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Inside Britain’s ‘Toxic Town’ where mass poisoning scandal left Brit kids dead and born without limbs
HAVING spent almost all of her pregnancy in hospital with complications, including diabetes and pre-eclampsia, Susan McIntyre felt a wave of relief when her baby boy was safely delivered.
Yet, when newborn Connor was placed in her arms on August 6, 1997, the doctor broke the news he’d been born without a left hand.
“I asked the doctor why it had happened, and he said maybe the baby had been sitting wrong in the womb,” says Susan, now 56, from Corby, Northamptonshire.
“The strangest thing is, I was in hospital for a long time [before giving birth], and I saw lots of other mums, and some of them had babies that also had issues with their limbs. Then I had a baby with the exact same thing. I did think that was strange.”
In a town like Corby, with a population of around 60,000, you would expect to see just one such birth every three or four years – but a total of 19 babies were born with limb differences during the period 1989-1998.
These, it would later transpire, had been caused by toxic dust emissions from a former steelworks, in what was the biggest case of foetal poisoning since the morning-sickness drug thalidomide in the 1950s and 1960s – and one of the UK’s biggest environmental disasters.
New Netflix drama, Toxic Town, starring Doctor Who and Broadchurch actress Jodie Whittaker as Susan, tells the extraordinary story of the group of Corby mums who waged a landmark 10-year legal battle against Corby Borough Council, eventually becoming the first people in the world to prove the link between airborne poison and damage to foetuses.
Susan already had a three-year-old son, Daniel, when Connor was born. Under the strain of having a disabled child, her marriage to the children’s father Peter, a factory worker, ended when Connor was eight months old.
In the months following his birth, they were in and out of hospital for corrective surgery on his hand, and she came across another baby from Kettering with similar limb differences.
She says: “You question yourself and wonder if you did anything wrong in your pregnancy. You know you haven’t, but that’s just a process of dealing with it all. It was a very dark time.”
When Connor was 18 months old, Susan had a life-changing knock at the door.
“It was a journalist and he said to me: ‘This could be a big problem in Corby. We think there’s some sort of damage that’s causing this to your babies.’ Nobody knew what it was, just that there were a lot of babies that had this.”
The Sunday Times journalist Graham Hind believed the abundance of limb differences in such a short period could be linked to the reclamation of a former steelworks in the town, which had closed down in 1980, but was regenerated by the council between 1984 and 1999 to create shops, parks and businesses.
“I didn’t want to get involved at first because I was scared,” says Susan. “We were like little people, and we were frightened to say anything because we didn’t know what would happen if we went up against the council.
We were frightened to say anything, as we didn’t know what would happen if we went up against the council.
“You didn’t want to lose your house and everything you’d worked hard for and got in life. We thought it was best to be quiet and toe the line.”
She did eventually contribute to Graham’s article published in The Sunday Times on April 11, 1999, and was subsequently contacted by solicitor Des Collins, who offered to represent the mums in launching a legal battle against Corby Borough Council.
A second mother, Tracey Taylor, had worked in an office on an industrial estate close to the steelworks while she was pregnant with her first child, and had no idea that the thick dust that regularly covered her car was toxic.
Her baby, Shelby, died just three days after her birth on April 19, 1996. Tracey, now 53, who lives in Kettering, says: “It was like the Sahara Desert had done a great big whoosh over.
“You could clean your desk, and by the time you picked your coffee cup up, it was thick with dust again. We wouldn’t even go out at dinner time, because it would burn the back of your throat. It was awful, but you didn’t realise you were drinking and breathing toxic waste.”
A third mother, Maggie Mahon, joined the cause after reading about it in the newspaper.
Her husband Derek worked at the reclamation site and she recalls beating dust from his clothes every evening when he came home while she was pregnant. Their son Sam was born with a club foot on July 10, 1997, and endured years of operations to correct it.
Mum-of-two Maggie, now 53 and a teaching assistant from Corby, says: “The doctors put Sam’s foot in a splint when he was a week old, and he’d go into hospital every so often and they’d stretch it.
