Brushett's friends set up conference (From Penarth Times)

Brushett's friends set up conference

THE CONTROVERSIAL case of convicted Dinas Powys child abuser Derek Brushett will be discussed at a conference in the village next month.

The Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers Conference will include representatives from Headlands School in Penarth and Bryn-y-Don in Dinas Powys, and will take place at the Parish Hall in Britway Road, on October 6, from noon until 6pm.

There will be people present who have been acquitted or who have had charges against them dropped.

They will be supporting their teaching colleagues who they say are wrongfully accused.

Among the legal representatives will be Robin Shepherd, currently preparing appeals for Brushett, former head teacher of Bryn-y-Don, and Brian Ely, also of Bryn-y-Don.

Brushett was found guilty of 27 out of more than 40 charges of abusing boys by a jury in November 1999.

The charges related to his time as the school head teacher in the 1970s. Judge Peter Jacobs branded the then 55-year-old father-of-four as "cruel" before sentencing him to 14 years in prison.

An appeal was launched and in December last year, Brushett saw his sentence cut to 12 years and three months by the Court of Appeal. However, an appeal against conviction was thrown out.

But supporters of Brushett, of Stacey Road, have vowed not to give up. Gail Saunders, 48, a friend and ex-neighbour of Brushett said: "We won't stop here. We're calling on the government, the public and the media to acknowledge the methods of gathering evidence as wrong.

"We'll find a way of acquitting not only Derek, but all men wrongly accused. I think this is going to be the biggest scandal ever to hit our judicial system."

For more information on the conference, contact Tom Carroll on 0151 691 2461, Phil Fiddler on 0151 724 3385 or Gail Saunders 2051 3016.