A WELSH COURT has sentenced former children care home boss John Allen to life in prison, BBC News reports.

Allen, who maintained his innocence throughout the trial, was convicted last week of sexual offences against 18 boys and one girl over more than two decades.

Sky News reports at one stage he had 120 boys in his care.

In a statement after the sentence was handed down, Jon Brown from the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said Allen’s “reign of terror… puts him high up the scale of the most prolific child abusers of recent times”.

Instead of nurturing the vulnerable children in his care he abused his power and subjected them to constant, horrendous sexual attacks.

“His manipulative and devious behaviour allowed him to hide behind a shroud of respectability while his helpless victims suffered intense emotional trauma,” he added.

Last year, the first report into Operation Pallial, an investigation into the child sex abuse in Welsh care homes, was published. Allen is the first to be convicted following this.

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