THE HERALD FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3 2017


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3 News Council refuses to disclose paedophile report TENBY councillor Michael


Williams is demanding that all members of Pembrokeshire County Council are given access to a confidential report into the council’s dealings with convicted paedophile and former youth worker Mik Smith. In 2014, sex predator Smith


was sentenced to six years in prison for a string of sexual offences with children. Cllr Williams was speaking at last


week’s corporate scrutiny committee where members discussed a notice of motion by Cllr Mike Stoddart which called for the report by an independent social worker to be made public. Cllr Stoddart explained that the


report had been commissioned after pressure from him for an explanation as to why PCC had given Smith a clean reference when he applied to become a foster parent in 2010 despite the fact that he had been disciplined


in 2005 and 2006 for inappropriate behaviour with children at council- run youth camps. He told the committee that he had


received a copy of the independent social worker’s report just before Christmas 2015, but, so far as he was aware, no other member had seen the document. Indeed, he claimed to know of


one instance where a member had asked for a copy and been refused. Cllr Williams said he was ‘very


aggrieved’ that the report ‘should go to one member and not the others’. “We’re obviously in the dark,” he


said, and called for the Head of Legal Services to ensure that all members were given a copy as soon as possible. The notice of motion had been


remitted to the scrutiny committee with a recommendation that it be included in its forward work programme to be reported on ‘in due course’, but Cllr Stoddart claimed


Six years in jail for abusing boy Mik Smith formerly worked as


a child youth worker employed by Pembrokeshire County Council. He was charged with 16 sexual offences against children in May 2014. The allegations included sexual


touching, taking indecent photographs and the possession of 1,129 indecent photographs of minors.


Each incident took place in 2013. Smith was ultimately jailed for six


years for sexually abusing an eight- year-old boy. Smith was one of the founding


directors of the Tanyard Youth Project in Pembroke. He served as a director of the charity, until October 2008 when he resigned. In March 2015, it was revealed


that the Head of the council's Youth Service gave Mr Smith a positive reference on an application to register as a foster carer. The reference was given following


two council investigations into Smith’s inappropriate conduct towards children, which had resulted in Smith being given a written warning. The same council officer gave


Smith the positive reference for a 2010 fostering application as had previously handed down Smith’s written warning. All of this followed a warning


from a whistle-blower, Sue Thomas, about Smith's inappropriate behaviour, who told The Herald she thinks that the council made a serious mistake when they gave him a verbal warning


TWO men appeared at Haverfordwest


in 2005. She said: “I still can’t get my


head around it because there were so many good hard-working professional people that came forward with complaints. I cannot understand why we were not listened to. “I can’t comprehend what type of


person in management wouldn’t listen to it and wouldn’t be concerned and wouldn’t want to deal with it – I’m lost for words.” Further complaints were made


about Smith in 2009 and 2011, and he was eventually sacked in 2012 after a re-investigation was ordered by the Welsh Government when the Authority’s education service was placed into special measures. Had that re-investigation not been ordered, Smith might have remained in the council’s employment dealing with vulnerable children. In response to these revelations,


the council told The Herald: "It is a matter of fact that there were significant failings in the disciplinary standards within the council’s education directorate in 2005 when Mr Smith was the subject of various allegations about inappropriate behaviour. “Since that time, the council has


completely changed its procedures and management of the education department and is confident that the failings of nine years ago would not be repeated now."


Kidnapping accused remanded Magistrates’


Court on Monday (Jan 30) to face allegations of kidnapping a man on January 24. Samuel Riley-Poku, aged 39,


appeared alongside a co-defendant, King David Osei Wusu, also known as Jean Marc Brun, aged 32, in the dock, after being arrested following an


that this was simply a ruse to ‘kick the matter into the long grass’. Accusing the council of


‘underhand tactics’ he said that, if necessary: “I will publish it on my website and take whatever is coming to me by way of Ombudsman’s reports and the rest of it.” After saying that members


had been ‘misled’, Cllr Stoddart concluded: “It should be clear to everyone that I am not going to be fobbed off.” Mike Stoddart also claimed that


the report casts serious doubt on the truth of answers given to his questions at a council meeting in July 2014, when the leader stated: “Overall, the full system of vetting prospective foster parents worked and Mr Smith was prevented from becoming a foster carer.” However, he claims that the


confidential report contradicts this version of events. Rather than any ‘system’, it was


pure chance that one of the members of the fostering panel happened to know about Smith’s previous disciplinary record and, after they drew attention to it, his application was put in abeyance while further enquiries were carried out. Cllr Stoddart also pointed out


that his notice of motion didn’t come under the committee’s terms of reference and, after brief discussion, it was agreed that it should be returned to full council for determination. Speaking after the meeting, Cllr


Stoddart told The Herald that the youth worker who blew the whistle on Smith’s activities in 2005 had been unceremoniously sacked, while the person who gave the false reference in 2010 had escaped unscathed. “There is a basic injustice in all


this which I am determined should be remedied,” he concluded. Speaking to The Herald, Cllr


Williams said: “While I applaud Cllr Stoddart for obtaining a copy of the


Sexual Predator: Mik Smith


report, I am appalled that it has only been made available to one councillor and not to all councillors. “I contacted the council’s Head


of Legal Services after the meeting. I asked her for a copy of the report and an explanation for why it was made available to only Cllr Stoddard. I then told Ms Incledon I would collect a copy from County Hall on Thursday (Feb 2). “I received a reply telling me that


Clair Incledon would not provide me with a copy of the report on this date or indeed any advice on this matter,


as she was discussing with the other departments concerned and had a meeting planned for Monday (Feb 6).”


Michael Williams continued:


“That cannot be right; I have serious questions to raise about what happened during Mik Smith’s employment by the council and the way in which concerns about his conduct were handled. It is only correct that before raising those questions I – and other councillors – can form our own assessment from the report’s content.”


allegation of jointly, by force or fraud, taking a person against their will. They were also accused of


assaulting the male they allegedly kidnapped. Neither of the defendants entered a plea. Magistrates refused bail and


remanded the defendants in custody until they appear at Swansea Crown Court on February 24.


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