ABERGAVENNY CHRONICLE : BOOK SIGNING : THE ABERGAVENNY GAY WITCH HUNT OF 1942

19th September 2014. The Abergavenny Chronicle newspaper have been supportive from the word go on highlighting the existence of my book “The Abergavenny Witch Hunt.”. They featured a piece in the edition of the Abergavenny Chronicle on 18th September 2014 about a book signing in Abergavenny, at the Abergavenny Book Shop on Saturday 20th September 2014. Bless them. The Abergavenny Witch Hunt An Account of the prosecution of over twenty homosexuals in a small Welsh town in 1942 A New Book from Newport Author, William Cross From The Abergavenny Chronicle 18th September 2014 Booksigning at Abergavenny The author of the controversial “ Abergavenny Witch Hunt” will be signing copies of his book at the Abergavenny Bookshop on Saturday [ 20th September 2014]. William Cross published the book earlier this year on the largely forgotten Abergavenny sex scandal of 1942. At the time, the notorious sex case made national news and ‘rattled the town like an earthquake’. It involved over 20 men from Abergavenny and further afield being put on trial for homosexual behaviour, when it was still an imprisonable offence. One of the men involved took his own life by throwing himself in front of a train, while most of the other men involved received sentences ranging from one to ten years. Cross told the Chronicle, “ Understandably the book’s appearance has brought a mixed reaction especially as it provokes people into either distancing themselves completely or confronting a disturbing part of the town’s past which has cast its shadow of fear over the last seventy-two years.” Although keen to stress that the book is an objective study of the 1942 case and its wider implications, Cross does not whitewash the fact that certain characters involved in the 1942 case were predatory paedophiles. Cross explained “ Several of the men in the case who were found guilty were rightly punished for their offences against boys. While others, who were only ever involved with other consenting adults, were arguably treated harshly in the sentences given compared with today’s more enlightened times. “Whatever feelings are held, from the indifferent to the sympathetic I sincerely hope most Abergavenny people will accept that in the main the events recalled reflect what we consider as the cruelty and prejudice of our society in 1942. A time when the law and tolerances were very, very different from the modern era.” “ I believe a book was needed to retell this compellingly dark and tragic tale to a new audience. It will always be a difficult chapter of Abergavenny’s history, but cases like it led to fairer laws to protect our basic human rights and more importantly laws that still protect children. Final profits from sales of the book will be donated to the Abergavenny Community Café in memory of Lewis Matthews, the 19-year-old who took his own life as a consequence of the 1942 case. ABERGAVENNY CHRONICLE 18th September 2014 Page 2.