My older brother did a paper round for a newsagent who became a family friend. My two younger brothers later took on paper rounds. A young boy, who had been living with one uncle elsewhere and had come to live with another relative locally, joined them and shortly after the owner caught him stealing cigarettes so he sacked him.
A few hours later the newsagent was arrested for supposedly abusing the boy. He was questioned non stop for 48 hours and admitted to my father that, when exhaustion overwhelmed him, he started to doubt himself. Fortunately another police officer decided to check the boys background and found that on several occasions he had accused people of sexual abuse when caught out in misdeeds.
I would guess he had been abused at some point because growing up in the 50/60s most children didn’t know about such things. Sadly the newsagent had a nervous breakdown, sold the business and moved away because there were people who insisted that there was no smoke without fire. The newsagent was a kind decent man with a new born baby. I hope he recovered and got his life back on track.
