The police arrived nine years too late to save Sean from being the sexual plaything of the paedophile " ho is till " reeking his life. The authorities were also too late to save Mark whose years of abuse had driven him to attempt suicide on several occasions.
In 1991, Peter Howarth, the paedophile who had terrorised these people's childhood at Bryn Estyn children's home in Wrexham, north Wales, was enjoying his retirement. However, his victims never forgot their years of abuse and ritual humiliation by Howarth, who was the deputy head at the home, and slowly they began to break their vows of silence by telling me and another journalist their harrowing testimonies.
Our investigation, for the Independent, was one of the most disturbing stories I have worked on but led to Howarth's arrest and conviction for sexually abusing boys in his care. His victims, who were aged 14 to 15, and other members of staff, vividly described to the jury how Howarth would sexually abuse the children while entertaining them with games in his flat and plying them with beer. He was jailed for 10 years.
Although Bryn Estyn children's home was officially closed in 1984, the subsequent police investigation revealed allegations of sexual abuse and ritual humiliation in children's homes throughout north Wales during the 1980s, with children often being moved around the area's institutions and passed from one paedophile to another.
Howarth was not alone. Stephen Norris, the headmaster of Cartrefle Children's Home in Broughton, Clwyd, was jailed for three years in 1990 for sexually abusing young boys in his care over a seven year period. Fred Rutter, a former policeman who used to visit the Welsh homes, received a 12 year prison sentence in 1991 for raping and buggering young girls at a hostel for the homeless. David Gillison, a social, worker at Bryn Estyn, was jailed for three years for having sexual relations with a 16 year old boy in his care.
AT the time, the Clwyd child abuse scandal appeared to be an isolated case, just like the notorious Frank Beck affair. The former head of three Leicestershire children's homes was given five life sentences in 1991 for abusing dozens of children over a 13 year period. Lessons would be learned the authorities promised, and that would be the end of it.
Except that it was not. Clwyd County Council commissioned a report to establish what actually went on in their children's homes but after reading the 300 page document decided not to publish it thereby maintaining the veil of secrecy over the decades of abuse.
However Mr Malcolm King chairman of social services in Clywd admitted.
The evidence emerging is that childrens homes were gulag archipelago stretching across Britain wonderful places for paedophiles but for the children who suffered places of unending nightmares."
Not surprisingly, Clwyd's decision not to publish was greeted with outrage, and sections of the report have been deliberately leaked to the media. Its revelations make harrowing reading.
It now appears that over 200 children were abused by a network of paedophiles who had infiltrated the homes. The worst offenders, like Howarth, apparently ran such efficient homes that they were rarely bothered or inspected by the authorities.
Worse still, Mark was not the only victim to attempt suicide 12 other young men, all linked because of their time in care in Clwyd, have since killed themselves.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that over 300 children were sexually abused in children's homes in Cheshire Clwyd's neighbouring county during a 20 year period. Following the largest police investigation of its kind in Britain six male Cheshire care workers were jailed for up to 10 years each. Nine other men are about to be prosecuted.
Last week, the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, said he was "personally horrified" by the victims' experiences and set up a public inquiry to investigate allegations of widespread abuse in all of Britain's children's homes and a separate inquiry to concentrate on the abuse in Clwyd.
Mr Major added. "The last straw was the recent announcement that the report commissioned by Clwyd County Council would not be published by the local authorities. I had no hesitation in concluding that we could not allow matters to rest there. The children who live in care homes are among the most vulnerable members of society."
Police believe the paedophiles in all these cases are linked to an organised network once one has infiltrated a home and secured a position of power, he employs another paedophile. However it is almost impossible to prove the extent of such a network because the convicted abusers persist in maintaining silence.
These men do not appear to feel any remorse. No one has said anything, they all refuse to talk. Some admitted their guilt, but that was it. They pretend there are no links between them but there have to be This was ritual abuse, planned and organised. Don't forget there is safety and power in numbers. They knew they would be able to get away with it for years, if one of their own also worked in the homes", said one police officer involved in the Clwyd investigation.