Author: islingtonsn

Islington Council child abuse scheme ‘breaking own rules’

Islington Gazette, 4th April 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

‘Maria’ says she was sexually assaulted in her bed at an Islington Council children’s home – but has been denied payment by its support scheme for supplying ‘insufficient’ evidence (Image: Charles Thomson)

A woman who says she was sexually abused in her bed at an Islington children’s home claims the council is breaking its own rules by asking her to prove it.

Maria – her name has been changed for legal reasons – says she remembers waking up to find someone holding her down and sexually assaulting her.

The alleged attack – which happened in her teens – left her needing therapy as she was unable to form normal relationships.

But she has been denied payment under Islington Council’s ‘Support Payment Scheme’ for abuse victims and told she must face an appeals panel.

“Unfortunately, we do not have sufficient information and material that you suffered qualifying abuse,” solicitors running the scheme wrote in a letter.

“It was distressing to read,” said Maria. “It was nearly 40 years ago. How am I supposed to prove it?”

The scheme’s own rules say applicants should not be expected to provide proof.

But Maria must now face an appeal panel if she wants to access the £10,000 support payment being offered to all survivors of abuse in Islington’s children’s homes.

“I’m fighting it,” said Maria. “Both of my siblings have already received the payment, so I don’t understand why they aren’t giving it to me. It’s distressing to know they were believed and I wasn’t.”

Maria’s story

Maria was placed into care at birth, as her mother left the hospital without her and could not be traced.

Her parents later came forward and claimed her, but Maria went back into care because she was being abused at home.

She was placed in a home called Oak Lodge aged eight, where staff noted she had been “starved of affection” and showed unusual affection towards male staff.

But she was never referred for counselling or psychological assessment, which social work expert Dr Liz Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN), said qualified as neglect under the support scheme’s rules.

Maria spent time in several homes over the years, but said the sexual assault occurred in Highbury Crescent, where she was placed in her mid-teens.

Maria was taken into care from birth after her mother left the hospital without her. She was in and out of care for the rest of her childhood (Image: Supplied)

The attack

“I have a memory of someone holding me down whilst sexually assaulting me and this terrified me,” she wrote in her application.

She does not know who attacked her – only that she woke up to them assaulting her in the dark in her bed at Highbury Crescent children’s home in the 1980s.

The man held her down, put his hand over her mouth and kept telling her to relax, she said.

The alleged incident had a lifelong impact on her ability to form and sustain intimate relationships.

“I ended up going to a sex therapist,” Maria told the Gazette. “I couldn’t have a normal relationship because it haunted me.”

She wrote in her support scheme application that she had sought therapy due to flashbacks.

The rules

In 2017, Islington Council admitted and apologised for decades of abuse in its children’s homes.

It launched the Support Payment Scheme in May 2022.

The rules say applicants do not have to provide proof even to the civil standard of 51% certainty.

“The scheme wishes to facilitate support payments rather than present obstacles,” its website says.

“It does not require or adopt such a standard of proof. It requires only that there be credible information and/or material of an applicant’s eligibility.”

Qualifying abuse includes sexual assault, separation from siblings and general neglect, all of which Maria alleges she suffered.

But she was rejected in March and must now appeal.

“I’m going to have to try to get my information from the sex therapist, but that was years ago now. The records might not exist anymore,” said Maria.

Maria says she was so traumatised by the sexual assault at the Highbury Crescent children’s home that she suffered flashbacks and it affected her relationships, eventually forcing her to see a sex therapist (Image: Charles Thomson)

Corroboration

The scheme has come under fire in recent months over allegedly inconsistent decision-making, with some applicants paid and others rejected, despite alleging similar abuse by the same staff in the same homes.

Dr Davies said there was significant corroboration that such sexual assaults occurred at Highbury Crescent.

“Other survivors have reported people coming into their rooms at night and abusing them,” she said.

“It’s completely inconsistent who gets this money and who doesn’t when they’re saying the same things about the same homes in the same years.”

Dr Davies added that other applicants had received pay-outs from the scheme after reporting such abuse at Highbury Crescent.

The council

Islington Council said it would not comment on the specifics of individual cases, but reiterated its apology for its “past failure to protect vulnerable children”.

“Each application is treated equally and carefully assessed on its own merits by the independent service provider,” it said.

“This person’s application is still live and has automatically referred to the independent appeals panel for further consideration, so no final decision has been made.”

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

Islington denies payout to woman starved in children’s home

Islington Gazette, 11th March 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thompson, Investigations Reporter

A woman who says she was starved in an children’s home has been refused a pay-out, even though details of it are recorded in the council’s own files, a victims’ organisation has said.

