My name is Danielle Vincent and I am a Senior Associate within the Abuse team at Hugh James. I represent a client who was abused while she was a student at The Royal School for the Deaf in Cheadle, Greater Manchester.
My client suffered years of abuse at the hands of employees of the school. The school taught up to 78 children from the ages of 6 to 21 at any one time.
The first allegations of abuse were recorded in the late 90’s when the NSPCC investigated claims of abuse after a staff member compiled a dossier of over 140 allegations.
A number of concerns were raised and findings were made against staff members, this included both physical and sexual abuse. A number of staff members were suspended, however, as a number of the survivors were non-verbal, criminal convictions were not brought.
IICSA also produced a report of findings.
The culture at the time of the abuse was not to speak out about child abuse. I frequently see survivors or those family who represent survivors in matters such as this who only speak out about the abuse they suffered years after it took place especially when there has been a period of grooming from a person in a position of trust such as in this instance.
In this case, this is even more complex as many of the abuse survivors were nonverbal.
I am asking if you can help support my client’s case.
