A FORMER prison officer as been unmasked as potentially Britain’s most prolific sex offender after raping and abusing hundreds of boys.
Neville Husband preyed on his victims in a 16-year reign of terror at Medomsley Detention Centre in County Durham.
The fiend, who died in 2010, carried out at least 388 offences while working in the kitchens – targeting “trainees” aged between 17 and 21 – who had been sent to the prison.
But a report by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman suggested he probably raped many more victims in previous and subsequent roles.
This included working as a Sunday school teacher and Scout troop leader.
Chillingly, more than 2,000 young men and boys say they were sexually and physically abused at the former Victorian orphanage.
If true, it means Husband may have had more victims than the 450 abused by disgraced Jimmy Savile.
The report has branded Husband “possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history“.
It told how Husband made the detention centre hellish for the troubled youngsters, who had had been sent to the institution for a “short, sharp, shock”, the report found.
He groomed and abused the boys, who had often committed minor crimes, between 1969 to 1985 but intimidated colleagues often turned a blind eye.
The report by Adrian Usher, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman, also found Husband probably also abused others while working at other sites in County Durham, as well as Portland borstal in Dorset.
Mr Usher said: “Neville Husband was possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history.
“It is very likely that his offending did not begin and end at Medomsley and extended to his previous employment at Portland borstal.
“There were allegations of abuse from when he worked at HMP Frankland and Deerbolt youth custody centre, and during his church and amateur dramatic activity.”
Husband was described as a “powerfully built man and an arch-manipulator” who had a “significant voice” in the centre.
He would withdraw food so he could “punish and reward” his victims and was also able to “engineer isolation” because of the training centre’s location.
Boys were often seen moving men from the kitchen to his office before they later reappeared in a “distressed state”.
Mr Usher said: “I have chosen to omit many of the most heinous details of… abuse but I believe it is necessary to include enough to make clear the extent of the horrors that some of those young men endured.”
One of the victims told how they were raped in a storeroom and was regularly groped by Husband.
Another told how he was strangled with a cord and smacked around the head while being forced to strip.
Husband’s manipulation was so strong he was awarded the Imperial Service Medal for meritorious duty in the prison service.
He was also welcomed into the church as a minister following his retirement in 1990.
What did the report find?
- Govt has received more than 2,000 allegations of sexual and/or physical abuse at Medomsley Detention Centre
- Police dismisse abuse claims without even recording them and would threaten inmates with being sent back to Medomsley if they persisted
- Husband branded “possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history”
- Fiend committed at least 388 offences at Medomsley between 1969 to 1985
- Husband was described as a “powerfully built man and an arch-manipulator” which allowed him to freely abuse youngsters
- His abuse included “extreme violence and acts of a sadistic nature”
- Five retired officers were convicted of abuse in 2019
His depraved crimes only came to light in 2002 when Durham Police launched a probe into his abuse.
Husband was convicted the following year of ten counts of indecent assault and one count of rape against five teenagers at Medomsley and was sentenced to eight years.
But in 2005, he admitted four further attacks and his jail term was increased to ten years when more victims came forward.
Investigators later found 549 documented abuse cases at Medomsley.
Of those, Husband committed 388, mostly alone but some with an accomplice.
Shockingly, his offending could stretch back as far as his teens when he was a Scout troop leader at his local church.
The fiend joined the Prison Service in December 1963, working at HMP Durham, but moved to Portland borstal in April 1964.
While there, Husband was investigated by police under the Obscene Publications Act relating to indecent images depicting sexual activity between men.
He claimed he had the material for research into a book he was considering writing and no further action was taken.
Husband then moved to Medomsley as a catering officer in 1969 and had sole control of the kitchen.
He later transferred to HMP Frankland – known as Monster Mansion – and had a stint at Deerbolt youth custody centre where some boys say they were sexually abused.
Chief Constable Rachel Bacon said the report made for “extremely difficult reading” and exposed “shameful failings by police at that time”.
“On behalf of Durham Constabulary I wish to publicly offer my sincerest apologies to those victims and their families for those failures,” she said.
“Thousands of young men were let down by the system and are continuing to live with the wounds left by that abuse. Those victims were, and remain, our primary concern.”
