Islington Council child abuse appeals end in success

We raised questions after the trio were each initially turned down by the council’s Support Payment Scheme.

The scheme offered £10,000 to survivors of historic abuse in the borough’s children’s homes.

All three were told there was insufficient evidence they were in the homes, or insufficient evidence they were abused.

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But appeal panels have now awarded them their money.

The Gazette’s reports were submitted as evidence at two of the hearings.

“The panels found them very useful,” said Dr Liz Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN).

But, she added, the evidence at appeal was not substantially different to that before the lawyers who made the initial decisions.

“Every single person we’ve been to appeal with and who’s had a response has been successful,” she said.

“It brings the original decision-making into question. We never understood the reasons for turning these survivors down.”

Zara took the Islington Gazette to one of the children's homes where she said she was neglected and abused by staff (Image: Charles Thomson)

Zara

Zara - not her real name - said kids at the Highbury children’s homes she stayed in smoked, drank and used drugs with the knowledge and consent of staff.

She said some workers even took children to the pub.

Neglected, she fell pregnant as a teenager. She said staff then tried to force her to have an abortion.

Dr Davies helped Zara, now in her 50s, obtain her care records, but they were largely missing.

She had to appeal after decision-makers claimed there was insufficient evidence she was ever in the homes.

We reported that she had photos of herself at one of the homes. We also interviewed her roommate at the home, who had already been paid out under the scheme and had mentioned Zara in her own application.

Lawyers who originally considered Zara's case said there was insufficient evidence she was ever in the children's homes. But she had photographs of herself inside and outside (Image: ISN)

Catch up:

• 'I was abused in children's homes. Islington Council won't accept I was there'
• 'Council refusing to tell sex abuse victims who will decide their appeals'
• 'I was violently abused in Islington care homes. The council doesn't believe me'
• 'I was denied food in a children's home. It's on record, so why won't they admit it?'
• 'I was abused in my bed at a children's home - but how am I meant to prove it?'

Tony Darke was initially rejected and sent to an appeal panel after it was claimed there was insufficient evidence he was abused at Islington Council care homes (Image: Tony Darke)

Tony

Tony Darke lived in three children’s homes in the 1980s, where he said he was violently abused and neglected.

He described staff attacking children, giving them cigarettes, withholding food and even preventing children from seeing their families as a punishment.

He also described staff at Gisburn House driving children into the woods at night and dumping them there to find their own way home in the dark.

Decision-makers said there was insufficient evidence he was abused.

But his care records described him as very thin and stealing to eat. They recorded him self-harming and being “beset by anxiety”.

Dr Davies said others in the homes at the same times, including some named by Tony in his own account, had described the same abuse – including the so called “night runs” at Gisburn – and received pay-outs.

A photo of Tony inside one of the children's homes, with one of the friendlier members of staff (Image: Tony Darke)

Jo

Jo - also not her real name - was told there was insufficient evidence she had been abused in the council’s home on Conewood Street.

But her care file recorded her telling a social worker she was being under-fed. She was even described in official records as “under-nourished”.

Jo also complained in her application of being violently “pinned down” by a male staff member.

Under the payment scheme’s terms of reference, “pin down” was abuse.

Dr Davies said other complainants had alleged pin-downs by the same man.

Jo’s file even mentioned her “not accepting restraint”.

Dr Liz Davies from the Islington Survivors Network said every appeal the group had been involved in had been successful, raising questions about the original decisions (Image: Charles Thomson)

Mixed Emotions

Zara thanked the Islington Gazette, saying: "I am forever grateful for your help.

“To be honest, it was never about the money for me. It was the principle that I wasn’t being heard with my truth – to be still ignored for my pain and suffering over the years.

“There’s still a long journey with healing but I’m sure I will get there one day. Every day is a step to recovery.”

Tony said: "I want to thank Liz for all the help she's given and also yourselves for running the stories.

"I'm still a bit peeved that it had to get this far. I just think it was a complete waste of time. They paid in the end but it's caused people unnecessary grief."

A fourth case highlighted by the Gazette is due before an appeal panel next month.

Islington Council does not comment on individual claims but has previously admitted and apologised for widespread abuse in its children’s homes.

It has said it is now a very different organisation with an emphasis on child safeguarding.

It says pay-outs under the Support Payment Scheme are not compensation and do not amount to an admission of liability.

ISN can be reached at 0300 302 0930 or islingtonsn@gmail.com.