An Abuse of Trust

Download Subtitles

Transcript

0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.

0:00:06 > 0:00:09- NEWS REPORTS: - 'A former boarding school head

0:00:09 > 0:00:11'has been sentenced to 21 years in prison...'

0:00:11 > 0:00:14'The attacks happened between 1978 and 1983...'

0:00:14 > 0:00:18'..abused physically and sexually some of the boys in his care...'

0:00:18 > 0:00:23To his pupils, Derek Slade was an evil monster who

0:00:23 > 0:00:27repeatedly beat them and subjected them to sadistic sexual abuse.

0:00:27 > 0:00:33Back in 1982 we exposed some of this predatory pervert's activities

0:00:33 > 0:00:36in a BBC Radio 4 Checkpoint programme.

0:00:36 > 0:00:38'Whilst checking the dormitories after lights-out,

0:00:38 > 0:00:41'I frequently noticed boys missing from their beds.'

0:00:41 > 0:00:45But it took nearly 30 years for the full horror of Slade's history

0:00:45 > 0:00:49of sexual abuse to come to light and for him to be convicted

0:00:49 > 0:00:54on numerous counts of indecent assault and buggery on boys as young as eight.

0:00:56 > 0:01:02In the interim, he went on to steal the identity of a long dead boy in order to conceal his past.

0:01:02 > 0:01:08And he used that new identity to gain access to some of the most vulnerable children in the world.

0:01:08 > 0:01:11So, how many of you were beaten?

0:01:13 > 0:01:18I think we feel very pissed off by what this man was up to.

0:01:18 > 0:01:20So, how was he able to do it?

0:01:20 > 0:01:24How did he manage to escape justice for so long?

0:01:24 > 0:01:26And what finally brought him down?

0:01:43 > 0:01:46We've come to Suffolk.

0:01:46 > 0:01:50It's here where we first came across Derek Slade 29 years ago.

0:01:52 > 0:01:58It's where many of the 300 or so pupils in his care became his victims.

0:01:58 > 0:02:01We're on our way to meet two of them.

0:02:01 > 0:02:06Men now almost 40, whose courage and persistence was instrumental

0:02:06 > 0:02:08in bringing him to justice.

0:02:08 > 0:02:11They've agreed to meet us at the school where they were abused

0:02:11 > 0:02:15at Great Finborough, near Stowmarket in Suffolk.

0:02:15 > 0:02:20And that's where Checkpoint first exposed this appalling story all those years ago.

0:02:22 > 0:02:26'Some people were made to sort of swap clothes or take all their clothes off.'

0:02:26 > 0:02:33'The whole of his backside was covered in bruises of every colour.'

0:02:37 > 0:02:42The revelations of Slade's harsh and violent regime at St George's

0:02:42 > 0:02:43made national headlines

0:02:43 > 0:02:46as newspapers followed our lead in reporting them.

0:02:48 > 0:02:51Slade denied the allegations, claiming that the press

0:02:51 > 0:02:55were out to get him and, for a while, he hung on to his post.

0:02:56 > 0:02:58I just don't believe it.

0:02:58 > 0:03:03I feel that a great deal has been overstated

0:03:03 > 0:03:05and very substantially overstated.

0:03:08 > 0:03:11But it wasn't.

0:03:11 > 0:03:15This is where the abuse took place, St George's.

0:03:15 > 0:03:17It's now called Finborough School.

0:03:17 > 0:03:20And though it's still owned by the same company,

0:03:20 > 0:03:22it's now under different management.

0:03:22 > 0:03:26Mike Parker was 10 years old when he was first sent here.

0:03:26 > 0:03:30Only now can he bring himself to talk about it.

0:03:30 > 0:03:33Within 72 hours of being at the school

0:03:33 > 0:03:36I basically had the shit kicked out of me by Derek Slade.

0:03:36 > 0:03:38What did he do?

0:03:38 > 0:03:42He just went ballistic. I'd been called to his office and he just laced into me.

0:03:42 > 0:03:46- I had no idea at all why he was doing it.- And now?

0:03:46 > 0:03:50Now, with hindsight, I believe it was all part

0:03:50 > 0:03:55of the regime of him breaking me for things that were to come.

0:03:55 > 0:03:58- And what was to come?- The abuse.

0:03:58 > 0:04:03Wayne Makin was in the same year as Mike.

0:04:03 > 0:04:07First time he told me to take my trousers and pants down, I was like, "What?"

0:04:07 > 0:04:08But you didn't argue.

0:04:08 > 0:04:12Because you soon learnt that if you didn't do as you were told,

0:04:12 > 0:04:17just wind your neck in, get your head down and get on with it,

0:04:17 > 0:04:19then it just gets worse.

0:04:19 > 0:04:22- You were being conditioned, really? - Yeah, basically.

0:04:22 > 0:04:25Conditioned for the real horrors that were to come

0:04:25 > 0:04:31and for secret midnight feasts at Slade's house.

0:04:31 > 0:04:32What happened there?

0:04:32 > 0:04:38We were entered into the dining room and we was to stand

0:04:38 > 0:04:42against the back wall and serve the five gentlemen who were already there.

0:04:42 > 0:04:46And when they'd finished drinking and eating, one by one,

0:04:46 > 0:04:49the gentlemen would approach one of the children

0:04:49 > 0:04:52and touch him on the shoulder and move to another part of the house.

0:04:52 > 0:04:57I can remember going to the feasts and being taken off with a man.

0:04:57 > 0:04:59But I was given something to drink

0:04:59 > 0:05:02and I can't remember anything that happened to me.

0:05:02 > 0:05:05But I know something did happen to me.

0:05:05 > 0:05:09But whether I've buried it so deep, cos it was so traumatic or...

0:05:09 > 0:05:11You know, that's the only thing.

0:05:11 > 0:05:14Maybe it's a good thing that I can't remember

0:05:14 > 0:05:18because it's hard enough as it is, bringing all this up again.

0:05:18 > 0:05:20When you were selected, what happened?

0:05:20 > 0:05:24Some people would probably say that I was raped.

0:05:24 > 0:05:29But I was so mentally submissive

0:05:29 > 0:05:32that it was almost

0:05:32 > 0:05:34like I allowed it to happen.

0:05:34 > 0:05:36There was nothing I could do about it.

0:05:36 > 0:05:39The beatings would come afterwards if I didn't comply.

0:05:39 > 0:05:41What's it done to your life?

0:05:41 > 0:05:43Basically, just ruined it.

0:05:43 > 0:05:48I tried to commit suicide within six months of leaving the school.

0:05:48 > 0:05:54And I wasn't really... I was totally on a self-destroy.

0:05:54 > 0:05:57I'm a loner.

0:05:57 > 0:05:59Several failed relationships.

0:05:59 > 0:06:02I've tried time and time again.

0:06:02 > 0:06:04And it's just been

0:06:04 > 0:06:10a continuous barrage of problem, after problem, after problem.

0:06:10 > 0:06:13Slade abused scores of boys at St George's

0:06:13 > 0:06:16and ruined at least as many lives.

0:06:16 > 0:06:18He was forced to resign.

0:06:18 > 0:06:23But it wasn't long before he'd set up another school, this time in Sussex.

0:06:26 > 0:06:30And, a few years later, he was back in the news again.

0:06:30 > 0:06:34'Derek Slade, the headmaster of the Dalesdown private school in Sussex,

0:06:34 > 0:06:35'on the left in this picture,

0:06:35 > 0:06:39'has been sentenced to three months imprisonment at Chichester Crown Court.'

0:06:39 > 0:06:43'In both cases, the court heard the boys were taken to a private room, the door was locked,

0:06:43 > 0:06:46'the curtains were drawn they were ordered to remove their trousers and underclothes.

0:06:46 > 0:06:52'Then the head administered six blows so severe that the markings were clearly visible days later.'

0:06:52 > 0:06:58'The court was told that Mr Slade's career in education was finished beyond all doubt.'

0:06:58 > 0:06:59But it wasn't.

0:06:59 > 0:07:04He wasn't even banned from teaching, though his conviction stood.

