A boy who had made allegations of abuse against his companion in 1977 was found dead shortly afterwards in the bathroom of that home. His death has never been properly investigated. The investigators have asked the police to reopen that file. In another care home, children, even those under the age of five, were “systemically exposed to sexual abuse,” the report said.
Sandra Fearron lived with her siblings between 1964 and 1969 in the Shirley Oaks children’s home. She told de BBC that the abuse continued every week for two years, until she told a school nurse what was happening.
Children spent time with volunteers, “uncles” and “aunts”, who had never been vetted. One of those volunteers was Geoffrey Clarke. He had unfettered access to children in Shirley Oaks from the early 1970s. In 1998 he was convicted of the sexual abuse of three children, but since then at least 40 former residents have leveled accusations against him.
The Commission of Inquiry has made recommendations to prevent the abuses, such as improving the recruitment, training and screening of staff. Lambeth’s board says it will adopt those recommendations after “clear failure”. Victims receive compensation.
Improvements
The local police also apologized for “abandoning the children under their responsibility.” The police have changed the way they handle complaints about sexual abuse, a police spokesperson said. Agents are better trained and there is more cooperation with experts. “Clearly we missed opportunities at various times to identify and further investigate perpetrators. Some of the treatment of children was also unacceptable.”
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