Knowl View whistleblower addresses Independent Inquiry findings

Martin Digan, whistleblower of the abuse at Knowl View residential school, has spoken out about the long-awaited conclusions of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), published on Thursday (12 April).

Mr Digan gave up his career as a social worker at Knowl View because he wanted justice for the boys, and has spent over 20 years fighting for those in authority to hold the abusers to account. 

He said: “I feel some satisfaction for the young people.

“None of this was about the cases; it was about being treated like a human being. For more than a quarter of a century, the victims were not treated like human beings. Because of this, they felt worthless and spiralled into difficulties.

“Those involved walked away; they did 25 years ago and ignored them. That can never be put right, no matter what has been done.

“Rochdale needs to know what their council did and didn’t do. The investigations should have been done then; lives could have been saved. It could have saved the young people who went through a lot of pain and grief: it didn’t need to happen.

“I hope the people of Rochdale don’t hold this against me for exposing what happened.”

“In the time, my only friends have been the media. In terms of altering and making it right, the media reporting this, and their willingness to commit themselves to reporting the abuse of the young people. Without them, this would never have come out.”

During the Inquiry, Mr Digan said he believed it would “finally bring some justice for the boys” in a letter to Rochdale Online, thanking numerous media organisations for bringing the scandal to an inquiry:

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/113306/letter-on-behalf-of-myself-and-the-boys-at-knowl-view-thank-you

Mr Digan originally blew the whistle after discovering the headmaster’s office unlocked when he was on duty one night and ‘helped himself’ to documents from child psychologist Val Mellor’s 1992 report into abuse at the school after because he ‘wouldn’t assist in the cover-up of abuse’.

The Inquiry into abuse at Cambridge House Hostel and Knowl View residential school, held during October 2017, came to a number of damning conclusions, including “no deliberate cover-up at Knowl View” and that then-leader of the council, Richard Farnell, lied when giving evidence.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/117945/-knowl-view-there-was-no-deliberate-coverup-independent-inquiry-finds

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/117939/richard-farnell-lied-to-independent-inquiry-into-child-sexual-abuse

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/117935/former-leader-of-council-suspended-from-labour-party-over-damning-inquiry-findings

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/117936/knowl-view-rochdale-council-failed-to-protect-vulnerable-children-from-sexual-abuse