Several  children's  homes  and  private  boarding  schools  in  Scotland  failed  to  provide  a  safe  environment  for  children,  as  revealed  by  reports  of  abuse.

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I  can  guarantee  you  that  the  abuse  suffered  by  the  children  who  went  to  an  Approved  school  or  to  a  List  D  school

  was  far  more  extreme. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

 "for  the  benefit  of  readers.  Approved  or  List-D  schools  were  children's  prisons.

  Often,  children  were  incarcerated  in  these  institutions

    without  committing  any  crime. 

 Some  of  these  institutions  were  places  of  hideous  abuse"  

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         Why  is  the  Scottish  abuse  inquiry  saving  the           worst  institutions

                               for  last?                              

                                         28th  October  2023,  the  date  of  writing. 

Dr  Guthrie's  schools

  have  not  yet  been   investigated  by  the  abuse  inquiry.

" On 28th May 2024, the investigation into child abuse at Dr Guthrie's Schools began.

On Friday 21st June 2024, Dr Guthrie's Schools investigation came to an end.

Not a single UK or Scottish news source reported on the abuse. " 

I first reported crimes committed against me in 1988. I contacted the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in December 2015.

At the age of eleven, on 4th February 1970, I was sentenced at Hamilton Sheriff Court to one to three years' care and protection.

I did not commit any crime; I was simply accused and found guilty.

I could hardly see the judge over the dock because I was so small. 

Here is a list of crimes committed against me while I was a pupil at

Dr Guthrie's Boys' School, Liberton, Edinburgh.

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Dr  Guthrie's  Ragged  Schools

 – Exclusively  for  the  Impoverished – 

 Psychological terror

In 1970, on my first night at Dr Guthrie's Boys' School,

 the boy next to me in the shower block was completely whipped.

 His back, bottom and the backs of his legs were all black, blue, purple and yellow.

 A few days after I arrived at the boys' school, a member of staff slapped my face so hard that the pain went down my body and out of my toes.

In the morning, while I was sleeping,

my bed sheets were often torn off and thrown all over the dormitory.

                                                                                     Sexual abuse

I was sexually abused in the swimming pool on several occasions.

 I was filmed and photographed naked.

 I was filmed naked at Thorntonloch campsite.

 I was filmed naked at Moneynut Water campsite.

                                                                  Broken hand

From being hit with a medicine ball.

 The staff member threw the medicine ball in my direction.

 When I raised my hand to protect my face from the ball, the force of the ball broke my hand.

                                               At least five more broken hands

These injuries were caused by being hit on the knuckles with large Victorian keys.

For nine months, one of my hands was always broken,

 making it impossible for me to eat properly.

                                               Stabbed in the spine with a key

I have had back pain since I was a teenager. I found out that I had a hole in my upper spine.

 I have had severe pain all my adult life.

 In 2007 I had a CAT scan. The surgeon then showed me the x-ray.

 She showed me a hole in my spine where the nerve that controls my left arm occasionally falls in.

 My left arm and hand are currently semi-paralysed

 and the hole is the source of the discomfort I experience.

  Whipped on the bare backside

I was held over the headmaster's desk and whipped

 across my bare bottom

 with a thick yellow Scottish tawse.

                                                                  General Abuse

I was often punched, kicked, slapped, and head-slammed into another boy's head.

I had blood and bruises all over my shins.

My head was slammed into walls

and I was forced to sniff undiluted ammonia from a bottle.

  And finally

  No education

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Dr  Guthrie's  Boys  School  in  Edinburgh

  was  hell  on  earth. 

Nobody  has  been  arrested,

  and  I  am  still  awaiting  an  apology.

A video of Dr Guthrie's statue protest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFFmhEmEVb8

I spent a few weeks in a remand home before being transferred to Dr Guthrie's Boys' School.

I was 11 years old and in a deep state of despair because I had just been taken away from my mother.

This detention centre for children. Calder House Remand Home. Bardykes Road. Blantyre, was an abominable place.

Upon my arrival, I experienced a distressing incident where my clothing was forcibly removed, my hair was pulled, and insecticide for head lice was poured into my mouth. While showering, I suffered an asthma attack and had difficulty breathing.

I was also locked in a cupboard for two weeks, given a razor blade and told to scrape the polish off the tiles on the floor of the cupboard.

I was also sexually abused.

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Before 2015, virtually every other country had a child abuse inquiry, with the exception of Scotland. Ireland's abuse inquiry ended in 2009. I waited patiently for justice. When the Scottish child abuse inquiry started, I contacted them immediately. That was in December 2015. I then waited patiently for the police to contact me.

In August 2019, I called the police and asked why they had not contacted me about my abuse complaints. I was told by the police that the abuse inquiry had not contacted them because I was anonymous. In August 2019, the police then told me that someone higher up was dealing with it.

The police finally interviewed me in September 2022.

I was told to remain anonymous by the Scottish Abuse Inquiry, who also assured me that they would alert the police. They deceived me; they forced me to go public to seek justice and closure.

After the first interview with the abuse inquiry, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It all came back to me. Even the smell of the pool and the abusers were visible to me. It took me two weeks of suffering under a heavy cloud before I was able to collect myself.

After my second interview with the abuse investigation team, my final statement was read to me. I was advised not to read my abuse statement as it would upset me. I did not read the statement until August 2019 and it was not the same as what I was told in person. The head lice insecticide poured into my mouth became shampoo. "This was corrected by the inquiry.

How many child abusers were still alive when I first contacted the Scottish Abuse Inquiry?

  "They say they are all dead now"

  My request to take legal action against the institutions that abused me has been refused.

 I am not getting any justice or closure.

   Please  sign  the  petition.

  We  must  take  a  strong  stance

  against  the  unacceptable  mistreatment

  of  children.

   https://www.change.org/p/remove-the-thomas-  guthrie-statue