Paedo who acted ‘like God' abusing 19 kids in string of care homes dies in jail

Daily Mirror

14-05-2025

John Allen owned a network of care homes in Wales where he abused children and the 83 year old has now died in HMP Bure where he was jailed for life for his depraved crimes
A paedophile who "acted like God" abusing children across a string of care homes he owned has died in jail. John Allen, who made millions running multiple community children's homes in Wrexham, in Wales, was sentenced to life behind bars for his depraved crimes.
He was finally snared decades after his reign of terror began, and was serving life imprisonment at HMP Bure where he died at the age of 83. A spokesperson for the prison said: "HMP Bure prisoner John Allen died on May 3, 2025. As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate."
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Allen was the managing director of Bryn Alyn children's homes for two decades after setting up the first in 1968 when he was just 27. At one point Allen oversaw 11 properties providing care to more than 150 vulnerable children. But that allowed him to abuse victims who were living at the homes. One former resident at the Bryn Alyn children's home said living there "wasn't care, it was like hell".
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The victim told how Allen had groomed him with gifts before abusing him. He said: "The system really did fail us." Allen was first jailed for six years in 1995 after being found guilty of child abuse.
Then in 2014, Allen was sentenced to life in jail for 33 sex offences carried out between 1976 and 1992. The court heard at the time most of the complainants, 18 boys and one girl, came from "dysfunctional, chaotic" backgrounds, reported the Express.
Instead of being protected they were taken advantage of by a "powerful man" who was described as acting "like a god" by one traumatised victim.
Mold Crown Court heard Allen put the children in a "highly sexualised atmosphere" and kept his victims silenced through fear and isolation. Five years later he was convicted of seven counts of indecent assault and one of a serious sexual offence against children when more victims came forward.
Eleanor Laws, prosecuting, described Allen as a "predatory paedophile" who was a "regular and formidable" presence. Ms Laws branded Allen's sexual abuse of boys as "prolific".
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She told the court: "They were often forgotten. It made them the perfect targets for John Allen. His sexual abuse of these boys was prolific. He took risks to seriously sexually abuse them and he sexually abused them on many, many occasions."
Following conviction he was sentenced to another 14-and-a-half years by Judge Rhys Rowlands. The judge told Mold Crown Court Allen's crimes represented "sheer wickedness".
The sex beast was originally arrested after an independent investigation was launched by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in 2012. Dubbed Operation Pallial, the probe looks into allegations of historic abuse in the care system.
The NSPCC said Allen had conducted a "reign of terror over a dark period of several decades". The charity added that his crimes put him "high up the scale of the most prolific child abusers of recent times".