A man who suffered abuse whilst in the care of a Teesside children’s home has lost his fight for compensation .

The man who has kept his identity concealed and was known as X in court, was a resident at Saltergill Special School, near Yarm in Teesside where he suffered abuse in a 5-year ordeal at the hands of Myles Brady, a man who worked in the home. The man now in his thirties had lodged a compensation claim against Middlesbrough Council on the grounds that they had failed in their duty of care, to allow Mr Brady to work at the institution.

A judge said that Brady was unjustly acquitted of molesting boys in 1988 at Teesside Crown Court and had convictions of sexual assaults on children in Ireland, but that did not mean that Middlesbrough Council were negligible in its duty of care to X.

Brady was convicted for several counts of sexually abusing a number of children in a care home in Kilkenny, Ireland during the 1970’s and 80’s. He received a 4 year prison sentence in 1997. He died whilst still imprisoned in 1999.

High Court Judge Paul Collins said Brady had used “devious and manipulative” techniques common to paedophiles and such was his grip over X, the victim continued to be seen by Brady after he was found not guilty at Teesside Crown Court in 1988. He ruled that Middlesbrough Council, who were being sued by X, had done all they could reasonably be expected to do to protect him from Brady’s abuse. He continued to say that there was no way Middlesbrough Council could have known about Brady, as he came with glowing references. He added they did follow up some suspicions but nothing could ever be proved.

Brady had often invited pupils to his rooms, when he worked at Saltersgill Special School and several other similar institutions in Ireland, but always had an innocent explanation for any visits.

Judge Collins said he had much sympathy for X and described his evidence of the abuse as “graphic and harrowing”.

The man identified as X said he was mentally scarred by his experiences.