For the first time, a former Great Ormond Street Hospital porter, Paul Farrell, who confessed to a series of instances of abusing children after befriending their parents, has been captured. After a judge lifted restrictions banning his image from being released, Farrell, who served at the children's hospital from 1994 to 2020, has now been seen for the first time.
Paul Farrell, a "predatory pedophile," pleaded guilty in February at Wood Green Crown Court to 69 charges against eight victims, including rape, indecent abuse, and sexual assault of a child under 13.
Many of the allegations were "multi-incident," according to prosecutors, who say they amount to "several hundred" incidents of sexual assault against boys as young as five or six years old over 35 years.
While the 55-year-old did not specifically target children at the hospital, at least two alleged victims claim he sexually assaulted them in the linen room where he has access.
He served as a babysitter and befriended parents before assaulting their children. The Metropolitan Police Service has warned that there is a "very real risk" that he exploited more children, asking any other victims to come forward.
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Thus, the judge also lifted media reporting restrictions when any alleged wrongdoing happened within the facility.
"We're looking at several hundred separate incidents of sexual assault over 35 years against boys aged five or six to sixteen," prosecutor Paul Douglass said of the charges.
He said that patients at the hospital were not abused, but he admitted that "I had a key to the linen room," Douglass said, "and I locked the door and raped two boys in there."
He also confessed to crimes against six other women, all of whom are now between the ages of eight and 43, including taking lewd photos of children between 1985 and 2020.
The defendant was set to stand trial on five counts of indecency with a child, but charges were dismissed.
Judge Orders Him to Appear In Person for Sentencing
Farrell's attorney, David Osborne, said that his client would receive either a life sentence or an extended sentence.
"We are deeply sorry that he was able to misuse his role and use our hospital to commit any of his offenses," a spokesperson for Great Ormond Street Hospital said, and expressed condolences to all the victims of "this heinous rape" and said Farrell had "admitted to a list of truly heinous crimes."
"The accounts they gave to police of the violence they suffered at the hands of Paul Farrell and how their childhoods were taken from them were nothing short of harrowing," said Detective Sergeant Jules Manock as he paid tribute to the "incredibly brave" survivors. He was on the safeguarding team that led the investigation.
"We'll keep working with the police to learn more about his crimes to see if there's anything else we can do to avoid more incidents like this.
"We recognize that the crimes he committed and his relation to the hospital can cause concern and anxiety among our patients, their families, and the rest of the hospital community. We want to clarify what was said in court: Paul Farrell did not specifically threaten children at GOSH.
