WHY DID NO-ONE SAVE ME?; Victim says social services helped her rapist stepfather.
A WOMAN who broke more than 30 years of silence to expose an horrific paedophile ring last night told of her nightmare.Shy Keenan, who suffered years of sexual abuse, spoke out after pensioners Stanley Claridge and Reginald Morton were jailed for a total of 27 years at Liverpool Crown Court.
Claridge, 72, and Morton, 73, were arrested after a BBC TV Newsnight programme which led to Merseyside Police and Wirral social services setting up a joint indepth investigation codenamed Operation Phoenix.
Ms Keenan, 38, revealed details of her horrific childhood on the show - naming her stepfather Claridge and Morton as her attackers.
Liverpool Crown Court heard she took her story to Newsnight because she felt little action had been taken after her complaints to social workers and the police.
Claridge and Morton, described as "dangerous paedophiles" repeatedly abused young girls as did other men, not all of whom have been tracked down.
As well as raping Ms Keenan, sometimes after giving her alcohol or drugs, Claridge let Morton rape her and acted as a pimp, providing her "as a sex slave" to men on board a ship.
Last night, Ms Keenan, also known as Karen, took the unusual step of waiving her right to anonymity to highlight the years of abuse she suffered.
She said: "I am so relieved that justice has been done. This nightmare has lasted 35 years and it should never have been so difficult for me and all the other victims of these perverts to bring this truth out. The social services thought I was teasing and tormenting my stepfather, saying that he would do this to me. I tried very hard not to let it happen, but I knew I would still end up having sex. When I tried to stop it I was branded an attentionseeking liar.
"He was not a slick paedophile on the ball protecting his profile; he's thick, stupid, ugly and in denial of what he did.
"He had help in what he did. Wirral Social Services was where he got his help."
The offences occurred mainly on the Noctorum estate, in Birkenhead between 1971 and November, 1982, when the victims, six girls and a young boy, were aged between about six and 17. Claridge lived on Stratford Way on the estate when the attacks occurred.
At the time Claridge, originally from Essex, was a lorry driver and some of the offences took place in his vehicle.
Claridge, of Edale Close, Eastham, who smirked arrogantly throughout the trial, and Morton, formerly of Aspendale Road, Tranmere, showed no emotion when convicted.
Claridge was convicted of 19 offences including rape, attempted rape, and serious sexual assaults and jailed for 15 years.
Morton was convicted of three rapes and five indecent assaults and was given 12 years.
Both men were ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Claridge had already been convicted of indecently assaulting one of the girls in July, 1977 when he was made the subject of a threeyear probation order by magistrates in Birkenhead.
The Newsnight programme also resulted in the arrests of five other men, two of whom also stood trial.
One, former club singer David King, 59, of Eastham Rake, Eastham, who was in a wheelchair during the trial, is to be sentenced later this month after being convicted of one rape and one indecent assault.
Brian Kearney, 59, of Mount Pleasant Road, Wallasey, was cleared of rape and indecently assaulting one girl and a charge of indecently assaulting another girl was dropped.
Claridge and Morton were jailed on Monday but reporting restrictions were not lifted until yesterday by Recorder of Liverpool judge David Clarke QC.
An order had been in place banning publication of the sentencing, which took place last week, because others face possible trial.
But the judge accepted a prosecution application that it was not in the public interest to pursue a string of further charges.
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CRIES FOR HELP: Shy Keenan Picture: NEWSNIGHT
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| Publication: | Daily Post (Liverpool, England) |
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| Date: | Mar 2, 2002 |
| Words: | 663 |
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