Those charged with monitoring the known paedophile included the scandal-hit social services department at the Vale of Glamorgan council.
Three social workers already face losing their jobs over another case in which a teenage paedophile was placed with a foster family whose children he went onto abuse.
Now officials still reeling from that scandal have confirmed an investigation has begun into what went wrong in this case.
The mother of the victim, who was seven when the attacks began and is now 10, told the Echo her family has been “massively let down” by those whose job it is to protect them.
She believes authorities put the interests of the sex offender and the protection of his identity above the safety of her son.
“Now things have been put in place to stop him (the offender) having contact with other children, but weren’t they in place at the time he abused my son?” said the mum, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
“This whole thing has put me on the ropes, but if they think for one second I will stop fighting they are wrong.
“I am not going to stop until I get the answers I want. Somebody is going to pay for this.”
The 16-year-old paedophile was ordered to be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act by Cardiff’s most senior judge in a hearing at the city’s Crown Court a week ago.
THE two-year campaign of abuse did not come to light until the young victim broke down and told his mum.
The abuse began soon after the elder boy moved into the area from England where he had been convicted of inciting a male child into sexual activity when he was just 12.
He had appeared before a youth court in England and was not jailed. Instead, he was given a 10-month referral order, usually given to minor first-time offenders and under which the offender is required to meet authorities regularly to address their behaviour.
Confidential documents seen by the Echo also confirm he was placed on the sex offenders’ register for two-and-a-half years.
The mother of the South Wales victim told the Echo that she was devastated when her boy, then nine, came to her in 2008 and told her what had been going on for two years.
“There are two things you dread happening to your children as a parent: one is losing your child and the other is this,” she said.
“Brokenhearted is not the word. This is something that I really felt would actually put me in a mental institution because it has gone round and round in my head.
“Sometimes this lad was staying around my house two to three days in a row and nobody ever said anything to me. At one time it felt like he had moved in.”
The 29-year-old, who has now moved her family to the Midlands, said she had no idea the boy she thought was friends with both her son and daughter was under the supervision of officials from the Youth Offending Team in the Vale of Glamorgan council.
Every local authority has a YOT made up of social workers, the police, probation service, health, education, drug and housing officers.
“The night I was told what had happened it was like I split into two people with one side of me feeling like I wanted to go and attack the boy who had done this to my child and the other part of me was saying I shouldn’t do that because it’s the wrong thing to do,” said the mother.
The paedophile admitted six charges of rape and two of sexual assault against her son – specimen examples of a prolonged course of conduct.
He was also charged with sexual offences against her daughter, now 14.
But in a letter to her mother Assistant District Crown Prosecutor Catrin Davies said despite her wish that they should also proceed with these charges, his not guilty pleas had been accepted.
Ms Davies said they decided not to proceed to trial in relation to alleged offences against the daughter as he would inevitably face a lengthy prison sentence for the offences committed against her brother and it would not be in the interests of the children to put them through a trial.
The mum said the police investigation and the court case has taken a heavy toll on herself, her husband, also 29, and their children.
She said they felt they had to get away to another part of the country after both children were bullied and the family was verbally abused and had their car and house vandalised after her children made allegations against the teenager.
She also blames herself for not noticing that something was wrong.
“I blame myself for not noticing the signs. I pride myself on the fact that I know my kids so well.
“My son had withdrawn into himself, but I thought maybe he was worried about me because doctors had found a cyst on my brain.
“He now has a medical stress disorder and coughs constantly, which is an effect of the abuse. He also bites all the skin off his fingers and picks holes in his head because of the stress.
“Both my children have had nose bleeds due to stress and stopped eating.”
She added: “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
“Our family has got a life sentence.”
The Vale of Glamorgan council said it cannot provide detail about individual cases.
But Philip Evans, chairman of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board, said: “Due to the serious nature of the offences committed by this young person, the Local Safeguarding Children Board requested that all relevant agencies reviewed their involvement in the case.
“This work has been underway for some months. The board expects the reports from all the agencies to be completed soon, including any lessons to be learned and recommendations for action.
“These reports will be considered by the board when finalised.”
.........Sarah Tofte
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