“It was like hell on Earth.”
Warning: This article includes references to sexual abuse and suicide that some readers may find distressing.
Colin (not his real name) is one of 19 alleged abuse victims who has come forward following a Sky News investigation into a closed children’s home in Norfolk.
The total number is now 62.
Numerous people have told us that they experienced physical, emotional and sexual abuse at The Small School at Red House run by a Danish organisation called Tvind, which has been described as a cult.
Colin was taken into care after being a victim of sexual exploitation, but when he arrived at The Red House at 15, his personal, painful history was used against him.
“A couple of the lads grabbed hold of me,” he said. “They’d been told that I was a rent boy before I got there, they wanted to knock me into shape. I contemplated killing myself. I’d never experienced that humiliation.”
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Children were sent to The Red House from all over the country. Some have told Sky News that violent staff broke their fingers, threw them down the stairs and even locked them in rooms with Alsatians.
Sadly for Colin, his experience of sexual exploitation continued at the home.
“They put these three lads in my room, they squeezed me round my neck and I passed out,” he said. “When I came round they were sexually abusing me. I was screaming and screaming. The next day I ran and I never went back there.”
The home was run by the Tvind School Cooperative of Denmark. A controversial group founded in the late 1960s, they opened around 30 radical schools in Denmark, mostly for disadvantaged children, and two in England. Many have since closed.
Inspections by regulatory bodies reveal growing concerns about The Red House. In 1990, the Social Services Inspectorate wrote to directors of local authorities warning them against sending children to the home.
An inspection report made by Norfolk County Council in 1994 shows they were aware of alleged “sexual abuse” and “physical abuse” involving 20 children.
Yet the home continued to operate and three years after that inspection report, Norfolk County Council sent a teenage boy to the Red House.
“Red House was this black hole where they could just dump people and not worry about them,” he says.
“Whilst I was there I can’t even think of one instance when my social worker turned up to come and check on me.”
He is one of the many alleged victims in the process of suing Norfolk County Council and the local authorities which sent children to the home.
Read more:
The Red House: The children’s home run like a cult
The Danish group behind a children’s home run like a cult
Daniel Lemberger Cooper is representing victims on behalf of Imran Khan and Partners.
“[We] urge Norfolk Council, who are the centre of this and whose geographic area Red House was based, to tell the truth. They were aware very early on … about abuse and allegations of abuse and they failed to act.”
Victims are also being supported by the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association who are urging any more people to come forward.
The home was shut down in 1998. Norfolk Police have done two investigations into allegations of abuse but no one has been charged.
Those still working for Tvind in Denmark say they are not associated with the former cooperative.
Norfolk County Council says: “We continue to investigate and respond to those private claims through the appropriate legal channels.
“Our thoughts are with all survivors of abuse but, as there is an ongoing legal claim relating to Red House, we cannot comment further at this time.”
People can contact the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association by visiting: www.smallschoolredhouse.co.uk.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email [email protected] in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
