`Pied Piper' abuser jailed

A FORMER social worker was jailed for 12 years yesterday for 10 sex attacks on children over a period of 21 years.

Geoffrey Morris, 43, described as being a "Pied Piper" to children, carried out the attacks on seven boys at the Taff Vale children's home in Whitchurch, Cardiff, where he worked.

Ian Murphy QC, for the prosecution, told Cardiff Crown Court that Morris had befriended his victims, who were aged eight to fifteen, before carrying out the assaults. He said: "Staff at the home remember him as being like a Pied Piper - groups of children followed him around.

"He was frequently in the habit of visiting children in their bedrooms. The trademark of his abuse was to befriend his victims and their families. When they were vulnerable he would cross the line, preying on their trust."

The court was told that Morris attacked four boys who were under his care at the home. He also carried out assaults in the bedroom of his home, in a public swimming pool and at another nearby children's home.

Stephen Hopkins, for the defence, said Morris now displayed "a strong element of remorse". He said the care of children "was the last sort of work that Geoffrey Morris should ever have embarked upon". Morris, of Cardiff, admitted carrying out six indecent assaults, gross indecency and three serious sexual assaults between 1974 and 1995.