was plied with cigarettes and whisky by Paul, who took him to a Victorian house in Dulwich to be abused.
Both victims, now adults, told the court how their lives had been blighted by drug abuse and crime as they struggled to cope with the abuse they had suffered as children.
When interviewed by police, Paul issued a statement accusing the boys of lying to police.
In her inquiry report, Professor Alexis Jay said children had been “pawns in a toxic power game within Lambeth Council and between the Council and central government”.
“For many years bullying, intimidation, racism, nepotism and sexism thrived within the Council, and all against a backdrop of corruption and financial mismanagement”, she said.
“There was a vicious and regressive culture, for which a succession of leading elected members were mainly responsible, aided and abetted in some instances by self-serving senior officials.
“This all contributed to allowing children in their care to suffer the most horrendous sexual abuse.”
Lambeth Council has paid out at least £400,000 in compensation to victims of historic abuse, and previously said: “We are truly sorry for what happened to children in our care in the past and the consequences for their adult lives.”
At the start of Paul’s sentencing, he appeared via videolink from prison and complained about a delay to the hearing, saying it had “stressed me out greatly”.
Paul denied but was convicted of nine counts of indecent assault on a male person, two charges of indecency with a child, and one count of buggery.
He is subject to a sexual harm prevention order for life, and must serve half of his current prison terms before being released on parole.
