05/04/2017 BBC Newsline

A serial child sex abuser who admitted his crimes to the RUC

but has never been brought to justice has been

75-year-old Henry Clarke confessed in 1985 to abusing three

He has been living in Canada now for over 30 years.

Our investigations reporter Kevin Magee went there to confront him.

After flying to Canada, we took to the road and drove

for hundreds of miles north, leaving the major cities behind,

searching for the church pastor who emigrated

The trail eventually took us to the edge of the Canadian

wilderness, a vast tract of land that stretches

After travelling 4,000 miles, it was time to make contact.

I think it would be really worthwhile if you and I could

We met up and he agreed to speak to me.

This is the first time he's been challenged publicly about abusing

young boys in his care at three different children's homes

where he worked in Northern Ireland in the late 60s and 70s.

One of his victims was a 12-year-old boy at the former Bawnmore

How many children did you abuse in Bawnmore?

I remember one and I remember it quite well.

And this happened in your parent's house.

You brought a vulnerable child to your parent's home.

You introduced him to your parents and then abused him in their house.

Other than I saw an opportunity and I took it.

Back in Belfast, we found the boy he abused.

As a victim, he waived his right to anonymity.

Anybody who says they do needs their head looked at.

He was in his own mother and father's house.

And for him to get into bed beside me and do what he done.

He should be in hell, seriously, he should be.

Why should I be in hell on my own and I was the victim?

In 1985, while visiting Northern Ireland, Henry Clarke

was questioned by the police and confessed to abusing Billy

We were on holiday in Belfast and two detectives frmo the RUC came

to talk with me and on that day, I admitted to them what I had done.

I admitted I had interfered with a boy at Bawnmore,

From there, he made a further admission.

He wrote to the RUC telling them he'd abused a third boy.

This time, a Boys Brigade camp in Newcastle, County Down.

When I was in Northern Ireland, I omitted to mention a boy that

I had interfered with sexually, and I wanted to deal

with everything, and so I wrote to them and admitted

that there was another boy that I had missed,

or omitted, telling them about, and asked them to take

Well, I realised, at that time, that my behaviour was wrong

And I believe that, in my mind, I would probably finish up

going to prison or something of that nature, but there

No charges were ever brought against him.

So, Henry Clarke having admitted child sex abuse to the authorities,

not once but twice, expected something to happen.

I'll be looking for answers on tomorrow evening's programme.

There are organisations offering information and support to anyone

affected by the sexual abuse of children.

Their details are on the BBC's Actionline.

The Public Prosecution Service is considering appealing

against the sentences given to a couple from Craigavon

for horrific abuse against a woman with learning difficulties.

They kept her as a virtual prisoner in their home for eight years.

Keith Baker was sentenced to 15 years in jail, while his wife

was given 18 months in jail. Gordon Adair reports.

Just how was Keith Baker able to keep and abuse

a vulnerable woman, known as she was to the police

and social services in England, for eight years?

Ask those who knew him and knew the family set-up described in court

as "grossly unconventional" and one word keeps cropping up - "control."

It was Baker's second partner, Mandy Highfield, who brought

the abuse to an end just before Christmas 2012.

Baker had gone to England and she took the chance

to escape from his control, something that for years, she told

If you wanted to go to the toilet, you'd have to tell him that

you wanted to go to the toilet and he would get somebody to stand

at the bottom of the stairs to make sure you didn't go

If you wanted to make a cup of coffee, you had to tell him

you were making a cup of coffee and he'd come and stand there, just

You couldn't do nothing without tellng him,

The woman was reported missing to Suffolk police

Suffolk Constabulary gave us this statement:

Lord Morrow has been following this case since 2014.

He has written many letters and tabled many questions, but says

Now he wants an inquiry into what went wrong.

We need to know why this was allowed to continue for so many years, it

seems to be that one department doesn't know what the other is doing

and there has been no joined up thinking or strategy.

