Two arrests over guest house sexual abuse allegations (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)
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Two arrests over Barnes guest house sexual abuse allegations
10:42am Wednesday 6th February 2013 in News By Amy Dyduch
Rocks Lane: Home to Elm Guest House, where children were allegedly abused
Two men have been arrested after being linked to historic allegations of child abuse in Barnes in the 1980s.
The two men, one aged 66 from Norfolk and a 70-year-old from East Sussex, are in police custody after being arrested this morning on suspicion of sexual offences.
The arrests come as part of Operation Fernbridge, in which allegations were originally investigated under Opartion Fairbank, passed to police by MP Tom Watson, who spoke in Parliament of a “powerful paedophile ring” involving high profile figures and a former aide to the then Prime Minister.
Elm Guest House in Rocks Lane, Barnes, was advertised as a gay guest house in the late 1970s and early 1980s and it is alleged young boys were taken there from council-run Grafton Close care home and abused.
Commander Peter Spindler, head of the MPS specialist crime investigations, said: “This is a complex multi-agency investigation supported by the NSPCC, CEOP and Richmond social services involving non recent allegations of sexual assault against children.
“It is vital that anyone who has been affected by or has information about activity in the early 1980s at the Elm Guest House, or the Grafton Close care home, in Barnes speaks to the NSPCC on their Helpline on 0808 800 5000, or their local police.”
