Ex-special constable jailed for sexually abusing boy at children’s home

EX-SPECIAL CONSTABLE JAILED FOR SEXUALLY ABUSING BOY AT CHILDREN’S HOME

2019.

A former special constable with the police has been jailed after abusing a boy at a children’s home he managed.

Bernard Philip Collins, 73, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a young boy, starting when the victim was 11 years old.

The abuse occurred on more than twelve occasions at Fircroft children’s home in Kingston before 1978.

While working as a special constable in Surrey, Collins committed these offences.

He was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday after being convicted of five counts of indecent assault.

Judge Usha Karu emphasised Collins’s connections with law enforcement, noting that the victim believed he had no one to report to.

The judge stated, “He was aware of your role as a special police constable, and any issues with the police were managed by you.

The victim was scared to speak out.

This was a profound breach of trust.” It was revealed in court that Collins, of Sutton, had previous convictions for child abuse in the 1970s.

In 1980, he pleaded guilty to abusing three boys at two Kingston care homes, receiving a £450 fine.

This conviction barred him from working in care homes, though he later worked as a recycling officer and has now retired.

Furthermore, in 2015, Collins received a four-year prison sentence for smacking and sexually touching a different child at a Croydon children’s home.