It is time some questions were asked.

I would hope that these agencies, including

the police, will take a look at themselves now and reflect

on this and I suspect when they do that

they will come up with the answer, that we could have

and should have done better here.

This evening it emerged prosecutors are considering

appealing against the sentences handed down to the Bakers yesterday.

They said the PPS is considering if there

sentences handed down in this case to the Court of Appeal on the

grounds they may have been unduly lenient.

The PNS I have arrested a prisoner who has been missing for a month. He

was mistakenly released by the prison service. He was charged with

a murderer. -- murderer. An extra ?11 million will be

invested in Northern Ireland by the BBC over

the next three years. The director general Tony Hall,

who made the announcement in Belfast today, said it was the biggest

single investment the BBC has made Our arts correspondent

Robbie Meredith has more. As of now, we are investigating

Ros Huntley's charging Today's investment should

mean more of this. This is what our younger

audiences want, more but the second area

is a 50% increase in the money spent in Northern Ireland

for Northern Ireland services, more the money spent in Northern Ireland

for Northern Ireland services. So good news, but the most recently

published accounts for BBC Northern Ireland show that it

brought in ?99 million in licence But that just over ?73 million

was spent by the BBC here in return. So are local licence fee payers

being short changed? Part of what we are paying

for is the entire BBC. You are paying for the sports

rights for the FA Cup, the World Service, the entirety

of the UK's output of the BBC. The BBC is also renewing

a partnership with Northern Ireland Screen, which will mean hits

like The Fall and Line Of Duty That was the most watched drama

on BBC Two ever and has now It is on air and will come

back and be made in More returning series

and drama, children's comedy, factual, film, all of those areas,

which are not only of importance for the audience to consume but I

helpful in terms of developing The BBC has announced

much more substantial additional effort in

Wales, and Scotland. Given the scrutiny over

how the BBC spends the license fee, the

fact that more of it will be staying Golf now, and the final day

of practice for the US Masters in Georgia was cut short due

to bad weather today. Rory McIlroy is the only Northern

Ireland golfer invited this year. A win for Rory McIlroy

at golf's most iconic tour would be

a career grand slam. It would be a lifelong

dream, to be the best I have done most of that and this

would honestly complete that. It would put me in a

place in golf history that very few people

have gone before. I realise that, but I have to park

that someone else this week and just try to win

this golf tournament. I have to treat it

as a single goal and I want to win a green

jacket and that would be the same whether I am

going for a slam or my first major. McIlroy was one of just the few

golfers to squeeze in nine holes and a very

early practice this morning before the threat

of thunder and lightning meant it

had to be evacuated. If McIlroy is to try

and win the Masters at his ninth attempt, it's not

just the mental pressure and the expectation he will have

to battle but the windy Hello. We still have a lot of dry

weather in the forecast at the moment because we have high pressure

in charge. That was centred to the south-west today which meant we had

a flow along the northern edge of the Atlantic which brought some

applied, some showers this morning. Tonight, the cloud is closing in a

little bit and could become thick enough for odd patches of drizzle,

particularly over high ground towards the north but many places

still dry and it is a mild night. Temperatures settling between six

and 8 degrees. Tomorrow, workload and large amounts of it, but a

mainly dry day. Any drizzle first thing will die away fairly quickly

but it is quite a cloudy start to the day. And across much of Britain

and Ireland, we are looking at a fair amount of close, some dry

weather to. Wet and quite windy, blustery winds, if you showers

coming into the west of Scotland. Other than that a cloudy day but

some bright spells coming through here and there. Highs in the south

into the mid-teens. Average temperatures in Northern Ireland

1112 degrees. Possibly higher in a sheltered part of the east if we do

get something towards brighter the end of the day. As we head towards

the weekend, perhaps some rain edging in later on Sunday, it is

largely dry until then. Variable cloud and bright and sunny spells.

Our next BBC Newsline is at 6.25 in the morning

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