UNITED KINGDOM
Bedfordshire on Sunday
Posted: December 14, 2014
By STEVE LOWE
BOYS as young as nine were shipped out from a former Catholic boys home to a life of abuse and torture in Australia.
Bedfordshire Police are currently investigating claims of physical and sexual abuse at St Francis Boys Home in Shefford.
The home was closed in 1973, in part due to concerns of abuse allegations.
During the investigation police heard that some boys were sent to Bindoon, a notorious town in Western Australia. The youngsters were sent over there in the late 1940s and early 1950s, where they endured a life of back-breaking work and both physical and sexual abuse that some have said amounted to torture.
The home in Bindoon was also run by the Catholic Church.
Police have confirmed that some youngsters were sent from St Francis Boys Home and it is not entirely clear whether parental consent was always obtained before they were shipped out.
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