Raymond Stevenson found himself in a dark field above the city lights of Croydon in 2014.
From 1903 until 1983, the cluster of Victorian cottages below had been home to thousands of children living in an idyllic 80-acre, semi-rural setting with woods, a swimming pool and birdsong.
“It was called Shirley Oaks Children’s Home, but we called it Shirley Hell,” Raymond says softly. “It was a paedophile’s paradise.”
From 1967 to 1977, after the courts ruled his struggling father unable to look after him, Raymond lived in Shirley Hell.
Shirley Oaks Children's home was known as 'Shirley Hell' because of the abuse that went on (Image: https://www.shirleyoakssurvivorsassociation.co.uk)
He suffered 10 years of violent physical abuse there, and believes he was drugged to make him compliant.
Other Shirley Oaks children suffered far worse. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were sexually abused by the people meant to care for them – house parents, the doctor, swimming instructor, janitor, football coach.
Raymond was drugged to make him do as he was told
All part of what Raymond believes were multiple paedophile rings operating inside Lambeth with the collusion of officials and a notoriously corrupt local police force.
That day in 2014, Raymond had just been told that one of his friends had been abused at Shirley Oaks. The “top field” was the scene of a recurring nightmare about his friend Peter.
Peter Davis had been found hanged in 1977, aged just 15, in a toilet inside one of Shirley Hell’s cottages. Two years earlier he had been a witness in a rape trial.
There were signs of sexual activity, but the court recorded his death was “misadventure” and in 1983 all the documents were made secret for 100 years.
Peter Davis was a witness in a rape trial shortly before he was found dead
“I realised that day,” Raymond says, “that Peter’s voice was the first of many to be silenced.”
Looking down on Shirley Oaks village, now private homes, Raymond made Peter a promise to expose all the wrongdoing.
Within a month, he had called the reunion of Shirley Oaks boys and girls that would become the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (SOSA).
In the three years since, Raymond, his business partner Lucia Hinton and SOSA have achieved extraordinary results.
In December 2016, after interviewing 600 former residents themselves, SOSA published its own report naming 27 suspected paedophiles and giving details of a further 33 people suspected of abuse.
Raymond and Lucia published a report based on more than 600 interviews with former residents of 'Shirley Hell' (Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Mirror)
Ex-priest and senior house father Philip Temple has since been jailed for 12 years, and police are in the process of bringing two more charges against other paedophiles.
Catholic priest Philip Temple admitted 27 counts of sexual assaults against children in the 1970s (Image: PA)
In the past, only William Hook, a swimming instructor, had ever been convicted of child abuse relating to Shirley Oaks.
Paedophile swimming instructor William Hook lured children with gifts (Image: PA)
A letter from Operation Winter, The Met Police's investigation into child sexual abuse says SOSA had been instrumental.
“The evidence was all there but no one was piecing it together,” Raymond says. “But it’s also that as a former Shirley Oaks boy, people trusted me.”
Because of SOSA’s report, Lambeth council last month began a £100m compensation scheme that will offer every child who was looked after in the borough’s homes from the 1930s to the 1990s a “harm’s way payment” of £10,000 and further compensation for sexual and physical abuse. It estimates 3,000 people will apply.
“I’ve been called a liar all my life,” one former resident told me. “That’s what that payment means to me. I’m not a liar. They lied.”
Another man was among those taken off by a house father on holiday to Hastings. “We were taken away to a big Victorian house and raped,” he says. “Then they’d give you a 10 shilling postal order.”
Raymond adds: “Everything they did to us was normal. I used to be locked in coal sheds and cupboards. Beaten. Drugged. They tried to control your mind. They said I was delinquent. I only experienced physical abuse but I understood the shame.”
Shirley Oaks in Croydon, Surrey
SOSA has sent over 400 cases of abuse to legal teams to apply for compensation. Survivors wanted the compensation scheme to be run independently, but Lambeth has opted to operate it themselves.
“That just makes us feel as if they are still covering up, and we are being paid off,” Raymond says. “This was abuse on an industrial scale. When children complained, they were moved to foster carers, who then sexually abused them. Doctors medicated children. Lambeth destroyed 140 care records during the mid-1990s.”
A council spokesman said: “Under the scheme most of the compensation goes to survivors instead of going on legal fees, and it means no survivor will have to restate their experience of abuse in court.
Each gets independent legal representation funded by the council, and any appeal will be heard by an independent multi-disciplinary panel.”
He adds that the council has provided the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse with “more than 112,000 pages” of documents.
In December, when Lambeth announced there would be no independent panel, dozens of survivors responded angrily. Raymond admits he made accusations. “You’re abusing us now,” he told them.
Raymond holds the SOSA report which named 27 suspected paedophiles (Image: Getty Images Europe)
As a result, the council will no longer work with him, but continues to hold SOSA “in high regard”.
The effect is that the survivor who helped police bring multiple prosecutions is now shut out – although he remains at SOSA by near-unanimous vote.
Meanwhile, Raymond insists this is just the start of exposing cover-ups in children’s homes.
“We hope other survivors’ groups will look at this and take their destiny in their own hands,” he says.