A woman who says she was starved in an children’s home has been refused a pay-out, even though details of it are recorded in the council’s own files, a victims’ organisation has said.

Jo – not her real name – must face an appeal panel after being turned down by the Islington Support Payment Scheme – a project set up in 2022 after Islington Council admitted decades of abuse in its children’s homes.

But the council’s own records record that she was “under-nourished” while staying in a children’s home at 14 Conewood Street, metres from the old Arsenal Stadium.

“Don’t they even read the files?” asked Dr Liz Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN).

Under the support scheme, victims can apply for £10,000 payments in recognition of physical, sexual or psychological abuse.

Jo applied in November 2022 and had to wait until October 2023 to learn she was unsuccessful. The letter said there was insufficient evidence she had been abused.

“Under-nourished”

Jo was placed in 14 Conewood Street when she began acting up and skipping school after her mother left the family home.

That she was taken into care at all, said Dr Davies, showed a failure by social services.

A psychiatrist had written in Jo’s records that her misbehaviour was “likely a reaction to the loss of her mother”, saying she should be “treated for her mourning, which could be done locally.”

Instead, said Jo: “They took me out of my own home. I was better off there. In Conewood, I was on my own. I had no friends.”

Dr Liz Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network, said Jo’s rejection was one of several in recent months which she felt was at odds with the available evidence (Image: Charles Thomson)

When she acted up even more, as a result of being institutionalised, she said she was punished by starvation and banned from having family visits.

When ISN obtained Jo’s file, a social worker had written about her “complaining of a lack of food” and described her as “under-nourished”.

“Restraint”

On other occasions, Jo said, she was punished violently: wrestled to the ground and pinned down, unable to move.  

“Nothing justified this horrific violence,” said Jo. “I was 15 and very thin.”

“Pin-down” is listed in the support payment scheme’s terms and conditions as a form of abuse which would merit payment.

“We’ve got so many other people who have made allegations about the same man,” said ISN’s Jane Frawley.

“If it happened to Jo even once, it is physical abuse. It should never be done to any child.”

When ISN obtained Jo’s files, it even made mention of her “not accepting restraint”.

“It’s all there in her social care file,” said Dr Davies.

The former Conewood Street Children’s Home has since been turned into a children’s services office (Image: Charles Thomson)

Drugged

Jo said she ran away from Conewood repeatedly due to the conditions.

As a result, Conewood staff decided – with no evidence of any social worker input in her files – to send her to a secure unit in south London, called Cumberlow Lodge.

“It was like a prison,” she recalled. “It was terrible. I was in solitary confinement a couple of times there. They called it ‘the padded room’.

“I remember watching girls coming through the gates, through the bars on my window. One had only nicked a pint of milk.”

Despite a psychiatrist recording “no sign of disturbance”, Jo was put on antipsychotic drugs.

“We had to take this little cup and they wouldn’t let us leave until they could see we had swallowed it,” she said.

Her files record that the drug was Chlorpromazine, which she said effectively knocked her out.

AAnother alleged victim, ‘Zara’, was turned down and sent to the payment scheme’s appeal panel on grounds that there was insufficient evidence she was in a children’s home. She had photos of herself inside and outside the home and witnesses placing her there, including the woman who had been her roommate (Image: Charles Thomson)

“A terrible insult”

ISN said the refusal to pay Jo was inexplicable, as other applicants who described the same types of abuse by the same Conewood staff have already received pay-outs.

“The food stuff comes up again and again,” said Jane. “So does the pin-down and not being allowed to see family.”

Jo’s is one of several recent rejections where ISN contends there is sufficient evidence, including photographs and witnesses.

“We helped design this scheme, so we know exactly what the grounds are,” said Dr Davies. “So it’s actually a terrible insult to me, professionally, quite frankly.

“I have done a lot of these people’s statements and they do meet the criteria. I know what I’m talking about.”

Jo said she will go to the appeal panel.

“I can’t just lay back and not do anything,” she said. “I want some kind of justice.”

Islington Council said it does not comment on specific cases. It does not consider those turned down for payment as having been rejected until after the appeal panel has heard the case.

The support payment scheme remains open for applications until May. For more, visit www.islingtonsupportpayment.co.uk.

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

‘I was abused but have been denied support’

‘It’s not about the money, it’s about my story,’ says woman brought up in scandal-hit care home

Islington Tribune, 15h March 2024

By Charlotte Chambers

Michelle this week
‘Michelle’ picture this week

A WOMAN who says she is a survivor of the Islington children’s home abuse scandal says she has been cut out of the support payment scheme.

