More than 50 missed opportunities to stop paedophile head - report

Neil Foden was jailed for 17 years for a string of sexual abuse offences

There were more than 50 "missed opportunities" to intervene and stop a school head teacher who was able to sexually abuse girls for years, a report has found.

A Child Practice Review (CPR), led by prominent expert Jan Pickles, has looked into the crimes of 68-year-old Neil Foden, from Conwy county in north Wales, who was jailed for 17 years after being convicted of 19 charges involving four girls.

The review said Foden was a "prolific sex offender who harmed many children".

The leader of Cyngor Gwynedd council said the authority took responsibility for the mistakes and missed opportunities to stop Foden and apologised "to all those who have suffered".

A total of 52 concerns about safeguarding and other issues were found to have been raised and not acted on by Cyngor Gwynedd and other agencies as early as 2018, continuing until his arrest in 2023.

The "ambitious" recommendations the report makes are "designed to bring about the most significant change in safeguarding in schools in Wales in a generation," Ms Pickles said.

She said the name of the review, Our Bravery Brought Justice, was chosen by one of the victims, and it was "now our duty as adults, professionals, politicians to rise to their challenge" and prevent similar abuse from happening again.

The review was unique in its size and scale, analysing 10 times the volume of information that is usually looked at in a CPR, and took more than a year to complete.

It also highlights an historical allegation dating back to 1979, not long after Foden qualified as a teacher.

The highly critical 108-page report said he was a "powerful figure" within the education community in Wales who had a "wide-ranging reputation as a bully" and also used excessive force on boys.

It said repeated warnings about Foden, who it describes as "opportunistic and determined", were either ignored or inadequately addressed.

He was arrested in September 2023 after one of his victims showed an adult a photo of themselves with Foden and screenshots of sexually explicit text messages.

Ms Pickles paid tribute to the bravery of the victims and described Foden as "a sophisticated and controlling paedophile" who "created a culture which enabled his offending in plain sight".

She said safeguarding was a "multi-agency responsibility", requiring all agencies to contribute to keep children safe and follow agreed legislation, guidance and policies, adding: "In this case, those arrangements failed."

Commissioned by the North Wales Safeguarding Board following Foden's conviction in 2024, the report had been due to be published in September but was postponed just hours before it was due to be released.

A statement at the time cited the need for the board to consider "its legal obligations and information sharing further".

Foden had been the long-standing headteacher at Ysgol Friars in Bangor, Gwynedd, and for a time a strategic head at another school in the county.

The report examined a time period from January 2017 to 30 September 2023, and highlights numerous instances when individuals and agencies reported concerns about Neil Foden's inappropriate contact with female pupils.

It includes times he was seen alone with them, giving them lifts and accompanying them to medical appointments.

It says they were all "missed opportunities" for action to have been taken against Foden.

The review cites one meeting when four senior Cyngor Gwynedd officers from education, children and family services and legal departments came together to discuss issues about two vulnerable children.

The children were said to have been seen by themselves with Foden for long periods of time, had been driven home alone by him, and that one girl was seen with her head on Foden's shoulder.

But the discussion was one of professional conduct, not child protection, and there was no connection made to one of the children having already been the subject of concerns raised about Foden the year before.

On another occasion, the report states that Foden accompanied a child to a hospital gynaecological appointment without the child's parent's knowledge.

He later took the child to a further hospital appointment, leading the clinician to consult with a health safeguarding team.

A letter was sent by the clinician saying that they understood that the child "spends a lot of time with Foden in his room".

It was sent to the child via the school but was addressed to Foden, and was later found in what had been his office, more than five years later.

The report states that the risk to this child was not considered, and that this was a missed opportunity.

On more than one occasion the NSPCC raised concerns over Foden's "inappropriate professional boundaries", with one complaint about his relationship with a child in 2020 being dismissed by Cyngor Gwynedd as "not meeting the threshold" for child protection.

The review compared the failings in safeguarding it found in the Foden case to the Clywch Inquiry, which was published into the crimes of paedophile teacher and author John Owen at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen in Pontypridd more than 20 years ago.

It said it was "appalling" that the same issues identified in that inquiry, about failures to follow recommendations about monitoring staff conduct and safeguarding policies persisted today.

The review called for a national strategy to ensure consistent safeguarding education and oversight across Wales.

It also makes a number of recommendations, which Jan Pickles said were "informed with the insight of the young people who were harmed".

These include updated guidance on handling allegations against school staff to be drawn up, and agencies told they must work together consistently.

Nia Jeffreys, leader of Cyngor Gwynedd, said: "We are saddened by the details that have been highlighted by the independent reviewers and we take responsibility for the mistakes and missed opportunities to stop Neil Foden.

"On behalf of the council, I apologise to all those who have suffered and pay tribute to their courage and strength."

A statement from Ysgol Friars said: "As a school, we will never lose sight of the horrific crimes that were committed, or the strength of those who stood up and spoke out."

It added school leaders "remain committed to learning from this disaster".

Assistant Chief Constable Gareth Evans from North Wales Police said the force recognised "there were missed opportunities to safeguard these young people through the multi-agency safeguarding response and we apologise for this".

If you've been affected by issues raised in this story, there is information and support available on BBC Action Line.