Allan Levy

Allan Edward Levy was a barrister specialising in family law and an advocate of children's rights. He is best known for his chairmanship of the Pindown Enquiry and, as a result of the public exposure the enquiry brought, he was much in demand as a speaker at family law conferences within the United Kingdom and internationally.

Early years

Levy was born on 17 August 1942 at the infirmary in Bury, Lancashire. He was the only child of Sidney Levy, a radio engineer, and his wife Mabel (née Lewis). The family lived in Prestwich, now part of Greater Manchester, but at that time in Lancashire; Levy remained a proud Lancastrian throughout his life.

Education

At the age of 11, Levy won a place at Bury Grammar School and, by the time he was in the upper sixth, had been appointed a prefect and captain of the 3rd XI soccer team. After sitting 'A' levels in English, history and geography, he went up to the University of Hull to read law. he graduated LLB (Honours) and, after attending the Inns of Court School of Law, he was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1969. and was an early advocate for a children's commissioner when it lacked political support.

Pindown

In 1990, Staffordshire County Council determined to hold an inquiry into abuses in a number of the county's children's homes. Children had been subject to a Pindown regime of isolation and other punishments; it was a system of behavior management intended to pin down the problem of disruptive children (rather than physically to pin down children – although it frequently included instances of both.) The inquiry, the first into residential care, led to the Quality Protects initiative, launched by the Department of Health in 1998, which sought to improve a range of childcare services.

His friendship with Kahan (whom he had not known before the inquiry) continued until her death, whilst Levy went on to chair the Vladimir and Barbara Kahan Trust. because his collection of books was too large and was reputed to be widely read in "the most unlikely fields – from philosophy to detective fiction, and all points in between."

Although he enjoyed female company, Levy joked that his remaining single helped to keep the divorce statistics down. He had no children and died in a nursing home on 26 September 2004.

Published work

In addition to newspaper and journal articles, he was the author of works including; Wardship Proceedings London: Oyez Longman, 1982 Adoption of Children London: Oyez Longman, 1985 (with J F Josling) Re-Focus on Child Abuse London: Thorogood 1989 (as editor and contributor) One Scandal Too Many Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 1993 (contributor) Medico-Legal Essentials in Health Care Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996 (contributor)