In 2022, journalist Alex Renton told the story of sexual abuse and cover up in Britain’s elite schools, including his own. After the Radio 4 series aired, his inbox exploded; with people sharing their personal accounts of abuse.

Last spring, and anothr email. This one came with an attachment: a scanned copy of a membership list for a pro-paedophile campaign group active in the 1970s and 80s. The group's name was the Paedophile Information Exchange, or PIE for short.

The PIE List sets Alex - himself a survivor of child sexual abuse - on a dizzying journey into the group’s dark history.

As he digs further, a source gets in touch; could Alex travel to meet him? During that meeting he hands him other secret documents, which build a picture of the criminal activities of some of PIE’s members: teachers, clergymen, social workers, government advisors.

Alex begins to wonder: where are all those hundreds of PIE members now? Are children still at risk?

Presenter: Alex Renton Producer: Caitlin Smith Researchers: Claire Harris and Marisha Currie Executive producers: Gail Champion and Gillian Wheelan Story Consultants: Jack Kibble White and Kirsty Williams Written by Alex Renton, Caitlin Smith, Jack Kibble White and Kirsty Williams Sound designer: Jon Nicholls Theme tune composed by Jeremy Warmsley Commissioning executive: Tracy Williams Commissioner: Dan Clarke

Alex Renton has letters and documentation passed to him by a secret source. He tries to track down a former member of the defunct pro-paedophile group, the Paedophile Information Exchange, or PIE.

He delves into the group's origins and discovers that figures within PIE didn’t just groom the people around them, they attempted to groom whole movements.

The group formed in 1974; a time when marginalised groups were campaigning for equality and legal change. PIE took heed, that’s what they wanted.

So they aligned themselves with minority rights groups. And, these groups, whose ethos was to be open hearted, trusting - bought into it. They were fooled.

Alex Renton speaks with men who were part of gay youth groups in the 1970s that were targeted and manipulated by PIE and its members.

And he makes a breakthrough with the membership list.

Presenter: Alex Renton Producer: Caitlin Smith Executive Producers: Gail Champion and Gillian Wheelan Story Consultants: Jack Kibble-White and Kirsty Williams Sound design: Jon Nicholls Theme Tune: Jeremy Warmsley

Details of organisations offering information and support for victims of child sexual abuse are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Journalist Alex Renton is shown a secret document, containing the names and addresses of people signed up to a pro-paedophile group called the Paedophile Information Exchange, or PIE, which was active in the 1970s and 80s.

That’s not all: weeks after getting the membership list Alex meets a contact who gives him bags full of documents, crammed with reports, contact details, letters.

As Alex starts following up on leads; detail of the criminal activities committed by some of PIE’s members, and those connected with them, begins to emerge.

It’s a lot to take in. Alex is not only a journalist, he’s a survivor of child sexual abuse. All of this information about PIE; it feels like a heavy weight to carry. Are children still at risk?

Alex sets off on a dizzying journey into the dark history of the Paedophile Information Exchange and uncovers abuses committed by PIE's members: teachers, clergy, social workers, government advisors.

As Alex finds out more, he starts to wonder: where are all those hundreds of members now?

He meets the former deputy editor of Private Eye, journalist Francis Wheen: he has a long memory for news and a nose for stories that people in power want to keep secret. What does he know about PIE?

Archive credits: Newsnight, BBC, August 1983

Details of organisations offering information and support for victims of child sexual abuse are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline

Presenter: Alex Renton Producer: Caitlin Smith Researchers: Claire Harris and Marisha Currie Executive producers: Gail Champion and Gillian Wheelan Written by Alex Renton, Caitlin Smith, Jack Kibble White and Kirsty Williams Sound designer: Jon Nicholls Theme tune composed by Jeremy Warmsley