0:07:04 > 0:07:06Slade's sentence was reduced

0:07:06 > 0:07:09to a conditional discharge by an appeal court judge

0:07:09 > 0:07:13who described his crimes as "lapses of an isolated nature."

0:07:13 > 0:07:18Although the trial judge had called his assaults "sickening."

0:07:18 > 0:07:22But as our six month long investigation will show,

0:07:22 > 0:07:27Slade would go on to abuse more children in India and Africa,

0:07:27 > 0:07:30by exploiting those he knew in high places.

0:07:30 > 0:07:34The most significant of these was Derek Sawyer.

0:07:34 > 0:07:39He became an important factor in Slade's future employment in schools.

0:07:39 > 0:07:44He'd been a character witness for Slade in the Dalesdown trial, telling the court

0:07:44 > 0:07:48Slade was a well-liked teacher who believed corporal punishment

0:07:48 > 0:07:50was an effective aid to discipline.

0:07:50 > 0:07:53Mr Sawyer was an important figure in the Labour Party,

0:07:53 > 0:07:58elected as a councillor in the London borough of Islington in 1982.

0:08:00 > 0:08:05Here he is on Kilroy, arguing for more police accountability.

0:08:05 > 0:08:10How can we have confidence in a police force that can't even find out

0:08:10 > 0:08:15if one of their own men had done something?

0:08:17 > 0:08:20He went on to become Party Secretary

0:08:20 > 0:08:24and then Leader of the Council for six years from 1992.

0:08:24 > 0:08:29In that position, he oversaw the official inquiry into a paedophile ring

0:08:29 > 0:08:34which had infiltrated all 12 of the council's children's homes.

0:08:34 > 0:08:37More recently, Mr Sawyer took up key positions

0:08:37 > 0:08:41on bodies running London's police, magistrates and probation services.

0:08:45 > 0:08:47Mr Sawyer didn't want to be interviewed.

0:08:47 > 0:08:52But, through his lawyer, he says that the Schools' Inspectorate didn't find evidence at St George's

0:08:52 > 0:08:56to support the claims made in the Checkpoint programme.

0:08:56 > 0:08:59He wasn't to know, of course, that the Inspectorate had failed

0:08:59 > 0:09:04to properly investigate our evidence by not interviewing key witnesses.

0:09:04 > 0:09:07And some of the pupils they did interview

0:09:07 > 0:09:09had been told what to say by Slade.

0:09:09 > 0:09:14He also says he didn't know that Slade could not be trusted with children

0:09:14 > 0:09:17because he wasn't charged with any sexual offences at Dalesdown.

0:09:17 > 0:09:23He adds that he was convinced that the allegations of excessive use of corporal punishment at Dalesdown

0:09:23 > 0:09:27were exaggerated, and he doesn't agree with corporal punishment himself.

0:09:31 > 0:09:34But how close were these two men?

0:09:34 > 0:09:38And should Mr Sawyer have known that his controversial friend's

0:09:38 > 0:09:41previous use of excessive corporal punishment

0:09:41 > 0:09:43could pose a risk to children?

0:09:46 > 0:09:48Our investigation has revealed

0:09:48 > 0:09:52that the two of them had been friends for more than 40 years.

0:09:52 > 0:09:56They'd been at school together in the mid 1960s.

0:09:56 > 0:10:01Here's a postcard sent from Mr Sawyer to Slade in 1967.

0:10:01 > 0:10:06Slade used to boast that he was the best man at Mr Sawyer's wedding.

0:10:09 > 0:10:15Periodically, Mr Sawyer was involved in no fewer than four businesses with Slade.

0:10:21 > 0:10:25Perhaps the most significant of these companies was IBEP.

0:10:25 > 0:10:29That stands for International British Education Projects.

0:10:29 > 0:10:32Motto: "Serving the world's children everywhere."

0:10:32 > 0:10:37Slade was a director and Mr Sawyer was the company secretary and chairman.

0:10:39 > 0:10:41Slade would go on to exploit IBEP

0:10:41 > 0:10:46to gain renewed access to children years after his conviction.

0:10:46 > 0:10:50But there was also someone else involved with this company.

0:10:50 > 0:10:53Somebody called Edward Marsh.

0:10:53 > 0:10:56Described as an eminent educationalist,

0:10:56 > 0:10:58Edward Marsh wrote textbooks

0:10:58 > 0:11:00which were published by Oriflamme,

0:11:00 > 0:11:01another company of which

0:11:01 > 0:11:04Derek Slade and Derek Sawyer were co-directors.

0:11:04 > 0:11:07But who was Edward Marsh?

0:11:09 > 0:11:12At the time of Slade's first criminal conviction, remember,

0:11:12 > 0:11:17it was said that it would be difficult, if not impossible for him to teach again.

0:11:18 > 0:11:22To solve that problem, he had to reinvent himself.

0:11:22 > 0:11:25He had to create another identity.

0:11:25 > 0:11:30He came here to Nottingham Road Cemetery in Derby.

0:11:30 > 0:11:34And, following a scam described in the thriller The Day Of The Jackal,

0:11:34 > 0:11:38he was looking for someone who would have been about his age had he lived.

0:11:38 > 0:11:41Somebody he could pretend to be.

0:11:42 > 0:11:49And he found what he was looking for on the gravestone of eight-year-old Edward Marsh.

0:11:49 > 0:11:52Slade obtained a copy of the dead boy's birth certificate.

0:11:52 > 0:11:56Armed with this and a self-certified photo of himself

0:11:56 > 0:11:59he successfully applied for a passport in Edward's name.

0:11:59 > 0:12:02It was as simple as that.

0:12:02 > 0:12:05And as Edward Marsh he was to land a new job

0:12:05 > 0:12:08on the other side of the world.

0:12:17 > 0:12:21We're in Big Bend, a company town in Swaziland.

0:12:23 > 0:12:26In 2000, Slade and Sawyer's company, IBEP,

0:12:26 > 0:12:30was awarded the contract to run four schools here.

0:12:30 > 0:12:36And who should turn up as IBEP's Director of Education

0:12:36 > 0:12:38but a Dr Edward Marsh.

0:12:38 > 0:12:41It wasn't just his name that was false.

0:12:41 > 0:12:44So was his claim to have a doctorate.

0:12:44 > 0:12:48He'd got the job with the help of Mr Sawyer who, as Chairman of IBEP,

0:12:48 > 0:12:52submitted this glowing endorsement for Edward Marsh.

0:12:52 > 0:12:56Mr Sawyer says he gave an accurate recommendation in good faith,

0:12:56 > 0:12:57which did not refer to the doctorate,

0:12:57 > 0:13:01and that his role didn't give Slade direct contact with children.

0:13:01 > 0:13:02He also says Slade told him

0:13:02 > 0:13:06he'd legally changed his name to Edward Marsh by deed poll.

0:13:08 > 0:13:10But it remains to be explained why both names,

0:13:10 > 0:13:12Derek Slade and Edward Marsh,

0:13:12 > 0:13:17continued side by side on IBEP's company paperwork.

0:13:19 > 0:13:24The schools were founded and funded by Ubombo Sugar,

0:13:24 > 0:13:25the largest local employer

0:13:25 > 0:13:29and now a subsidiary of Associated British Foods.

0:13:32 > 0:13:37Slade lived behind these gates at the Ubombo Sugar guest house.

0:13:37 > 0:13:42It's outside the town in isolated farmland.

0:13:42 > 0:13:46He was often seen by locals driving young Swazi boys

0:13:46 > 0:13:49to and from his lodgings after school hours.

0:13:49 > 0:13:54There was absolutely no reason for him to be bombing down the dirt road

0:13:54 > 0:13:56with all these young boys in his car.

0:13:56 > 0:14:00And it really did raise the alarm bells for me.

0:14:00 > 0:14:05As a parent, Kathy Hughes wasn't the only one worried

0:14:05 > 0:14:09about inappropriate behaviour by Slade.

0:14:09 > 0:14:15So too was the sugar company's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tim Nunn.

0:14:15 > 0:14:17Inside the medical consultation

0:14:17 > 0:14:20I saw four or five children who alleged abuse.

