Prostitutes in care claims investigated

Leeds social services is holding an independent investigation
into claims that girls from a children’s home in the city worked as
prostitutes.

Social services staff have interviewed former care worker
Richard Thompson, who was employed by the local authority until
last summer, after he made the allegations about the Westwood
Grange Home.

Thompson, who worked in seven homes over an 18-month period,
also alleged that social workers turned a blind eye to
glue-sniffing at Crammer Bank home in Pudsey.

Leeds social services director Keith Murray said: ‘We are taking
these allegations very seriously and have interviewed the person
who made them.’