News

A public inquiry into the children's homes sector has been urged after two boys, held on breaches of antisocial behaviour orders, raped a girl of 13 after they were allowed out unsupervised.

Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has written to children's minister Margaret Hodge after the conviction last week of Daniel Collins-Frampton and Aaron Hull, both 16, for rape, robbery and attempted robbery.

Sanders said an inquiry should investigate the regulation and location of homes and the bases of out-of-area placements by councils.

Collins-Frampton and Hull had been placed in Cheltenham Children's Home in Torquay by their home councils after breaching Asbos but were allowed out alone for good behaviour in May this year.

They raped the girl twice on a beach, robbed and viciously kicked her 13-year-old male friend and also robbed five skateboarders.

Judge Graham Cottle told Exeter Crown Court that the decision to allow the boys out unsupervised involved "poor judgement" by staff at the home.

It has since been closed, but Sanders said its owner runs another home in a neighbouring area. He added that owners of some homes had taken advantage of the decline in the town's tourist industries and the low standard of living to convert old hotels into children's homes and hire low-wage staff to run them.

Sanders said: "They can offer local authorities cheaper contracts. They are profiting from [children's] misfortune."

Collins-Frampton and Hull could face discretionary life sentences.