Lawyer’s claim at children’s home inquiry
BY TOM EDEN reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk THOUSANDS of boys and girls may have suffered “widespread abuse” in care homes, an inquiry was told yesterday.
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is investigating decades of abuse at three residential institutions – the former Quarriers Village cottages in Renfrewshire, Barnardos and Aberlour.
It has heard evidence of sexual, physical and emotional abuse inflicted on children by employees at Quarriers Village, which was a child residential institution from the 19th century until the 1980s.
Stuart Gale QC, on behalf of Former Boys and Girls Abused in Quarriers, said the abuse was “endemic in certain cottages” and “a part of everyday life”.
He urged judge Lady Smith to address the scale of the abuse in her findings, adding: “In the relevant period, certainly hundreds – if not thousands – of children suffered abuse in Quarriers.”
Referring to an apology by the organisation, Gale said chief executive Alice Harper accepted “there was widespread abuse of children at Quarriers”.
He added: “The number of identified abusers, whether convicted or not, clearly dispels the suggestion that abusers were rare bad apples within a barrel of otherwise kind and competent carers.”
More than 100 people have given evidence during the latest stage of the inquiry. Detailing recurring issues in their statements, Gale said an “underlying atmosphere of fear” existed in Quarriers.
The inquiry in Edinburgh continues today.