GLASGOW cadet leaders were guilty of attempting to cover up historical sex abuse, a BBC investigation has found.
Victims have disclosed heart- breaking details of their ordeals to BBC Panorama reporters, recounting efforts by cadet officers to silence whistle-blowers – pressuring families not to go to the authorities.
With approximately 130,000 members, the Ministry of Defence-led cadets is among the UK’s largest youth organisations.
MoD figures reveal that in the past five years alone, 363 historical and contemporary sexual abuse allegations have been made against the UK army, air and sea cadets. At least 99 volunteers have been dismissed and 282 cases referred to the police, while more than £2 million in compensation has been awarded to victims.
The BBC study found considerable evidence of historical abuse primarily in Glasgow, Birmingham and Hertfordshire.
At the age of 11 years old, Joe joined the Glasgow Highlander Cadets in 1988. His cadet leader was John Fitzpatrick, who sexually assaulted Joe on four separate occasions.
Fitzpatrick would regularly supply his cadets with alcohol in his flat, before exposing them to extreme pornographic films.
Joe told Panorama: “I mean real hardcore stuff that I’ve never seen since I was in that guy’s company.
“Images that have stuck in my mind to this day ... if anybody had put images like that near my kids, I’d want to kill them.”
According to the BBC, complaints about Fitzpatrick had been received by a fellow cadet instructor, known only as Gordon, before Joe was abused. Two young witnesses had accused Fitzpatrick of sexual abuse and Gordon contacted the police. To his amazement, Gordon was met with a furious response by senior figures in the cadets.
Gordon explained that the boy’s parents defied pressure from senior cadet figures to inform the police.
The case did go to trial, but Fitzpatrick was found “not proven” before being welcomed back into his former position with the cadets.
Last year, Fitzpatrick was charged with lewd and libidinous behaviour against Joe and three other boys and sentenced to two years in prison.
In total, 201 allegations of sexual abuse have been made between 2012 and 2017 against the British army cadets, with 158 cases referred to the police and 62 volunteers dismissed.
David McClenaghan, a child abuse solicitor from law firm BBK told Panorama: “I have absolutely no doubt that the abuse in the cadets will mirror the other scandals like the Jimmy Savile case, like the abuse in the scouts, like abuse in the Catholic church.”
A MoD spokesman told the BBC: “We encourage anyone who has been a victim or knows someone who has to report it to the police.”
The National Association for People Abused in Childhood chief executive Gabrielle Shaw believes that no sphere of society is immune but the investigation suggests that people were now more confident about coming forward to report abuse.
She said: “The onus is now on institutions such as the armed forces to deal fully and promptly with reported allegations.”
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