Notorious Child Sex Offender John Allen Dies in Prison

Former Wrexham care home owner John Allen has died while serving a life sentence for child sex abuse. The 83-year-old, who was labelled a “predatory paedophile” in court, passed away at HMP Bure on May 3, 2025. 📋

Allen founded the Bryn Alyn community children’s homes in 1968 and operated them for two decades, creating one of the UK’s largest residential care providers for children. At its peak, the network housed more than 150 youngsters across 11 properties.

A Prison Service spokesperson confirmed: “HMP Bure prisoner John Allen died on May 3, 2025. As with all deaths in custody, the Prison and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”

Allen was originally jailed for life in 2014 with a minimum term of 11 years after being convicted of 33 sex offences committed between 1976 and 1992. Additional victims later came forward, resulting in further convictions in December 2019 for seven counts of indecent assault and one serious sexual offence against children.

At Mold Crown Court, Judge Rhys Rowlands imposed an additional 14-and-a-half year sentence, stating that Allen had shown “sheer wickedness” by exploiting vulnerable children in his care.

The investigation leading to Allen’s conviction was part of Operation Pallial, an independent inquiry launched by the National Crime Agency in 2012 to investigate historical abuse allegations in North Wales care homes. By January 2020, the operation had received information from 375 people and secured 13 convictions.

The NSPCC described Allen’s crimes as a “reign of terror over a dark period of several decades,” adding that his actions placed him “high up the scale of the most prolific child abusers of recent times.” ⚖️