‘Some of the most shocking abuse I have seen in my career’ - Detective who led Walsall child abuse investigation

A total of 21 adults have been convicted of a string of offences involving seven children aged under 12 at the time of the offences which happened in Walsall and Wolverhampton over a period of a decade.

The sickening crimes came to light in the wake of a when a hospital visit by one of the victims raised serious child neglect concerns which then led to a huge inquiry carried out over six years and involving numerous agencies led by West Midlands Police and Walsall Safeguarding Board.

Following three consecutive trials held at Wolverhampton Crown Court in the past 18 months, 14 offenders have so far been jailed for almost 140 years.

James Evans, 38, Eyland Grove, Walsall, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years and given a sexual harm prevention order for life; David Baker, 41, of Park Avenue, Willenhall, was jailed for 20 years with a further year on licence, given a restraining order and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order; Mark Smith, 34, of Bloxwich Road, Leamore, Walsall, was jailed for 19 years with a further six years on licence and given a sexual harm prevention order for 30 years; Natalie Wellington, 44, Walsingham Street, Chuckery, Walsall, was jailed for 16 years with a further year on licence, given an indefinite restraining order and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order; Tracy Baker, 41, of Park Avenue, Willenhall, was jailed for 15 years with a further year on licence and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order; Kirsty Webb, 36, of Bloxwich Road, Leamore, Walsall, was jailed for 10 years and given a sexual harm prevention order for 30 years; Phillip Wellington, 50, of Walsingham Street, Chuckery, Walsall, was jailed for eight years with a further year on licence, given an indefinite restraining order and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order; Ann Clare, 43, of Saw Mill Close, Butts, Walsall, was jailed for eight years with a further three on licence and given a sexual harm prevention order for 30 years; Pamela Howells, 58, of Saw Mill Close, Butts, Walsall, was jailed for seven years and given a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years; Lee Webb, 40, of Whitmore Street, Palfrey, Walsall, was jailed for six years and given a sexual harm prevention order for 30 years; Jason Evans, 25, Walsingham Street, Chuckery, Walsall, jailed for two years and six months and given a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years. Luke Baker, 22, of Park Avenue, Willenhall, jailed for two years and four months, given an indefinite restraining order and a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years; and David Evans, 72, of Adshed Road, Redcar, Cleveland, jailed for three-and-a-half years and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Stephen Webb, 65, was given an absolute discharge due to health conditions and told he must notify as a sex offender for five years; Dean Webb, 35, a two-year supervision order, must notify as a sex offender for five years and given a sexual harm prevention order for 40 years; Jane Evans, 71, was given a two-year supervision order and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order; Ryan Evans, 23, given a community order for three years with supervision and sex offender work, a tagged curfew for 28 days and a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years.

At the end of the final trial yesterday at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Matthew Evans, 32, John Griffiths, 66, and Violet Griffiths, 66, were all found guilty of multiple child sexual abuse offences. They were immediately remanded into custody.

Judge Simon Ward told three defendants found guilty by the jury: “Expect to be given long sentences.”

All three will be sentenced at a later date along with Natasha Webb, 37, the only defendant to plead guilty. A further defendant Tina Jones was cleared of any wrongdoing by the jury.

Detective Chief Supt Inspector Paul Drover, of West Midlands Police, said: “This is the largest child sexual abuse investigation within the West Midlands, spanning six years. We’ve had an investigation team in place with colleagues from children’s social care in place in relation to this, involving multiple experts, high numbers of interviews, material which had to be disclosed, as well as the specialisms being brought to bear from both the crime agency and in relation to disclosure.

“It’s a large scale child sexual assault investigation spanning a number of years since 2017. For me and my colleagues this is one of the most shocking and abhorrent cases of child sexual abuse that I’ve seen that I have seen in my career. “In terms of looking over the period in time with the children the Walsall Safeguarding Board is looking at what occurred, who did what and whether are are lessons to be learned. My message to anyone out there who has been subject to abuse and sexual harm is contact us because we will listen, we will take it seriously and we will deal with the matter. The case involves wide ranging sexual abuse in the Walsall and Wolverhampton areas involving seven children and subsequently led to the trial of 21 suspects. Both from the Crown Prosecution’s perspective and our own this is the single largest child sexual abuse case that we’ve seen in the West Midlands. We have never dealt with anything like this in terms of the shocking disregard and harm that has been caused to children aged 12 years and under. It is an absolute testimony to those children to have been able to again trust people and come forward and actually talk to us about what gone on over the course of a number of years. This investigation was a first in many areas, dealing with such a high number of both victims and suspects. The sheer number of victims and suspects posed a number of challenges for the investigation to deal with. We’ve seen over 70 suspect interviews, and we had over 200 disclosures of harm and abuse from the children.”

“There was a significant amount of material that’s had to be dealt with as we’ve moved towards the three trials that we’ve seen over the last 18 months. It’s brought to bear our approach to how we interview and deal with and how we present evidence, especially in relation to how we present evidence for children at court."

Mr Drover said ongoing support is being put in place for the staff in the agencies and bodies who have been involved in the case and who may need counselling support as a result of the case.

“Much of what we had seen we’ve used to improve specialist investigations.”

He said: “I think there will be shock in the wider community, I think like those who have worked on the case, they’ll find it abhorrent and they will be horrified by what’s gone on. I also hope there is be a degree of confidence in terms of the response they have seen in terms of the convictions and the level of sentencing. We have seen a significant number of offenders brought to justice and they will be serving significant custodial time.”