Prime Witness

Prime Witness

"Having portrayed Tŷr Felin as a tyrannical and bullying regime, cut off from the outside world and presided over by a Welsh 'Monster', Laverty goes on to describe the rest of his time in care. He says that he left Tŷr Felin after seven or eight weeks and went to a home called Eryl Wen where he stayed for a year. Then after six or seven weeks in Y Gwyngyll, he was transferred, in 1981, to Bryn Estyn.

He then offers sketches of a number of members of Bryn Estyn staff. Some are said to be bullies who would punch, kick or knee the boys in their care. Others are portrayed as possible sexual Abusers. His principal target in this latter regard is Peter Howarth.

According to his own statement:

"Mr Howarth was known as 'Vaseline' because it was believed by myself and others that he was queer (homosexual). The reasons for believing this was that were three boys namely Andrew Singer from Wrexham, James Shaldon from mid-Wales and John Evans from South Wales, who individually went to Howarth's flat in Bryn Estyn every night after 9pm.... The boys I have named admitted going to his flat, but they would never say why they had gone or what had happened whilst there. I used to see James Shaldon regularly walking over from Clwyd House where he was resident, to the main school and to Howarth's flat. Howarth was a single man and not particularly friendly with any member of staff. It was because the above named boys never offered any explanations for their many visits to Howarth's flat, that we assumed something indecent must have taken place. In addition to this Evans, Singer and Shaldon always had more money than the rest of us and were regularly taken by Howarth to play golf. Andrew Singer was a really effeminate boy.

Mr Howarth would always stand and stare at us when we were showering. No other member of staff would do this, they would merely supervise. A boy named Carl Holden was another regular visitor to Mr Howarth's flat. Carl was 14 or 15 years old. Although I didn't actually see it happen, the other boys in the dormitory told me that Stan Fletcher, the night care officer, would wake Holden up for him to go Howarth's flat."

In one of the reports prepared by Darren Laverty's social worker it is recorded that, in 1984, after Laverty had left Y Gwyngyll and gone into approved lodgings, he became involved in a dispute with his landlady.

At this point, he contacted Nefyn Dodd directly and asked whether he could be re admitted into residential care. Although this request was refused, the very fact that it was made at all suggests that Laverty's attitude at the time bore no resemblance to that which he later claimed.

At the time he apparently regarded Dodd not as a 'Vicious Monster,' but as somebody whom he could - and did - approach for help. 

There is indeed, no evidence at all that Laverty had ever held the view of Dodd which he expounded in 1991 during the period he was actually in care.

The circumstantial evidence suggests that he made the various complaints contained in his statement partly in response to the prompting of Alison Taylor and partly because of his own ability to 'create' vivid memories.