[1] The report into the scandal, headed by retired High Court judge Sir Ronald Waterhouse QC, which was published in 2000, resulted in changes in policy in England and Wales into how authorities deal with children in care, and to the settling of 140 compensation claims on behalf of victims of child abuse.
In November 2012, new allegations led to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, announcing that a senior independent figure, later named as Mrs Justice Julia Macur, would examine the conduct and remit of the Waterhouse Inquiry.
In November 2014, the owner of several children's residential homes in the Wrexham area, John Allen, was convicted at Mold Crown Court on 33 counts of sexual abuse against 19 boys and one girl, aged between 7 and 15, during the 1960s and 1970s, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In common with local government practice at the time, the two major councils in North Wales – Clwyd and Gwynedd – had a series of council-owned alongside privately owned and operated children's homes.
[5][failed verification] Creating a file around cases involving six children,[6] Taylor made a series of allegations against senior social care professionals working for the authority[5] which she raised with her superiors at the council, but again no action was taken.
In these reports, Taylor made further allegations about Bryn Estyn care home in Wrexham, which had been run until its closure in 1984 by Clwyd County Council.
[5][failed verification] In 1990, an investigation was undertaken by Detective Inspector Cronin of North Wales Police into allegations of sexual abuse at Cartrefle.
[5][failed verification] Taylor continued her media campaign, discovering that more than ten reports of child abuse had been made to both councils before she had raised her concerns.
[9][10] The wider matter of child sexual abuse was then referred jointly by both councils to North Wales Police who undertook an inquiry in 1993, taking some 2,600 witness statements,[11] and 300 cases were subsequently sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.
"[12] The final report's appendices included limited copies of the key witness statements taken by North Wales Police during their earlier investigation.
The scale of what happened, and how it was allowed, are a disgrace, and stain on the history of child care in this country.In November 2012 Flintshire County Council uncovered a copy of the Jillings Report in their archive.
It said that: "Our investigations have led us to conclude that the abuse of children and young people in Clwyd residential units has been extensive, and has taken place over a substantial number of years....
It severely criticised North Wales Police, and stated that "the most striking fact to emerge is that five men who shared in common their employment as residential care workers at Bryn Estyn were convicted of serious offences involving at least 24 young people.
[22] In 1996, the then Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague, ordered a Tribunal of Inquiry into allegations of hundreds of cases of child abuse in care homes in former county council areas of Clwyd and Gwynedd between 1974 and 1990.
Costing more than £12M, it was stated to be: "the biggest investigation ever held in Britain into allegations of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children who passed through the care system.
[5] The report stated:[14] The evidence before us has disclosed that for many children who were consigned to Bryn Estyn, in the 10 or so years of its existence as a community home, it was a form of purgatory or worse from which they emerged more damaged than when they had entered and for whom the future had become even more bleak.The report found no evidence "to establish that there was a wide-ranging conspiracy involving prominent persons and others with the objective of sexual activity with children in care",[14] but did recognise the existence of a paedophile ring in the Wrexham and Chester area.
"[34]The Macur Inquiry makes it clear the impact the loss of files on potential witnesses and records the notes from David Russell Evans the Bryn Alyn Community Holdings Ltd Company Secretary.
[13] Immediately after the conclusion of the Report the two remaining Directors of Bryn Alyn Community Holdings Ltd, Kenneth J White Junior and David Russell Evans placed the company into liquidation.
[27] In 2005, the cultural historian Richard Webster published a book, The Secret of Bryn Estyn: The Making of a Modern Witch Hunt, which investigated the scandal.
It was highly critical of the Waterhouse Inquiry, argued that abuse scandals could be phenomena created by public hysteria,[40] and reported a number of cases of apparently innocent care workers imprisoned as a consequence of false and unsubstantiated accusations elicited by police trawling operations.
In August 2014, the National Crime Agency announced that Operation Pallial had interviewed further witnesses to paedophilia committed by the former Deputy Head, Peter Howarth, since deceased in prison.
[45] On 5 November 2012 the Prime Minister, David Cameron, said that any new allegations of abuse would be investigated, and announced that a "senior independent figure", later named as Mrs Justice Julia Macur,[46] would be appointed to look urgently into the terms of the original inquiry and whether it was properly constituted.
She announced on 6 November that Keith Bristow, the head of the National Crime Agency, would lead an investigation into how old claims of abuse were handled, and at fresh allegations.
[51] On 6 November, Channel 4 News reported that Sir Peter Morrison, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher and MP for Chester, who died in 1995, had been 'seen' driving a boy away from the Bryn Estyn home.
[46] The Guardian reported that references made to the alleged involvement of another prominent Conservative politician may have been the result of confusion over the identities of two people sharing the same surname.
[57] On 17 December 2012 it was reported that Operation Pallial had received information from 105 possible victims of abuse in North Wales care homes, across 22 police force areas across the UK and Ireland.
A 71-year-old man, John Allen, appeared in court at Mold on 1 August 2013, charged with 32 serious sexual offences relating to allegations of historical child abuse, and was remanded in custody.
Detective Superintendent Mulcahey said that over 100 names of alleged offenders had been put forward to Operation Pallial, and said that the police were "currently pursuing a large number of active lines of enquiry".
[65] In October 2014, John Allen appeared at Mold Crown Court accused of 40 counts of sexual abuse against 19 boys and one girl, aged between 7 and 15, during the 1960s and 1970s.
[68] On 4 November 2016, former police superintendent Gordon Anglesea was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a 14 and 15-year-old boy, with one of the victims being a resident of the Bryn Estyn care home.