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The Press
August 10, 2002
Parallels in cases
A British author who was instrumental in clearing the name
of two English crèche workers accused of abuse is not the least
surprised about parallels with the Christchurch crèche case.
Richard Webster combined with investigative journalist Bob Woffinden in 1998
to help Newcastle
crèche workers Dawn Reed and Chris Lillie fight a 1998 council report
which found them guilty of child abuse.
A British court last week found the two were the victims of a shocking
miscarriage of justice.
Mr Webster the case had all the hallmarks of abuse scares overseas including
the Peter Ellis case in Christchurch.
"We are looking really at a kind of template for injustice. The various
cases there have been do have strikingly similar features."
The template was based on Californian theories about child abuse which grew
out of a powerful fantasy that groups indulging in Satanic worship had
organised themselves to abuse young children.
Although the Satanic connection was avoided by authorities in the Newcastle case because
it had been discredited, it was still very much in the background, he said.
Time to rebuild-- D1
Richard Webster will be on Kim Hill's show on National Radio today.
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