The childhood of Demetrious Panton ended one night in July 1978, a few days before his 11th birthday. That was when a man called Bernie Bain, who ran a care home in North London where Panton lived, knocked on the door of his dormitory.
‘Hey, little fella — can’t you sleep again?’ whispered Bain. ‘Why don’t you come and watch telly in my room?’
Panton, now a 46-year-old successful lawyer who once advised John Prescott on race relations, will never forget how Bain, then 29, grabbed his tiny hand, pressed a finger to his lips to ensure that he kept quiet and led him to a dimly-lit bedroom, with beige soft furnishings, piles of filthy clothes on the floor and ashtrays overflowing with Marlboro cigarettes.
He will never forget the studied nonchalance with which this man pulled back the duvet, patted his mattress and told him to join him in bed to keep warm while they watched a cowboy movie together on his black-and-white TV set.
And, of course, Panton will never forget how Bain then slowly put an arm around his shoulder, stroked his hair and told him that he had a tummy ache.
‘He asked me to rub his tummy,’ Panton has recalled. ‘I started rubbing it, and he kept pushing me further down the bed.’
An appalling sexual assault ensued. Immediately afterwards, Bain told the child never to talk about the events that had taken place that night.
‘We have a secret,’ Demetrious remembers thinking. ‘He’ll get me; he’ll hurt me if I ever tell anyone.’
So began an appalling cycle of abuse. Within weeks, the assaults had escalated to rape. And they continued for more than a year. (
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