Shirley Oaks was visited by notorious paedophile Jimmy Savile, and two staff members were jailed for ten years in 2001, after pleading guilty to 26 charges including indecent assault and buggery.
“So we went down there [Lambeth town hall] to protest and the council locked the front of the building. We gave them advance notice, they didn’t object but when we got there all we wanted to do was get inside the building and call someone to come down and speak to us, but they hired extra security. SURVIVOR: Raymond Stevenson, a former Shirley Oaks resident, produced a report detailing the historic abuse
“Sometimes when they were finished we were so sore that in the house there’s a bath in the middle of the room, I used to sit in there just to ease the pain that I was going through.” Another woman, who was sent to Melting Pot at 14, said: “I was abused by staff and other men that were there. I still feel distressed, it bring a feeling of shame, low self-esteem. Even the choices I’ve made in my life, like partners, it’s all based on what happened to me [there].
Lambeth council say Melting Pot was not included in the Redress Scheme because although they placed children in the home and provided some funding to the home, it operated as a private voluntary organisation so the council were not responsible.
Read more Compo payouts slashed for black sex abuse victims