How can Oxfordshire County Council's Safeguarding Children Committee claim that serious abuse is not occurring at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College?
On 25 April 2012, the London Evening Standard reported that a 31-year-old female police officer from Southwark's Sapphire Sexual Crimes Unit had falsified crime reports and fabricated victim testimonies.
The IPCC found the officer guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed her from the police force. The investigation uncovered a series of allegations that Southwark officers had breached rules around rape cases and dismissed allegations as “non-criminal”.
On 28 April 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported a similar case in which Detective Dominic Griffiths of Greater Manchester Police had falsified a rape forensic report, failed to send samples for testing, lied to his superiors and falsely claimed evidence had gone missing.
Commenting on the Southwark case, IPCC Commissioner Rachel Serfontein said: “It takes courage for victims to report a sexual assault to the police and when they do it is essential that they are treated respectfully, supported and their allegations are thoroughly investigated.”
These are fine words but they ring hollow in relation to the repeated allegations of serious sexual and physical abuse made by a number of students at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College (OCVC) dating back to 2006/2007.
A UK column report in December 2011 exposed allegations ranging from encouraging students to drink alcohol on campus and in local pubs, to verbal abuse, racism, physical assault and failing to take steps to protect female students from sexual assault and harassment (including attempted rape) by other teachers and students. Since then, many more former students have been contacted, providing graphic descriptions of traumatic experiences they had while attending Oxford & Cherwell Valley College – Blackbird Leys campus.
Victims, some of whom were aged 16 at the time, allege that many of their complaints were not addressed by senior management. Information provided suggests that at least 30 complaints were ignored or trivialised by teachers responsible for the welfare of young pupils. Even when complaints were dealt with, victims allege safeguarding procedures were not followed and one complaint took almost six months to process.
Personal testimonies combined with contemporaneous notes and documented evidence reveal a consistent pattern of serious abuse and collective failure by the local safeguarding body, Oxfordshire Safeguarding Board.
Many of the allegations and complaints concern OCVC Programme Manager John Giver. The allegations include racism and reports of Asian students being called “Pakis”. One student regularly wrote to Giver's direct supervisor, Steve Capewell, to complain. In a letter dated 20 October 2007, the 16-year-old student complained that Giver had “gleefully” hit him over the head. He continued: “I've only just started my course and John Giver is constantly abusing me. Can you please stop bullying me John?”
Ten days later, in another letter to Capewell, the same embarrassed student claims he was assaulted by Guyver, leaving him with blood running down his face. “Paul (a teacher who has since left the university) has taken my trousers off again for being late and Mark Biggs is still abusive towards me. This is starting to affect me,” he writes, asking Steve Capewell to intervene. He also complains about two other teachers.
Former OCVC students, as well as current students at the university who have knowledge of allegations of abuse, were shocked to see Steve Capewell listed as a “contact person” on a new OCVC “Student Safeguarding Team” poster.
On 11 February 2010, the Oxford Mail reported that a teacher at Oxford & Cherwell Valley College had been suspended for showing students pornographic images on his mobile phone. According to former students, the teacher was Andrew Fellowes, who was supervised by John Geber.
Students allege that Fellows regularly invited men not employed by the university to enter the campus through fire doors. The men would show them pornography, offer them sweets and drugs, and invite them to meet with students and children after school. Fellows' name appeared in multiple complaints dating back to 2007, but it took nearly three years for OCVC to fire him.
Fellowes was arrested and released on bail several months after leaving university in connection with allegations first reported in the Oxford Mail in February 2010. No evidence was found to bring criminal charges against him, but why did police wait to arrest him until he had left university, several months after he had been suspended?
Sally Dicketts
Despite more than 30 specific allegations of abuse being made against her college, OCVC head Sally Dicketts has supported Giever, who some say has an “exemplary record.”
In February 2010, Rebecca Melmoth, education safeguarding coordinator for Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Following discussions and interviews with a wide range of students and Thames Valley Police, the education safeguarding team has concluded that there is no evidence to suggest that the allegations made are true.”
In a letter of October 2011, a senior detective inspector argued that “the presence of such recorded material – pornographic in nature – on the suspect's IT devices would have been extremely helpful to the prosecution's case. However, no such recordings were found during the investigating officers' investigation.”
In making this reckless statement, the inspector must have been well aware that no such evidence existed, as police did not seize any personal IT equipment when the allegations of abuse and child pornography first began. OCVC subsequently disposed of its entire computer suite while these allegations continued, ordering new computers from Novatech of Portsmouth in July 2010.
The evidence shows that Thames Valley Police has not adequately investigated reports of serious physical and sexual assault, failed to use properly trained officers to interview victims and dismissed victims' concerns by relying on inadequate internal reports from Oxford and Cherwell Valley Colleges – drawing disturbing parallels with the shameful cover-up of crimes by Southwark police force.
As a result of an investigation by UK Column, more victims have come forward and we understand that a full report into student abuse at OCVC is currently being prepared for the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
