Ex-Met Police officer and children’s home manager, 73, who raped and abused underage girls across the UK for two decades is jailed for 17 years

• Paul Lamb, 73, was found guilty of 19 sexual offences at court earlier this month
• His crimes began in early 70s in London – where he worked as Met Police officer
• By the 1980s, he moved north and was appointed manager of a children’s home
• Judge Tremberg sentenced him to 17-and-a-half-years in jail at Hull Crown Court

An ex-Met Police officer and children’s home manager who raped and abused underage girls across the UK for two decades has been jailed for 17 years.

Paul Lamb, 73, was found guilty of 19 sexual offences at Hull Crown Court earlier this month, including three counts of raping a girl under the age of 16.

The serial child abuser’s crimes began during the early 1970s in London – where he worked as an officer in the Metropolitan Police and had close ties with children’s homes in Islington.

From April 1970 to September 1972, Lamb committed his first rape of an underage girl and was also found guilty of two counts of indecent assault on a female aged under 16 in that period.

By the 1980s, Lamb had moved north and was appointed manager of the Brook Cottage children’s home in Driffield – a post he held from 1984 to 1987.

Paul Lamb (pictured above), 73, was found guilty of 19 sexual offences at Hull Crown Court earlier this month, including three counts of raping a girl under the age of 16

Whilst there, Lamb began sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, getting her drunk before abusing her and inappropriately touching her while she pretended to sleep.

It is said Lamb took her virginity when she was aged 16, raping her in the flat at the children’s home and in his family home while his wife and children were upstairs.

The victim’s evidence was read out in court by Judge David Tremberg, where it was heard: ‘I was about 15 or 16 and got back from the pub and carried on drinking at Paul’s flat [Brook Cottage].

‘It was spirits but I can’t remember what, I was legless. I remember waking up in the double bed.

‘I felt disgusted because I knew what he had done – have sex with me. When I woke up he brought me a cup of tea. He said the cleaner was downstairs and that I needed to get back into my room.

‘I felt hungover. After that Paul kept commenting that I wasn’t a virgin. It was like he was gloating.’

In her evidence the victim said she never consented to any of the sexual assaults and felt ‘frightened of what he would do’ if she spoke out.

In 1986, Lamb was subjected to a disciplinary hearing after the victim drunkenly told others in the home of the abuse he put her through.

Other girls made similar reports. He never returned to Brook Cottage.

But the young girl and Lamb kept in touch after she left the children’s home, with Lamb admitting to police that he had a sexual relationship with her when she was at least aged 19.

A jury at Hull Crown Court (above, file photo) found Lamb guilty of 19 sexual offences, including 16 offences of indecent assault and three counts of rape

However, evidence in court suggested Lamb sexually assaulted her when she stayed with him and his family at his home. The victim last saw Lamb when she was aged 23 or 24.

Judge Tremberg, reading the evidence, said: ‘I didn’t want to hurt his family. I hated him but he was like a father figure. I hated him after he raped me.

‘It was a kind of love hate thing. I still wanted him to be the person I wanted him to be – like a father figure. I still wanted to be part of that family.’

The victim decided to give evidence of the abuse Lamb put her through in July 2019 after police found her possessions at Lamb’s home in Fishergate, York.

A diary was found where the victim set out the sexual abuse and rapes against her.

Earlier this year, Lamb appeared at Hull Crown Court to stand trial for 20 sexual offences – allegations he described as ‘ludicrous’ and ‘totally fictitious’.

However, a jury found him guilty of 19 of them, including 16 offences of indecent assault and three counts of rape.

Judge Tremberg sentenced him to 17-and-a-half-years in prison. 

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