Social services chief is one of three politicians exposed as paedophiles as Telford child sex grooming scandal grows

By Phoebe Southworth
Daily Mail
April 22, 2018

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5643585/Social-services-chief-one-three-politicians-exposed-paedophiles.html

Former Shropshire social services chairman Graham Bould, who groomed a 15-year-old boy

Bould arriving at his Telford home. The 60-year-old is the third politician to be exposed as a convicted child sex offender in the West Midlands town

Victim Lucy Lowe, 16, who died with her sister and mother after their house was set alight by her abuser in 2000

Telford in Shropshire, West Midlands, which has been at the centre of a grooming scandal after it emerged up to 1,000 children were groomed and abused by predominantly Asian paedophile gangs

A social services chief is among three politicians exposed as paedophiles as the Telford grooming scandal continues to spiral.

The shocking revelation comes just a week after authorities in the Shropshire town voted to commission an independent inquiry into child abuse after years of inaction.

Up to 1,000 children are feared to have been groomed and abused by predominantly Asian paedophile gangs.

Victim Lucy Lowe, 16, was murdered by her abuser who set fire to her house in 2000. The blaze also killed her sister and mother.

She had been made pregnant by the same man when she was 14.

Now it has emerged that former county councillor Graham Bould groomed a 15-year-old boy in the early 1980s after meeting him at a church group.

The 60-year-old is the third politician to be exposed as a convicted child sex offender in the West Midlands town.

Bould chaired Shropshire County Council's social services department from 1993 to 1998.

He admitted he became attracted to the boy he abused when they shared a sauna after a game of squash.

Bould was arrested in October 2000 and admitted two indecent assaults on the boy. He stood down after 18 years as a councillor.

But he avoided a jail sentence and was handed a 12-month community rehabilitation order at Wolverhampton Crown Court in 2001.

Anglican vicar and former county councillor Rev Michael Keen, 78, assaulted the same boy, also during the 1980s.

He had previously sat on the West Mercia police force's board.

Keen was jailed for 15 months in July 2001 for two indecent assaults following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The clergyman, who was ordained in 1973, no longer lives in Telford.

In a childhood diary, the boy described Keen as 'aggressive and a manipulator' and believes he colluded with Bould to stop him reporting the abuse, the Mirror report.

'I believed Bould was a friend, probably my best friend at the time, but he did not care about me. I was just an object of lust to him,' he said after Bould's conviction.

Scarred by two decades of depression, the victim broke down in the witness box during Keen's trial as he recounted his ordeal.

The third abuser, parish councillor Graham White, 75, took indecent images of a 14-year-old girl.

In 2004 White admitted four counts of taking indecent photographs of a minor.

He was given a three-year rehabilitation order, ordered to complete a sex offenders programme and had his name added to the Sex Offenders Register for five years.

But it is feared Shropshire County Council and the police failed to investigate the men's behaviour.

Local MP Lucy Allan told The Mirror: 'I hope that as part of its work the inquiry will examine the culture of the council.

'We have seen in other towns, where child sexual exploitation has been prevalent, that the culture of the council led to inaction and silence over many years.'

Lucy's uncle Ed Lowe told The Mirror: 'It's mindblowing. It's disgraceful. We always wanted to know why social services didn't get involved in dealing with Lucy's abuse. 

'Now we have even more questions.' 

Council paperwork says social workers during the late 1990s didn't 'understand' the problem, according to The Mirror.

While Keen moved away, Bould had until recently served as the clerk of Sheriffhales Parish Council in Shropshire.

Advertising himself as a community organiser and fundraiser, he was photographed three years ago with then Telford MP David Wright.