Fury as children's home manager who sexually abused boys and girls in 18-year 'regime of fear' walks free

A children's home manager who sexually abused girls and boys in his care during an 18-year "regime of fear" has walked free, after a judge's decision that has left his victims furious.

This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

Malcolm Phillips committed sexual offences against four girls and two boys between 1976 and 1994, using them "for his own sexual gratification", a jury found in February.

The 93-year-old could not be jailed because of his health, so a trial-of-the-facts was held at Bradford Crown Court in which jurors were asked to determine whether he had committed the acts.

On Monday, Judge Kirstie Watson said the only sentence available to her was an absolute discharge, adding: "I do that with great reluctance given the seriousness of the offences for which you have been convicted."

She said: "There will be those who ask 'what is the point?'… [For the victims] this trial process has given them a voice, it has allowed them to speak. They have been listened to."

Phillips' assistant at the care home, Linda Brunning, 66, who was found guilty of restraining one boy while Phillips sexually assaulted him and indecently assaulting another herself while drying him after a shower, was jailed for 25 years.

The court heard the only other sentencing options available to a judge after a trial of facts are committal to hospital or a supervision order.

A pre-sentence report found that as Phillips has no mental disorder, and his issues came from physical illness and age-related cognitive decline, he was not suitable for a hospital order and a supervision order would be of "limited practical value".

Children's home run 'like a prison'

The trial had heard Phillips controlled Skircoat Lodge Care Home in Halifax, West Yorkshire and, with Brunning's help, ran the place "more like a prison".

Kelly Lees, 43, who was indecently assaulted by Phillips between the ages of 11 and 12, said he had "abused so many children and practically got away with it".

Ms Lees, who has waived her right to anonymity, told the trial that Phillips abused her after inviting her into his office to do homework and would give her a lollipop afterwards.

Before the sentencing hearing, she told the Press Association she was "furious" at learning Phillips had been unfit to stand trial.

'That's not justice'

She said: "He should have been sent to prison... Why is someone who's abused children and been found guilty sitting at home, comfortable? I can't comprehend it.

"He had control at Skircoat Lodge and he's still got control now.

"He's abused so many children and practically got away with it. That's not justice."

Phillips attended the sentencing on a video link from his home and sat in an armchair, occasionally leaning his head back, as statements from the six victims were read in court.

He had lived in a flat at the children's home that led to the girls' bedrooms, giving him "unfettered access" to his victims, the jury was told.

Victims' anger

Three of the victims - Ms Lees, Angela Radford and Karen Bentham, who have waived their anonymity - attended court together and comforted each other after reading their statements.

Angela Radford, who was indecently assaulted by Phillips after being sent to Skircoat Lodge as a teenager in the late 1970s, told the court: "He's abused children through the decades and yet he's walking free. I think he should die in prison."

Ms Bentham, who was raped twice by Phillips as a teenager, said she was "the one living a life sentence."

Prosecutor Michelle Colborne KC said Phillips and Brunning had carefully picked their victims, using the children's files to identify who could be manipulated.

"They told them no one cared about them, they told them no one would believe them," she said.

"If they ran away from Skircoat Lodge, they were taken straight back by police, accused of being troublemakers."

The jury had found Phillips, of Tyseley, Birmingham, had committed three counts of indecent assault, two counts of indecency with a child, three counts of indecent assault on a male person, two counts of buggery and two of rape.

Brunning, of Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, was found guilty of two counts of aiding and abetting indecent assault, two of aiding and abetting buggery and one of indecent assault.

The court heard abuse at the home went on "unreported against a backdrop of legitimacy" for almost 20 years.

Phillips' "regime of fear" only came to an end when he was suspended in 1994 after an investigation. Skircoat Lodge closed two years later.

He was jailed in 2001 for sexual offences against eight female residents after an earlier prosecution over abuse at the home.

(c) Sky News 2026: Fury as children's home manager who sexually abused boys and girls in 18-year 'regime o