Michelle (not her real name) was told her application for a payment was refused on the grounds that Islington could not establish she was at one particular children’s home and that “we do not have sufficient information and material that you suffered qualifying abuse” in a different one.

The mother of two from Highbury said: “I didn’t have a childhood. Stuff like not being fed or like male members of staff just walking into your room. I can’t believe I actually lived like that. I didn’t have that chance to be a child.”

She added: “I’ll be honest with you, I have suffered. It’s the principle of it now. It’s having to be shut down time and time again. And then for them to do what they’ve done – give somebody a promise and then take it away. It was never ever about the money for me. It was about getting my story out there.”

The Town Hall launched its scheme in 2022 with payments of up to £10,000 after apologising for the widescale abuse by staff from 1966 to 1995 – described as the “worst chapter” in the borough’s history. It has so far paid out just under £3m, but has set a deadline of May 31 to claim.

Michelle, a former Mount Carmel student, who said she first experienced abuse while in her home around the age of five, spoke out against the system after Islington issued a notice last week warning that time was running out.

‘Michelle’ while she was at the care home

Dr Liz Davies, the social worker-turned-whistleblower who campaigned for decades for survivors to be paid compensation, has been critical of the scheme after 10 people from her Islington Survivors Network (ISN) had their applications rejected. Another 230 from ISN have received the lump sum.

She said: “Ten people from ISN have been denied the payments. They’re just such tragic, awful stories, and how dare they decline these people.”

She said ISN have spent months painstakingly detailing their clients’ previous lives in the homes and the abuse they suffered after at least four of them had no file, while others had massive chunks missing.

Islington recently announced those who have seen their applications rejected would have their cases assessed by a so-called independent panel – but again Dr Davies said the identities of these panelists have been kept a secret and no one from ISN has been allowed to join the panel.

Michelle, one of the 10, was placed in a children’s home aged 14. During her time there, she said she was neglected and told by workers to abort her unborn son. She was taken to pubs by staff, who bought the children alcohol and gave them cannabis and described being locked in her room if she became “verbal” about “something wrong”.

“My claim would come under neglect because we were left to our own devices, they never fed us,” said Michelle, who suffers from insomnia and panic attacks and started therapy at 35. “It was just having to survive on our own. All I can recall is they called it a supper and you’d get a cup of tea and a slice a toast.”

An Islington Council spokesperson said: “Each application is treated equally and carefully assessed on its own merits by the independent service provider against the scheme’s qualifying criteria, which is set out on the Islington Support Payment website.

“This person’s application is still live and has automatically been referred to the independent appeals panel for further consideration, so no final decision has been made.”

He added that 10 ­people were contacted last week to be told their ­cases had been referred to an independent appeals panel.

Islington Council: Concerns over abuse scheme appeal panel

Islington Gazette, 5th March 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

Dr Liz Davies, from the Islington Survivors Network (ISN), said she felt let down by the council. She claims ISN was meant to help compile the appeal panel – but then the council did it without them and now won’t even tell ISN who is on it.

Women who say they were sexually abused in Islington Council’s care have had their case files forwarded to a mysterious panel who will decide whether they are entitled to payouts.

Alleged victims previously turned down were last week given ten days to decide whether or not to argue their cases before an appeal panel, without being told who will be on it.

In the meantime, their personal information has already been shared with the unnamed strangers.

Applicants to Islington’s ‘Support Payment Scheme’ are automatically referred to the panel if lawyers initially turn them down.

But expert Dr Liz Davies said the council had so far refused to say who is on the appeal panel or give survivors any opportunity to vet them.

“In Lambeth, survivors and their representatives had the chance to review the list of panel members and do their own due diligence,” said Dr Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN).

“As it turned out, it was a very good list and they were happy. But they at least had the opportunity to review it.”

In 2017, Islington Council apologised for decades of violent, sexual and emotional abuse in its former children’s homes.

Allegations from hundreds of former looked-after children include staff assaulting children; giving them booze, drugs and cigarettes; facilitating paedophile parties; and forcing teens to abort babies.

The council gave a special apology in 2017 to Dr Davies, a whistleblowing former Islington social worker who had spent decades campaigning for justice for the victims.

In consultation with her organisation ISN, it then created the Support Payment Scheme, offering £10,000 pay-outs to survivors of abuse.

The council insists the sums are referred to as support payments, not compensation, and says payment under the scheme is not an admission of liability.

So far more than 300 applications have been received, of which 270 have resulted in payouts.

But Dr Davies said that in recent months there had been a spate of rejections, most of which are not reasonable in her opinion.

The Gazette has reported on people being rejected even though witnesses and photos place them in the homes, and others have been paid out after alleging similar abuse by the same staff.

