Decades of abuse of thousands of young men by staff at a detention centre in County Durham was “ignored and dismissed” by the prison service, the police and the Home Office, an investigation has found.

Warning: Readers may find the content below distressing

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has issued a report into how “horrific” physical and sexual violence was allowed to continue against 17 to 21-year-olds at the Medomsley Detention Centre in Consett.

It named officer Neville Husband who was thought to have groomed and attacked hundreds of trainees in Medomsley’s kitchens. He was described by the ombudsman “as possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history”.

The abuse at Medomsley continued “unchallenged” for the entire 26 years of its operation, from 1961 to 1987, according to the report from ombudsman Adrian Usher. There was, he said, “extreme violence and acts of a sadistic nature”.

The centre held inmates who were all first-time offenders and who had been convicted of crimes ranging from shoplifting and non-payment of fines to robbery.

Several members of staff were convicted after investigations by Durham Constabulary in 2001 and 2023 found widespread abuse of more than 2,000 detainees at Medomsley.

But the ombudsman investigated what authorities knew about the abuse, whether there were opportunities to have intervened at the time and what was done about any opportunities.

Husband ‘used power with devastating effect’

Husband was finally convicted of sexual assault and was jailed in 2003 and again in 2005. He died in 2010.

Mr Usher said: “The illegitimate power imbalance that existed between Husband and the trainees and other staff further flourished within a culture of collusion and silence from other employees.

“Husband used this power with devastating effect.”

Trainees ‘physically abused’

Trainees were physically abused from the moment they arrived, when they bathed, were strip searched, during physical education, while working and even during medical examinations, the PPO found.

Victims were targeted for being perceived as gay or weak. Inmates who failed to address staff as “sir” would be punched.

Witnesses said baths were either scalding hot or freezing cold. A number of them said if they were ill, painkillers could be taped to their forehead and they would be told to run around until the pill had dissolved.

Medomsley leaders at every level ‘failed’

Mr Usher said: “Leaders at every level at Medomsley, including the warden, failed in their duty to protect the best interests of those under their charge. Either staff in leadership roles were aware of the abuse, in which case they were complicit, or they lacked dedication and professional curiosity to such an extent as to not be professionally competent.”

“The knowledge of abuse by the Prison Service, the police, the Home Office and other organisations of authority was ignored and dismissed. The authorities failed in their duty to keep detainees safe,” Mr Usher added.

The report highlights a complaint, written in 1965, of an officer striking an inmate with “a distinct blow”. The handwritten response below dismisses it as “playfulness”.

Staff ‘took law into own hands’

A letter sent to all detention centre wardens in 1967 refers to the “increasing number of complaints of assault” and warns of staff “taking the law into their own hands” with discipline going “beyond the legitimate”.

The police officers who delivered 17-year-old Eric Sampson to Medomsley in December 1977 told him he was going to “get the hell kicked out” of him there, he said.

Victim – ‘I could have been killed’

“The violence I had done to me was terrible. I could have been killed in there,” said Mr Sampson. “Every day and night was hell on earth for the full nine weeks.

“With all the abuse, and obviously the sexual abuse, it totally ruined my life. It should never have happened in the first place, or it should have been stopped.”

The inquiry spoke to 79 victims and witnesses.

Over 2,000 former inmates came forward to give their testimony to Operation Seabrook, a police investigation that led to five retired officers being convicted of abuse in 2019.

Lawyer David Greenwood, who represents victims of the abuse at Medomsley, said he has been contacted by men who were held at 20 other detention centres around the country, alleging similar violence.

“I think it was a systematic thing. These prison officers were cogs in a big machine which was designed, culturally or by training, to treat boys really badly,” he said.

Mr Greenwood is calling for a wider inquiry into abuse at all of the detention centres.

What have the police said?

The ombudsman’s report found police officers from both Durham and Cleveland police were “aware that physical and sexual abuse was taking place at Medomsley from as early as 1965 due to complaints of abuse made at police stations”.

It said officers who ignored, dismissed or took no action “failed in their duty to report and investigate crime”.

In response to the report, Durham Constabulary has publicly apologised for “the force’s historic failure to investigate decades of horrifying abuse”.

Chief Constable Rachel Bacon said: “This report makes for extremely difficult reading. It exposes shameful failings by police at that time: both to recognise that the physical violence meted out by staff at Medomsley amounted to abuse or to adequately investigate allegations by those victims who did have the bravery to come forward and report what happened to them.

“I am satisfied that policing standards at Durham Constabulary are worlds apart from those which sadly appear to have existed at that time.”

