Peter Ellis and "Sigrid", The Fifth Woman Crèche Worker
"Sigrid", real name Jennifer, was the 5th women Police took into the labyrinth Peter Ellis/Crèche case. Husband Winston relives the entanglement and ongoing battle for truth and justice.
In 1991 the Peter Ellis/Civic Crèche case swept through Christchurch and with it took Ellis and 4 female Crèche workers with allegations of child sexual abuse and satanic ritual abuse. It culminated in Ellis’s wrongful convictions, which were later quashed. It also led to the baseless arrest and detention of his former colleagues from the defunct Civic Crèche, and charges that were later dropped.
But there was a fifth woman. Author Lynley Hood refers to the fifth woman as “Sigrid” in her book A City Possessed. Her name was changed. “Sigrid’s” real name can be revealed as Jennifer. Jenny and husband Winston were a suburban couple and parents to three children, when the Police investigation came knocking on their front door on 1 October 1992.
In this article, The Wigram examines the impact that Police and the State overreach can have on the lives of ordinary citizens like Winston and Jenny, and the need to know your rights when officialdom coming knocking. Although the case is over 30 years old, Winston and Jenny’s story is as relevant now as ever, and needs to be told, to show that injustice can change innocent people and family’s lives in a moment of time.
Pictured: Winston at home.
Before we head into this story, it is worthy of noting that to this day, the couple have never seen nor heard any evidence from Police to justify the raid on their home nor Jenny’s being taken away for questioning on that fateful day. Drawn into the Ellis/Crèche case, Winston is still looking for answers and accountability over 30 years on since their lives were turned upside down that October morning.
At The Beginning
At the centre of the Police case was child-care worker, Peter Ellis. At the Civic Crèche since 1986, a Christchurch City Council run service, he was working alongside a team that included Gaye Davidson, the crèche supervisor, and Jenny.
Through late 1991 and into 1992 unproven allegations of child abuse began to circulate, culminating in Peter’s wrongful arrest in March 1992.
Pictured: The site of the Cranmer Centre, the home of former Civic Crèche on the corner of Montreal and Armagh Streets.
As 1992 progressed, unsubstantiated allegations of satanic abuse reared their head. The Police focus thus turned towards some of the female creche workers. According to A City Possessed, Department of Social Work manager Janet Biswell was briefed by Police on 1 September, saying to Hood:
“About the female workers - activities that had been going on -drug dealings at the creche, cannabis, that sort of thing - concerns about sexual goings-on amongst all the main parties and players and creche parents and various other people. I think those were the two basic concerns - sexual activity and drug dealing.”
“These allegations were totally unsubstantiated,” wrote Hood.
On 3 September, the Crèche was closed.
Before The Raid
“And it was a guy who was having trouble with a similar situation to Peter Ellis in the United States. And I’d hung up from him shortly before the raid. I went down for a bottle of milk and I came home and the raid was on.”
Winston remembers something suspicious prior to the Police raid.
“I rang, I got up really early to ring the US.”
He explains the phone call’s origins.
“There was, Robert (“Robbie”) Davidson, who was Gaye Davidson’s [husband], who ended up becoming a lawyer and marrying Lianne Dalziel…Robbie was going to Law school studying to be a lawyer. Yes, this is the day before the raids, and Robbie had a Playboy magazine which he opened up in the cafeteria at the university to cause a stir, because they were all very PC. And Robbie liked to stir.”
“I ring the guy who was the feature of the [article]. Robbie realised I would be interested in the article–I can’t remember what it was about now, but he gave it to me. And it was a guy who was having trouble with a similar situation to Peter Ellis in the United States. I rang the guy and wanted to know what. [Ritual abuse?] Yeah. About what caused his case to happen.
“And I’d hung up from him shortly before the raid. I went down for a bottle of milk and I came home and the raid was on.”
“And that that always strikes me as something to do with it; they were listening in I thought to my phone conversation to this guy in the States.”
