Nevill Holt and William Mayne: Two posts with important comments on child sexual abuse

This story was in the Guardian this morning:

Police say they are uncovering a hidden “epidemic” of paedophile abuse in the 1970s and 1980s, with thousands of allegations leading to convictions against people who abused their power to attack children. 

New figures seen by the Guardian show that 4,024 allegations led to guilty verdicts at court after police investigations since 2014 into decades-old child sex offences. 

Officers say hundreds of offenders, including teachers, religious workers, youth and care workers, thought they had got away with their crimes. Many victims have been traumatised, and some have killed themselves or been left with severe mental health problems.

Yet the press and public seemed to have lost interest in the subject.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse continues its excellent work, but no one seems to be listening to its proceedings.

My reason for writing this post is to flag up two posts on this blog that have acquired dozens of important comments on the sexual abuse of children.

In January 2010 I wrote about Nevill Holt, the prep school near Market Harborough that closed in 1998 when the police turned up one morning. I took the photograph above in 1984 when it was still a school.

And in March of the same year I wrote about William Mayne, a children's writer I greatly admired and even collected, who was imprisoned for offences against girls in 2004.