07/03/00 - Child rape killer
in claim of sex abuse
Birmingham Evening Mail
THE man convicted of raping and killing seven-year-old
Sophie Hook has launched a £50,000 compensation
bid, claiming he was a victim of child abuse.
Howard Hughes has launched the legal action against
the owners of the Bryn Estyn children's home in North
Wales, where he spent some time as a child.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 after
he was convicted of snatching the Cheshire schoolgirl
from a tent where she had been sleeping in her uncle's
garden.
The naked body of the Cheshire schoolgirl was found
washed up on a nearby beach in Craig-y-Don, near Llandudno,
the morning she disappeared in 1995.
She had been raped and strangled.
Hughes, from Colwyn Bay, is understood to have lodged
a £50,000 claim for compensation for personal
injuries sustained while he was in the care of the Bryn
Estyn children's home.
The notorious Wrexham home featured prominently in
the Waterhouse Report into the abuse of children in
care and sexual and physical abuse is known to have
taken place there.
'Being processed'
Nessa Kearney, spokesman for Zurich Municipal, the
insurance company handling all claims against the former
Clwyd County Council, said: "I can confirm that
Hughes has put a claim in and it is being processed
at the moment. Obviously, I cannot confirm any figures
involved."
Christine Jones, who represents the Craig-y-Don area
on Conwy County Borough Council, said she was very sad
to see Hughes in the limelight once more.
She said: "I am extremely saddened that this issue
has raised its ugly head again. It was quite a traumatic
time for people in the area and to have it raised again
by this man is diabolical.
"Clearly, anyone who has been abused at Bryn Estyn
has to be treated the same, but I do not think the abuse
was in any way the cause of what he did to Sophie Hook."
It is believed Hughes, now an inmate at Full Sutton
prison near York, is no longer legally represented.
His former solicitor, Alison Williams, was not available
for comment.
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