Operation Violet Oak

This book concerns the contentious subject of historic child abuse. The author and publisher condemn child abuse as the most heinous of crimes, and have the utmost sympathy with those who have suffered it. Many of the people in this narrative have been anonymised, for their protection. The book asks important questions about the processes of the law and the roles of the police and the Crime Prosecution Service and, as such, joins other titles of a similar nature published by Seren.

Operation Violet Oak was the police investigation into an alleged historical child abuse ring in Cardiff. GP Stephen Glascoe was one of five men falsely accused of being a member of the alleged ring. This book is the account of how this affected him. It covers the period from his arrest in July 2016 to the dropping of all charges in January 2018, just two weeks before trial. In addition to recounting the affect on himself, his health, his marriage and his friendships, Glascoe believes that he and his co-defendants were caught up in the media hysteria surrounding several historic child abuse cases, which drove police forces to strive for convictions.