Children's home boss faces life for sex crimes
A hotelier has been convicted of sexually abusing 19 children who lived in his string of care homes.
John Allen, 73, was found guilty by a jury at Mold Crown Court of committing various historical offences against 18 boys and one girl, aged between seven and 15, at various residential properties in and around the Wrexham area.
The predatory paedophile had no care qualifications when he set up a company named Bryn Alyn Community in 1968, which went on to become a highly profitable portfolio of 11 homes for children.
Many of the complainants, who were vulnerable at the time, said they felt no-one would believe their word against Allen, who was said to be intelligent, charismatic and articulate.
One of his victims said the defendant ruled the homes with "an iron fist" as both staff and residents were "scared stiff of him".
Most of the abuse between 1969 and 1990 took place at three homes - Bryn Alyn, Pentre Saeson and Bryn Terion.
Allen was found guilty of 26 indecent assaults, one count of indecency with a child and six other serious sexual assaults.
One victim, Stephen Fong, spoke to ITV Cymru Wales about his experiences and how he is still trying to come to terms with both the physical abuse and the sexual grooming that happened over 30 years ago.
During his trial, the court heard that Allen was convicted in 1996 of indecently assaulting six boys, aged between 12 and 16, at his care homes in the 1970s. He was jailed for six years following an investigation into claims of abuse at various children's homes in North Wales.
Rob Shelley reports:
After today's verdicts Ed Beltrami, chief Crown prosecutor for CPS Wales, said: "John Allen is responsible for a shameful catalogue of abuse, carried out over a long period of time, decades, impacting upon a large number of victims. All of those victims were at the time people who were away from their family homes, in his care in children's homes and looking to him for support and guidance.
"Instead of that, they received shameful abuse from him and a number of very serious offences of a sexual nature were committed against them, which have had a devastating effect on their lives.
"I would like to thank all of those victims who have come forward and supported this prosecution and given their evidence.
"I'm afraid that nothing the criminal justice system can do can undo the distress and damage caused to them throughout their lives by the offences committed by Mr Allen but I hope they will regard the convictions today as another important milestone in their efforts to come to terms with what has happened to them."