Knottfield: Abused children have lived with 'guilt'

Prosecutor says Marshall sexually assaulted with 'impunity'

Children who were abused by a 'senior house parent' at a Douglas children's home have retained 'some element of guilt' throughout their lives.

That's the view of the prosecutor in the case against 85-year-old Joseph Henry Marshall.

At Douglas Courthouse this week, following a five day trial, he was convicted of abusing two boys, under the age of 16, at Knottfield in the 1970s.

Both of the victims gave evidence against their abuser who was found guilty, by a jury, of three counts of indecent assault and two of gross indecency.

Describing the time in which the offences were committed as a 'different era' Anne Whyte QC said the fear of not being believed had never left the victims.

"Those men have, actually, been nothing other than reluctant to come forward," she told jurors: "There is only one motivation, I would suggest to you, and that is to right a longstanding wrong." 

Marshall – who started working at the children's home in 1973 – sexually abused the boys in the staff office often under the pretence telling them off for a wrongdoing.

The prosecutor said Marshall had engineered this location adding: "He manipulates situations – setting the scene so that they would find it hard to challenge why they were there. 

"It is as if Mr Marshall was making sure of his ground with every step he was taking – with each escalation seeing what he could get away with.

"He treated them like second class citizens. He made them feel like second class citizens and he abused them with impunity." 

In evidence he gave before the jury one of Marshall's victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he moved to Knottfield at the age of nine and was 12 when his abuser took over. 

Describing Marshall he said: "I classed him as a master – someone who was not a nice person."

Recalling how the sexual abuse started the man told the court Marshall would call him to the office before locking the door and touching him inappropriately.

He would then make the boy touch him in return.

This, he said, happened between 10 and 12 times.

When asked if he'd ever refused the man said: "No, we don't refuse" – after one occasion Marshall even told him: "This is our little secret."

After leaving Knottfield at the age of 15 the man told the court he had passed up a number of opportunities to tell the police what had happened to him saying: "It was something I didn't wish to talk about." 

In 2016, however, he did give a formal statement and Marshall was arrested and interviewed.

During this process Marshall described the victim's allegations as 'nonsense' adding: "It (Knottfield) was a happy household but some children hate being in a children's home."

Joseph Henry Marshall will appear at Douglas Courthouse on Monday, 17 January when a date for his sentencing will be set. He has been bailed until that date.