Medomsley Detention Centre: More than 100 calls after TV report

Police have received 108 calls offering information after a BBC programme about sexual abuse at a former County Durham detention centre was broadcast.

More than 140 people have already claimed they were abused at Medomsley Juvenile Detention Centre in the 1970s and 1980s.

Two members of staff at the centre were jailed in 2003 and 2005 over the abuse.

On Monday, Inside Out North East heard from more alleged victims who had contacted the authorities since then.

'Break my leg'

In the programme, one man, who did not wish to be named and whose identity is protected, said some boys would go to great lengths to get away.

"Some of the boys would lay at the bottom of the stairs and ask another boy to jump off the stairs on to their legs so they could break a leg and be removed from Medomsley Detention Centre in order to not be subjected to any more beatings," he said.

The centre closed in 1988 after the abuse came to light, but has since reopened as a secure training unit.

Neville Husband, who worked at the detention centre as a prison officer, was jailed for 12 years in 2003, and Leslie Johnson, a store man, was sentenced to six years in 2005.

Both men have since died.