The Police Raids
“I noticed some Police cars at great speed turning into Bradford Ave. They were on two wheels.”
On the morning of 1 October, the Police raids began at the homes of five former female crèche workers. It was at or about 8 o’clock, a weekday, when the raid began at the home of Winston and Jenny. Winston had gone “down to the shop” to buy a “bottle of milk and a Press”.
“That day is memorable to me, because Princess Margaret were on strike, the hospital was on strike. And Jenny volunteered to assist there.”
“And driving back west along from the river, along the Heathcote River, along Tennyson Street towards Bradford Ave, where we were living at the time. I noticed some Police cars at great speed turning into Bradford Ave. They were on two wheels.”
“And as I approached Bradford Ave, the street looked blocked with cops cars. there were many cops cars and I thought someone’s been a naughty boy. Ha, ha. Couldn’t think who. And little did I realise that they were at my place.”
“And we pulled into the drive, and I was approached by a cop. ‘Read this’ he said. And he said similarly to my wife ‘read this’. ‘Who are you?’ [he said]. And I said ‘I live here. Who are you?’ ”
He couldn’t recall being cautioned, but “we might have, sort of see a lawyer with post haste.
“Well, we certainly, we were certainly caught between. I can’t recall being cautioned.”
“My wife was just fresh out of the bath. And she had to get cleaned up in front of a policewoman. Two policewomen. She later joined us in the house and. [Police were] searching the place. Looking up the skirts of dolls, actually, that’s the bit that stands out. They were looking at, up the skirts of dolls my wife had and her mother’s dolls collection. And it was really weird. They were looking up the skirts of the dolls. And looking at ornaments round the, round the room. It was more like a drug search than, than anything.”
“They found a packet of old tabacco, which I had bought years before, and they were intrigued with that, and they discovered a, I imported some time earlier, I was importing a shipment of detergent powder. When they discovered this detergent powder in a packet, a plastic bag, they, you could see them levitating almost. And they thought they’d…and it was just detergent powder.”
“And I also remember I had some very old condoms from when I put the condom machines into the university in town. They were just lying around. And, again, they thought, they cracked the jackpot with those. And my wife said “I wouldn’t trust those”. And I tried to burst one with my finger [in front of the Police]. And that convinced them they were old, old stock, and they dropped it.”
“[They went through] yeah, everything. Everything. Everything. It was so weird. It looked like what I imagined a drug search would be. They’d [the children had] probably gone to school.
Winston believes the Police knew the children had gone before they searched the property.
The search continued while Police questioned them.
“And then they followed me around the house. Sort of over ma shoulder. “Tell us more about [Peter] Ellis”, and that sort of thing. and they could see I wasn’t. Peter Ellis was a [redacted], for want of a better word. And they could see I was certainly not one of those.”
“No, [Jenny was] wandering around the house, getting in the road. The cops. She was. Where were you Jennifer? She was around and they were questioning her.”
“Well, the cops were all over me. Especially the officer in charge who I can’t recall his name right now but I can get it later. He asked what I thought of Peter Ellis. I responded “well he’s not my cup of tea”. That’s all I said. That’s all I said. At the back door. Outside. On the pathway out, leading to the backdoor.”
[Could the Police return?] “Well I was told they could come back within a month. Yeah, a cop [Detective] Rob Nicholl, was his name. That was in my porch, the front door porch.”
We told…the cops were stupid. Well, we said to the cops you’re bloody stupid. That was during the search.
“The search had finished. They [the Police] were all excited because [Detective Inspector] Brian Pearce had turned up. Yeah, they were really excited. In fact, they were [redacted].”
The search lasted “or more than an hour, more like an hour and a half.”
Police didn’t take away his computers or hardware. “I don’t know whether they knew about that stuff.”
In fact, Police took nothing away.
Jenny Goes In For Questioning
“She was quite cut up but okay. She told me what they’d done to her and bought her a cup of tea and some dry sandwiches in the middle of the day.”
“And they eventually dragged her off and brought her back at 5 o’clock or after.”
Jenny went willingly.
“Yeah, she was very compliant. [Because they were the Police?] Yeah. Because they were policemen.
“And she was gone all day. And I didn’t know what was happening. Zoe [redacted] a workmate of hers was ringing me up wondering what was going on. She’d heard that the raid had taken place, and I couldn’t tell her anything. I didn’t know until she [Jenny] came home about 6 o’clock.
While Jenny was away, worry set in.
“Well, I was taken aback. And worried. Thought she was going to be arrested. I’d heard that the others had been arrested. But ah, yeah, I was shit scared.”
“No, no, I didn’t know [when she was coming back]. I didn’t know what they were going to do with her.”
Jenny returned home.
“She was quite cut up but okay. She told me what they’d done to her and bought her a cup of tea and some dry sandwiches in the middle of the day. [Who interviewed her?] I think it was Rob. There was an officer assigned.
[After Jenny returned] “We had a wind down”.
The Women Are Charged
“I took phone calls from people ringing me up to see what’s [going on.] And well a woman from the crèche who job shared with Jenny. And one or two others who were workmates. and, ah, they were next. they, they, they were absolutely beside themselves.
Winston knew the women had been charged “virtually that night. Yeah, probably rung one of them up. We disobeyed the cops. We had to know. And so, well, we weren’t to make contact with anyone. The former staff. And we wanted to know what was going on, so we rang one or two. And that’s when we found out.”
[He was] Shocked.
“I’ve never had anything to do with the cops. And this was all foreign to me and it was an education, and I certainly wouldn’t trust them as far as I could kick them. It was, their angle was one of degradation. They wanted to degrade [me and Jenny].”
“I took phone calls from people ringing me up to see what’s [going on.] And well a woman from the crèche who job shared with Jenny. And one or two others who were workmates. and, ah, they were next. they, they, they were absolutely beside themselves. Thinking they’ll be next. And [as for knowledge of the other searches] not much. All I.”
“When they’d [Police] gone, we started ringing around different ones, and yeah they’d experienced much the same as Jenny experienced. And, ah, they were all at the cop shop, the whole five of them. four of them…four were arrested. no [Jenny] she came home…as far as I know taken away. Detained illegally in my opinion. Yeah she was detained.”
The Witch Hunt Erupts
“Oh, yes, Jennifer experienced a bit of strife on the street. People saying she was involved in it. And she was guilty and Peter Ellis appeared not to be the only one, in their opinion.”
“No, well, a lot of people said it’s a witch hunt and ah, we agreed. People said the council were nuts to pursue it. The general feeling was amongst our contacts and friends and family that ‘it’s a load of old cobblers’.”
“Well, we started questioning the council on certain matters and the Police. He [Peter Ellis] was stitched up and we wanted answers for Peter Ellis and for our women. And their workmates. And so, we did the natural thing–we asked questions.”
“Oh, yes, Jennifer experienced a bit of strife on the street. People saying she was involved in it. And she was guilty and Peter Ellis appeared not to be the only one, in their opinion.”
“It put everything on hold for a period. Well, we didn’t go out. Jennifer was afraid to walk down the street. It was just unpleasant.”
“[Jenny couldn’t work with kids] no, yeah, well she wouldn’t work with kids. She’d been a Karitane nurse and she had good references and everyone thought she was wonderful. And when this sort of thing comes along, it changes everything. Well, she refused to have anything to do with childcare.”
Winston worried the Police could return to his home.
“It was always in the back of our minds. It depended on what they got from the council, in our opinion.”
The Christchurch City Council offered them counselling.
“We were sent to a woman wearing Doc Martin boots, very trendy, and possibly [redacted]. We had one session with her, and it was just patsy questions. No, it didn’t work.”
Inquiries With The Christchurch City Council and Police
“A sigh of relief came over his face. As if he’d “thank god, they’ve asked the question, because it lets him off the hook. And we could search for it ourselves.”
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