THE former head of three children's homes was yesterday found guilty

of sexually and physically abusing youngsters in his care.

Frank Beck, 49, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, was convicted on

four charges.

He was cleared at Leicester Crown Court on three other charges.The

jury was to spend its second night at a hotel while it considered the

remaining 20 charges against Beck.

It is alleged he physically and sexually abused youngsters during a

13-year ''reign of terror'' at the children's homes in Leicestershire.

The prosecution said when the trial opened in September that children

at the homes Beck ran were trapped in ''places of darkness''.

Mr Peter Joyce, QC, prosecuting, said: ''There was no ray of light for

those children. There was no escape for them.''

Beck's deputy, Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, was found guilty of

one charge of indecent assault on a boy and one of causing actual bodily

harm to a girl.

The jury is still considering a sexual assault case against social

worker and former policeman George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk.