Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Victims demand inquiry into deaf school abuse
The Department for Education is under pressure to launch an investigation into the sexual abuse of young deaf children at a school in southern England.
Last week The Observer revealed how deaf girls and boys as young as four were brutally abused at a school for deaf children during the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies.
The institution was the responsibility of the then Ministry of Education. New evidence has emerged that officials were aware of allegations of abuse but failed to protect the children, many of whom could not hear or speak. Their inability to communicate made them the perfect target for a paedophile.
The perpetrator was the husband of the school's headmistress who in 1964 pleaded guilty to sexually abusing nine deaf children. Yet he was only fined £50 and continued as the school 'handyman' until the Eighties. Many former pupils claim they were sexually abused after 1964.
Last March an attempt to prosecute the headmistress's husband failed after the judge threw out the case because the events happened too long ago.
Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce, chairman of the all-party committee on deafness in the Commons and a trustee of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, has called on the government to investigate the scandal. Bruce, whose daughter is deaf, said: 'It may be too long ago to bring the man to justice but there should be an investigation on how the abuse was allowed to happen and go on for such a long time.'
The National Deaf Children's Society has also demanded action. Susan Daniels, chief executive, has written to Lord Filkin, the minister responsible for child protection, insisting funds be allocated for research to establish the scale of the problem.
The Observer decided not to reveal the man's name or the institution. Other former pupils have now come forward to detail abuse they suffered. Some met last week in London to consider legal action against the Department for Education for failing in their duty to protect them.
The Department for Education is under pressure to launch an investigation into the sexual abuse of young deaf children at a school in southern England.
Last week The Observer revealed how deaf girls and boys as young as four were brutally abused at a school for deaf children during the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies.
The institution was the responsibility of the then Ministry of Education. New evidence has emerged that officials were aware of allegations of abuse but failed to protect the children, many of whom could not hear or speak. Their inability to communicate made them the perfect target for a paedophile.
The perpetrator was the husband of the school's headmistress who in 1964 pleaded guilty to sexually abusing nine deaf children. Yet he was only fined £50 and continued as the school 'handyman' until the Eighties. Many former pupils claim they were sexually abused after 1964.
Last March an attempt to prosecute the headmistress's husband failed after the judge threw out the case because the events happened too long ago.
Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce, chairman of the all-party committee on deafness in the Commons and a trustee of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, has called on the government to investigate the scandal. Bruce, whose daughter is deaf, said: 'It may be too long ago to bring the man to justice but there should be an investigation on how the abuse was allowed to happen and go on for such a long time.'
The National Deaf Children's Society has also demanded action. Susan Daniels, chief executive, has written to Lord Filkin, the minister responsible for child protection, insisting funds be allocated for research to establish the scale of the problem.
The Observer decided not to reveal the man's name or the institution. Other former pupils have now come forward to detail abuse they suffered. Some met last week in London to consider legal action against the Department for Education for failing in their duty to protect them.