Richard Farnell denied being aware at the time of abuse occurring at the school

A former council leader 'shamefully' claimed he knew nothing about the sexual abuse of young boys in Rochdale, a bombshell report concluded today.

It also found the late politician Cyril Smith used his high standing to put pressure on people to keep quiet about abuse allegations and avoid prosecution.

Pupils at Knowl View residential school were sexually exploited in the town centre, the bus station and at public toilets across the road from the borough council's offices over a 20-year period.

Authorities in the Greater Manchester town showed a 'total lack of urgency' to address the sexual exploitation of boys at the council-run school who were regarded as 'authors of their own abuse'.

Richard Farnell, council leader from 1986 until 1992, denied being aware at the time of abuse occurring at the school for which he was ultimately responsible. But the report found: 'In the light of other evidence we heard, we did not believe him.'

Today, Labour suspended the serving councillor immediately after receiving the investigation's findings, with a party spokesman saying: 'The Labour Party condemns the abuse of children and any attempts to cover up these heinous acts.'

Former Liberal MP Cyril Smith (pictured in 1990) acted as a governor for several schools

He could now face a police probe into allegations that he committed perjury at the inquiry.

The inquiry heard that a paedophile called Roderick Hilton had been admitted to Knowl View in September 1990, where he had sexually abused at least one boy, but Mr Farnell insisted the information was not passed on to him.

The report said Hilton was 'well known to the staff of the school, who did nothing over many years to deter him targeting the school', and that he was imprisoned in 1991 for a series of child sexual offences.

It added: 'Despite this, on his release from prison on licence, he continued to be a malign presence at the school, 'little' was done to stop Hilton's continued access to the grounds and buildings.'

Mr Farnell said he was also unaware of a 1991 report submitted by a health authority worker which detailed claims that boys at Knowl View as young as eight were being sexually targeted by men from as far afield as Sheffield.

Mr Farnell, who regained the position as Labour council leader in 2014, quit his role just weeks after his appearance at the inquiry.

Smith is said to have been among those who preyed on youngsters at Knowl View School

The report said: 'It was shameful that he refused to accept any personal responsibility for the young lives blighted by what happened at the school while he was leader.

'Instead, he laid all blame for what occurred at the door of the senior oﬃcials in education and social services.'

Following publication of the report today, Mr Farnell said he was 'deeply sorry' for the mistakes made by the council, but insisted: 'I told the truth.'

Cyril Smith could have been prosecuted but got a knighthood The late politician Cyril Smith could have prosecuted him but was instead given a knighthood, it emerged today. The child sexual abuse inquiry found a 'valuable opportunity' was missed to prosecute Rochdale's former Liberal MP during his lifetime in the late 1990s. Smith, a prominent councillor before he represented the town in Parliament from 1972 to 1992, acted as a governor for several Rochdale schools - including council-run Knowl View School, where victims were regarded as 'authors of their own abuse'. Before he died aged 82 in 2010 he was the subject of sex abuse accusations and investigations but never faced trial and received a knighthood in 1988. A Lancashire Police investigation into the MP concluded in 1970 - the year he first ran for public office - that he was hiding behind a 'veneer of respectability' and had used his 'unique position' to target eight boys at Cambridge House Boys' Hostel in Rochdale during the 1960s. But the then director of public prosecutions (DPP) Sir Norman Skelhorn chose not to charge him. From 1997 onwards Greater Manchester Police investigated allegations of physical and sexual abuse in residential homes, with the Lancashire Police file concerning Smith and a further witness statement submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service in 1998. Two additional statements were submitted in 1999. The IICSA panel said the CPS branch crown prosecutor advised Smith - the hostel's honorary secretary - should not be charged despite coming to the view there was a 'realistic prospect of conviction'. The panel said: 'His review of that advice in 1999 did not consider that those new complaints were capable of lending further support to the case. A valuable opportunity was, therefore, lost to prosecute Smith during his lifetime, and for the complainants to seek justice.' It also noted that Smith's 'ascent to a position of considerable prominence and respect' was marked in 1988 with a knighthood for his political services. Advertisement

The report also found former Liberal MP Smith sexually abused boys under the guise of 'medical examinations' of a boy's private parts, despite having no medical qualifications.

Smith punished the boys at the Cambridge House hostel in the Greater Manchester town for truancy, illness or absconding by spanking their bare bottom, according to the report.

But his strong interest in children in care went unchallenged by the local council and 'valuable opportunities' to charge him during his lifetime were lost.

Smith was a prominent councillor before he represented the town from 1972 to 1992 in Parliament, and he was awarded a knighthood in 1988 for his political services.

The report found there were 'frank discussions at the highest political level about the rumours in circulation about him, with no obvious concern for alleged victims'.

Instead, fears were raised over 'what would be fair to Smith and whether the honours system might subsequently be brought into disrepute'.

The report concluded: 'This demonstrated a considerable deference to power and an unwillingness to confront the possibility that a person of public prominence might be capable of perpetrating sexual abuse.'

The former Liberal MP is said to have been among those who preyed on youngsters at Cambridge House Boys' Hostel and Knowl View School.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) today released its findings on the claims surrounding the two establishments and others in the town where child placements were arranged or provided by Rochdale Borough Council.

The report declared that 'boys as young as 11 were not seen as victims, but as authors of their own abuse'.

Before he died aged 82 in 2010, 29-stone MP Smith was the subject of sex abuse accusations and investigations but never faced trial.

A Lancashire Police investigation into Smith concluded in 1970 - the year he first ran for public office - that he was hiding behind a 'veneer of respectability' and had used his 'unique position' to target eight boys at Cambridge House during the 1960s.

The boys said Smith spanked their bare bottoms and carried out intrusive medical examinations despite not being qualified to do so.

But the then director of public prosecutions (DPP) Sir Norman Skelhorn chose not to charge him.

Counsel to the inquiry Brian Altman QC said the security services were informed the Rochdale Alternative Press (RAP), which published an investigation into Smith in 1979, had been misled by the DPP's office which told the newspaper it had never received police reports of abuse by Smith.

The boys claimed that Smith (pictured at Rochdale Market in 1992) spanked their bare bottoms

Inquiry chair Professor Alexis Jay said: 'After listening to the evidence presented by a number of victims and survivors in Rochdale at the time, I am deeply disturbed at the evidence of extensive abuse and the institutional responses to that abuse.

'Many of those who testified to their abuse have never had the opportunity to seek justice through the courts. I hope that the public hearings and this report has offered them some measure of acknowledgement for their suffering.'

Before the public hearing sessions, council chief executive, Steve Rumbelow apologised for the authority's 'unforgivable' response to concerns over Knowl View.

Boys were sexually abused at building 'within view of council' Sexual exploitation of children from Knowl View School at a public toilet was known about by the authorities, but social workers did not act – despite being able to see the building from their offices, the report found. The report found workers at Rochdale Council recognised the boys as being in care and were 'deeply suspicious of what was going on, although there was no apparent follow-up'. It added: 'The records of individual children convey a total lack of urgency on the part of the authorities to address the problem and treat the matters involved for what they were – serious sexual assaults.' One boy's file recorded that he had contracted sexually transmitted hepatitis through 'rent boy' activities, and the report said: 'No one in authority viewed any of this as an urgent child protection issue' It also found police 'did not turn a blind eye to the sexual exploitation of boys' in the town centre, but did not obtain suﬃcient evidence to prosecute. The report said there was evidence of a 'willingness on the part of police oﬃcers to investigate', but 'there is no satisfactory answer as to why police did not charge anyone, despite knowing the names of men involved and obtaining some disclosures from the boys who were victims.' Advertisement

Earlier last year, Greater Manchester Police said it had found no evidence of a criminal cover-up of sexual abuse at Knowl View.

Mr Farnell said: 'Failures by Rochdale Council, the police and other agencies in protecting children from abuse should never have happened. The inquiry covered events going back 60 years.

'For the period in which I was leader of Rochdale Council from 1986 to 1992, I am deeply sorry and I apologise to all those who suffered as a result of the grave mistakes made and the unacceptable failings of the Council in respect of the children being cared for at Knowl View.

'However, I am shocked at the findings of the Inquiry. I told the truth. There is clear evidence that I was not informed about Knowl View during my time as leader.'

He added that the three most senior officers of the council responsible for informing and advising the council leader all said in evidence they did not tell him about Knowl View.

Mr Farnell also said that among the 140,000 pages of documents relating to Knowl View, there were no letters, memos, reports, council minutes or briefing notes addressed to him about the events at Knowl View.

He added: 'A two-year police investigation found no evidence whatsoever that I was involved in a cover-up of events at Knowl View. I now need time to consider the report in full before commenting further.'

Mr Farnell's Liberal Democrat successor, Paul Rowen, rejected the report's finding that he had at best been 'insufficiently inquisitive' and at worst 'turned a blind eye' to the abuse.

Mr Rowen, the town's one-time MP and leader of the council in the mid-1990s, said: 'I think that's ridiculous'.

But he went on: 'I have to accept the report's main findings, that over a 25-year period, up to the grooming of girls in 2005, there was a lack of safeguarding procedures`.

He claimed that as an opposition councillor up to 1992 he and his colleagues were 'ignored' by Mr Farnell and his ruling group.

The Rochdale Council offices (right, 1) were in full view of the Smith Street toilets (left, 1) where some of the abuse is said to have happened

'We were told nothing of Knowl View until two months before the election, because that's the way they ran the council.

'The area where we did fail was in not providing support and counselling for those boys who were abused. But on two occasions I asked the police to investigate the complaints, and they came back and said the boys weren't credible witnesses.

'Hindsight is a great thing, but I find it difficult to accept that I turned a blind eye. I acted on the advice I was given by chief officers. You have to understand that as councillors we are not professionals.

Known sex offender gained access to boys and assaulted one A known sex offender gained access to Knowl View School and the boys over two nights, when he indecently assaulted at least one of them, the report found. The incident involving Roderick Hilton, who had previously been convicted of sexually abusing a boy at Knowl View in 1984, happened in 1990. Hilton was well known to the staff of the school, who did nothing over many years to deter him targeting the school, according to the report. He was also found camping by the school's fence. Hilton was imprisoned in 1991 for a series of child sexual offences. The report found added: 'Despite this, on his release from prison on licence, he continued to be a malign presence at the school, 'little' was done to stop Hilton's continued access to the grounds and buildings.' Advertisement

'It was never once suggested to me by any officer that we should have been providing that counselling`.

Mr Rowen acknowledged that in his first week as leader he had the opportunity to read an historical account of what had happened, but had not done so because he was focussed on `the mess` the previous administration had left him in.

'I acted on everything that I was asked to do. If I had ignored advice then I think that would have been even worse.'

Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer from Slater and Gordon, which represents eight alleged victims, added: 'This report is a devastating indictment of decades of institutional failures to protect children from abuse and sexual exploitation.

'Our clients have waited decades for the truth to come out and this report confirms everything they have been saying for years.

'The report confirms what we said last October. Richard Farnell lied to the inquiry and it is now very clear that the Labour Party should have acted much more quickly to remove him as leader. He is unfit to be in public life.

'The report also confirms that Cyril Smith should have been prosecuted for sex offences and that the honours committee failed his alleged victims in recommending a knighthood.

'In the light of the report, Smith should now be stripped of his knighthood so that those he abused at least have the comfort of knowing that his depravity is now recognised by the establishment which protected him for so many years.'

One of Smith's alleged victims said: 'All this could have been stopped and the lives that were destroyed by this could have been saved. That's unforgivable and those responsible should hang their heads in shame.'

The review looks into the claims surrounding the two establishments and others in the town where child placements were arranged or provided by Rochdale Borough Council (pictured)

Greater Manchester Police assistant chief constable Debbie Ford said: 'GMP welcomed this inquiry from the beginning as it publicly scrutinised these difficult and complex issues.

'We have fully co-operated throughout and, today, we acknowledge its findings.

'This is a comprehensive report and we will now take time to fully understand the outcomes and any potential learnings.'

Rochdale MP 'told PA to destroy evidence of communication with social worker' Evidence from Knowl View social worker Martin Digan revealed how he found a review into sexual abuse at the school in the headteacher’s office. The report said he was ‘astonished by discovering a difference between the Mellor report he had read during a meeting to present it in March 1992 at which he was present, and what he was now reading, and so he decided to copy the documents’. Mr Digan said he had spoken to the sitting Liberal Democrat MP for Rochdale, Liz Lynne, who agreed to meet him, but then cancelled the appointment. Mr Digan said he spoke to Ms Lynne’s PA, Deborah Doyle, whom he said had been instructed to destroy the documentation he had given her. He said he did not mean by that destruction of the dossier, but of the evidence of the communications he had had with Ms Lynne. Advertisement

It is understood the force will liaise with the inquiry in relation to any possible offences.

Daniel Wolstencroft, a member of the inquiry's victim and survivor consultative panel and a sexual abuse campaigner, said the publication of the report had been 'momentous' for the survivors and called for Mr Farnell to be held to account.

He said: 'These lads from the age of nine up to 11 came forward, said they were being sexually abused when they were in the care of Rochdale Borough Council, when they were in Knowl View and Cambridge House, and they have been branded liars.

'What we have today is a momentous occasion, a complete 360 turnaround where Richard Farnell has been called out, he's been called a liar, he's been proven to be a liar, the 360 turnaround is that's what happened to these lads.

'A lot of these lads aren't with us any more, a lot of these lads have taken their own lives.'

Steve Rumbelow, chief executive of Rochdale Borough Council, said: 'We acknowledge that, certainly in the case of Knowl View School, there were significant failures of leadership and management, and a failure to investigate concerns in order to protect children.

'While the inquiry found no evidence of cover-ups or political pacts, it is clear from its report that council officers and school staff failed in their most basic duty of care towards children.

'Although the failure to understand the risks at the time was not unique to Rochdale, the consequences of the failures for the children involved were exceptionally serious.

'The council has apologised and acknowledged that children were failed. I repeat that apology today and say again that we are truly sorry.'