East Devon: Safeguarding failures enabled sex offender to remain as councillor despite arrest

By Alison Stephenson

East Devon District Council (EDDC) has vowed to tighten up its safeguarding practices after shame was brought upon it when a councillor was able to remain on the authority despite being investigated for child sex offences.

Councillors voted unanimously this week to approve the independent report into its actions following the arrest of John Humphreys, who is now serving 21 years for historic sexual offences on teenage boys. It has also backed the report's recommendations to overhaul its safeguarding procedures to mitigate such a situation never happens again.

Former EDDC Conservative councillor of 12 years and an ex-mayor of Exmouth, Humphreys was jailed in August 2021 for offences in the 1990s and 2000s.

The independent investigation into the council's actions has revealed safeguarding failures that enabled him to continue as a councillor for three years after he was arrested in March 2016 and later be given the title of honorary alderman.

A company called Verita Consulting was asked to find out who at the council knew about the Humphreys' investigation and his arrest before it became public knowledge, the processes involved in his appointment as alderman, and to delve into the safeguarding and governance practices of the council and find ways to improve.

The report concluded that a former monitoring officer became the only person to know of the police investigation when he was asked to attend a safeguarding meeting (LADO) in March 2016, but doubt was cast on this evidence when further details came out regarding a comment made in a meeting suggesting the CEO of the council might have also known. This, however, was fully investigated by Verita in a supplementary report, and dismissed, as they were unable to corroborate the statement.

David Scott from Verita told councillors at this Tuesday's meeting: 'We believe that with the exception of the former monitoring officer, no one at EDDC definitively knew that John Humphreys had been under investigation for these alleged sexual offences.

"No one who participated in the investigation brought forward to us any reliable information about Humphreys' behaviour and his alleged offending, so we considered that in view of the strict confidentiality restrictions placed on the former monitoring officer by the Devon and Cornwall police, that he was unable to make anyone else aware of what he knew – and he didn't do so. There was no action anyone else could have taken without that knowledge.

'We believe that being the only person at EDDC who knew about the allegations put the former monitoring officer in an extremely unenviable position. He was prevented from sharing the information he had with his line manager, the chief executive, with EDDC safeguarding lead and with other councillors."

Mr Scott said it had been "a trial" to get EDDC officers to contribute fully and participate in the investigation, as they did not wish to be interviewed face to face, but said this was a "minor bump" on a long road and "we got as much evidence as we could in the end." He also said getting documents from Devon County Council had been difficult.

He said no formal action could have been taken against Humphreys before he was convicted, and EDDC would have been obliged to rely on presumption of his innocence while investigations were underway.

Once the council became aware of the situation, officers worked swiftly to remove the alderman honour and "handled it very well" and this did something to mitigate the reputation of EDDC, added Mr Scott.

The report suggested there was a better way to recognise long service and assessment of merit, rather than positions on the council.

It also noted the lack of any safeguarding risk assessment or mitigation plans being developed and implemented across the three-year period that Humphreys, who did not formally work with children but did come into contact with them, was being investigated.

"Someone who allegedly committed serious sexual offences went on to hold positions of authority in EDDC," said Mr Scott.

In its early interviews, Verita found a relatively limited awareness amongst some councillors about their safeguarding responsibilities. It was pleased, however, that training had been offered to all councillors.

Cllr Joe Whibley (Independent, Exmouth) mentioned the good work being done on safeguarding at the lower level in the authority but added: "I have found this whole thing really quite upsetting and really depressing that it has gone on this long.

"The problem here is that we have practices, but those practices couldn't be actioned.

"Safeguarding is everybody's responsibility, absolutely everybody's, and we cannot shirk from that responsibility. We can presume innocence until guilt is established, but safeguarding duties, because they are duties, not optional extras, demand that appropriate actions are taken and quickly.

"Criminal proceedings and safeguarding measures are two different processes that run concurrently and this is basic safeguarding and those actions have not happened here, it seems.

"We must no longer avoid taking actions that are appropriate, necessary and demanded by law and we need to ensure that every single one of us from the very top to the very bottom have the correct mindset when it comes to safeguarding."

A call was made for enhanced DBS checking for all councillors and better recording of documents and meetings.

Cllr Peter Faithful (Independent, Ottery ST Mary) said: "It's all very well having all this training, but councillors need to be sure that they can feel comfortable coming forward even if the information they have is quite small and trivial or seemingly so as that could be very important."

Verita reported many of the councillors they spoke to said they found raising issues or asking questions of any nature to be difficult. Some of these councillors cited a difficult working environment marred by conflict and accusations of politically motivated behaviours.

Deputy council leader Paul Hayward (Independent, Axminster) said: "This goes beyond politics and beyond corporation of councillors. These recommendations make sure the council does the right thing and above all recognises the victims of these heinous crimes by a former councillor of this authority

"We must do the right thing as an authority to try and put it right."

Council leader Paul Arnott (Lib Dem, Coly Valley) asked councillors to reacquaint themselves with the courage of the victim in this case: "Without the victim and his persistence between 2004 and 2021- seventeen years that destroyed his life – Humphries would be at liberty, we would not be here having this debate, we would not be reviewing our own safeguarding processes and I think it's beholden on everyone to consider that as they go home."

A detailed action plan following the report's recommendations include enforcing mandatory safeguarding training, setting up a working group for training needs, designating safeguarding champions, and making sure anyone invited to a LADO meeting should not go unaccompanied, will be brought to the council's cabinet urgently.

Additional financial support for the supplementary report of £8,000 on top of the £45,000 budgeted for the main report was approved.