A man abused by twisted teachers at a notorious boarding school has described the lasting impact on his life and says 'I still don't know who I am'.
Dan* (not his real name) spoke out after another ex pupil at Lower Lee boarding school, Jack Barnes, shared his experiences of abuse there.
Both boys went on to lead troubled lives after leaving the establishment, which catered for boys deemed unsuitable for mainstream schools due to supposed behavioural problems.
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The former head teacher of Lower Lee, Peter Amundsen, was jailed for 12 years in 1999 for a monstrous campaign of sexual and physical abuse.
Dan, now 47, was sent to Lower Lee between the ages of 11 and 14, before being sent onto Dyson Hall detention centre in Fazakerley.
He said despite never having shown any violence or aggression at school, he was considered a "disruptive" child in his mainstream school.
However he soon realised that staff at the school, which shut down in 2009, were not behaving normally.
He said: "When you look at it you realise they were there for their own gratification.
"When you went to bed they would get on the bed with you, and say it was to help you get to sleep.
"One would rub his beard on your neck and pretend he was tickling you.
"As Jack said they would throw you in cold showers, they would make an issue that they wanted to bath you.
"We were young boys but we knew what was going on. They made it seem normal but it was not."
As well as sexual abuse, Dan described the physical abuse meted out to pupils at the school.
He said: "It was the beatings you would get if you answered back. One of them would take you out and the beatings were unbelievable.
"We were all young boys on the unit; if you take 10-15 boys on a unit you will get little niggles between each other.
"If there was an issue they would take you out and smack you on the arms or back. One hit me so hard I remember I had a hand print on me.
"After that I remember I ran off to use the phone to call my mum and dad to say 'look I'm getting beat'. They would just say 'try and be good'.
"The staff were good, they would have meetings with your parents but you would not be allowed to attend. They would say 'your son is making progress in the school, we're trying to get him into a mainstream school'.
"But it was all lies to cover up what they had done to you."
Dan had memories of dealings with Amundsen, describing how the sinister head had two boys "living in his flat".
He said: "I remember one time we were playing cricket and someone sent me to Pete's flat to get cricket whites.
"He threw me some clothes, but then he said the pants were too tight and he put his hand down the front of my trousers.
"There were nothing wrong with them, they were fine."
Dan said eventually he was considered a "problem" and he was moved to Dyson Hall.
However his frustrations with the school boiled over and he tried in vain to share the truth.
Dan said: "I wasn't a problem, it was a cry for help. The day I left I was screaming at [Amundsen] 'you're a f****** paedophile, you mess with kids, we know what you're up to'."
Dan said his life followed a tragic path after leaving Lower Lee.
He said: "I became a kid of horror. I would not listen to anyone. I was selling heroin on the streets corner for big lads from the age of 15.
"I led a life of crime; robberies, everything. When I came from a normal mainstream school they told me I was going for a better education, and a better life. There was no education.
"I don't speak to my mum and dad, there are a lot of anger issues. It sounds strange but I feel like I still don't know who I am today; I never found myself.
"I could go out with you and five other lads for a few beers and I could not start a serious conversation, I feel too paranoid.
"It's a bit like being in a bubble."
When Amundsen was sentenced in 1999 a judge at Liverpool Crown Court blasted the way the school was run.
The court was told Amundsen had been given the job despite having no qualifications and little experience and having been mentally ill.
Judge Denis Clark said: "I ask myself where were we as a nation?
"I think we all bear some degree of collective responsibility for putting young children behind closed doors in homes and establishments and then effectively forgetting about them.
"It seems to me there was no adequate system of monitoring, scrutiny and checks on the backgrounds of people like you, paedophiles, who should never have been in that position.
"This was deliberate, systematic and very extensive sexual abuse of children who were vulnerable and powerless."
The ECHO reported last week on the campaign of Mr Barnes, who is hoping to fight for justice for some of the forgotten victims of Lower Lee.
Mr Barnes, originally from Toxteth but who now lives in Essex, has become known as the 'Scouse megaphone man' due to his protests about child abuse and alleged corruption within social care.
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