0:14:20 > 0:14:25The allegations of abuse were mainly physical and sexual in nature,

0:14:25 > 0:14:29fondling and excessive corporal punishment.

0:14:31 > 0:14:37Though he believed these allegations, Dr Nunn didn't report them to Ubombo or even the police.

0:14:37 > 0:14:41He says he was constrained by patient confidentiality.

0:14:41 > 0:14:43If he had been able to report them,

0:14:43 > 0:14:47Slade might have been caught there and then.

0:14:47 > 0:14:51Slade had contrived to gain access to children once more,

0:14:51 > 0:14:54but he was about to make a crucial mistake.

0:14:54 > 0:14:57He issued this new rule book for the school.

0:14:57 > 0:14:59It said that as Director of Education

0:14:59 > 0:15:02he would be allowed to beat pupils at his discretion -

0:15:02 > 0:15:07a reminder that that this particular leopard hadn't changed its spots.

0:15:07 > 0:15:10The school had never used corporal punishment before

0:15:10 > 0:15:13and there was outrage among parents and teachers.

0:15:13 > 0:15:17It all came to a head at a parents' meeting at Sisekelo.

0:15:17 > 0:15:20We're told that Derek Sawyer was there

0:15:20 > 0:15:22and heard the concerns of parents.

0:15:22 > 0:15:25But Mr Sawyer says he wasn't at this particular meeting,

0:15:25 > 0:15:27he wasn't aware of the rule book,

0:15:27 > 0:15:30didn't know that Slade had access to children

0:15:30 > 0:15:31or that there were any concerns

0:15:31 > 0:15:34about his inappropriate behaviour towards them.

0:15:37 > 0:15:41Although he'd changed his name, Slade couldn't change his nature.

0:15:43 > 0:15:48Just six months after he got the job in Swaziland he was asked to leave.

0:15:48 > 0:15:54And when he did, no-one there had any idea of his past or his real identity.

0:15:54 > 0:15:56The reason for Marsh's dismissal

0:15:56 > 0:16:00was his management incompetence and abrasive style.

0:16:06 > 0:16:09But Slade still craved access to children.

0:16:09 > 0:16:13What he did next would show how far he would go.

0:16:14 > 0:16:20In January 2001 a massive earthquake struck the Indian State of Gujarat,

0:16:20 > 0:16:25killing 20,000 people and leaving 200,000 homeless.

0:16:25 > 0:16:30British charities soon began raising money to help the victims.

0:16:30 > 0:16:34Slade saw his chance and used IBEP and his contacts

0:16:34 > 0:16:36to exploit the situation.

0:16:42 > 0:16:44This is the village of Nana Layja.

0:16:44 > 0:16:48It was completely destroyed by the quake but has now been rebuilt

0:16:48 > 0:16:52thanks to the Leicester Gujarat Earthquake Relief Fund.

0:16:52 > 0:16:56Keen to ride a wave of public sympathy, Derek Slade,

0:16:56 > 0:16:58in his original name,

0:16:58 > 0:17:01approached the earthquake fund offering to set up a school

0:17:01 > 0:17:04for the many children orphaned by the disaster.

0:17:04 > 0:17:08He twice met trustees of the fund to pitch his proposal.

0:17:08 > 0:17:11Although this wasn't an IBEP project, he brought along

0:17:11 > 0:17:13his old friend Derek Sawyer,

0:17:13 > 0:17:16Chairman of IBEP, to one of those meetings.

0:17:16 > 0:17:19The trustees say they were bowled over.

0:17:19 > 0:17:22Derek Slade and Derek Sawyer came to the offices.

0:17:22 > 0:17:24I think it was very, very impressive

0:17:24 > 0:17:27in terms of the portfolio that was brought in,

0:17:27 > 0:17:30the work around Africa,

0:17:30 > 0:17:34the 16...or 8-year work they'd done in India.

0:17:34 > 0:17:37Derek Slater had, in particular.

0:17:37 > 0:17:42And the articulation in terms of heading up such an establishment,

0:17:42 > 0:17:47it was an ideal opportunity for us to be able to see that somebody

0:17:47 > 0:17:50would be able to manage our project in India.

