Address: 80 Highbury New Park, London N5 2DJ
Open: 1970-1992
‘At 80 security was non-existent and life was a nightmare of physical and sexual abuse.’ Young person living at 80 Highbury New Park interviewed by the Evening Standard (1992).
In 1978 it is on file in a social work record that there was only one member of staff on duty at a time in this home which meant they were unable to care for the children adequately.
Number of ISN survivors that lived at 80 Highbury New Park children’s home: 17: 11 women and 6 men – as children in 80 Highbury New Park they were aged mainly 12-16 years
Numbers of children named by ISN survivors as living in 80 Highbury New Park children’s home:: 35: 12 boys and 23 girls
Numbers of children living at 80 Highbury New Park children’s home in council documents: Not known although the Evening Standard interview of a girl who lived there in 2003 stated there were 10 children age over 15 years (01.07.2003) . One survivor’s file (1983) states that this home only took children above the age of 15 years and worked with them towards independence.
Residential staff named by ISN survivors as working in 80 Highbury New Park: 22: 12 women and 10 men
Life at 80 Highbury New Park children’s home
The Evening Standard coverage of the child abuse scandal from 1992 onwards described 80 Highbury New Park as a centre of child sexual exploitation with a number of older men entering the building through windows. One of the staff was said to have been listed in the White Inquiry appendix (1995) as not suitable to work with children and he left the authority in 1991 following allegations.
‘I was pregnant and a boy tried to get into my room. I had to put the bed against the door.’
‘We were left to our own devices.’
‘We only had keys to our own rooms not to the outside door.’
‘He was very off and angry with me for being on strike and not telling him.’ Social work record 1979
‘She had to be held for over an hour as she was out of control.’
‘I reported sexual abuse by male member of staff.’
‘ A man cuddled me in my room – it wasn’t right.’
Abusers Linked to 80 Highbury New Park
Press Coverage
‘Pimp preyed on me while I was in care’, Evening Standard 01.07.2003
‘Now we have discovered that a worried residential social worker, with the help of police, made one last desperate attempt to rescue Louise from a life of degradation and exploitation.
They snatched her from a pimp’s house and took her to safety – only for Islington social services bosses to order she be sent back to the home where the pimps had found her.’
‘How Louise, aged 15, was sent back to a life of shame’ Evening Standard, 16th October 1992
Extract from ‘The scandal at the heart of child care’ Evening Standard 06.10.1992
Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis was the subject of much press coverage when he disclosed that he thought sex with children under 8 years was acceptable. He was a member of staff in a number of Islington homes including 80 Highbury New Park but also Conewood St and Highbury Grove. One survivor’s records include a description of Davis ‘restraining’ her – which was actually PinDown.’ She was placed in a chair and held down’. ‘In our attempts to restrain her she fought back frantically and seemed to lose all control of herself’. Although ISN know PinDown was very common in all the homes it is shocking that those responsible were so blatant and confident about this practice in their recording of this abuse & torture. The child’s opinion of what happened is nowhere and there was no evidence of any managerial oversight or investigation. ISN have many accounts of PinDown and witnesses to it even to very young and disabled children.
Islington Survivors Network 