‘My paedophile letters’: French surgeon to stand trial accused of abusing 299 patients, mostly children

<p>Joël Le Scouarnec’s ‘black books’ of handwritten notes in which alleged sexual abuse was recorded are at the heart of case against him</p><p>When two gendarmes knocked on her door in 2019, Marie had no idea that she was about to find herself at the dark heart of one of the world’s biggest child abuse cases.</p><p>The French mother of three, now 38, was shocked when the officers told her she had been the victim of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/10/france-trial-surgeon-sexual-abuse-children-joel-le-scouarnec">Joël Le Scouarnec</a>, a surgeon and an alleged serial paedophile accused of raping and sexually abusing hundreds of children.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/22/my-paedophile-letters-french-surgeon-to-stand-trial-accused-of-abusing-299-patients-mostly-children">Continue reading...</a>