Life in children's home was 'torture every day'

A man who was physically and mentally abused in a Scottish children's home believes the two men responsible should have got longer prison terms.

Matthew George and John Muldoon worked at Kerelaw School in Ayrshire, where they physically and sexually assaulted their victims over three decades.

On 13 January the pair were jailed for a total of 28 years.

Paul McDonagh said: "I was getting beat up just about every day. It was mental torture every day."

He said: "It was just an environment when it was constantly happening."

Mr McDonagh, who now lives in Kent, was a vulnerable 8-year-old when he was first taken into care.

He told BBC South East he was also sexually abused when at Kerelaw.

"You just knew the staff didn't care about the kids."

Mr McDonagh, who is now 49, has waived his right to anonymity.

He said he went to Kerelaw when he was 13 or 14 years old, and left three years later in 1989.

"Within a month one of the staff had beat me. After that it just escalated and I was getting beat up just about every day.

"I was in a dorm and they put me into another room just so they could come in and do what they wanted."

He said: "That's in my head every day, Nothing can take that away.

"Why did it happen? Why me? Why did I let it happen?"

John Muldoon, 69, repeatedly beat Mr McDonagh, and Matthew George sexually abused him.

In December Muldoon was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and 73-year-old George was jailed for 16 years for a catalogue of physical and sexual abuse offences against 28 children.

It was the second time both men had been jailed for offences committed at Kerelaw.

Mr McDonagh has spent at least 20 years of his life in prison for theft, burglaries, and shoplifting, but said he was no longer offending.

He said he moved away to Kent "to be as far away as possible", after hearing that George and Muldoon had remained in the area.

"It's going to take me years and years to get my head together.

"My life has been wasted, the only thing that's come out of my life is my partner and my kids. I could have been something else."

Mr McDonagh said: "I don't like being around people, because there's a constant fear there."

He added: "I still watch my back."

"They [Muldoon and George] made us the way we are."

He said change was "going to take time."

"I've got to this point so far. I wake up every morning and I don't have to think about killing myself. To me that is progress."

Mr McDonagh said: "For the last few days I've been waking up knowing... you got your justice."

"Now I know they're in prison I don't have worry as much because I know they can't get to me.

"They deserved a lot more than what they got."

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].