Children's home abuse probe wants evidence

A Tynwald committee looking into historical allegations of child abuse at an Island children's home says it wants to hear from anyone affected.

During this month's sitting of the court, the Social Affairs Policy Review committee was asked to investigate the reports from the former Knottfield Children's Home.

The home, on Woodbourne Road, closed in 1983 and formed part of a probe by a UK police force around 20 years ago.

As part of the Tynwald investigation, members of the public are being invited to submit their evidence.

Ayre and Michael MHK Tim Baker put a motion to the court asking for the issue to be referred to the committee - which is made up of chairman David Cretney MLC, and MHKs Martyn Perkins and David Ashford.

They'll report back to Tynwald by December, before looking into how children in care are currently protected from abuse and reporting on that next March.

If you want to submit evidence, you have until noon on Wednesday, August 30 to email or write to the committee.

The committee says it won't publish anything about individual cases without permission, to protect people involved.