Families of children in care have described their ordeal as 'living a nightmare' after discovering through a news article that a North Tyneside Children's Services employee had been jailed for child sexual offences. Mark Campbell, 52, was sentenced to 18 months at Newcastle Crown Court after attempting to incite sexual activity from a young girl and possessing indecent images of children.
Predator Targeted Decoy Account
Campbell had asked what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl on Snapchat if she liked older men and stated he did not care about their age difference. He emphasised the need to be 'discreet and careful' while sending explicit images and requesting images of the girl's private parts. Unbeknownst to him, he was communicating with a police officer using a decoy account to identify sexual predators.
Campbell was employed by North Tyneside's Children Services and had unsupervised access to transport children to their planned visitations. Logs obtained by Metro reveal that Campbell had unsupervised contact with children in the weeks and months before his arrest. One document described him picking up two children in his car in early May.
Guardian's Anguish
A guardian told Metro: 'The stress and anxiety this has placed on our family is completely overwhelming. Every day is filled with doubt, worry, and anger. The system has completely failed us, and their total lack of transparency has broken our trust in local authority safeguarding beyond repair.'
Guardians were forced to discover on their own whether their child had been in contact with Campbell, including submitting subject access requests. 'Finding out completely by accident through a local news article that a now convicted child exploiter had sole, unsupervised physical custody of our children was a sickening betrayal,' the guardian added. 'But the council's cold, silent response has made the trauma so much worse. They didn't proactively reach out to warn us, they didn't offer any professional support they just buried the incident to protect their own reputation while we were left to pick up the pieces of our shattered trust.'
Council Apologises
North Tyneside Children's Services stated they were unaware of Campbell's offending until August 11 and took immediate action upon being informed. Rebecca Wall, Director of Children's Services at North Tyneside Council, said: 'We are sorry that some families learned about this matter online rather than hearing from us directly. We completely understand the worry, upset, and frustration this may have caused, and we would like to offer our sincere apologies. We know that parents place immense trust in us, and we recognise how unsettling this situation will be for many. Our ambition is always to be as open and transparent as possible. However, we have to work with the legal and court processes and while these processes are ongoing there are legal limitations on what can be shared. As soon as we became aware of the outcome, we took immediate steps to contact families and provide reassurance and support. We remain committed to listening to families' concerns and responding to any questions they may have.'
