A Government scheme which compensates innocent victims of violent crime has awarded damages to a third ex-student of a former North Devon boarding school in relation to allegations of abuse in the 1970s and 80s.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) has now awarded more than £230,000 in damages relating to the alleged abuse of pupils at Dennington College (later known as Russell College), in Barnstaple, North Devon.
The latest award is the first to be made from the period after the College had changed name to Russell College, and comes as our legal specialists, experts at making claims to the CICA, are seeing an ‘ever-emerging picture of abuse’ being uncovered, with more alleged victims now coming forward. Tracy Thames, of Hudgell Solicitors said:
Over the past couple of years we’ve been contacted by a growing number of ex-students from this former boarding school, and an ever-emerging picture of abuse of children in the late 70s and 80s has been presented.
People have come forward alleging they were victims of sexual, physical and psychological abuse by members of staff, and all individually tell very similar stories as to what they were subjected to during their time there, with the same alleged perpetrators named.
As a result of our investigations, we have been able to gather a significant amount of information to support people who come forward.
This has included officers at Devon & Cornwall Police indicating that one of the alleged abusers, named by a number of people, was likely to have faced prosecution in relation to the allegations being made, had he still been alive today.
In cases such as this we have to gather as much evidence as we can to make a case to the CICA that, on the balance of probabilities, the crime was committed, as, given they were all children in care, no complaints were made to the police at the time.
People have only felt able to come forward now they are adults, and recognise the impact it has had on their lives.
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Cases initially rejected by CICA
Mrs Thames says many who have contacted Hudgells believe the abuse at the college to have been ‘covered up’, and say recognition by the CICA is important, as it gives them some closure over what happened. She said:
We’ve had people come to us because they have applied themselves individually to the CICA, which has then rejected their cases due to a lack of evidence that they have been able to provide.
We now have a significant amount of evidence and statements from people affected, with some having reported the matter to the police back in 2015. Since that date, more people have come forward so there has been a clearer picture building over that time.
The last two cases we have supported people whose applications were initially rejected by the CICA, but we were able to successfully appeal on their behalf and secure damages due to the information we now have to hand.
We are also currently in the process of making more claims to the CICA on behalf of former students of this college.
Victim was beaten in front of others
The latest person to secure damages is a 53-year-old man who was at the college in his late teens from 1986 to 1988, with a group of around 30 other children. The college name had by then changed to Russell College. He recalls how abuse and punishments would be handed out to ‘keep pupils in check’. He said:
I was there 52 weeks of the year so there was no escape from the physical and psychological abuse I suffered.
I was once physically beaten by one of the men there, in front of a group of other students, so badly that I couldn’t walk. I can also remember being thrown into a freezing cold bath and having my head knocked around.
Thankfully I was never sexually abused, but the psychological abuse was constant. You were always being told that you were worthless, that you would amount to nothing and that your parents didn’t even want you.
The older boys were also rewarded for keeping the younger kids in check, so they would be really physical with the younger and weaker ones also, and this was all approved by the staff.
It was a horrendous place to be, and I had no escape from it as I was there all year round.
The man said the abuse has had a ‘huge impact’ on his life, and that he was left angry when his CICA claim was initially rejected.
It’s hard for people to come forward. It was for me. In my 20s and 30s I tried to just put it all behind me, and I thought I could, but now when I look back I realise it has impacted on every aspect of my life. My relationships, my work, and who I am.
It’s why I’ve come forward now as I felt I needed some official recognition of what I have been through, and some form of closure. I was angry when my application was rejected, and that’s when I turned to Hudgells.
Everything that went on at this College seems to have been kept secret for so many years, but it is starting to come out now, and I hope others feel able to come forward and say what happened to them. It should never be allowed to be brushed under the carpet.
