Care home was ‘like a prison camp’ inquiry told

A MAN who spent two years in hospital after being subjected to cold baths for wetting his bed in a children’s home described the institution as a “prison camp”.

Thomas Hagan, 82, was a resident at Quarrier’s Village in Renfrewshire between 1938 and 1952 and said it ruined his life.

The19th century development consisted of dozens of orphan homes which were run by a “house mother” and “house father”.

Mr Hagan waived his right to anonymity in a written statement to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI).

In the statement he described how his house father would beat him with a leather belt then put him in a cold bath if he wet the bed. He said the baths would “turn his legs blue” and he thought he could die.

The witness said: “He did this to me every night because I would wet the bed nearly every night.

“I would lie in bed scared because he would batter me.”

Mr Hagan said he tried to tell others and was eventually taken to a sanatorium, aged six or seven,when he collapsed after being pulled from a cold bath. He returned to Quarriers after lengthy treatment and said he was continually beaten as he still wet the bed.

He said: “I don’t have baths now, I’m too nervous, so I just sponge down. I don’t think I’ve had a bath since I left Quarriers. They ruined our lives.”

The inquiry continues.