HUNDREDS of vulnerable children - aged two to 19 - suffered sexual abuse, rape, violence and intimidation in children’s homes run by London’s Lambeth council over several decades from the late 1960s, according to a report on Tuesday (27).
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) condemned the south London council over the abuse which took place in five homes from the 1960s to the 1990s, saying abusers were "easily able to infiltrate homes and the foster system".
"With some exceptions, they [Lambeth Council staff] treated children in care as if they were worthless,” according to findings of the report.
Children in residential homes and foster care were “raped, assaulted and abused” and felt "untouchable" due to a "culture of cover-up", the study found.
Titled “Children in the care of Lambeth Council”, authors of the 228-page report said abusers deliberately sought out jobs that gave them access to vulnerable children.
An investigation into five children's residential units showed that Lambeth council disciplined only one member of senior staff after 705 complaints from former residents of children's homes and those in foster care since the 1960s.
Shirley Oaks and South Vale were found to be among the “brutal places where violence and sexual assault were allowed to flourish", the report said.
Another care home, Angell Road, "systematically exposed children (including those under the age of five years) to sexual abuse," the report said.
A resident of Shirley Oaks between 1964 and 1969 told BBC how she was “violently, sexually abused” by a doctor from the age of 12, adding that the abuse continued every week for two years until her school intervened.
Another former resident in one of the Lambeth council’s care homes told the IICSA that she was often “tranquilised”, “raped continuously” and as a result became pregnant at 15.
In one case, paedophile John Carroll was allowed to remain in his job as the boss of a care home, despite senior officials learning he had a conviction for child sexual abuse in 1986, media reports said. He was fired in 1991 - but over “financial irregularities”.
The IICSA report partly blames the Labour council's battle against the Conservative government in the 1980s, saying it sought to "take on the government" to the detriment of local services.
"During that time, children in care became pawns in a toxic power game within Lambeth Council and between the council and central government," the report said.
With a warning that the true number of victims will be much higher than formally recorded, the IICSA has also called on the Met Police to consider a criminal investigation into why allegations of sexual abuse made by a boy, later found dead at the Shirley Oaks care home, were not investigated properly.
Professor Alexis Jay OBE, chair of the inquiry, said “bullying, intimidation, racism, nepotism and sexism” thrived within the Labour council for many years, against a backdrop of corruption and financial mismanagement.
The probe was carried out by IICSA, which was set up in 2015 after a series of high-profile sex abuse scandals. The organisation focuses on cases where organisations and institutions have failed to protect children from sexual abuse.
Lambeth Council has apologised and accepted the report's findings, which has come after several other probes into historic sexual abuse, institutional failings and cover-ups in the UK.
The IICSA will present its final report bringing together the results of more than a dozen inquiries to MPs next summer.
Bob Blackman MP speaks during the event