'Truth and reconciliation' body to give 'historic' victims chance to find closure

THE Merkland Children's home abuse scandal is not the only case at the centre of controversial time bar legislation.

Five former residents of the Moffat home saw their attempts to sue Dumfries & Galloway Council fail as a result of the law, which states that personal injuries claims must be lodged within three years of the incident occurring.

In 2008, Law Lords ruled that two former residents of Nazareth House in Glasgow could not pursue their compensation claim because alleged abuse, said to have occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, happened too long ago.

Two women and a man claimed they were beaten and abused by nuns belonging to a religious order known as the Poor Sisters of Nazareth.

Two of the three took their case to the House of Lords after a judge at the Court of Session ruled the claims were time-barred, but lost their case.

Later this year, a pilot forum initiated by the Scottish Government will hear from 100 former residents of homes run by the charity Quarriers.

The independent forum, called Time to be Heard, was announced last year as part of the response to a report by Tom Shaw, former chief inspector of education and training in Northern Ireland, on historic abuse.

It was initially described as an independent "acknowledgement and accountability" body which would allow victims of abuse to achieve closure through a "truth-and-reconciliation" approach. Only allegations made against individuals still working with children or vulnerable adults will be passed to the police for investigation.

But the Scottish Human Rights Commission said those shown to have perpetrated historic child abuse should also be referred.