Pervert doctor used truth serum to prey on thousands of children
THOUSANDS of children may have been sexually abused by a psychiatrist after being given a ‘truth serum’ that left them unable to move.
Yesterday police revealed there was enough evidence to arrest Dr Kenneth Milner over allegations of rape and child cruelty against children as young as ten had he been alive today.
Derbyshire Police said it had so far identified 65 victims and recorded 73 crimes – 43 of which were of a sexual nature – that had taken place at Aston Hall Hospital.
Officers said they had also identified other potential suspects who worked at the hospital, but no action would be taken as they were either dead or could not be traced. It means no one will face justice over the scandal.
Dr Milner, who died 43 years ago, presided over Aston Hall for three decades, prompting fears there could be many more victims. One solicitor representing survivors said it was just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
The psychiatrist was allowed to continue ‘unmonitored and unchallenged’ between 1947 and 1975 because of the power he held over staff and patients, a report found. The victims – who were sent to the hospital from children’s homes, courts and troubled families – told how they were given drugs that left them in a zombie-like state. They were stripped and abused.
Others said they were restrained and experimented on under the guise of correcting bad behaviour. Those who resisted were physically abused. Many believed cooperating with Dr Milner was their only way out of the hospital, described as something out of a horror film.
The first complaint was passed to Derbyshire police in 2011. Officers investigated but found no allegations of sexual abuse.
Further allegations followed but it was only in February 2016 that the probe was formally passed to Derbyshire’s Public Protection Major Investigation Team. Chief Superintendent Kem Mehmet said: ‘The investigation has concluded that had Dr Milner been alive today he would have been interviewed as a suspect under caution.’
Police said they could justify interviewing Dr Milner over rape, indecent assault, child cruelty and assault. However the force said no inference could be drawn as to his guilt.
Aston Hall opened as a hospital for people with learning difficulties in 1925. It later became a treatment centre for children with mental health issues and youngsters from across the country were placed there by more than 50 local authorities.
Dr Milner, who previously worked at Broadmoor and Rampton psychiatric hospitals, carried out ‘Narco Analysis’, which involved interviewing patients in a drug-induced state ‘in order to recall and disclose thoughts and feelings they would normally conceal’.
Patients were injected with sodium amytal, a barbiturate derivative with sedative-hypnotic properties. The procedure was never acceptable medical practice and the use of the drug was ‘highly unusual’ and not a recognised treatment.
One law firm, Bond Turner, said it was representing 47 victims who would be seeking compensation from the Health Secretary. Solicitor Stephen Edwards said: ‘It is all consuming because they were not believed for so many years.’
‘They were going to a place where they should feel protected ... but the opposite has happened. I think this is the tip of the iceberg ... you could be looking at thousands here.’
The NSPCC said: ‘Today’s report makes truly harrowing reading and shines a light on the decades of sickening abuse that vulnerable victims suffered at the hands of professionals who exploited their positions.’