Bureau Recommends: An abuse of trust

The Bureau Recommends a BBC investigation into how a head teacher convicted of child sex abuse, was able to go on to abuse children in India and Africa.

In 1982 investigative reporter Roger Cook exposed the sadistic regime of Derek Slade, headmaster of a Suffolk private school.

The report for BBC Radio 4 forced Slade to resign and he was later given a criminal conviction for physical abuse.

In the latest investigation Roger Cook returns to the case to show how despite being exposed and convicted, Slade managed to continue to work with and abuse children up until 2008.

The report shows how Slade stole the identity of a dead boy and conned charities in India and Africa to get access to children.

But in 2010, the law finally caught up with Slade and he was convicted of more than 50 counts of physical and sexual assault on boys at St George’s School in Suffolk between 1978 and 1983.

The investigation also reveals how Slade exploited connections with people in positions of authority to further his aims.

This included Derek Sawyer, a leader of Islington Council, who was also chairman of the London Courts Board and director of the youth offending charity Catch 22.

Sawyer insists he was taken in by Slade and knew nothing of the allegations. He told the BBC that had he of known, he would never have associated with Slade.

Following his conviction in 2010, Slade was jailed for 21 years.