He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.” Charles Peguy This book was a real eye opener for me and has made me grateful for my own childhood. Paul Connolly was abandoned as a baby and wound up in an awful children's home, where all the children suffered some level of abuse. This book was not easy reading at times as Paul explains how there was a lot of emotional, psychological, physical and also sexual abuse in the home. I felt my eyes fill up with tears many times. It is a true testament to just what a character Paul has managed to become though, as through all the horrors in his story he also managed to make me laugh out loud on multiple occasions. It featured 13 cottages housing up to 300 children at any given time and saw 3,000 children pass through between 1965 and 1984 when it was closed. Connolly later discovered that six of the eight boys he had shared a dormitory with had died. Connolly said each had taken their own lives either by drug overdose or suicide.

Alan Prescott Superintendent (Head) of St Leonards Home was a JP, Labour councillor, assistant director of social services in Tower Hamlets and, later, chief executive of East end charity Toynbee Hall. Life has been anything but normal and the demons will never go away, but Paul has learned to smile at them as many of the people that predicted the worst for him are now where they told this vulnerable little boy he would end up. William Starling, a former house parent, [15] was convicted of 19 counts of abuse of 11 residents, including a number at St Leonard’s, and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment. [16] Paul was transferred to St Leonard's Children's Home in Hornchurch, which use to be situated between a bus garage and a park. He actually saved my life, the Father in charge of the children's home beat me to a pulp and it was a particularly bad beating. Read More Related ArticlesIn and out of trouble with the law since he was very young, Paul Connolly was not well pleased when, in his twenties, two policewomen came to his door. The news they told him stunned him. Of all the children in his dormitory at the abusive orphanage where he’d grown up, only he and one other were still alive. Most likely as a result of the horrendous sexual abuse they had suffered, nearly all his friends had committed suicide. The news made Paul reconsider the direction of his whole life and start to make something positive from it. The Best You discovers how despite the worst of beginnings, Paul Connolly became a famous celebrity fitness trainer and a bestselling author – even though he only learned to read when he was 25 years old. National Association for People Abused in Childhood [B] has a freephone helpline and has links to local support groups. The five year long Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse shone a light on the shortcomings of institutions in responding to the needs of victims. His latest book, Not Normal , was released earlier this month and Paul says it is even more detailed than the first. Read More Related Articles Apply for any of your records that may still exist with a Subject Data Access Request from the Data Protection Act

When Paul Connolly was just two weeks old, his mother put him out with the rubbish. “one of the neighbours heard me crying and called the police. They came and got me, and I was taken away by social services.” Born the seventh boy of eight children to an Irish Catholic family in Stratford, in london’s east end, he spent his earliest years living with nuns in a convent. A third social worker, Haydn Davies – who already had a 1981 conviction for buggering a teenage boy and who originally faced 37 charges of indecent assault, rape and buggery – had proceedings against him dropped after the judge ruled the loss of video [from police custody] and other evidence from an aborted investigation meant a fair trial was not possible. He was acquitted of 12 charges. It portrays Connolly, in his 20’s, after he is released from prison and working as a bouncer in London and forced to confront his abusive childhood.

Is Big Boys Don't Cry based on Paul Connolly's life?

The purpose of this article is two fold. The first is to shine a bit of a spotlight on the abuse at St Leonards Childrens Home. The second is to publish some more police corruption relevant to child abuse and this will come in the second half of the article. For a survivor of sexual abuse, the rebuilding of their life is a monumental task. The deep and lasting hurt makes it impossible for many. They carry deep scars from their experience for the rest of their life.

His 2010 memoir, Against All Odds, in which he wrote about surviving his horrific childhood and becoming a personal trainer to a number of celebrities, details how he learnt to read aged 25. Paul Connolly told us that children at St Leonard’s were often “ snatched” from their dormitories and raped. [2] It was “ a brutal environment in which sexual and physical abuse were ever present”. [3] He had fought off attempts to snatch him: St Leonard's Cottage Homes was built around 1890, and began with trying to house 'pauper' children away from the workhouses. Most cottages were looked after by a house-mother and a house-father. The home's superintendent, a former Labour councillor, Alan Prescott, 79, had indecently assaulted four teenage boys at various points during the 1970s. Please note that victims of abuse may be triggered by reading this information. These links are generally UK based.Sept 20 Brentwood Gazette Billericay dad's tale of turning life around is now set for TV http://www.brentwoodgazette.co.uk/Dad-s-tale-turning-life-set-TV/story-27800959-detail/story.html if I had not hidden under the bed most nights with my wooden-handled kitchen knife, I would have been raped, as well as the other boys”. [4] Operation Greenlight St Leonard’s Children’s Home https://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/operation-greenlight/east-england/essex/st-leonards-childrens-home/

In the Archdiocese under the name of “Safe Communities” an office has been established to assist clergy, parish personnel and staff within our institutions to understand and live by nationally recognised standards of professional behaviour. There is an ongoing process of audit to ensure that these standards are adhered to.Bill Starling, had indecently assaulted, raped or buggered 11 victims – aged from just five to 14 – over a 20-year period. He was sentenced to 14 years. These were the first sort of serious role models that I found weren’t trying to bugger me or beat me up.” he recalls. He left school at 14 and started work on a veg stall in Romford market. He looked set to become a professional boxer and was about to sign a contract at the age of 18, when a severe accident meant that he technically died from loss of blood. The next few years were a struggle.