Roger Took

Roger F. Took
Nationality	English
Education	Haileybury, Sandhurst, the Courtauld Institute
Occupation(s)	Art historian, Curator, Writer
Known for	Paedophilia
Spouse	Pat Cleary

Roger F. Took is an art historian, museum curator, author and convicted child sex offender who has lived in London, Ireland, and Russia. In the course of his career, he ran several museums in England, was a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, and a former director of the Barbican Art Gallery. He attended Haileybury College, Sandhurst and the Courtauld Institute. He married in 1983. In 1985, Took founded Artangel, an institution within the field of contemporary art. In December 2003, Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland, Roger Took's detailed description of life on Russia's Lapland and Kola Peninsula, was published in hardback. This book was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. Took was most recently acclaimed as an expert on the mediaeval Russian fur trade.

In April 2007, Took was arrested for paedophilia-related crimes, and in February 2008 was jailed for a minimum of four-and-a-half-years as part of an indeterminate sentence for 17 crimes relating to child abuse.

Career

Artangel

Artangel, which commissions work from international artists raging from sculpture to film, was founded in 1985 by Took as a privately funded initiative. It was taken over by James Lingwood and Michael Morris in 1992.

Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland

Hardback cover

In the 1990s, Roger Took decided to visit and write about Russia's Lapland and Kola Peninsula because there was so little known about the area. He prepared by taking a crash course in Russian and getting some arms training. He studied maps and the history of the area, people and Soviet occupation.

In December 2003, Running with Reindeer: Encounters in Russian Lapland was published in hardback. Written in a travelogue style, Took begins the book detailing the events of his first trip to Murmansk (often referred to as Russia's Lapland) as the first traveler to the area in 70 years, and later details of the interior of the region. He explains the desolation of post-Soviet north villages and the details of everyday life there of both the indigenous and non-indigenous settlers, expressing a "combination of respect and shock at their dismal lifestyle." Breaking the law, Took ventured into restricted areas, often getting caught, in order to give the reader an understanding of this vanishing native culture, its endangered ecosystem, and the dynamics of its cultures.

The Daily Telegraph reviewed the book as an "almost encyclopaedic account of northern travels". A 2004 article in the Canadian Journal of History reviewed it as "quite an extraordinary book", but continued on that "the final sections of the work prove to be ... highly disappointing." The book was shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 2004.

Personal life

Took met a wealthy painter, Pat Cleary, at a family party in 1981. Their families had been associated for decades. Despite her father's concerns that the financially struggling Took was only interested in marrying her for her money, the couple wed on 12 July 1983 and lived in Cleary's affluent Chelsea, London home. The extended family from Cleary's first marriage consisted of a son, two daughters and eight grandchildren. With both of Cleary's daughters in school in other countries, her teenage son was the only child residing with the couple. Cleary was "touched" by the attention paid to her son by Took, who had repeatedly made it clear that he wanted no children of his own.

Soon after their wedding, Took's wife learned that he was still seeing a woman with whom he had shared a tumultuous relationship for many years. This woman was much younger than Took and distraught over his marriage; one evening, he called his wife to tell her that he could not leave the woman. Faced with an ultimatum to return home or end the marriage, Took arrived home in the early hours of the morning in a bitter mood. The couple put the incident behind them and soon purchased a home in Ireland.

The couple soon began marriage guidance through what is now known as Relate and despite being against policy, Took managed to have sessions alone with the counselor. Things improved for some time but in the late 1980s, Took left a note for his wife letting her know that he was leaving her for a young American woman and the couple split. Although Took expressed a desire to "start a family" with this new woman, a few months later he told Cleary he wanted her back. Despite blaming her during their reunion, saying she failed to meet his sexual needs Cleary took him back. Things were good for the next year and a half but then Cleary found a photograph of a young Asian woman in skimpy clothes and a compromising position. Fed up, she left him and initiated divorce proceedings.

A few months passed before Took again told his wife that he wanted her back. Optimistic that they could make it work, the couple reunited. Cleary also feared that he might commit suicide if she didn't give their marriage another chance — he had attempted suicide over rejection from a woman in his youth, leaving deep scars on his neck and wrists — and she had always considered him to be a "fragile" man.

Following his departure from Artangel in 1992, Took asked his wife to fund an expensive fly-fishing trip to Russia. She refused so he began his trips to Kola Peninsula in Russian Lapland instead. Over the years he became fluent in Russian and began to use a Cyrillic keyboard. This prevented his wife from reading his documents, letters and e-mails. Away for months, Took showed no sexual interest in his wife. Despite this he continued to make romantic gestures on their wedding anniversaries with cards he would make himself and elegantly wrapped gifts. In 2006 he forgot, instead of the usual, Took returned from Russia and was shocked that his wife was not impressed with her gift; an antique spigot that he prized.

Child sexual abuse case

In February 2007, their 25th year of marriage, Roger Took joined his family for a trip to the Dominican Republic. On their way home, one of his stepdaughters found a $100 bill in her daughter's luggage. She questioned her daughter about where she got it and was told that Took gave it to her so that he could photograph her. She eventually confessed that she had been sexually abused by Took "for as long as she could remember". The mother alerted the police and a six week investigation was launched during which Took was unaware that his family knew what had been happening.

Took was arrested at Luton airport in April 2007, following the police investigation during which 742 logs from chat rooms used to boast about a child rape and murder were discovered. Took denied this, saying it was merely a fantasy. Police also recovered 260 images from Took's laptop. 102 of them were graded as "level 5s", which means they contain images of children being penetrated, tortured or both. Police raided Took’s home where they found a locked case which held a large bundle of photographs of young Russian women. The women who were naked and one of whom was having sex with Took, are believed to be prostitutes. The case also held clippings of children’s hair.

Took was given an indeterminate sentence by Judge Henry Blacksell QC who believed he "posed a danger to all children." He eventually plead guilty to a total of 17 charges, including sexual assault on a child under 13, inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and making and possessing indecent images of children. Judge Blacksell had reviewed thousands of pages of evidence, was visibly shocked when he told the court "It is unrestrained filth, depravity of the worst kind." He was sentenced to nine years and will be eligible for parole after four-and-a-half. He is banned from working with children under the age of 18 for the rest of his life. Roger Took is appealing against his sentence.

According to Charlotte Metcalf, Took's charm, social status, academic reputation and credentials served to "cushion him from condemnation". His case received little publicity and he enjoyed support from former colleagues. During sentencing Judge Blacksell who stated that he had no doubt that Took suffers from an illness, took into consideration 23 letters of support and three character witnesses who spoke at the hearing on behalf of five people. He was described as a "gentle, kind, caring man who has enriched the lives of many over many years". Those who spoke were his older half-brother, John Michael Took; the Reverend Adrian Gabb-Jones and Matteos Los a schoolfriend from a Greek shipping family.

References

• Metcalf, Charlotte (July 9, 2008). "The Establishment paedophile: how a monster hid in high society". Spectator.co.uk. Retrieved on August 10, 2008.

External links

• Daily Mail (Sep 2008). "Married to an upper-class paedophile: How members of the Establishment refused to accept my husband's depravity".

• Woman's Hour (July 10, 2008). "The damage that living with a paedophile inflicts on a family". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved on August 10, 2008.
• Murray, Jenni (July 13, 2008). "Nothing beats a good sex scandal". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved on August 10, 2008.