Total of 135 people make compensation claims over care home abuse

An expert report into abuse at a council children's home concluded that any child placed there was "likely to suffer significant harm", a BBC investigation can reveal.

Our research has also discovered that 135 people have made compensation claims over allegations of either physical or sexual abuse at the home in Halifax, West Yorkshire, with 14 claims so far settled.

The report, which has never been previously fully released, was commissioned into Calderdale Council-run Skircoat Lodge.

On Monday, the home's former manager Malcolm Phillips, 93, was given an absolute discharge at Bradford Crown Court following a trial of facts after he was deemed unfit to stand trial.

He had faced charges of rape, indecent assault and indecency with a child.

His former assistant Linda Brunning, 67, did stand trial and was handed a 25-year prison sentence after she was found guilty of indecently assaulting a boy and helping Phillips sexually abuse another boy in the 1980s and 90s.

Earlier this year, a jury concluded that Phillips, now living in Birmingham, had sexually abused six children over three decades. He had previously been found guilty in 2001 of sexually abusing eight girls and was jailed for seven years.

Warning: This report includes details some readers may find distressing

The 1994 report was created by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) after the charity was commissioned to look into what was happening at the home by the local authority after a report of sexual abuse by the home manager.

The 190-page document's author uncovered a catalogue of allegations of abuse and neglect. As well as sexual abuse, this included accounts of;

• Children being denied sleep as a punishment
• Forced standing where youngsters had to remain in one spot and stare at a wall for hours during the night
• A practice known as "walling up" where children would be grabbed by the neck of their clothes and pinned against a wall
• Children in bare feet and bed clothes being forced to stand on cold floors
• One youngster having 40 bruises on their body but no welfare check being completed
• Another young person attempting to kill themself and then being sent back to school
• A culture of provocation and confrontation among staff to children
• Staff who expressed concern about what was going on being ridiculed and victimised

The report's author described Skircoat Lodge as "abusive" and "dangerous" and said the positive statements made about the home by some staff indicated "collective collusion with an abusive regime".

Phillips, who was in charge of the home when it opened in 1976 and was suspended 18 years later in 1994, was deemed not fit to stand trial after being charged in 2025.

Described as a "master manipulator" in court, he was given an absolute discharge, with the judge saying she had "no choice". He also received a sexual harm prevention order.

According to the Sentencing Council, an absolute discharge means that "the court has decided not to impose a punishment because the experience of going to court has been punishment enough".

The report contained claims that Brunning was "bouncing kids around inappropriately" and that she would "sit on children or drag them backwards by force by their collar".

It was another three decades before she was brought to justice.

The BBC has previously spoken to women who were sexually abused in the home by Phillips as teenagers. They said that abuse "happened in that place to multiple children daily".

Kelly Lees was sexually abused by Phillips when she lived in the home from aged 11 in the 1990s.

She waived her right to anonymity and said she was "furious" that Phillips would not face prison.

"I was a child and vulnerable. He abused so many on a daily basis.

"I feel sad that I've had to fight for so many years, I feel sad that I was isolated and I'm angry because I haven't had a proper childhood, of course I'm angry."

Angela Radford, who was also abused by Phillips and waived her right to anonymity, was also angry after attending court on Monday.

"I've waited 50 years for him to be given an absolute discharge. I've served the time, not him," she said.

• If you have been affected by issues raised in this report, you can access help and support via the BBC Action Line

Men who faced physical and mental abuse as boys in the care of the home have also told us of their experiences.

Graham Hawkins was sent to Skircoat Lodge aged 14, shortly after it opened in 1976.

"You feared going home from school because you feared the physical assaults, the beatings," he said.

"Not only did Phillips hit you, he'd knee you and, when you went down, I found it easier to curl up, take what was coming and he wouldn't stop until you either cried or he got fed up."

Graham has described being collected from school by his social worker and jumping out of a moving car to try and avoid returning to the home.

"My social worker screamed at me to get back in," he explained.

"When I got back, Phillips slammed me against the office door and started hitting me so I did my favourite thing; curled up, took it and waited until he finished."

Like many of those children who were sent there, Graham has struggled with his mental health in the decades since he left.

"I haven't had a full night's sleep for years," he revealed.

"I'm 64 now and I still feel it, I still hear his shoes clicking down the corridors."

Graham joined a class action lawsuit against Calderdale Council and received a compensation payment for the physical abuse he suffered.

"I had an offer of a settlement but I refused it because I didn't want the money, I wanted to take Calderdale Council to court," he said.

"The solicitor phoned me and said, 'the others in the class action have accepted but we can't proceed until you all agree' so I had to agree.

"I didn't get my day in court and I never got a letter of apology from Calderdale Council.

"That would have made quite a difference to be honest; somebody acknowledging what happened to the children who were placed in their care."

Former Skircoat resident Chris Wild described the "lack of accountability" as "repugnant."

"What I want to see now is a public inquiry because people need to know how and why," he said.

"I want a public apology because survivors deserve that and compensation for survivors who are still living with that trauma.

"Most importantly, we've got to learn from those past mistakes to make sure they never happen again and Calderdale must lead by example."

Chris was 11 years old when he was sent to the home following his father's death and has spent many years campaigning for answers about what happened at Skircoat Lodge.

"That place is a house of horrors and we're only hearing a small percentage of what happened in there," he said.

"I think the positive of this court case is that it's given people more confidence to come forward and speak about their abuse so this is not the end, I think it will continue."

Calderdale Council said it was "deeply sorry for the harm and suffering caused by these individuals, and for the devastating impact this abuse has had on the lives of their victims."

It added, "Since this time, our safeguarding practices have changed beyond recognition.

There is a strong partnership, focus and commitment from all key organisations working together in Calderdale, to protect children and young people from harm."

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