Abuse payout battle has left me suicidal

Child victim's 10-year despair

- GERALDINE MCKELVIE

A CHILD sex victim whose key evidence helped jail paedophile gangs in a scandal that shook Britain is still fighting for compensation 10 years on.

Now in her 30s, she says her battle has left her feeling suicidal.

"You can't move on. There should be a system to stop people like me going through all this, she says.

She speaks out as we reveal the council whose failings led to hundreds of youngsters being abused has spent £245,000 of taxpayers' money fighting claims - more than five times the average settlements already paid out.

We understand lawyers are advising Oxfordshire County Council to give claimants rigorous psychological tests to force them to prove how traumatised they are.