Gay couple jailed for abusing their foster children

Paul Stokes

Two homosexual men who sexually abused young children placed in their foster care were jailed yesterday.

Ian Wathey, 41, and his partner Craig Faunch, 32, were found guilty of a string of offences against four boys aged between eight and 14.

The pair used the boys for sexual gratification within months of being approved as foster carers by Wakefield council.

A mother of eight-year-old twins raised concerns about them with social services after finding a photograph of one of the boys as he used the lavatory.

The authorities chose to take no action after accepting the two men had been "naive and silly" for taking the photograph to embarrass others into closing the bathroom door.

They started abusing their charges three months later, in February 2004, and the offences continued over an 11-month period, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Faunch abused four boys and Wathey targeted one victim. Judge Sally Cahill, QC, said neither of the pair had shown "empathy, remorse or any responsibility for their actions".

Wathey was jailed for five years after being convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a child and one offence of causing a child to watch sexual activity.

Faunch received a six-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of five charges of engaging in sexual activity with a child and two of taking indecent photographs of a child.

Judge Cahill told Faunch: "Once you realised social services were going to take no action in respect of the photos that had been found, and believed your ridiculous story about why you had taken it, you went on to abuse others in your care believing yourself to be safe from the authorities."

She found it "incredible" that the photographs had not been reported to police in time to possibly prevent the abuse.

The twins were videoed naked by Faunch, a third boy was involved in sexual activities with both men, and a fourth was touched by Faunch.

Their victims included a 14-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome, who had a mental age of seven and was forced by Wathey to watch explicit gay pornography.

Judge Cahill said another youngster with a "very troubled background" was only in their care for a few weeks before being abused by Faunch.

She told Faunch: "His need for care by you was obvious to all. That you chose to victimise and abuse that boy shows the very depths, in my view, that you were prepared to go. You no doubt saw him as an ideal victim.

"You are presented as a couple but this is not a case about homosexuality, it is about a breach of trust."

Both men, from Pontefract, west Yorkshire, were placed on the sex offenders register for life and also given a life ban from working with children.

Under the terms of a Sexual Offence Protection Order they are not allowed to be alone with children or vulnerable people.

Judge Cahill considered them a continued risk to children and ordered them to serve an extended period of three years on licence.

She said they were placed in a position of trust when they were allowed to foster, adding: "You abused that trust in respect of your victims most horribly. It is quite impossible to know what the long term effects will be. There is no doubt in my mind that for one of those boys it will be life-long."

Police were eventually called in to investigate the couple after one of the boys told a woman he had been touched by one of the men.

Wathey and Faunch, who took part in a civil partnership ceremony five weeks ago, are believed to have been the first homosexual couple in Yorkshire to be allowed to act as foster parents.

Kate Penrose, the senior Crown prosecutor for west Yorkshire, said yesterday: "As foster parents they took vulnerable children into their home and should have provided them with a stable and loving environment.

"Instead of being treated with kindness and dignity they were subjected to abuse at the hands of two people who were responsible for their safety and well-being.

"Children in the care of foster parents have often had a difficult start in life and have a right to expect protection."

Wakefield council has ordered a full independent inquiry into the case.

Kitty Ferris, the council's service director for children in need, said the pair had not been allowed to act as foster carers since the allegations were made against them.

She said: "Although correct procedures were carried out at every stage, the service has reviewed its internal procedures to identify what lessons should be learned."