“Later on, he had a pair of little boots he had to wear for six months. The first day they put his boots on, the doctors said: ‘He’s going to hate this, but don’t take it off whatever you do.’ That night, he was crying and crying. Derek came in from work one day, and I said: ‘Read this article – you worked among all this, and Sam’s got a club foot – that’s a bit coincidental, isn’t it?’”
As solicitor Des worked tirelessly to gather information for the court case, the mums made the best of their lives.
Susan taught herself how to get by with one hand so she could pass on those skills to Connor. “I used to watch one of the older children riding a bike and I’d say: ‘Wow, I wonder if Connor will ever do that?’ and the child’s mum said: ‘We’ll make sure he does.’ She made me put a hand behind my back while I did my laces, so I could work out how Connor would do it. It was hard, but we did it all together.”
Dozens of mothers joined forces to pool their stories and 18 of the strongest cases were put forward as claimants, including Susan and Maggie, with a 19th being added later.
Sadly, the decision was taken by Des to exclude Tracey as a claimant – because her little girl Shelby did not survive, and she had problems with her organs and ear rather than a limb difference, it was thought her story might weaken the overall case.
BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT
Tracey says: “When we were dropped as a case, it was upsetting. But if it wasn’t for Des, none of this would have come to court.”
A breakthrough moment came in 2000, when Des was able to prove a 2.7 times higher rate of limb difference in Corby than the rest of Kettering Health Authority – a fact the council got wrong in a report.
After extensive research, he also realised the toxins were being spread over a five-mile radius through dust from the steelworks site, which the mothers had unwittingly inhaled.
The full trial took place at the High Court in 2009, 10 years after Des and the mothers first made contact. Corby Borough Council denied negligence, but an internal report had already raised the prospect of residents being exposed to high levels of zinc, arsenic, boron and nickel as a result of the reclamation works.
A separate report from the council’s auditor complained of incompetence and negligence by the council and said that there was a “cavalier approach” to the operation. Despite not being part of the claim, Tracey bravely gave evidence, appearing as a crucial witness as she worked so close to the dusty site.
“I did it to help the other children,” she says.
During the trial, the court heard the council in charge of the regeneration had been under pressure to prevent the town from sinking economically after 11,000 steel workers lost their jobs.
Subcontractors failed to put in proper health and safety measures, and the lorries they used to transport the toxic chemicals were not wheel washed or covered in tarpaulin as they should have been. Consequently, the town was covered in thick, red dust as lorries dragged waste through the streets.
The Netflix show’s executive producer Annabel Jones, whose idea it was to dramatise the story, explains: “This is not about some evil corporation trying to make a cheap buck. This was about trying to stop the town from going under.
“They knew they needed to move quickly to keep everyone employed. The problem was that they didn’t understand how dangerous this waste was. They set about this mammoth task of moving it through the town and, in doing so, awoke a monster.”
The group eventually won their case, with the judge finding the council liable for negligence, public nuisance and a breach of statutory duty.
The council continued to deny culpable liability, but settled the case and awarded the mothers £14.6million with an apology. Nobody has ever faced criminal proceedings.
The result was thanks to the indefatigable work by Des and the mothers – who refused to give up their fight, despite the fact many of them had family links to the site who feared losing their jobs.
People need to be held accountable, otherwise when is it ever going to stop?
Susan says: “The more I found out, the more I wanted to fight. I thought if I was the only one that was going to open my mouth, I’d do it. I stopped caring what might happen if I did. All we wanted to know was: ‘Why did this happen to us? How do we stop it happening to anyone else?’
“All Connor wanted was to lead a little boy’s life, and he never got it, because he had operations until he was nine, then the court case until he was 13. The verdict was brilliant, but up until then, bad, bad things happened in his little life.”
Although the poisonings came to light because unborn babies were affected by the toxins, it’s thought likely that adults were also poisoned and their symptoms were slower to present themselves.
It’s doubtful we’ll ever know the true scale of the scandal, though the mums say many Corby residents have suffered ill health, including cancer and asthma.
“Even post-Covid, I don’t think people question air quality as much as they should,” says Annabel.
“While resources are stretched at the moment, we still have to protect people.
“I’m really proud that the mothers involved in the Corby case were the first people in the world to prove a link between airborne toxins and damage to unborn babies. I don’t think the impact of that landmark case has been felt enough yet.”
The mothers have stayed in touch since the case, becoming close friends. Tracey went on to have twins Brandon and Callum, now 27, and son Dominic, 22.
Maggie says: “I don’t think anybody set out to cause birth defects. I think their selfishness took over. People need to be held accountable, otherwise when is it ever going to stop? What’s going to put people off taking risks like that?”
- Watch Toxic Town on Netflix from February 27.
My VERY X-rated day at UK ‘Porn University’ behind internet’s most notorious flicks… from Bonnie Blue to fake taxi romps
WITH building supplies strewn around the entrance and a few blokes having a fag outside a car garage, it looks like any other industrial estate.
But one unassuming lot inside this depot in Hertfordshire is responsible for producing some of the internet’s most outrageous X-rated films, while training the UK’s next generation of audacious adult stars.
Welcome to Andy Lee‘s Porn Star University – famed for shooting saucy scenes with the likes of Bonnie Blue and producing more than 400 OnlyFans creators in just over two years.
With shocking viral stars like Bonnie – known for sleeping with 1,057 men in 12 hours – dominating social media debates in recent months, the adult industry has never felt more in the spotlight.
But considering these stunts are helping her rake in a reported £800,000 a month, it’s no surprise scores of Brits are escaping nine-to-five jobs to film explicit content in the hopes of cashing in too.
That’s why I’m spending a day training at the Porn Star University, where within hours – under my new alter-ego ‘Josh the naughty journo’ – I’ll be handcuffing a stranger, recreating a racy X-rated scene and learning the language of lust.
Here, aspiring adult movie stars are taught how to navigate the business, market themselves and learn vital filming tricks, as well as getting ‘hands-on’ training in how to perform on camera on one of the school’s many saucy sets.
In fact, hundreds of scenes are filmed here every month – with past ‘big hitters’ including a viral HMP Wandsworth spoof of a prisoner officer having sex with an inmate, Bonnie Blue’s controversial Australian Border Force video and the infamous porn series Fake Taxi.
Despite the nature of the ‘university’, head honcho Andy Lee, 36, who started out in the industry in 2010, insists surrounding businesses and residential neighbours are “fine” with it, surprisingly.
It’s just as well, because before long, lessons for the day begin – and I’m the apprehensive star of the show.
Schooled in sex
In a brightly-lit classroom, I’m sat beside glamorous Georgie Maria, 26, a single mum, from Kent, whose OnlyFans page is “completely dead” and “desperately” needs guidance.
Bookending us are Essex boys Charlie, a 6ft 5in muscle mountain known as ‘BIG Stacks’, and equally chiselled ‘Big Stevo’, real name Steven Anthony.
Lecturer Andy, who claims he is a multi-millionaire, tells us: “There’s no reason why anyone shouldn’t be able to make at least £3,000 a month on OnlyFans… no matter how they look.”
“Phew!” I think, as I compare myself to the competition.
Andy insists “the sky’s the limit” if we put in more effort, are clever with marketing, perform stunts and improve our cinematography skills with better lighting, clever camera angles and using a tripod.
Before we get to the practical lessons, he has a clear warning: “Remember, once you put a video out there, it’s out there permanently. Are you OK with the world seeing this?
“You can’t hide this stuff. Someone will see it and people are malicious. They’ll send it to your family members, WhatsApp groups and around your area.”
I’m not hurting anyone and it’s for my daughter’s future, so they can keep their noses out of it
Georgie Maria
Andy knows this all too well. In 2020, he was forced to quit his £38,000-a-year council job after a boss was sent a link to one of his X-rated antics, which was recorded a decade earlier.
“It got me fired but it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” the Dubliner says. “I’m a multi-millionaire and am set for the rest of my life now.”
Bonnie Blue’s ‘shock tactics’
While most of us might be horrified by the attention-seeking stunts of Bonnie Blue, Andy – who has filmed with the Nottinghamshire-born star twice – holds her up as an example to the class.
“The more people are talking about you and sharing your content, the more chance you’re going to win,” he says, adding that she is an “expert in rage-baiting”.
He continues: “Instead of saying she’s sleeping with 20-year-olds, she says ‘barely-legal teens’ and that she’s ‘here to f*** your husbands’. She knows what she’s doing.”
