Teenager takes legal action against Swindon Council for failing to protect him from jailed abuser Sam Powers

Legal action will be brought against Swindon Borough Council, alleging that the council failed to protect the teenager from abuse by Powers, who took PE classes at the school he attended. 

Powers, 28, was jailed for 20 years after he was found guilty of the rape of a child following a trial at Gloucester Crown Court in June this year. He also admitted 44 counts of sexually abusing children. 

The court was told Powers also worked at a gym in Swindon. He was known to have abused 17 children, but there may other still to be identified. 

The BBC reported that at sentencing, Judge Rupert Lowe said Powers had "picked on vulnerable boys that he instinctively knew would be easy to manipulate". Another survivor of his abuse is reported to have said Powers was a "monster, extremely calculated and manipulative". 

The teenager who has instructed Dino Nocivelli to bring a claim against Swindon Brough Council told BBC News Wiltshire that he had been let down by authorities who should have protected him. The council has since issued an apology and, according to the BBC report, says it has changed the way it deals with complaints. 

Dino Nocivelli’s client told the BBC he believes Swindon Borough Council failed to properly safeguard children by not coordinating information effectively with police. 

Dino Nocivelli said: 

“My client was only able to persuade the authorities in Wiltshire to take him seriously after he contacted Child Exploitation and Online Protection.  He believes he was let down badly by Swindon Borough Council who should have protected him from calculated and callous abuse by Sam Powers to feed his sexual obsession with teenage boys.  

“A public apology by Swindon Council and an admission of its failings is not enough to make up for the lifelong consequences of abuse by someone who my client and several others felt they could trust.” 

Dino Nocivelli’s team can be contacted on 020 7650 1397