Blanchard Colin - Vanessa : a portrait of evil

WENSLEY CLARKSON

Vanessa

A Portrait of Evil

PENGUIN BOOKS

Contents

PENGUIN BOOKS

VANESSA

Wensley Clarkson has been a writer and investigative journalist all his working life. He is the author of more than thirty non-fiction true crime books and two novels, which have been published in eighteen countries across the world and sold more than one million copies. He has also written for ITVs The Bill as well as directed, written and produced a TV documentary on the British criminal mastermind Kenneth Noye. His latest original movie screenplay, Playback , is scheduled to go into production in the spring of 2011. He has homes in London and Granada, Spain.

Those of us that are privileged by the birth of children know that they are the greatest treasure, almost a gift beyond price. Hard-working parents put great effort into their nurture. Part of that is to entrust them and put this treasure into the hands of others. The breach of that trust by this person in such a position of responsibility to me is almost unimaginable. The parents of those abused must be so fundamentally shaken at this unspeakable wickedness.

Bishop of Plymouth, the Right Reverend John Ford

Authors Note

Highlighting Vanessa Georges difficult childhood in this book in no way excuses her heinous crimes. Trying to blame her past for the present is an obvious route to take but that is definitely not my intention. Vanessa George has no defence for the crimes she committed, but it is important to explain how she came to be in such an appalling place so that perhaps other similar catastrophes might be avoided in the future. So when you read this account of Vanessa Georges life and crimes remember this is not an excuse for who she is. It is who she is.

To avoid confusion apart from during descriptions of her childhood and when she is referred to directly by acquaintances I have called Vanessa George either Vanessa or later, after her marriage, for the most part simply George. The way her name has been used in no way reflects any sympathy for her crimes. Instead, it is a realistic way to avoid confusion in this book.

Quotations from written material appear, with few exceptions, without the editorial (sic). When it seems that a word was inadvertently missing, it has been added for the sake of clarity. Mistakes in punctuation, grammar and spelling have been corrected in certain instances, but in others it was felt that retaining an error helped convey the flavour of a document and the style of the person being quoted. Some names of sources have been changed or omitted because many of those linked to Vanessa George greatly fear her retribution. Many scenes have been constructed through available documents and allegations provided to this author. A lot of the people I spoke to during this investigation agreed to talk because they felt that breaking the silence surrounding the issue of such a difficult subject might one day help the innocent victims and better protect our children in the future.

Wensley Clarkson, January 2011

Illustrations

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders. The publishers will be glad to rectify in future editions any errors or omissions brought to their attention.

Prologue

Interview room, Charles Cross Police Station, Plymouth, Devon, Tuesday, 9 June 2009, 1.44 a.m.

An overweight woman in her late thirties/early forties sits at a wooden table opposite two police detectives. Her heavy, jowly facial features show little emotion as she answers questions in an almost matter-of-fact fashion, as if she is discussing something perfectly normal.

POLICE: Can you introduce yourself.

VG: Im Vanessa George.

POLICE: Do you want to have a solicitor present?

VG: No, Im all right, thank you.

POLICE: You remember when we first came [to your home] You said I know what its about, I dont want my husband to know and then we cautioned you

VG: Mmm.

POLICE: And I said I believe that youve sent images and you said, no, just photos of children, you know Im going to have to arrest you and you said, I got suckered in big time, is it Colin Blanchard?, and I said who is Colin Blanchard?, it doesnt matter you said. You were then arrested on suspicion of making and distributing images, indecent images of children.

VG: Mmm.

POLICE: And you were also arrested on suspicion of sexual assault by penetration.

VG: Yeah.

POLICE: To which you said it wasnt penetration. You said theres nothing in my house, my phone is in my pocket, Ive been suckered in big time.

And then your husband came down and you said to him basically I got befriended by a bloke, who said I want you in my life and I took photos of children for him, Im sorry.

At half past midnight you said I knew this would happen, I cant believe what Ive done and then you gave me your Samsung mobile phone which we have here, and you said to me they dont know anything about it referring to your family.

VG: Right.

POLICE: You said Ill give you my other mobile

VG: Wasnt.

POLICE: You said, Im disgusted with myself, I cant believe what Ive done, I love children.

VG: I love working with children.

POLICE: I love working with children. You then told me it was a pay-as-you-go phone you called it your fun phone.

VG: Mmm.

POLICE: Also while we were there, you said you had several email accounts

VG: Yes.

POLICE: I think probably the easiest thing now is for you just to tell us whats happened from the start.

VG: I was on Facebook about, well about five, six months ago and I went on the thing called Are You Interested? And, um, you just click on people and like have a flirt and chat and things like that and there was one I like clicked and I thought nice looking you know and whatever and we just started, I cant even remember, you know he was like Hi, how are you, did you have a nice day, blah blah blah and we started talking on there. Then we added each other as friends and then, he just said oh have you got an MSN account? and I dont think I did at the time, like I must have had one but not. So I just set up one and said oh there it is and we just used to talk on there. Um, and he just said things like whats your fantasies? and things like that and of course you sort of like make up bits and things and like he said he was abused when he was little and I said oh thats awful and he goes no, it was really nice. So I thought oh, I got a kinky one here, so Ill play along with it.

POLICE: Mmm.

VG: And I just like played along and like, you know, like typing in things like that and I dont even know how it got to the point of where I think he laughed and, you know, when they say oh I want you in my life, um, Ive told my mum about you and things like that and I dont know, cos I never really asked him like, what have you got money or nothing cos I wasnt, you know, it was just a bit of attention to be quite honest and I dont even know how it got onto it, but he sort of said, I said to him like, I work in the nursery and things like that and it was just, he sort of said if you, you know, if you take some pictures or something like that and Ive gone yeah all right then, and I said well what would you do for me if I done that for you?, like joking

POLICE: Yeah.

VG: and I said youll have to put a ring on my finger to make me do things like that and it was like Mmm So then I did and then of course the more photos you take the more you get back, you know, in interest.

POLICE: Sort of feeding him type.

VG: Yeah, but it was attention back.