UK Children's Home was 'Like a Sweet Shop for Paedophiles'

By Craig Simpson  

A former resident of a children's home which police are investigating for alleged sexual abuse has labelled it a "rape factory" that was like a "sweet shop" for paedophiles.

Graeme Sergeant was led through the gates of Beecholme, which stood in Fire Tree Road, Banstead, in 1960 and into what appeared to be an ideal escape from a tough and impoverished family life in London.

But within months of entering the children's home, the then-five-year-old claims he was snatched from his bed and forced to perform sex acts on a room full of adults.

Graeme Sergeant pictured in 1960

He says he endured two years of beatings, humiliation and repeated sexual abuse at the so-called "children's village", which had 23 different houses.

The now 61-year-old is leading a group of former residents in speaking out about what they say was "systematic" child abuse.

"Putting these people in a children's home was like putting them in a sweet shop," said Graeme, who now lives in Beltinge, Kent.

"One house alone would give them a pick of 15, 20 or 30 children. It was like wolves being allowed in with the sheep."

"I think others must have known about it, it's too much, too widespread. They never took any notice of us. You would get shipped out if you told anyone."

"I would say it was like a rape factory, a production line. It was systematic abuse. I think they are sick. They are evil. They know what they are doing."

Graeme was born in Wimbledon in 1955 and grew up in Wandsworth.

After the birth of his younger sister, his mother suffered what Graeme believes would be diagnosed now as post-natal depression and was taken to an asylum. His father was unable to care for the young family.

Cedar House at Beecholme, one of around 23 houses there

Graeme was taken to an assessment centre, and at five years old had the prospect of going to one of two children's homes: Shirley Oaks, now infamous for sexual abuse allegations; and Beecholme which is now under investigation.

He and his two sisters were taken to Beecholme. He said: "They're telling you it's this wonderful cottage home and there's loads to do. You draw up through the gates thinking 'yeah this is great'.

"And then you suddenly discover Beecholme isn't this idyllic childhood experience you're going to have. It's actually a place of fear, abuse and beatings. Not all the staff were bad but some of them obviously were that way, and they carried out abuse and there was nothing you could do about it.

"As far as I can remember you tried to tell people if something wasn't right but as a child you didn't know what was right."

"Beecholme was a place where these people who carried out abuse congregated, and were drawn to, because of the fact that they thought it was a place of rich pickings."

Graeme says the first incident of abuse for him was being dragged out of bed and put in a cupboard, paraded around naked and taken into a room full of adults who abused him. Despite the horrors of what he says happened to him, Graeme believes others suffered more than him.

He said: "I think I was one of the lucky ones, but I was hit, abused, stripped naked and had things put in my mouth. I was given a belt around the ear then taken back to bed."

"I was abused dozens of times in the two years I was there, maybe more."

"It was always older men and women. I think they liked the humiliation. There could be two or three or seven or more in a room when this stuff was going on."

"I considered myself lucky because I wasn't buggered, as I know some were. They were strangers, I didn't recognise them from the home."

He believes staff must have known about or been complicit in the abuse he and others claim to have suffered.

Graeme was eventually moved out of care in 1965, and lived with his father, moving to 11 addresses across London and being pressured to follow in his dad's footsteps and become a plumber.

He married at 19 to move out and find freedom with his wife, escaping the "oppression" of care and family life which was all he had known. He now has four children and eight grandchildren of whom he says he is even more protective because of his experiences.

Although Graeme believes his alleged abusers are likely long-dead, the emotional torment they inflicted is very much alive. He says it came back to him when he was researching his family history, and he says he soon told his GP because of the pain the memories were causing.

Graeme says it has affected his relationships with other people and with authority, making it a struggle to put his trust in others.

"Beecholme made me so insecure," said Graeme. "You don't trust people, because the people you trusted have abused you and your trust. It is a horrific memory."

Grame has now set up a support and pressure group for those who claim to have been abused at Beecholme which can contacted by emailing beecholmesurvivorsandjustice@gmail.com