Father Hudson home memories haunted millionaire

Mar 31 2008 By Adam Aspinall

AFTER winning a share of £2.3 million on the pools John Connolly thought he had nothing left to worry about.

He retired from his plumbing job at 40 and invested his windfall from the work syndicate's jackpot in the stock market while he pursued his charity work with Romanian orphans.

But while most people would have been enjoying the happiest days of their life, John was tortured day and night by the memories of his childhood in Father Hudson's Home.

Haunted by the images of the brutal nuns, who made his life a misery between 1956 and 1962, John turned to drink.

And by 2003 he had drank himself to an early grave - aged just 50.

Last night his brave sister Rose, 52, spoke for the first time about the tragedy which has engulfed their family life.

She said: "I knew I had to come forward to tell John's story because he was so kind-hearted and generous, what happened to him was horrible and people need to know that abuse stays with people for life - it never leaves you."

Rose and her brother John were placed in Father Hudson's Home in Coleshill, Warwickshire, in the late 1950s, along with other siblings, because their family could no longer take care of them.

All of them witnessed the brutal regime first-hand and Rose realised it was time to tell her family's story after reading the shocking tales of abuse from other victims in the Sunday Mercury.

So far 11 former Father Hudson's Homes residents have contacted us claiming they were abused at the centre.

She said: "Living in that home was just hell and even though I was young I can still remember the brutality of the nuns there.

"I saw physical and mental cruelty of all kinds and seeing your stories just brought it all back.

"You were terrified all the time because they had so much power over you, my mother often noticed the bruises but never thought she was in any position to do anything about them.

"But everyone suffered, not just me and I think John must have suffered more than most, because he would never open up to us about exactly what happened to him."

The family had what Rose described as "a lucky escape" from the orphanage in the early 1960s when their mother re-married and took them out.

Each sibling did their best to adapt back to normal life, but Rose admits they always found it difficult, particularly John, who lived with his mother in Birmingham.

She said: "I don't think John ever got over his feeling of loneliness after being in that home.

"He never married because, just like me, he found it hard to relate to people later in life. That is what the experience of living there did to you, it stayed with you forever.

"After he won the pools he retired from his job as a plumber and decided to try and enjoy life the best he could.

"He was such a kind, warm hearted person. He devoted lots of his time helping Romanian orphans in the 1980s and 1990s.

"He even went out there with Anneka Rice as part of a Challenge Anneka programme and built a home for an orphan to live in. That was just the kind of person he was.

"They should have been enjoying the happiest days of his life, but he could never let it go.

"As soon as he stopped working it all came back to him. It haunted him and in the end he just drank himself to death to block out the pain.

"It was always with him, we knew that. He wouldn't always tell us exactly what had happened to him during his time there. But we knew he had been treated terribly just like the rest of us.

"We never saw much of him in the home but every time we did we knew he was living with the same kind of fear the rest of us were.

"He just couldn't bring himself to talk about it and lost himself in drink which was a tragedy for the whole family.

"What happened to John shows that the brutality we suffered there did not just affect us while we were there, it affected us for our entire lives. It affected everything you did afterwards and that is why it doesn't matter how old these nuns and priests are now or where they are they need to be brought to justice."

In 1998 paedophile priest Eric Taylor was convicted of sexually abusing boys and girls at the orphanage from 1957 to 1967.

He was sentenced to seven years but died in jail, aged 80, in 2001.

Taylor is the only person to be convicted of abusing children at the home.

Last week North Warwickshire MP Mike O'Brien backed former residents' demands for police to investigate new abuse allegations at the children's care home - and bring those responsible to justice.

"If people have committed criminal offences then they need to be investigated," he said "The police have to look at this seriously now."

Father Hudson's Homes were unavailable for comment last night.

In a previous statement to the Sunday Mercury over abuse claims Kevin Caffrey, Father Hudson's Society Chief Executive said: "Following your publication of allegations, I am concerned that you should encourage all of the people who have confided in you to report these allegations to the police.

"To this end I am willing to cooperate fully." ..SUPL: