A leading children’s rights campaigner, who helped governments around the world tackle the issue of abuse, has been jailed for raping a 13-year-old boy.

Former UNICEF consultant Peter Newell admitted three counts of indecent assault and two counts of buggery and was sentenced to six years, eight months in prison.

He has also been placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

The ‘horrific’ sexual assaults took place over a three-year period in the 1960s but have only come to light following a police investigation last year.

Newell, 77, of Wood Green, North London, who has led the campaign to ban the smacking of children in Britain, was sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court on January 3.

News of his imprisonment comes amidst warnings that predatory paedophiles are exploiting the aid sector after 125 British charity workers were accused of sexual abuse in 2017.

The scale of the problem has been laid bare by the scandal facing Oxfam whose staff have been accused of downloading pornography, using prostitutes in Haiti and preying on teenage volunteers in UK shops.

Along with his partner, Rachel Hodgkin, Newell helped prepare UNICEF’s Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, launched in Geneva in January 1998.

The document, which provides a detailed reference of law, policy and practice aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of children, is still used by governments all over the globe.

It is also used by various United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, human rights institutions and academics.

A spokesman for UNICEF said today: ‘We are deeply shocked to hear of the arrest of Peter Newell. We had no knowledge of this crime when he worked as a UNICEF consultant over 10 years ago.

‘UNICEF has since set in place strong procedures to vet staff and consultants.’

The victim was aged 12 at the beginning of the offences, which took place between May 30 1965 and May 31 1968 at a number of locations in London and the South East.

He reported the abuse to the Metropolitan Police in March 2016 and Newell was interviewed by detectives last May and charged in October.

The balding pensioner was jailed for six years and eight months for the buggery offences and three years and four months for the indecent assaults with the sentences to run concurrently.

Detective Constable Michael Lam-Hang, from the Met Police, said: ‘Newell committed a series of horrific sexual offences that have rightly resulted in a lengthy term of imprisonment.

‘I would like to thank the victim for his courage in reporting these crimes to police and supporting this investigation. ‘I would appeal to anyone who has been a victim of a sexual offence to come forward and speak to police; specially trained officers are there to support you and bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice.’…..Read more: