In Dark Corners

In 2022, journalist Alex Renton told the story of sexual abuse and cover up in Britain’s elite schools, including his own. After the Radio 4 series aired, his inbox exploded; with people sharing their personal accounts of abuse.

Last spring, and anothr email. This one came with an attachment: a scanned copy of a membership list for a pro-paedophile campaign group active in the 1970s and 80s. The group's name was the Paedophile Information Exchange, or PIE for short.

The PIE List sets Alex - himself a survivor of child sexual abuse - on a dizzying journey into the group’s dark history.

As he digs further, a source gets in touch; could Alex travel to meet him? During that meeting he hands him other secret documents, which build a picture of the criminal activities of some of PIE’s members: teachers, clergymen, social workers, government advisors.

Alex begins to wonder: where are all those hundreds of PIE members now? Are children still at risk?

Presenter: Alex Renton Producer: Caitlin Smith Researchers: Claire Harris and Marisha Currie Executive producers: Gail Champion and Gillian Wheelan Story Consultants: Jack Kibble White and Kirsty Williams Written by Alex Renton, Caitlin Smith, Jack Kibble White and Kirsty Williams Sound designer: Jon Nicholls Theme tune composed by Jeremy Warmsley Commissioning executive: Tracy Williams Commissioner: Dan Clarke

Journalist Alex Renton is sent a secret membership list of a pro-paedophile group active in the 1970s and 80s.

It’s a lot to take in. Alex is not only a journalist, he’s a survivor of child sexual abuse.

The Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) campaigned to 'normalise' sex between children and adults. Their spokesmen claimed that adult members always sought consent.

But from the moment Alex was passed the list he knew that was a lie. He recognised some of those names and he knew they had convictions for child sexual abuse.

The List set Alex off on a dizzying journey into the dark history of PIE. As he uncovered more, he started to wonder: where were all those hundreds of members now? Could children still be at risk?

316 names. Most with UK addresses. All but a handful are men.

In this final episode Alex makes contact with some of the former members of PIE; people he believes may still come into contact with children.

Archive credits: BBC, Nationwide 1981; BBC, Newsnight 1983; BBC Parliament, 2025.

Presenter: Alex Renton Producer: Caitlin Smith Executive Producers: Gillian Wheelan and Gail Champion Story Consultants: Jack Kibble-White and Kirsty Williams Sound design: Jon Nicholls Theme Tune: Jeremy Warmsley

Details of organisations offering information and support for victims of child sexual abuse are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline

A social care consultant who advises the government on children in care, is raided by police in 1992. A detective finds evidence linking him to the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE).

A local social worker is called in. He and the detective search through seven boxes of documents, brought from the home of the suspect. They discover that not only was he a member of PIE, but a central figure and high up in establishment circles.

Alex Renton sits down with the social worker, and hears about his decades long quest: to expose members of the Paedophile Information Exchange within social care and stop them from harming children.

In their public literature, the leaders of PIE members had always claimed their relationships with children were consensual. Alex Renton tracks down one of the boys, now a man in his fifties, who was abused by the childcare expert and his partner.

Archive: Inside Story- The Secret Life of a Paeophile, 1994, BBC. News report on the White Inquiry into Islington Children's Homes child abuse scandal, 1995, BBC; The Scandal of Crookham Court, That's Life!, 1991, BBC.

Presenter: Alex Renton Producer: Caitlin Smith Executive Producers: Gail Champion and Gillian Wheelan Story Consultants: Jack Kibble-White and Kirsty Williams Sound design: Jon Nicholls Theme Tune: Jeremy Warmsley

Details of organisations offering information and support for victims of child sexual abuse are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline