Timeline for a Child Abuser at Rhydfelen
November 8th, 2008
In 2001 John Owen took his own life rather than face a criminal trial for allegations of serious criminal offences against children.
The Clywch Report documents the first serious complaint made by a member of school staff about John Owen in November 1983.
In Chapter 10, entitled ‘Early Warnings’, the Clywch Report documents an incident which happened in November 1983 as witnessed by school cook Peggy Newbury (mother to famous S4C cook Dudley).
It involved a child sitting in a state of undress on John Owen’s lap in his office in Gwent block.
Among the Senior Teaching staff at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen school who were notified about this incident were : Eirlys Pritchard Jones and Dafydd Jones, who was the school’s new Headmaster.
This part of the Clywch Report is very interesting in my opinion.
It clearly explains to me that John Owen had a perverse interest in children at this point in his life.
Go forward eleven months, and at the Urdd Llangrannog camp site my life would be changed forever because of this perversity in John Owen’s character.
The Clywch Report notes that the November 1983 incident was “a missed opportunity for thorough investigation. Such an investigation might well have yielded sufficient information to have forestalled the considerable suffering that was to ensue.”
How do I feel reading this ?
I could not read the Clywch Report at all until the end of 2007. Such was the pain it caused merely to evoke memories from my time with John Owen and subsequent years in Rhydfelen.
Today, I feel less fear, less numbness, and less anger.
The media in Wales often publish a ‘Clywch Timeline’ - see the BBC’s example here.
Unfortunately, they try to portray John Owen as a man who only ever attacked his drama pupils.
The truth is not always as simple and unambiguous.
Writing my own history into a timeline helps me tell you my story and this story-telling affirms I exist, I have a history, I have memories, I have feelings and, I have a future.
Categories: Clywch | Tags: 1984, 1987, anger, bbc, child abuse, clywch report, clywch timeline, dafydd jones, drama, dudley newbury, early warnings, eirlys pritchard jones, fear, feelings, future, gwent block, john owen, llangrannog, memories, numbness, peggy newbury, perversity, s4c, senior management, senior teaching staff, timeline, ysgol gyfun rhydfelen | No Comments
