Compensation agreed for abuse victims

The families celebrated after the court hearing

Compensation has been agreed for six people with learning difficulties who were abused when they were teenagers in the care of Rotherham Council.

The settlement announced at Rotherham County Court ends a campaign by families who had children in short-term care at Newman Lodge in Whiston in the early 1990s.

Awards of between £4,00 and £7,000 have been agreed for each of the six, who were aged between 14 and 16 at the time they were physically abused.

They were hit, strapped to chairs, locked in bedrooms and deprived of food.

Their silence in a way locked them up in their own terror Alison Davies

An internal investigation by Rotherham Council upheld the parents' complaints.

The person believed to be the abuser took early retirement and the home was closed but no criminal charges have been brought.

Anne Mourning of the Newman Lodge Campaign Group said after the hearing : "We've waited 10 years for this.

"It's not compensation we're really after. We wanted a public apology and for them to admit they were wrong."

Standards of service

That public apology came from Rotherham Council solicitor Lynn Watts.

Outside the court she said the council accepted the findings of the inquiry into the regime at Newman Lodge.

She said conditions at the home had "fallen short of the standards of service the council provides to children with disabilities and their families."

She added: "This is something the council very much regrets."

One the former residents who will receive compensation is Clare Davies who cannot speak and was deprived of food while she was at Newman Lodge.

Her mother, Alison Davies, told BBC Look North: "When you look at Clare and the other children you see their extreme vulnerability.

"Their silence in a way locked them up in their own terror.

"When I looked at her I thought this is not acceptable. Somebody has got to fight for you."