Rapist 'visited victim at Nottinghamshire children's home'

A child who was raped repeatedly in a foster home was visited in a children's home by her attacker, an inquiry heard.

Referred to as L45 the woman, now in her 50s, told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) foster carers treated her "like a slave".

She said she was physically abused by her foster parents and their biological children before being assault by another man in their home.

The Nottinghamshire branch of IICSA is in its fourth day of hearings.

L45 told the inquiry she was sent to a family in the 1970s, and forced to cook them meals while she and other fostered children were given worse food and physically abused.

A social worker who visited the family at the time concluded in a report she was "much loved" and "treated as one of the family", which L45 said was "the furthest from the truth it could possibly be".

From when she was 11, L45 said she was abused by a man who came to live with the foster family, and whose wife had warned her he "liked little girls".

"I didn't know what she meant," she said.

The inquiry heard L45 "bled heavily" after the first rape, but was told by her foster mother she had just started her periods.

As the attacks went on she said rumours of her being abused became known locally, and she was moved to the children's home, the Beechwood Community Home in Mapperley, soon afterwards.

L45 said her attacker continued to visit her and again assaulted her on several occasions, even after she had reported his abuse.

She also said she was sexually assaulted by Andris Logins, a worker at the home who was jailed in 2016 for rape and sexual abuse of residents.

P7, a witness now in her 40s, told the inquiry she was sexually abused by her foster father - who she referred to as "It" because "I don't see him as a person" - from the ages of eight to 26.

She said the assaults were "constant" and increased in frequency in her teens to an almost daily basis, but she kept quiet because she wanted to protect her siblings.

"I knew that to protect those that I loved, I had to comply with absolutely everything that he said," she told the inquiry.

"There were no ifs. There were no buts. I just got on with it."

A document from social services at the time raised concerns about the family unit, and P7 - whose siblings had then been moved - said she was left to "suffer in silence", including about having an abortion at the age of 16.

She said she was "100% certain" her abuser's wife realised what was happening, and a social services record from the time noted "there was something odd in this family" but said "nothing more needs to be done other than to keep an eye on things".

P7 also said she reported abuse to Nottinghamshire Police in 2000 but her file was shelved and she was only contacted again in 2016.

"I'm just one of the lost children that was forgotten," she said.

Lawyers representing sexual abuse victims participating in the inquiry said their clients were "outraged and dismayed" senior Nottingham City Council officials had not turned up to some of the hearings.

"If you are not here to listen, there is no hope in learning," they said in a statement.

A spokesman for the authority - which first apologised for abuse suffered in its homes last month - said security concerns caused the absence of Alison Michalska, its corporate director for children and adults.

The inquiry continues.

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