Islington Gazette, 15th February 2024
Exclusive by Charles Thomson, Investigations Reporter
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 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.
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.
“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 Survivors Network 