By Ashleigh Wallace
21 June 2005A man who gave evidence at the Barnardo's sex abuse trial has told the Court of Appeal he sent a letter full of lies to a social worker to seek attention.
The man, who is currently in prison on charges of indecently assaulting his sister's children, wrote a letter to a social worker earlier this year saying he lied in court.
In the letter, he claimed that two former care workers who he said abused him as a child in the Macedon home in Newtownabbey - George Anderson (47) and 69-year old Margaret Hewitt - were in fact innocent.
Both Anderson and Hewitt were jailed last year following a nine-week trial during which former residents of the children's home accused the pair of sustained sexual abuse.
Claiming he had a "religious experience" while in prison, the former resident told a social worker: "Margaret is innocent of any sex charges she is convicted of."
In another section of the letter, the man said he hoped Hewitt could forgive him for lying during the trial, adding: "A great injustice has been done. I will not stop until I get her out of prison because she should not be there."
When asked by John Creaney QC, who represented Hewitt during the trial, the man replied: "Margaret was the nightmare of my childhood.
"She scared me very badly and when I got the letter (about abuse in Macedon) I thought it was a way of getting my own back on her."
However, during yesterday's hearing in Belfast, the man claimed that the contents of the letter were a lie which he wrote to get attention from staff at Barnardo's who he felt were neglecting him.
He said he had written the letter when in a confused state of mind, adding he would have made anything up if it meant staff from Barnardo's visiting him.
Mr Creaney told the man, who sat inches from Hewitt and Anderson: "You wouldn't know when you are telling the truth or when you are telling lies."
Earlier in yesterday's hearing, another former resident told the appeal he felt Anderson was innocent of the sex abuse charges he was convicted of.
Following last year's trial, Anderson, formerly of Hillhead Road in Ballycarry, was sentenced to 18 years after he was found guilty of 17 charges.
Hewitt, formerly of Drain's Bay in Larne, was handed an 11-year jail term after being found guilty of 53 charges.
At hearing.
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