0:17:50 > 0:17:54But should Mr Sawyer, by his presence, have lent support

0:17:54 > 0:17:57to Slade's pitch to the earthquake fund

0:17:57 > 0:17:59and not told them about his past?

0:17:59 > 0:18:04By now you'd think that alarm bells might have been ringing for Mr Sawyer.

0:18:04 > 0:18:07There was the Radio 4 Checkpoint programme

0:18:07 > 0:18:09and Slade's conviction in Sussex.

0:18:09 > 0:18:15And then there was the row at Sisekelo over his attempt to authorise corporal punishment.

0:18:19 > 0:18:25So, what did Slade really do with the £85,000 generously donated

0:18:25 > 0:18:28by the good people of Leicester? We've come to find out.

0:18:30 > 0:18:33This is the school Slade built.

0:18:33 > 0:18:37It's nowhere near Nana Layja but miles away on this completely

0:18:37 > 0:18:42isolated stretch of scrubland, far away from prying eyes.

0:18:44 > 0:18:47None of Slade's 70 pupils are here any more.

0:18:47 > 0:18:50But it didn't take long for us to track some of them down

0:18:50 > 0:18:54at a religious school in a neighbouring town.

0:18:54 > 0:18:57So, how many of you were beaten by Slade?

0:19:01 > 0:19:04All of you?

0:19:04 > 0:19:08- TRANSLATION:- He hit me with the stick, other times with his hands.

0:19:08 > 0:19:11- TRANSLATION:- He used to beat us every Sunday.

0:19:11 > 0:19:15He used to beat us, then take photos, then offer chocolate.

0:19:15 > 0:19:20He'd rub you afterwards and say nothing had happened.

0:19:20 > 0:19:24And such is the shame of male sexual abuse in rural India

0:19:24 > 0:19:27that none of the boys would go into further detail.

0:19:27 > 0:19:31But their carers are certain they were abused.

0:19:35 > 0:19:39None of the boys we found were orphans of the earthquake

0:19:39 > 0:19:41as Slade had claimed.

0:19:41 > 0:19:45Instead, they came from the remote and impoverished village of Bhagadya

0:19:45 > 0:19:49where the largely illiterate locals had jumped at the chance

0:19:49 > 0:19:51to have their sons educated for free.

0:19:51 > 0:19:54But when we told them what Slade had really been up to,

0:19:54 > 0:19:56they were dumbfounded.

0:19:58 > 0:20:02TRANSLATION: We still cannot believe that any teacher could do this.

0:20:04 > 0:20:07This kind of thing is unheard of in India.

0:20:07 > 0:20:13And if it is true, then our village and our children have been betrayed.

0:20:13 > 0:20:17For five years, Slade ran this school unhindered.

0:20:17 > 0:20:21But in 2008 he suddenly left.

0:20:21 > 0:20:24We're told someone had caught him beating a child

0:20:24 > 0:20:27and had reported him to the local police.

0:20:27 > 0:20:30Some of the possessions he left behind in his locked bedroom

0:20:30 > 0:20:35indicate just how quickly he'd departed.

0:20:35 > 0:20:37The door may have been locked, but the window was open.

0:20:37 > 0:20:39And on a table just inside

0:20:39 > 0:20:42we found three of Slade's instruments of punishment.

0:20:42 > 0:20:46One, this cane, and two of these so-called Jokari bats.

0:20:46 > 0:20:49One made from hard rubber, the other from hard wood.

0:20:49 > 0:20:52The other significant thing about this bedroom

0:20:52 > 0:20:55is that the boys' dormitories are right next door.

0:21:03 > 0:21:06But while Slade was still headmaster here,

0:21:06 > 0:21:08he made another crucial mistake -

0:21:08 > 0:21:12one that would ultimately lead to his arrest in 2010.

0:21:14 > 0:21:18Signing himself Edward Marsh, he wrote a letter in 2005

0:21:18 > 0:21:25to Derrick Pereira - the UK chairman of the charity Help A Poor Child.

