Kids’ home was violent hellhole

Woman says children’s shoes were confiscated

-  NEIL POORAN

A SECURE unit for children in care was a violent "hellhole", according to a woman who was placed there.

The former resident told how staff at Cardross Park Assessment Centre near Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, removed children's shoes so they would not run away.

She told of her distress at being the only girl on the unit when she was sent there in the 90s by a children's panel at age 12.

The now-closed secure centre is one of the three residential children's institutions being examined during this phase of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.