Fifty-four-year-old British national Murray Ward — arrested for allegedly sodomising three blind children — told the investigators that he was a habitual offender and has been sexually assaulting three minor children, police sources said on Tuesday. The investigating officer scanned the CCTV footage at the National Institution for the Blind (NAB) to check the movement of the Briton on the NAB campus.
There is enough evidence to suggest Ward sexually exploited blind children. Police was informed about the incident after a staff member complained to them saying accused Ward was seen sodomising a blind children. The NAB staff members were suspicious of Ward's activities when the three children told them that they did not want to attend Ward's English class. Also, police said Ward had donated millions of rupees to the association in the last nine years.
“Ward used to donate money to the school from time to time and had posed as a philanthropist. We generally don't allow donors to reach beyond canteen or office, but Ward told us that he would take English classes for the children. When left alone in the rooms with a handful of children, he assaulted them. The children are being counselled by professionals from an NGO,” said a senior manager of the school.
It has also been revealed that accused Ward used to have sexual chats with 28 other visually impaired boys at the NAB and police are trying to find out if any of them were also sexually assaulted by him. Also, police are trying to get the help of a few NGOs in order to get help from them in counselling the boys to know more about Ward's activities. Meanwhile, the mobile and laptop seized from the accused has been sent to the cyber cell for further investigation.
During interrogation of the accused, it was also revealed that Ward used to sexually assault the children and then threatened to harm them if they ever complained or told about it to anyone else.
After suffering a cerebral attack, Ward was partly paralysed and moved around on a wheel chair, which forced him to quit his last job at Sterling Technology limited in Gurugram. He then started teaching English at the association.
Police sources said Ward had plans of leaving for Gloucestershire in United Kingdom later this month, where his wife and three children live. Police contacted the British High Commission and informed it about the incident.
Police suspect Ward could be part of a paedophile gang, who share photographs of victims among themselves. Since Ward had changed jobs frequently in the past few years, police would also try to find out if he had similar complaints against him at the work-places too.