Ipswich: Man Arrested Over Historic Child Sex Offences

23 April 2013, 13:57 | Updated: 23 April 2013, 14:01

A man's been arrested in Suffolk over historic child sex offences in North Wales.

Detectives re-investigating claims of historic child abuse in North Wales have made their first arrest.

A man was held in Ipswich today accused of "a number of serious sexual offences against a number of individuals'' the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) said.

He is being taken to a police station in North Wales where he will be interviewed over recent allegations of historic abuse. Soca refused to give his age.

The man was arrested under Operation Pallial, the re-investigation of allegations of sexual abuse linked to care homes in North Wales in the 1970s and 1980s.

He is the first person to be detained so far as part of the inquiry, which was launched in November last year.

In December officers said they had received information from 105 potential victims in just one month, and details of the progress of the investigation are due to be published on Monday.

The operation was set up to re-examine claims of sex crimes and look again at the original police investigations into abuse at care homes in North Wales.

A public inquiry that looked at the abuse scandal is also being reviewed.

The Waterhouse Inquiry was set up in 2000 to look at claims linked to homes in the former council areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd since 1974.

But victims have since said that the inquiry examined only a fraction of the abuse that took place.

High Court judge Mrs Justice Julia Wendy Macur is leading the review, which will look at whether specific allegations were not investigated, and urged alleged victims and all other interested parties to give further evidence.