The victims of historic sexual abuse at a private deaf school speak out about their ordeal.

When a child is abused, it is difficult for them to speak out to people to tell them what has happened. For a child who is deaf, the situation can be more difficult to let people know what has gone on. One incident from an East London school for deaf children has demonstrated the problem in a See Hear and News Night investigation which has named the perpetrator for the first time.

In 1951, Eric and Beatrice Ingall set up the Woodford School, a private school for deaf children. Beatrice was the headmistress and Eric was the driver and the handyman. The couple lived in the boarding house with the children.

With limited vocabulary and lack of awareness, many children at Woodford School tried to tell people they were being sexually abused by the husband of their headmistress. One victim said:

“There was a busy road with a playground and there would be people walking past but we had no communication because we could not speak, we couldn’t sign and they couldn’t understand our voices.”

At the school, they did not teach the pupils sign language, as many schools didn’t, the children were taught by the “oral” method which would encourage the pupils to speak and lip read English. If pupils were caught signing then they was punished. One pupil recalls having to stand outside a classroom with the sign ‘I am a goldfish’ around his neck after failing to talk properly. The children were also forced to call Mr and Mrs Ingall ‘Mummy and Daddy’ or they would face a punishment. The shame of the sexual abuse and the punishments continued for three decades at the school.

The sexual abuse would happen ‘all day, every day, every time of the day’ one pupil said.

One victim stated:

“It was something that happened everyday, I was a prisoner in that school.”

Another had mentioned:

“I didn’t realise, so I didn’t try and stop him. I thought it was part of normal life”.

Whilst Ingall was the main abuser, Mrs Ingall was accused of turning a blind eye. One of the victims spoke about this:

“Ingall’s wife came and she saw what he was doing to me, she completely wasn’t bothered and left me there with him and went back to her bedroom.”

In 1964, a case was taken against Eric Ingall at the local Magistrates court. He pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting two pupils and he was fined £50 and prohibited from being in the school for two years.

Even though Mr Ingall was banned from being in the school for two years, he continued to abuse the probation period and sadly continued to abuse the pupils. The victims described how they wanted to escape and how they planned to. One felt envious of one pupil that was taken away in an ambulance after being found unconscious on the floor. Another stole a ring and purposely paraded with it on in public hoping police would find him and take him away.

In 1984, Mrs Ingall retired and the school itself closed in 1991. By 1992, almost 30 years after the original conviction, another complaint was made but police did not investigate as they saw Ingall as senile. Seven years later in 1999, a group of ex pupils rallied together to make fresh charges against Eric Ingall.

They worked on the case with Ann Stuart, a child abuse police investigator for the Metropolitan police, for five years but were left disappointed as the case was discontinued. The Judge mentioned that Ingall was too old, their potential witness had died and the survivors had ‘left it too long’. However, the remaining witness did receive CICA compensation from the Home office.

Beatrice Ingall died in 2007, followed by her husband Eric, who died in 2012 – this then gave the victims a bit of the closure they deserve.

According to the NSPCC, it takes an average of seven and a half years for a sexually abused child to finally disclose to anyone what has happened to them. For many, this disclosure does not happen until well into adulthood.

If you or a loved one has been affected by any of the issues raised, historic or recent, you can contact our Liverpool experts. Please click here for a call back or message us your enquiry.