‘Zara’ was referred to the appeal panel after lawyers said there was insufficient evidence she was in a children’s home – despite having witnesses and photos that put her there (Image: Charles Thomson)

Seven people were rejected in one day in early October, said Dr Davies. Each received an email saying the council would be in touch with further information “shortly”.

But they received no further communication until last week, after the Gazette asked why they had been left waiting for over four months.

“Last week, 10 people whose applications were automatically referred to the independent appeals panel were contacted by email and provided with further details about their individual appeal hearings,” a spokesperson said.

The council confirmed that the appeal panel had now been appointed but did not say who was on it or whether survivors would have the chance to vet them.

It said the appointees “all have relevant backgrounds and experience”.

But Dr Davies said ISN had been frozen out of the selection process.

“We were led to believe that we would be interviewing people for the panel,” she alleged.

“That was what we were told when we were planning it. We were also told there would be someone from a survivors’ group.”

The council said its appointees’ relevant experience included having been in care themselves; social work experience; legal backgrounds; and prior experience on panels considering historic abuse claims.

“One word that is missing there is ‘survivors’,” said Dr Davies.

“People who have been in care are completely different to survivors of abuse in care.”

Islington Council said the appeal process was “entirely voluntary”, with applicants able to decide whether to attend, whether to provide further evidence or argument and whether to “bring someone along for support”.

But, said Dr Davies: “They still haven’t told us if we can advocate, as opposed to support. Can we advocate in someone’s absence, which is really important? One woman is in hospital, for example.”

A council spokesperson said the panel was “independent”, with council staff prevented from applying to sit on it.

“The council has no influence or control over the decisions it makes,” it said.

Islington: Man says he was abused in Northampton Park home

Islington Gazette, 23rd February 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

‘Max’ says he was placed in Northampton Park children’s home, Canonbury – but Islington Council appears to have lost his care file (Image: Charles Thomson)

A man calling for support after he was left addicted to drugs after years of abuse in children’s homes found his care records had been lost.

Max – not his real name – says he was placed in two Islington Council children’s homes in the 1990s, where children and staff used drugs and he lived in fear of sexual assault.

But when he applied for his care records to support his bid for a £10,000 payout, the council could not find them.

“This is potentially very serious,” said Dr Liz Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN).

Councils are supposed to keep the records of looked after children for 75 years.

Dr Davies said she had referred several people with missing or incomplete files to a lawyer to see whether a legal action could be brought.

Islington Council would not comment on Max’s case, but said applicants to the support scheme did not necessarily need their care records.

However, Dr Davies said other applicants whose records were missing or incomplete had been turned down.

‘Children smoked crack’

Max said he was taken into care in 1993 and placed in the former Northampton Park children’s home, near Canonbury station.

He said some staff there openly smoked cannabis and permitted children in their care to smoke cigarettes and other substances.

He was given hashish, he alleged, and witnessed other children using crack cocaine.

The former children’s home at 26-28 Northampton Park, near Canonbury station, is now private residential building (Image: Charles Thomson)

He was neglected, he claimed, with nobody noticing conditions he was later diagnosed with disorders like dyslexia and ADHD, which impacted his education. He left school with no qualifications.

The home was also rife with rumours of sexual abuse, he said.

“Other kids told me something bad was happening in the home,” said Max. “They said to keep away from certain people.”

At night, he claims, he would put furniture against his door and was frightened to go to sleep.

Heroin addiction

Max said he was later moved to another children’s home and got no help finding accommodation after turning 18.

His adulthood has been marred by heroin addition, which sabotaged his career in IT, and failed relationships. At one point, he lived in a hostel.

Only now he is clean and sober has he joined the dots between his childhood trauma and his destructive drug use.

“I was trying to forget,” he said.

Max, now in his 40s, still lives in north London – but has had a chaotic adulthood, marred by heroin addiction and depression. He is now clean and sober, and wants Islington Council to offer redress for the impact of his alleged childhood abuse (Image: Charles Thomson)

He now has constant pain in the left side of his body, which he believes is linked to his past heroin use.

He also has depression – not helped, he said, by living in a rented studio flat so dilapidated that he can’t use his own bathroom. He has to visit a relative daily to use theirs.

He is on the council’s bidding list for a one-bedroom flat, but several thousand places from the top.

Missing file

After admitting and apologising for decades of abuse in its former children’s homes, Islington Council set up the Support Payment Scheme, offering £10,000 to survivors.

Dr Davies helps survivors obtain their care records and file applications.

The Arrangements for Placement of Children Regulations 1991 say case files should be kept until the looked-after child’s 75th birthday – but Max’s cannot be found.

“It’s important to note that we do not require a care file to be supplied as part of an application for the support payment scheme,” a council spokesperson said.

“We don’t want potential applicants to be dissuaded from applying.”

But Dr Davies said some previous applicants have been rejected under similar circumstances.

Max returned to the former children’s home with the Islington Gazette. He said the £10,000 support payment would help get his life back on track (Image: Charles Thomson)

In January, the Gazette reported on Zara, also not her real name, who was rejected after receiving an incomplete care file.

Like Zara, Dr Davies said Max’s memories – the names of staff and children at Northampton Park, and his descriptions of what happened there – are corroborated by other survivors.

But Zara was still turned down and told to apply to an appeal panel if she wanted to pursue payment.

The same happened to another applicant, Tony Darke, even with a care file.

Whistleblowing former Islington social worker Liz Davies said she had referred the cases of several people with missing files to a lawyer, to see whether legal action could be mounted over the apparent legal breaches (Image: Charles Thomson)

Max’s Dream

If Max received the £10,000, he said, he would first book some private therapy – something he started once before but could not really afford.

“If you want it on the NHS you have to wait forever and you might die before you ever get treated,” he said.

He says he would then invest in some IT training to try to get his career back on track.

“I think the main thing I need is to find a nine-to-five job,” he said. 

“The payment would definitely improve some things in my life. It’s not something that would go to waste.”

Once he is back on his feet, he said, he would like to help other recovering addicts get their lives back on track.

The payment scheme is open to applications until May. Visit www.islingtonsupportpayment.co.uk.

Islington Survivors Network can be reached at 0300 302 0930 or islingtonsn@gmail.com.

Islington Council child abuse scheme faces fresh criticism

Islington Gazette, 15th February 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

Tony Darke, 55, says he applied to Islington Council’s Support Payment Scheme after suffering years of cruel and violent abuse in children’s homes – but has been told he will receive no pay-out unless he wins over an appeal panel (Image: Tony Darke)

A man forced to recount years of painful and humiliating abuse says he feels “kicked in the teeth” after his account was not believed.

Tony Darke has been rejected by Islington Council’s support scheme for abuse victims, despite his account being corroborated by others.

The 55-year-old lived in three children’s homes in the early 1980s, where he says he suffered neglect and “very violent” abuse.

But he says he has been refused financial help on grounds that there is insufficient evidence.

“You spill your guts out, remembering all this stuff you don’t want to remember, revealing all these intimate details, and it’s like you get kicked in the teeth in return,” he said.

Initial applications to the Islington Support Payment Scheme are done in writing – but Tony must now face an appeal panel.

“Now I’ve got to relive the whole thing again, but this time to a load of strangers,” he added.

The council told him months ago that it contact him soon with details – but he said he had heard nothing since.

It is the second time this year that the Islington Gazette has reported on applicants being rejected despite what the Islington Survivors Network (ISN) says is compelling corroboration.

Islington Council said it would not comment on individual cases.

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

 ‘A knee in the back’

Tony was placed in care, aged 13, when his mother was deemed not to be coping.

He lived in homes in Conewood Street and Highbury Crescent, then Gisburn House in Hertfordshire.

The violent abuse started at Conewood, he alleged, with what he called “pin-downs”.

“It could be anything that triggered it,” he said. “They didn’t really need a reason. You might just swear, or say something they didn’t agree with.

“Everyone plays up sometimes – we were kids! It might be something like, it’s bedtime and you don’t want to go to bed.

“Two or three of them would basically jump you, wrestle you to the ground and hold you down by your legs, your shoulders, so you literally couldn’t move. It hurt. You’d have a knee in your back or  chest. It was a lot of pressure.

“They only let you up when they decided. They lifted you up with your arms behind your back and took you off to your room.”

Sometimes, said Tony, he was grabbed by the throat.

Others were treated even worse, he claimed. He recalled one child who staff taunted constantly, then attacked if they reacted.

One of the few photos Tony Darke has of himself during his years in Islington Council’s care (Image: Tony Darke)

Self-harm

At Gisburne House, Tony alleged, staff gave cigarettes to children as a means of control.

“Most of the kids in there smoked,” he said.

He said some staff at Gisburne were cruel.

“If you misbehaved you would go without dinner, or get a cold dinner. Or they banned you from going home at weekends to your family,” he claimed.

Staff drove children into the woods in the middle of the night in a Transit van and dumped them there, he said. They were split up and told to find their own way home in the dark.

Files show that by the end of Tony’s time in care, he was “beset by anxiety”, with “no confidence and low self-esteem”, and was self-harming.

One a camping trip, files record that he stuck his feet in the campfire. He bit his fingers until they bled, punched walls and scratched his arms.

He was deemed a potential suicide risk and described as very thin. He was caught shoplifting items to sell so he could buy food.

Dr Liz Davies claimed the Islington Support Payment Scheme was making ‘inconsistent’ decisions, with with some applicants rejected despite having no less proof than others who were approved (Image: Charles Thomson)

 “Ridiculous”

After admitting and apologising for decades of abuse in children’s homes, Islington Council’s Support Payment Scheme opened in 2022, offering £10,000 pay-outs to victims.

Tony applied last spring but received a letter on October 12 – his 55th birthday – saying he would receive no payment due to insufficient evidence. It said he could appeal.

The networl’s Dr Liz Davies described the decision as “ridiculous” and “inconsistent”.

“Tony has no less evidence than others who’ve received payments,” she said.

“Others have described the same sorts of abuse in the same homes, naming the same staff. Lots from Gisburn, for example, describe the night runs in the woods.

“Files prove Tony was in the homes. He names other children who were in the homes with him, some of whom I know have already successfully applied.”

Islington Council said all applications were “treated equally and carefully assessed”, adding: “We do not regard an application as having been ‘rejected’ when in fact it has been referred to the independent appeals panel for further consideration.”

The payment scheme is open to applications until May. Visit www.islingtonsupportpayment.co.uk.

Islington Survivors Network can be reached at 0300 302 0930 or islingtonsn@gmail.com.

Islington Council refuses claim under abuse payment scheme

Islington Gazette, 22nd January 2024

Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter

Zara – not her real name – says she was abused in this former children’s home – and even has a photograph of herself standing outside. But Islington Council has refused her a payout, saying there is no evidence she was ever there (Image: Charles Thomson)

Islington Council has refused to pay an alleged abuse survivor, claiming there is no evidence she was in one of its children’s homes – even though she has photos and witnesses.

The woman, now in her 50s, says she was neglected in two Islington children’s homes in the 1980s, where children smoked, drank and used drugs with staff members’ knowledge.

When she fell pregnant on their watch, she says the staff then tried to force her to get an abortion.

But when she applied to the Islington Support Payment Scheme, set up to help survivors of widespread abuse in the borough’s children’s homes, the council said there was insufficient evidence Zara – not her real name – had been in their care  

Dr Liz Davies, a whistleblowing former Islington social worker whose decades of campaigning led to the fund’s creation, blasted the “ridiculous” decision. 

Dr Davies, founder of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN), said she help Zara compile and submit her application, which included photos of her inside one children’s home with staff and other residents.

A witness has also told the Islington Gazette that she was Zara’s roommate in one of the children’s homes and had already informed the scheme of this before Zara was rejected.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Annabelle, whose name has also been changed. “She was there. I mentioned her on two different occasions. I mentioned in my application the things we would get up to and how Zara would protect me.

“It’s just crazy. There are other people who know her and know she was there too.”

Annabelle said she was with Zara in two children’s homes: 11-12 Highbury Crescent, then 80 Highbury New Park.

Islington Council would not comment on Zara’s case.

Zara said the stress and upset of having her application refused had left her unable to sleep (Image: Charles Thomson)

Islington Gazette: Zara said the stress and upset of having her application refused had left her unable to sleep

“We are having to spill out all our traumas, only for them to reject us,” said Zara.  

“I had a panic attack and hyperventilated when I found out. It’s traumatising to be subjected to all this – to go back over what’s happened to you, only for them to slap you in the face and still keep insulting you time and time again. It’s upsetting.

“All of this has brought back memories for me. It’s very emotionally draining. I’m waiting for a doctor’s appointment because I’m not sleeping properly. Sometimes I’m sitting in my house and I get very tearful because it’s all resurfacing.

“The most hurtful part is that the proof is all in there. I included photos. They’ve clearly not even looked at my application.”

Dr Davies helped Zara apply for her council records before applying to the scheme, but when they were supplied, said Zara, the contents were “almost completely missing”.

“I was in the homes for four years and my file was about four pages,” she said.

“There was no mention of her being in the children’s homes in her file,” said Dr Davies. “So I knew I really had to prove it.

“I attached photos of her in her room, with the manager, nursing her newborn baby with other residents and even standing outside the front door with the number 80 on it.”

This photograph shows Zara stood outside 80 Highbury New Park, said Dr Liz Davies, and is part of a collection of photos she has of herself at the home, including posing with staff (Image: ISN)

Islington Gazette: This photograph shows Zara stood outside 80 Highbury New Park, said Dr Liz Davies, and is part of a collection of photos she has of herself at the home, including posing with staff

But in December, Zara was told her application had been rejected.

“I wrote to the lawyers straight away and said, ‘There must be a mistake here, I sent you all the photographs’,” said Dr Davies.

“Then I remembered another survivor had mentioned Zara in her own statement and already been paid out.

“So this is a failure on their part, in my view. But instead of pulling back and apologising, they said, ‘We know it’s disappointing but she will soon hear from the appeal panel’.”

“It’s not about the money,” said Zara. “It’s about getting justice for things that people feel like they’ve gotten away with.”

Dr Liz Davies, of the Islington Survivors Network (ISN), helped Zara submit her application and has condemned its rejection (Image: Charles Thomson)

Zara, who was in the homes in the 1980s, said she was still dealing with the consequences.

“It was mainly neglect,” she alleged. “We were left on our own. When you were in a predicament, there was no one there for you.

“Kids would be smoking, drinking, taking drugs. I was afraid of taking drugs so I didn’t do it, but used to drink alcohol. The staff would see us and do nothing. They’d even take us to the pub.

“At the time it seemed great, but it wasn’t. I’m grown now but I still have issues in my life because I didn’t get the guidance I needed when I was young.”

Left to her own devices by the staff, said Zara, she fell pregnant as a teenager.

“They tried to force me to have a termination,” she claimed. “I wanted to have my child but they keep taking me to a clinic in Euston, even though I didn’t want to go.

“I think maybe they wanted me to have a termination because I fell pregnant in their care. It was evidence of their neglect.”

Zara said she would fight against Islington Council’s decision for herself and others (Image: Charles Thomson)

Islington Gazette: Zara said she would fight against Islington Council's decision for herself and othersZara said she would fight against Islington Council’s decision for herself and others (Image: Charles Thomson)

Zara said she would fight against her rejection to inspire others to do the same.

“It’s not right and it’s not fair,” she said. “I don’t see why they should get away with it..

“I’ve always been the one that’s quiet and just expected to take everything on the chin, but I’m not doing that. This life has taught me to be strong.

“There are other people out there far worse off than me and if this is how they’re going to treat them too, it’s not right.”

Islington Council sent a lengthy statement but it did not address Zara’s case. It reiterated the council’s apology for past abuse in its children’s homes and said its support scheme remained open to applications. 

Contact: Islingtonsn@gmail.com for assistance in claiming the Support Payment: Call voicemail 0300 302 0930 @theIslingtonSN

‘Night run’ care home abuse survivors encouraged to help with investigation

Trips involved children being taken to various forests

Islington Tribune, 23rd July 2023

By Izzy Rowley

Dr Liz Davies

AN appeal for abuse survivors who remember “night runs” has been launched.

The Islington Survivors Network (ISN) has called for any survivors of the borough’s care home abuse scandal who remember “night runs”, which took place during the 1970s and 80s, to come forward.

These trips involved children being taken from their care homes and brought to various forests.

The exact purpose of these trips is unclear, but survivors are certain that the night runs were not recreational or fun, with one reporting to ISN that they were “touched inappropriately and sexually by staff who came with us” while being taken horse riding in Epping Forest.

One man, who does not wish to be named, recalled being “frightened and petrified” on a night run when he was about five years old.

He told the Tribune: “To give you a picture, there was a lot of abuse going on in the home – physical, mental, psychological abuse.

“I remember about three trips altogether. We were taken in a van to Epping Forest. I don’t think the people that took us worked in the care home, but whoever they were, they must have had the authority to take us.

“It was daylight when we left, but it was dark when we arrived there. I recently spoke to someone else who was in the same care home and he said he remembered holding my hand the whole time, he wouldn’t let go of it. There were lots of posh cars lined up – it all seemed very organised.”

He added: “I remember being told to shut up and say nothing on the return to the home.”

He said that an investigation into these runs would be a step towards justice for him and other survivors like him. “I would definitely encourage as many people as possible [to come forward]. I think the more that come forward, the more likely it is that it’s going to make any kind of investigation into it that bit easier,” he said.

Survivors from care homes in Highbury Crescent, Grosvenor Avenue, Conewood Street, Elwood Street, Gisburne House, and Copthorne have reported experiencing these runs.

Different forests were visited including Epping Forest, Cassiobury Park, Thetford Forest and the Norfolk Broads.

According to ISN, many of these children were abandoned in the middle of the forest and left to make their own way back to a campsite or a vehicle they were transported there in. Some survivors report fewer children coming back from these runs than went out on them.

Dr Liz Davies, founder of Islington Survivors Network, said: “This is so serious and we hope there will be an investigation from the police and Islington Council.

“This needs to be investigated because it’s a recurring theme from so many survivors from so many different homes.”

An Islington Council spokesperson said: “We strongly support prosecution of any people involved in abuse, and it’s vital for anyone with new information about non-recent abuse to contact police, so allegations or evidence of abuse can be fully investigated.”

After being contacted on Wednesday the Metropolitan Police did not respond in time to give a comment.

• Anyone who has experienced abuse of this kind can report it directly to the police by calling 101 or visiting www.met.police.uk/ro/ocr/how-to-report-a-crime or contact Islington Survivors Network at islingtonsn@gmail.com who will facilitate a report.

Paedophile Met Police officer Paul Lamb dies in prison

Islington Gazette, 19th July 2023

A woman who was sexually abused by an Islington policeman says a series of failures robbed his victims of true justice.

Paedophile Paul Lamb got away with his crimes for decades after his fellow officers dismissed the girl as an “attention-seeker” in the 1970s, she claimed.

Their inaction left him free to abuse more children.

He was only brought to book decades later, in 2021 – but a report has now revealed that he served just one year before dying of pneumonia and cancer.

The report, by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, uncovered “disappointing” shortcomings in Lamb’s medical care.

“I feel cheated,” said Christine (not her real name).

“He didn’t deserve a death sentence. I don’t believe in revenge or capital punishment. But I believe in justice – and he didn’t really serve much time at all for what he did to us.”

Paul Lamb was jailed in May 2021, but died in in May 2022 – just one year into his 17-year sentence (Image: Humberside Police)

As a teenager, Christine was placed in the council’s Sheringham Road children’s home.

That was where she met Lamb, who lived a ten-minute walk away in police accommodation near Pentonville prison.

“He was always in the children’s home,” she said.

After Lamb began abusing her at the age of 13 or 14, she said, she reported him at Caledonian Road police station.

“I was totally ignored,” she claimed. “They said, ‘Get out of here, you’re just being an attention-seeker’.

“I was in a children’s home. We were all seen as scallywags. We were never going to be believed.”

The Met Police Service said it could not comment on this claim “given the time that has passed”.

It added that while Lamb was a Met officer, he was “not on duty” when he met and abused Christine.

The Sheringham Road children’s home has since been demolished, but former child occupants handed Islington Survivors Network these photographs of the front door and the home’s minibus (Image: ISN)

Prosecution

Lamb moved to Yorkshire in the 1980s, where he continued abusing children.

Decades later, Christine approached the Islington Survivors Network (ISN), which helped her report her abuse to the Met again.

Officers discovered Humberside Police were already investigating Lamb over other allegations. The cases were joined.

In May 2021, Lamb, aged 73, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for 19 sex offences, including abusing Christine.

He was sent to HMP Hull.

Christine said the authorities never told her he had died a year later.

‘Christine’ said she reported her abuse by Lamb as a teenager at Caledonian Road police station (since converted into housing), but was ignored and told to go away (Image: Google Streetview)

Shortcomings

Lamb’s partner raised concerns with the Ombudsman that his treatment was “lacking” and there was “damp in his cell”.

It found his care had been “of a variable standard”.

Lamb arrived at prison with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and osteoarthritis, but there was “no evidence” he was offered appointments to monitor those conditions.

He was diagnosed with breast cancer three months later and underwent surgery.

He complained of pain in his chest in early March 2022 and admitted he had not been taking his medication.

He was not sent to hospital until late April, by which time he had shortness of breath and fatigue.

His cancer had returned and spread, but there was “no evidence” the prison held necessary meetings about his care.

He died on May 27, 2022.

A report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found shortcomings in the healthcare Paul Lamb received at HMP Hull (Image: Google Streetview)

Reaction

The ombudsman did not comment on whether better treatment might have prolonged Lamb’s life.

But it said it had already issued advice to HMP Hull in June 2021 about its management of long-term conditions and use of care plans, following a previous death.

“It is therefore disappointing that these issues are evident in this report,” it wrote.

“For survivors, it was a short sentence for the horrors of what they went through,” said Dr Liz Davies, from ISN.

She said further intelligence about Lamb, from another Islington survivor, had never been criminally investigated.

Christine added: “I don’t want anyone to die – just to serve their time and go home. He should have got that a long time ago, but instead he basically got away with it. I think it’s quite shocking, really.”

City Health Care Partnership (CHCP), which provided health services for HMP Hull, said Lamb’s inquest in April 2023 concluded he had died from natural causes.

“CHCP was not an interested party in this case as we were released from the coroner,” it said.

It is no longer HMP Hull’s health provider.

A prison service spokesperson said: “HMP Hull has accepted and implemented the ombudsman’s recommendations, including improving training for healthcare staff.”

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