Liverpool school abuse: Survivors take legal action against council

Jack Barnes was sent to Lower Lee in 1980 when he was five years old

A group of former pupils who were subjected to sexual and physical abuse at a school have begun legal action against the council which ran it.

More than a dozen men have said Liverpool City Council allowed abuse at Lower Lee boarding school in Woolton to go on unchecked in the 1980s and 90s.

Their lawyer Dino Nocivelli told the BBC it was "one of, if not the worst, cases" he had seen in his career.

The council previously said it "should never have been allowed to happen".

The men, who call themselves "The Forgotten Boys", have described staff beating them viciously and attacking them with hockey sticks and cricket bats, forcing them to stand naked in corridors and sexually assaulting children as young as five.

Peter Amundsen admitted 53 offences spanning nearly two decades

Child care officer Thomas Curbishley and head of care Peter Amundsen were jailed for offences related to the abuse in the 1990s.

At the time, Liverpool Crown Court was told Amundsen, who admitted 53 offences against eight boys, was hired despite having no qualifications and being mentally ill.

Judge Denis Clark told the court said there had been no adequate system of staff monitoring or scrutiny and checks of applicants.

He added that Amundsen was a "sexual monster" whose behaviour was "an abomination and desecration of the innocence of young boys".

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In 2022, Merseyside Police pledged to review its original investigation after a number of men alleged it failed to act when a child reported Amundsen to the force in the 1980s.

The force said that review was "ongoing".

A representative said officers had "spoken to victims" and were gathering evidence "to determine if any reinvestigation should take place in relation to allegations of abuse".

'Childhood stolen from me'

Jack Barnes, who has chosen to waive his right to anonymity, said Liverpool County Council had "parental rights putting me into that school and they failed me".

"I've had my childhood stolen from me," he said.

"The council has never been held to account. They've never reached out to me, or to any of us.

"Now we've got a legal team, we can go at it from a professional capacity and make sure they learn lessons from it."

Mr Barnes (left) said his childhood was "stolen", while Mr Turner (right) said the men "want answers" and want "to be heard"

Former pupil Tony Turner, who has also chosen to speak publicly, said he hoped bringing a civil case against the council would bring "closure".

"I want this to go away. I've carried it for too long," he said.

He said he had "always carried guilt" and felt like it was "my fault for getting the beatings and the abuse and I'd done something wrong".

"But I didn't," he said.

"The council had a duty of care to protect us and we weren't protected.

"We want answers. We want justice. We want to be heard."

'It's about speaking up'

Mr Nocivelli, from law firm Leigh Day, said the abuse at the school, which closed in 2009, had "tainted the men's lives".

"Some of them can't read or write, some of them have never sat exams, they have no qualifications," he said.

"Some of them have had real struggles to obtain jobs, have had relationship breakups [and] battles with drink and drugs.

"They've self-harmed [and] made suicide attempts."

He said what the men went through was "preventable".

"It could have been stopped. It should have been stopped."

Lower Lee residential school closed its doors in 2009

He added that the council had "failed" in their duty of care.

"There have been criminal convictions against two men and yet my clients are still waiting for the council," he said.

"These men should not have to go cap in hand to them for assistance, answers and justice.

"They want to expose what happened... and make sure this never happens to any boy or girl in Liverpool again."

Mr Nocivelli said more people had continued to come forward since BBC North West Tonight revealed the extent of the abuse in November 2022 and he believed there could be hundreds who suffered at the hands of staff.

"It was like the Wild West in relation to safeguarding and child safety," he said.

"These men really were in the pits of hell."

• Police missed chance to stop abuse, survivors say

• 'We are the forgotten boys that are not heard'

• School 'sex monster' jailed for 12 years

One man, who was sexually abused by both Amundsen and Curbishley, said every day was now "a battle".

"I left Lower Lee nearly 40 years ago… but Lower Lee has never left me," he said.

"It's cost me my family, my marriage… I shut down on people.

"Sometimes I wonder 'is it a losing battle?' I'm not fixed. I can't be fixed."

He added that the council needed to face "some kind of judgement".

"It's not about compensation. That's far too late. It's about speaking up.

"They've got to stand up to the plate and say 'we did wrong'."

Liverpool City Council said previously that the "young people were let down by those who were supposed to be taking care of them".

"We are truly sorry for the impact the abuse has had on the lives of those affected. It should never have been allowed to happen," they said.

"That is why we worked closely with Merseyside Police on the Operation Care investigation in the 1990s which brought to justice some of those responsible and, more recently, the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse."