Inquiry call after pair rape girl of 13

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.