PERV AT THE PALACE: Paedophile Trevor Francis who received MBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace is exposed as a serial child abuser
April 3, 2017 · By y Paul Harper and Robert Collins for www.thesun.co.uk
Pervert Trevor Francis was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who subjected kids to brutal physical attacks and sexual assaults in a care home
Paedophile Trevor Francis, 71, receiving his medal from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in 2012
But a court heard yesterday Francis abused children in their bed, attacked a boy who tried to escape and battered children with a slipper at a children’s home in the mid 70s.
Yesterday Francis was warned he faces a jail term when he returns to Dundee Sheriff Court to be sentenced next month.
He was given an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for working as a station master in Aberdour, Fife.
Francis was part of a new regime at St Margaret’s home in Elie that should have removed children from the threat of abuse, after taking over as manager in 1973 from convicted paedophile David Murphy, who was forced out of a job.
But instead Francis was described as “creepy” and a “Jekyll and Hyde character” who subjected kids to brutal physical attacks and sickening sexual assaults.
His name came up during the probe into Murphy in the late 90s.
Trevor Francis MBE arrives at Dundee Court before being convicted for abusing vulnerable children in his care
Murphy was finally jailed in 2002 for 15 years after admitting 14 charges of lewd and libidinous practices and behaviour and 16 charges of sodomy spanning 30 years of his work at St Margaret’s and at another home.
It was only when one brave victim came forward in 2014 that police were able to build a case against Francis, after former residents said he abused them.
Three girls told a jury that Francis would creep into the girls’ dormitory in the night and sexually assault them.
Other victims told how Francis slapped them in the face and beat them with a slipper in violent rages.
Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told the jury: “He is a manipulative, violent and predatory person who abused the trust of these vulnerable people who he was paid to protect.
“But instead he perpetrated physical and sexual abuse towards them and managed to stay undetected because of his Jekyll and Hyde personality.
“The accused might seem mild mannered – an upstanding citizen, a family man.
“We are dealing with an intelligent, manipulative man who can turn on and off that predatory, violent behaviour.”
Giving evidence in his own defence Francis, who denied nine charges on indictment, said he was “relatively easy going” and claimed to have had a good relationship with the kids at the home.
However, a jury of eight men and seven women took two and a half hours to find him guilty by majority of two offences of using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour towards young girls and three assaults.
One further lewd and libidinous charge and three assaults were found not proven.
Sheriff Alastair Brown deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and released Francis on bail.
He said: “A prison sentence is a serious possibility.”
