Welcome · Independent historical research
Start here: understand the records, questions and evidence.
This site follows experiences at Grafton Close children’s home, the history of safeguarding in Richmond, and the official records that may help establish what happened. Start with a short route below, then examine the underlying sources.
Choose your route
Three ways into the investigation
The rules for reading evidence
What different types of evidence mean
Firsthand account: a person describes what they experienced or witnessed. It should be identified as their account unless independently established.
Original record: a contemporaneous logbook, council entry, official letter or original court document. It establishes what that document says or records; it does not automatically prove every assertion inside it.
Allegation or report: a claim that has not necessarily been tested or determined by a court. Reporting that an allegation was made is not the same as proving it.
Conviction or judicial finding: a determination concerning specified conduct, people and proceedings. It must not be extended to other people, dates, organisations or alleged events without further evidence.
Unanswered question: a relevant gap or unresolved contradiction. Missing records and inadequate searches warrant further enquiry but do not, standing alone, prove intentional destruction, obstruction or legal negligence.
Independent corroboration: a genuinely separate source may strengthen an account; repeated newspaper descriptions of the same originating claim do not amount to multiple independent witnesses.
Read the detailed editorial standards and safeguarding policy →
What is being investigated
A civil safeguarding question, not a verdict.
The primary civil question concerns Richmond Council’s own duties and safeguarding arrangements towards a child placed at Grafton Close in 1984: foreseeable third-party risks, the reasonable standard at that time, actual visitor and removal procedures, alleged failures, and any resulting injury. The site does not treat an allegation, a historic association or an unanswered FOI request as a judicial finding of liability.
Other publicly described experiences are attributed to their sources and set in their own chronology. The police investigations page distinguishes investigative operations and outcomes.
Research status — 22 October 2026: relevant logbooks, procedures and oversight material remain the subject of requests and review. Evidence and interpretation may change as additional records arrive; the dates on this page do not establish that every linked page was revised today.
Find a document or topic
Search the website
Website search covers indexed WordPress text. It does not reliably search words embedded inside scanned images or rasterised PDFs. For those records, start with the 1980 and 1982 Grafton Close logbooks or my recovered 1984 register exhibits, which have contextual notes.
Contact and sensitivity
Sharing information responsibly
Please do not place children’s names, home addresses, private case files or sensitive personal details into public comments. Use the contact page for enquiries, and discuss safe handling and permissions before transferring unpublished personal documents. Publication, private research and lawful disclosure have different requirements.
For the wider context, read About this investigation and Support for survivors.