Knottfield child abuse: Victims call for off-island inquiry
- Published
Christine Urquhart was a resident of Knottfield children's home from 1978 to 1982
Victims of child abuse at an Isle of Man children's home have called for an off-island public inquiry into their "horrific" treatment.
It follows a report into the "physical, emotional and sexual abuse" at Knottfield children's home in Douglas between 1961 and 1983.
Former resident Christine Urquhart called for an independent review and a full public apology from Tynwald.
Chief Minister Howard Quayle said the report was "profoundly disturbing".
The Social Affairs Policy Review Committee's report, external included harrowing accounts from former residents.
"We've known the 'big picture' for some time, but the grim reality which unfolds in the report, drawing on testimonies from the victims... is nothing short of painful to read," Mr Quayle added.
He said the call for Tynwald to apologise on behalf of the island's public authorities would be considered by ministers.
Mrs Urquhart said there needed to be a wide-ranging, more detailed inquiry into what had happened.
Knottfield children's home stopped providing residential care in 1983
"The only way I feel that could happen if an independent review was to take place outside of our own government."
'Relentless brutality'
An opportunity to stop the abuse in the late 1970s following an allegation to police was a failure which had "tragic consequences", the report said.
Chief Constable Gary Roberts, praised in the report for his "outstanding public commitment to the investigation of child abuse", publicly apologised on behalf of the force.
In 2016, the Attorney General John Quinn chose not to pursue a further prosecution because of "the defendant's age and state of health", the report said.
"The nature of allegations were such that that proposed defendant would not have been sent to prison," he told the report's authors.
That decision, given the pain and trauma of recalling the abuse, was "difficult for the former Knottfield residents to accept", the report said.
Abuse tolerated
The report centred on two 10-year periods of abuse at Knottfield.
From 1961 to 1971 the home manager, a Mr Hamilton - who has since died - operated a strict regime "characterised by relentless physical brutality and emotional humiliation".
Children as young as three would "get the stick" for making a noise at night, a man told the committee.
One woman remembered wetting the bed. "My nose was rubbed in it."
From 1973 to 1983, when the home was taken over by Joseph Marshall and his wife, residents detailed a period of "horrific physical, emotional and sexual abuse".
Abuse was perpetrated by some employees of the home, other adults, by children, and by adult strangers both on and off the island, the report said.
Children were "threatened with cricket bats"
A female staff member was seen "holding a child's head under water"
One man recalled being "taken to the attic" to be sexually abused
Boys and girls were touched sexually or forced to "perform sex acts"
Child-on-child abuse "was tolerated and exploited"
The authors wrote: "We believe them."
'Lives ruined'
Members of the public could take the children for a day out or for "an ice cream". One man only wanted "boys between 10 and 14", a female member of staff told the committee.
"When the boys came back they were very, very quiet and subdued," she said.
One child was made to perform sex acts on players of a foreign football team on a trip to Warwick Castle. On the same trip, a victim said a suitcase "full of cash" was handed over in exchange.
"The experience of living at Knottfield ruined many lives," the report concluded.
It also called on Tynwald to appoint a Victims Commissioner-type figure and scrap time limits for personal injury or criminal injuries compensation claims for child abuse victims.
The report will be debated by the Manx parliament in December.
An 82-year-old man is to appear in court, on a date to be set, in relation to indecency offences alleged to have been committed at the former children's home in Douglas.