Andy speaks from experience. He once drove a taxi close to the Eiffel Tower to film a porn scene and regularly posts provocative videos online, including telling women “it’s OK to cheat” on your partner if they aren’t satisfied sexually.
X-rated Deliveroo films
After a couple of hours, we’re out of the classroom and it’s time to get to grips with making a film ourselves.
Roleplay is a big part of the game and the Porn University is packed with hundreds of costumes – ranging from Royal Mail posties to Army uniforms, airport security, firemen, builders and teachers.
“The Deliveroo outfits are really popular,” Andy says, much to my surprise.
“People relate to it, everyone’s ordered a pizza or food delivery and thought, ‘Woah, they’re really hot.’”
It got me fired but it was the best thing that ever happened to me, I’m a multimillionaire and am set for the rest of my life now
Andy Lee
When it comes to choosing my alter-ego, Andy weighs up the choices before handing me an extremely realistic police officer’s uniform.
Slipping on my stab vest and fluorescent high-visibility jacket, I remember impersonating a cop risks a six-month prison stint and a £5,000 fine.
Outside Andy takes us through a warm-up, warning we could “get seriously injured” and be left out of action for months if we don’t take stretching seriously.
Unsurprisingly, a lot focuses on thrusting and hip stretching.
Kinky BDSM handcuffs
Next up, I’m taught how to use real metal handcuffs as part of a BDSM lesson and learning how to work safely with a partner.
Leaning over a taxi bonnet, Georgie cringes as I clumsily drop the cuffs and fasten them the wrong way, before temporarily losing the key.
Despite her professionalism, sex appeal is rapidly draining from the room.
We take a brief break inside a council estate set, which is strewn with McDonald’s, Monster energy drink cans, empty Pot Noodles and Haribo, crisp and chocolate wrappers.
Here Georgie tells me she started OnlyFans four months ago to escape the long hours and poor pay of her horse riding instructor job so she can give her daughter, four, a better life.
“I couldn’t be the mum I wanted to be with my other job,” she says. “As a single parent, I felt like I was constantly fobbing her off on family members. I don’t want to do that.”
Georgie says she’ll tell her daughter the truth when she’s old enough to understand, but until then is she bracing for parents at the school gates finding out?
“Oh, 100 per cent,” she says. “I can already see it brewing but I’m not hurting anyone and it’s for my daughter’s future, so they can keep their noses out of it.”
My taxi ‘sex scene’
Back in class, it’s time for an ‘ad-lib and improvisation’ lesson. My role is a mean-talking Cockney taxi driver and Georgie can’t afford her £6.40 fare.
“I can’t find my purse anywhere, can I pay you another way?” she seductively states with a wink.
“Don’t worry about it lav…” I begin to say before correcting myself. “Erm, do you have an American Express card?”
A very loud “CUT” rings from the sidelines.
After more coaching, I’m fed an array of lines like, “Maybe, I’ll pull over and jump in the back with you for some fun?”
Take two goes slightly more smoothly, albeit punctuated with stifled laughter every time I’m labelled “big boy”.
I’m relieved the scene is over and Andy is kind with his feedback: “You need a bit more passion!”
Boobs ‘hanging in window’
Next on to the sex scene, for which we leave the full-sized cab – from the famous Fake Taxi series – and hop into one that’s been cut in half for better lighting and camera angles.
While nothing physical will happen today, Andy recounts the acts in a blasé manner: “Her on top then facing away, against the door boobs hanging through the window, then on the bonnet…”
What follows is an exhausting-sounding list of yet even more acts that are too graphic to recount in a family publication.
But it’s now clear why stretching is vitally important.
Andy tells us the common pitfalls, like stars blocking cameras with their hands and elbows and remembering it’s “not about your own pleasure, but the performance of pleasure for the audience”.
It’s clear there’s a lot more to being a porn star than many would believe.
Dark side of pornography
Like every industry, the pornography business has a darker side.
Suicides, drug overdoses and human trafficking form a seedy underbelly, which recently has made headlines in both Europe and the United States.
In January this year, porn star Thania Fields was found dead after sharing that she had experienced “sexual abuse” at the start of her career in porn.
She said at the time: “I have suffered sexual harassment and abuse after starting to create adult content. It’s very strong.
“Many thought that by hiring me they could do what they wanted with me, but then I came home, took a bath and cried.”
Recently deaths in the US include star Angelina Please, Dahila Sky and Olivia Lua.
Former director Tommie McDonald tells us he left the business after being confronted with some horrifying situations.
He says at least two models he knows off killed themselves while he was still producing, and many more simply seemed to disappear.
He said: “Over the years working in the industry, suicides were sadly fairly common.
“Often Eastern European women are brought into the industry at the hands of traffickers and forced into filming porn under threats of violence.
“It’s hard to work in this industry and not have your morals shift because so much goes on.
“I’ve also heard of rape allegations against top producers and suggestions that people have been drugged on set before filming.
“It was also commonplace for a bit in Europe that talent would forge clear tests so they could still work even if they had contacted something.
“There was a HIV outbreak in Europe about five years ago, which thankfully changed the way testing was done.”
As the day draws to a close, I’m guided around the remaining sets including a shower room where they use baby oil and a smoke machine to replicate steamy hot water.
Andy’s spent £220,000 so far renovating the former apprentices’ workshop into an ultimate porn studio with at least 22 sets including bizarrely, an old man’s living room.
He has also bought countless costumes and props like a paddling pool for oil wrestling, tools for a mechanics’ garage, workman supplies for a building yard and BDSM gear.
Back in the classroom, I’m called up to the front to accept my certificate – which for effect is rebranded a d***ploma – to cheers and chuckles from my fellow alumni.
What’s clear is that being a porn star is nowhere near as easy as it looks and for all the benefits and wealth the industry offers, it’s only suited to the brave, bronzed… and blokes with bulging biceps.
‘Josh the naughty journo’ better stick to his day job… for now.
Star of hit 90s teen drama looks unrecognisable 31 years after series debut
THE star of a hit 90’s teen drama looks unrecognisable 31 years after their series debut.
Michael Perl is best known for playing Winston in the TV series based loosely on the popular Francine Pascal novels, Sweet Valley High.
But when he was much younger he almost got kicked out of school as a direct result of playing Danny Zuko in the school production of ‘Grease’.
The star thought that Danny was a smoker and took in a pack of cigarettes rolled into the sleeve of his t-shirt, but the school found that to be unacceptable.
However, in recent Instagram posts the star looks unrecognisable from his long ago Sweet Valley days.
Sweet Valley High was a huge hit with teens back in its day and starred Brittany and Cynthia Daniel as the two lead characters.
The series ran from 1994 to 1997 and revolved around the lives of Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, beautiful blonde twins who lived in the fictitious Sweet Valley, California, and their gang of friends.
Elizabeth was warm, friendly and sincere, while her twin sister Jessica was flirty, mischievous, and irresponsible.
Michael played Winston Egbert, the class clown who had a major crush on Jessica.
But he dates a girl named Mandy Farmer, who later moves away, and then begins dating Maria Santelli, a popular cheerleader.
In college, he starts going by the name of “Winnie” and a clerical error leads to his placement in an all women’s dorm, where he meets popular sorority girl Denise Waters, who becomes the love of his life.
Unfortunately, life after university sees Winston transform from a goofy, cheerful oddball into a mean, resentful businessman whose wealth from the dotcom boom can’t cure his loneliness.
After a night of drunken debauchery, he falls from a balcony to an untimely death.
When the show ended, Michael went to get his BFA in Theatre from UCLA’s school of Theatre, Film and Television.
Since graduating, Michael has been working consistently in film, television and Los Angeles theatre.
He has appeared in Bold and the Beautiful, Scandal and Chuck to name a few.
As well as playing the lead roles in a series of films that include Bye Bye Bernard, Lena and the snowball and The Violin.
Michael also started a production company called Burton Street Productions, with his wife Melissa Lugo.
Melissa who is also an actor and costume designer has appeared in numerous shows including Star Kids, Book of Secrets and Ronson.
Together the pair have produced award-winning short films and web series under that banner and share moments of their happy life on Instagram with their followers and friends.