0:21:25 > 0:21:30In it, he suggests meeting up to discuss working together on another project.

0:21:38 > 0:21:41According to Mr Pereira the meeting duly took place,

0:21:41 > 0:21:46with Slade's friend and sometime business partner Derek Sawyer in attendance,

0:21:46 > 0:21:49here at Mr Sawyer's North London home.

0:21:51 > 0:21:58It was supposed to be an opportunity to meet the eminent educationalist and philanthropist Dr Edward Marsh.

0:21:58 > 0:22:01Mr Pereira says he was hugely impressed.

0:22:01 > 0:22:03But halfway through the meeting

0:22:03 > 0:22:06there appeared to be some confusion over names.

0:22:06 > 0:22:09Derek Sawyer referred to Edward Marsh as Derek Slade.

0:22:09 > 0:22:15I was confused by this and asked what this was about.

0:22:15 > 0:22:17And they said it was a pseudonym he was using

0:22:17 > 0:22:21as part of a best-selling book they'd written a little while ago.

0:22:21 > 0:22:25We couldn't trace the best-seller to which Mr Pereira refers.

0:22:25 > 0:22:29But we did find another rather unsuccessful book

0:22:29 > 0:22:32published by their company Oriflamme, in 1985.

0:22:32 > 0:22:34And this is it.

0:22:34 > 0:22:37It's a children's book, and a pretty bloodthirsty one at that.

0:22:37 > 0:22:40But it wasn't written by Edward Marsh.

0:22:40 > 0:22:43It was penned by someone called Derek Sawde.

0:22:43 > 0:22:50That's a combination of both men's names, and it's dedicated to both their parents.

0:22:50 > 0:22:53Mr Sawyer didn't want to comment about the book.

0:22:53 > 0:22:57He also says the meeting with Derek Pereira

0:22:57 > 0:23:00didn't take place as described.

0:23:00 > 0:23:04Despite the confusion over names, Derrick Pereira was persuaded

0:23:04 > 0:23:08by Slade to give him £18,000 of the charity's funds.

0:23:08 > 0:23:12He also made him its representative in India.

0:23:12 > 0:23:15But a year later he received an alarming email

0:23:15 > 0:23:17from a former pupil at St George's

0:23:17 > 0:23:21who'd seen this information on the charity's website.

0:23:21 > 0:23:24What did this ex-pupil tell you?

0:23:24 > 0:23:29That we had to be very careful because we were dealing with a man who had previously

0:23:29 > 0:23:35abused children at St George's School back in the '70s.

0:23:35 > 0:23:38Naturally we were appalled by what we heard,

0:23:38 > 0:23:41so we informed our branches in India

0:23:41 > 0:23:46to investigate further into Derek Slade and the affairs of the school.

0:23:46 > 0:23:49Soon afterwards, the charity issued

0:23:49 > 0:23:52this carefully worded statement on its website.

0:23:52 > 0:23:58We were withdrawing all of our support, disassociating ourselves from Derek Slade

0:23:58 > 0:24:05and we were looking to recover our funds and to safeguard the children that were under his care.

0:24:05 > 0:24:08Carefully worded the statement may have been,

0:24:08 > 0:24:11but the posting still had an impact.

0:24:11 > 0:24:15It was seen by another organisation on the other side of the world.

0:24:15 > 0:24:18The Sisekelo High School in Swaziland got in touch,

0:24:18 > 0:24:23asking what the charity knew about a Dr Edward Marsh.

0:24:23 > 0:24:27When they heard what we had to tell them, they dropped the phone.

0:24:27 > 0:24:29They couldn't believe what they were hearing,

0:24:29 > 0:24:34in particular that Edward Marsh and Derek Slade was the same person.

0:24:34 > 0:24:40Of course when we heard what they had to tell us, we were appalled about what had gone on in Swaziland.

0:24:44 > 0:24:47Years after we'd exposed this man's harsh

0:24:47 > 0:24:52and violent regime at St George's, he was still involved with children.

0:24:52 > 0:24:59And despite being convicted in 1986 of causing actual bodily harm to two pupils in his care,

0:24:59 > 0:25:03he'd still managed to gain access to children in Africa and India,

0:25:03 > 0:25:06where the appalling abuse continued.

0:25:06 > 0:25:09But what was it that finally brought him down?

0:25:18 > 0:25:21For Mike Parker, 26 years on,

0:25:21 > 0:25:26the nightmare of St George's had returned.

0:25:26 > 0:25:29I just woke up screaming, shouting and balling.

0:25:29 > 0:25:31I then realised I'd wet myself.

0:25:31 > 0:25:3438 years old,

0:25:34 > 0:25:36it just doesn't happen.

0:25:38 > 0:25:40I came into the living room

0:25:40 > 0:25:45and just grabbed a ream of paper and just started writing.

0:25:45 > 0:25:49He made contact with some of Slade's other victims from St George's

0:25:49 > 0:25:53through Facebook, and they took their testimonies to the police.

0:25:53 > 0:25:56I was duty bound. I had a job to do.

0:25:56 > 0:25:57And as far as I was concerned,

0:25:57 > 0:26:01because I hadn't spoken out previously, that man hadn't been stopped.

0:26:01 > 0:26:04I couldn't believe he was still involved with children.

0:26:04 > 0:26:07Some of the stuff I was reading on the internet clearly showed

0:26:07 > 0:26:10that he was still involved in what he'd been doing previously.

0:26:10 > 0:26:16Their evidence was collated and in what became something of a perfect storm on three continents,

0:26:16 > 0:26:23the Suffolk police began an investigation that eventually led to Slade's arrest.

0:26:23 > 0:26:26Here at Slade's house in Burton-on-Trent,

0:26:26 > 0:26:28police found 70,000 images of children,

0:26:28 > 0:26:30some from India, some from Africa.

0:26:30 > 0:26:344,500 of them were deemed to be obscene.

0:26:34 > 0:26:38They also recovered audio tapes of boys being beaten,

0:26:38 > 0:26:40boxes of highly explicit material

0:26:40 > 0:26:44and detailed diaries of punishments inflicted at St George's

0:26:44 > 0:26:46written in ancient Greek.

0:26:47 > 0:26:49Evidence from Swaziland and India,

0:26:49 > 0:26:53together with heart-rending testimony from numerous victims

0:26:53 > 0:26:56of his reign of terror at St George's

0:26:56 > 0:27:00finally led to Slade's conviction and a 21-year sentence.

0:27:00 > 0:27:04Slade clearly exploited his friendship with Derek Sawyer,

0:27:04 > 0:27:06a man prominent in public life.

0:27:06 > 0:27:11He'd been leader of Islington Council, chairman of the London Courts Board

0:27:11 > 0:27:15and director of the crime prevention charity Catch 22.

0:27:17 > 0:27:19Just the sort of man, you might think,

0:27:19 > 0:27:21who ought to have made it his business

0:27:21 > 0:27:24to ask more questions about his controversial friend.

0:27:24 > 0:27:27But it seems he did not.

0:27:27 > 0:27:31Mr Sawyer, didn't want to talk to us, remember.

0:27:31 > 0:27:35Instead, as his lawyers say in the short statement issued on his behalf,

0:27:35 > 0:27:38their client was kept in ignorance by Mr Slade.

0:28:16 > 0:28:22It seems our radio programme of 30 years ago uncovered the tip of a substantial iceberg.

0:28:22 > 0:28:25As we've discovered, Derek Slade himself went on to abuse

0:28:25 > 0:28:28countless more children on two more continents.

0:28:28 > 0:28:33His conviction prompted the police to open a new investigation.

0:28:33 > 0:28:37And for Mike Parker, too, the quest for justice goes on.

0:28:39 > 0:28:41There's no way on God's good earth

0:28:41 > 0:28:45that I can now sit back and say, "Hey, I'm happy."

0:28:45 > 0:28:47The police have only taken this so far.

0:28:47 > 0:28:49They've got so much more work to do.

0:28:49 > 0:28:52And I will not let up.

0:28:52 > 0:28:55I can't. This has now become my life.

0:29:21 > 0:29:24Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:29:24 > 0:29:27E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk