The children of Smyllum tell their heartbreaking stories

EDINBURGH (SCOTLAND)
Sunday Post

December 3, 2017

By Gordon Blackstock

After waiting years to be heard, the children of Smyllum tell their heartbreaking stories

They had waited a long time to be heard.

But in this nondescript office block, as commuters rushed by outside, they would speak at last.

And, finally, after all those years, these adults, who were once children in Scotland’s care homes, would tell their stories. Stories of neglect, of cruelty, of abuse and of murder.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry started its second phase in Edinburgh last week as judge Lady Smith, pictured, turned her attention to Smyllum Park children’s home in Lanarkshire, the orphanage where, as we revealed in September, up to 400 children are buried in an unmarked grave.

The hearings were harrowing for those who gave evidence and those who heard it. It was often heart-breaking.

Some in the seats open to the public wept as former child residents – most are now pensioners – described growing up in Smyllum.

One former resident of Smyllum Park in Lanark said six-year-old Sammy Carr died days after a nun launched a frenzied attack on him, repeatedly kicking him in the head.

In posthumous evidence, another ex-resident said 13-year-old Francis McColl died after a member of staff hit him on the head with a golf club.

Deaths were ‘covered up’ at the institution, run by ‘psychopathic’ nuns who meted out physical and sexual abuse – and even used crucifixes as ‘weapons’.

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