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Caerphilly County Borough Council has refused to explain how a vulnerable 15-year-old girl in its care came to be placed in an illegal care home 300 miles away where she was sexually abused by two ex-soldiers.

As first reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the girl was first placed at children’s home in Ripon, North Yorkshire, on September 5, 2024.

The 15-year-old, who the publication referred to as Alice (not her real name), was placed into care as she was at risk of sexual exploitation here in the county borough.

She was then moved a further 100 miles away to a three-bedroom property in Durham, which like the first home was run by a company called MAP Adventures.

The firm was not registered with Ofsted, so it was not overseen by inspectors, as it provided outdoor pursuit breaks for children in care – despite not being accredited with Adventure Activities Licensing Authority.

The Bureau said Alice was cared for by MAP Adventures beyond the 28-day limit for such breaks at the request of Caerphilly Council. Her abuse happened on the 29th day.

Court records the Bureau of Investigative Journalism obtained show staff were told about Alice’s age and vulnerabilities before she arrived.

MAP Adventures employed ex-military personnel and noted she was “at the highest risk of child sexual exploitation”.

The assessment was signed by Liam Ramsay and Stephen Hurst, two former soldiers in their 40s. Despite being recruited to look after vulnerable children, they held seven previous convictions between them, including four for violent offences.

On October 3, 2024, a message on the company’s WhatsApp group was posted asking for staff to cover a shift. Hurst responded and told Ramsay.

The two men drove Alice, who was the only child at the home at the time, into Durham city centre telling their manager they were taking her for a river walk. Instead, they took her to several pubs buying her cocktails, wine, and shots, and getting her increasingly drunk.

At the final pub the conversation turned to drugs. Ramsay knew where to get cocaine and they drove to pick it up with Alice taking some.

More alcohol – vodka and gin – was bought at a supermarket and they headed back to the property where Alice was plied with more alcohol and drugs until she was, in her words, “totally out of it”. The two men then sexually assaulted her for hours.

The morning after Ramsay and Hurst removed empty bottles and traces of drugs from the house as well as cleaning up Alice’s blood.

Alice ran away from the home the day after and was picked up at a nearby train station by police.
In April 2025, Ramsay and Hurst were found guilty of numerous offences, including sexual activity with a child. Ramsay, 40, was jailed for 11 years while Hurst, 46, was jailed for nine years. Both men were placed on the sex offenders register for life.

“Rather than do your duty,” the judge told them, “you both behaved absolutely appallingly and in a way that would make right-thinking members of the public hearing about it recoil, firstly in abject disbelief and then probably in horror.”

“I was in care to be looked after, taken care of and protected from harm,” said the girl in a victim’s statement read out in court. “These men have done the exact opposite to that. They have sexually abused me for hours and have caused me so much pain and destruction.”

It was only through contacting social care providers in Durham that the Bureau learned of Caerphilly’s involvement.

The Durham Safeguarding Children Partnership held a meeting after the arrests of Ramsay and Hurst in which a police detective asked why there had been no female staff.

According to minutes obtained by the Bureau, he was told Caerphilly Council had not requested any.
The meeting also raised questions about how Caerphilly could monitor Alice’s safety when she was 300 miles from home.

“It would be difficult for a [local authority] to have effective oversight of an unregistered provision so far away. In Durham the expectation is daily visits from Children and Young People’s Services staff to any unregistered placement.”

The minutes also refer to a “previous substantiated allegation of neglect relating to a Durham child in 2023” in an unregistered care home where Ramsay worked before moving to MAP Adventures. There was no mention in the minutes of any consequences from that neglect.

MAP Adventures has since closed. Its founder Paul McGrory told the Bureau that background checks on the pair had only revealed one of the seven convictions shared between them. The only one he was aware of, he said, was an assault committed by Ramsay.