Cleveland Police said in a statement: “All victims of any form of abuse or exploitation should always be listened to and action taken to prevent any further forms of abuse, and we acknowledge this was not the case many decades ago.

“We know cases like this have a lasting impact upon victims and Cleveland Police has, and continues to, improve its service and support to all those affected by abuse, especially those in cases of children and young people.”

The ombudsman’s report pointed out that the victims have never received a public apology and the complaints process for children in custody remains the same today as it was at the time of the abuse.

Mr Usher said: “I leave it to all of the bodies in this investigation to examine their organisational consciences and determine if there is any action taken today, despite such an extended passage of time, that would diminish, even fractionally, the trauma that is still being felt by victims to this day.”

Seven men have been charged with more than 40 offences against 11 teenagers after an investigation into child sexual exploitation in Bristol.

The alleged offences took place between 2022 and 2025 when the victims were in their mid to late teens.

Police said an investigation into claims of group-based sexual abuse in the city began in late 2023.

The men were arrested in April 2024 and bailed, but were detained again yesterday and are due to appear at Bristol Magistrates’ Court this morning.

The seven charged are:

Mohamed Arafe, 19, (Syrian): Six child sexual exploitation charges and one count of sexual assault. He also faces two counts over the supply of cocaine and ecstasy.

Sina Omari, 20, (Iranian): Two counts of rape; five child sexual exploitation charges; two counts of making an indecent photo of a child; two counts over the supply of cocaine and ecstasy.

Wadie Sharaf, 21, (Syrian): One count of rape; one count of attempted rape; three counts of sexual assault; one count of sexual activity with a child.

Hussain Bashar, 19, (British): One count of rape.

Mohammed Kurdi, 21 (British): Two counts of rape; two child sexual exploitation charges; two counts over the supply of ecstasy and cannabis.

Unnamed 19-year-old man: Four counts of rape; one child sexual exploitation charge; one count of distributing an indecent photo of a child, two counts over the supply of cocaine and ecstasy.

Unnamed 26-year-old-man: Two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

All five men named by police are from Bristol. Police also released details of their nationalities, along with their names and ages.

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Officers said safeguarding measures and support have been made available to the victims.

Superintendent Deepak Kenth said the case would be a “huge shock to our communities” but they were working “tirelessly” to stop child sexual exploitation in the city.

“We’ve held events in Bristol city centre and continue to work with hotels, taxi drivers, and other businesses, to raise awareness about the signs of exploitation and the need to report any concerns or issues to the police,” he said.

Thousands of job cuts at the NHS will go ahead after the £1bn needed to fund the redundancies was approved by the Treasury.

The government had already announced its intention to slash the headcount across both NHS England and the Department of Health by around 18,000 administrative staff and managers, including on local health boards.

The move is designed to remove “unnecessary bureaucracy” and raise £1bn a year by the end of the parliament to improve services for patients by freeing up more cash for operations.

NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Treasury had been in talks over how to pay for the £1bn one-off bill for redundancies.

It is understood the Treasury has not granted additional funding for the departures over and above the NHS’s current cash settlement, but the NHS will be permitted to overspend its budget this year to pay for redundancies, recouping the costs further down the line.

‘Every penny will be spent wisely’

Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to make further announcements regarding the health service in the budget on 26 November.

And addressing the NHS providers’ annual conference in Manchester today, Mr Streeting is expected to say the government will be “protecting investment in the NHS”.

He will add: “I want to reassure taxpayers that every penny they are being asked to pay will be spent wisely.

“Our investment to offer more services at evenings and weekends, arm staff with modern technology, and improving staff retention is working.

“At the same time, cuts to wasteful spending on things like recruitment agencies saw productivity grow by 2.4% in the most recent figures – we are getting better bang for our buck.”

Mr Streeting’s speech is due to be given just hours after he became entrenched in rumours of a possible coup attempt against Sir Keir Starmer, whose poll ratings have plummeted ahead of what’s set to be a tough budget.

Mr Streeting’s spokesperson was forced to deny he was doing anything other than concentrating on the health service.

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He is also expected on Wednesday to give NHS leaders the go-ahead for a 50% cut to headcounts in Integrated Care Boards, which plan health services for specific regions.

They have been tasked with transforming the NHS into a neighbourhood health service – as set down in the government’s long-term plans for the NHS.

Those include abolishing NHS England, which will be brought back into the health department within two years.

Watch Wes Streeting on Mornings With Ridge And Frost from 7am on Sky News.