Looking For a Place Called Home is a video dedicated to all those survivors of child abuse and sexual abuse:
From 1903 until 1983, the cluster of Victorian cottages below had been home to thousands of children living in an idyllic 80-acre, semi-rural setting with woods, a swimming pool and birdsong.
“It was called Shirley Oaks Children’s Home, but we called it Shirley Hell,” Raymond says softly. “It was a paedophile’s paradise.”
From 1967 to 1977, after the courts ruled his struggling father unable to look after him, Raymond lived in Shirley Hell.
Shirley Oaks Children's home was known as 'Shirley Hell' because of the abuse that went on (Image: https://www.shirleyoakssurvivorsassociation.co.uk)He suffered 10 years of violent physical abuse there, and believes he was drugged to make him compliant.
Other Shirley Oaks children suffered far worse. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were sexually abused by the people meant to care for them – house parents, the doctor, swimming instructor, janitor, football coach.
Raymond was drugged to make him do as he was toldAll part of what Raymond believes were multiple paedophile rings operating inside Lambeth with the collusion of officials and a notoriously corrupt local police force.
That day in 2014, Raymond had just been told that one of his friends had been abused at Shirley Oaks. The “top field” was the scene of a recurring nightmare about his friend Peter.
Peter Davis had been found hanged in 1977, aged just 15, in a toilet inside one of Shirley Hell’s cottages. Two years earlier he had been a witness in a rape trial.
There were signs of sexual activity, but the court recorded his death was “misadventure” and in 1983 all the documents were made secret for 100 years.
Peter Davis was a witness in a rape trial shortly before he was found dead“I realised that day,” Raymond says, “that Peter’s voice was the first of many to be silenced.”
Looking down on Shirley Oaks village, now private homes, Raymond made Peter a promise to expose all the wrongdoing.
Within a month, he had called the reunion of Shirley Oaks boys and girls that would become the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (SOSA).
In the three years since, Raymond, his business partner Lucia Hinton and SOSA have achieved extraordinary results.
In December 2016, after interviewing 600 former residents themselves, SOSA published its own report naming 27 suspected paedophiles and giving details of a further 33 people suspected of abuse.
Raymond and Lucia published a report based on more than 600 interviews with former residents of 'Shirley Hell' (Image: Adam Gerrard/Daily Mirror)Ex-priest and senior house father Philip Temple has since been jailed for 12 years, and police are in the process of bringing two more charges against other paedophiles.
Catholic priest Philip Temple admitted 27 counts of sexual assaults against children in the 1970s (Image: PA)In the past, only William Hook, a swimming instructor, had ever been convicted of child abuse relating to Shirley Oaks.
Paedophile swimming instructor William Hook lured children with gifts (Image: PA)A letter from Operation Winter, The Met Police's investigation into child sexual abuse says SOSA had been instrumental.
“The evidence was all there but no one was piecing it together,” Raymond says. “But it’s also that as a former Shirley Oaks boy, people trusted me.”
Because of SOSA’s report, Lambeth council last month began a £100m compensation scheme that will offer every child who was looked after in the borough’s homes from the 1930s to the 1990s a “harm’s way payment” of £10,000 and further compensation for sexual and physical abuse. It estimates 3,000 people will apply.
“I’ve been called a liar all my life,” one former resident told me. “That’s what that payment means to me. I’m not a liar. They lied.”
Another man was among those taken off by a house father on holiday to Hastings. “We were taken away to a big Victorian house and raped,” he says. “Then they’d give you a 10 shilling postal order.”
Raymond adds: “Everything they did to us was normal. I used to be locked in coal sheds and cupboards. Beaten. Drugged. They tried to control your mind. They said I was delinquent. I only experienced physical abuse but I understood the shame.”
Shirley Oaks in Croydon, SurreySOSA has sent over 400 cases of abuse to legal teams to apply for compensation. Survivors wanted the compensation scheme to be run independently, but Lambeth has opted to operate it themselves.
“That just makes us feel as if they are still covering up, and we are being paid off,” Raymond says. “This was abuse on an industrial scale. When children complained, they were moved to foster carers, who then sexually abused them. Doctors medicated children. Lambeth destroyed 140 care records during the mid-1990s.”
A council spokesman said: “Under the scheme most of the compensation goes to survivors instead of going on legal fees, and it means no survivor will have to restate their experience of abuse in court.
Each gets independent legal representation funded by the council, and any appeal will be heard by an independent multi-disciplinary panel.”
He adds that the council has provided the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse with “more than 112,000 pages” of documents.
In December, when Lambeth announced there would be no independent panel, dozens of survivors responded angrily. Raymond admits he made accusations. “You’re abusing us now,” he told them.
Raymond holds the SOSA report which named 27 suspected paedophiles (Image: Getty Images Europe)As a result, the council will no longer work with him, but continues to hold SOSA “in high regard”.
The effect is that the survivor who helped police bring multiple prosecutions is now shut out – although he remains at SOSA by near-unanimous vote.
Meanwhile, Raymond insists this is just the start of exposing cover-ups in children’s homes.
“We hope other survivors’ groups will look at this and take their destiny in their own hands,” he says.
Looking For a Place Called Home is a video dedicated to all those survivors of child abuse and sexual abuse:
If you have information on Shirley Oaks or any Lambeth Children's home please contact SOSA www.shirleyoaksassociation.co.uk
