Paedophile kills himself before trial

12 April 2012

A paedophile who abused at least 400 children has killed himself on the eve of his trial.

Diabetic John Darby, 73, who ran a children's care home, took an insulin overdose to avoid being punished for crimes dating back 40 years. He was found unconscious at his home last week and died yesterday.

Darby ran Hollydale Children's Home in Catford from 1971 to 1983. He abused at least 400 children and kept their underpants at his home in Hunstanton, Norfolk, where police also found 1,200 films of him sexually assaulting and torturing children.

He was to face trail at Blackfriars crown court for serious sexual offences and cruelty. Ten of the 11 victims in the charges were boys, and police think he abused "many hundreds" more.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in