A charity fundraiser was given an OBE for her work with vulnerable people in the 2014 New Year’s Honours list – while she was under arrest on suspicion of child abuse.
Aideen Jones has since been charged with three cruelty offences against two young boys in a case linked to the long-running North Wales abuse scandal.
The 62-year-old, a former chief executive of Southdown Housing Association, was given the OBE a year ago ‘for services to people with intellectual disabilities’ despite being arrested the previous August by officers working on the investigation, Operation Pallial
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
Her husband Denis, 65, who once worked as a development officer at East Sussex Social Services with a ‘lead responsibility for fostering staff training’, has also been charged with four offences relating to two boys aged under 16 between 1975 and 1980.
The couple will appear at Wrexham Magistrates’ Court on March 25. The revelation will inevitably raise questions because the Honours Committee, chaired by the head of the Civil Service, Sir Bob Kerslake, appears to have agreed to the award while Jones was under investigation, and announced the OBE in January 2014, four months after her arrest.
Read More: Care chief is awarded OBE in New Year’s Honours list AFTER her arrest in child cruelty probe
