Keeble Harry - Little victim : Britains vulnerable children and the cops who rescue them

Other Books by Harry Keeble with Kris Hollington

Crack House

A true-life account of an honest cops successful effort to stamp out crack houses on his turf, this is a fact-filled, very readable and at times disturbing book. Raid it and weep... truly shocking. Much like its subject matter, this is gripping stuff
5 stars, Maxim

In his blistering book, Crack House, hard-nosed cop Harry Keeble tells how, for nine bone-crunching months, he and his men rampaged through Londons seething drugs underworld
5 stars, News of the World

Baby X

Powerful and moving. I didnt think I could be shocked any more until I read Baby X
Cathy Glass

The subject matter is obviously heavy... But the pace crackles from case to case with Harrys fight to save neglected and abused kids taking him around the world
5 stars, News of the World

Terror Cops

This is the first time a counter-terrorism officer involved has written the inside story of Operation Overt. And its a truly fascinating insight into the lives of terror cops, and the painstaking evidence-gathering that went into this large-scale operation. A terror-ific read
5 stars, News of the World

First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2011
A CBS COMPANY

Copyright 2011 Harry Keeble and Kris Hollington

This book is copyright under the Berne convention.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.

The right of Harry Keeble and Kris Hollington to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
1st Floor
222 Grays Inn Road
London WC1X 8HB

www.simonandschuster.co.uk

Simon & Schuster Australia
Sydney

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-84983-250-2
eBook ISBN: 978-1-84983-251-9

Typeset by M Rules
Printed in the UK by CPI Cox & Wyman, Reading, Berkshire RG1 8EX

For Keith

It is important to ensure that the details of some of the individuals encountered through my work (witnesses, police officers, social workers, teachers, etc.) are not described in a way that would enable people to recognise them. And of course it is also necessary to protect the identities of children and parents whose stories are detailed in this book. I have, with the exception of names that are in the public domain, protected the identities of some people by changing names and altering some background details. Those cases that are a matter of public record are reported in their original detail.

When Baby X was published in January 2009, the reaction took me completely by surprise. Within a couple of weeks it was in the bestseller lists and to my continued amazement it remained there for some months.

The reaction was also evident in my inbox. Emails started arriving from all over the UK, some from people working in child protection (especially social workers) and many more from adults who had been abused when they were children.

Many of the social workers who got in touch said that they felt quite rightly that their profession has been given a raw deal in the media in recent years. A series of high-profile cases has seen the blame quickly thrown at those on the front line, who were often suspended before being sacked. It was only some years later, upon the completion of serious case reviews (most of which are never made public), that they were exonerated. All too often, blame for the failures we see in child protection reaches much further than one individual.

I hope this book goes some way towards showing what its really like for front-line social workers in child protection, the good and the bad, and helps to explain why we, as a first-world, twenty-first-century society, are still letting down some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

To all those who wrote to me with their own personal stories of being abused, I was deeply moved by every single message I received. Your stories revealed much bravery and courage. Others made me smile as you described how you had gone on to find happiness and satisfaction in life, despite suffering horrendously as children. It was also eye-opening for me, for although I have dealt with many historical cases of child abuse, many stories revealed deep thoughts and feelings I had not heard before.

The young children I dealt with rarely understood what had happened to them. They had no knowledge of sexual abuse and so found it very difficult to put their experiences into words. It was heartbreaking to hear them try. They were so innocent, so honest, as they struggled to express themselves after all, they cant make up stories about something they know nothing about.

Very often, until someone notices something is wrong, children suffer in silence. They experience very strong feelings: fear, depression, guilt, shame, confusion, helplessness and despair. As those who wrote to me have made abundantly clear, adult survivors of childhood abuse are able to describe these thoughts and feelings, as well as fully understand the actions of adults who abused them.

Reading your innermost thoughts has been an honour and privilege and has widened my understanding tremendously. Where I have tried to help, I hope my assistance has proved useful and I hope this book, which many of you asked for, encourages more people to come forward to talk about their experiences.

Do keep writing to me. You are not alone; child abuse is a huge problem, much bigger than most people realise. It is possible to survive and find meaning and happiness in your life and there are many people who are ready and willing to help you.

This book, which describes a truly incredible year in the life of Hackney Child Protection, is dedicated to all the little victims young and old and to all those social workers, past and present, who have done an extraordinary job protecting the most vulnerable people in our society.

Harry Keeble
harrykeeble@btinternet.com

Hi, John, Im Harry.

Fuck off! Just fuck off!

Easier said than done when youre stood on the roof of a building six floors up actually make that a crumbling Victorian building with nothing but a suspiciously crooked chimney pot for company oh and I was perched on a tiny handkerchief-sized piece of flat roof, a drop in front of me, a long sheer drop to the left, right and behind.

A stiff breeze whistled at my back. I held on to the pot a little more tightly. Ten yards away, John, fifteen years old, six feet tall and very angry, was crouched behind a raised part of the roof.

A voice shouted behind me from an open window. It was the care home manager. Harry, the negotiators arrived!

Thank God for that.

First thing that January morning, John had gone AWOL from the childrens home for the third time in seven days. He was what we call a regular misper (as in missing person) and even though these things are usually a waste of police time, of course we have to go through the routine of responding to the form faxed to us from the childrens home.

John, whose face was a familiar sight to many of Hackneys finest, had been quickly spotted in the high street by two constables. Instead of surrendering, he took off and they gave, well, I wouldnt exactly call it a chase, more like a follow. Its not the same athletic pursuit you would associate with chasing a burglar over back-garden fences or someone running from a stolen car.