Victims of paedophile children's home manager awarded £1.3million payout from council for abuse they suffered

Three victims of a serial paedophile have secured £1.3million in damages from the council which ran the children’s home where they were abused.

The three men were abused by Peter Harley while he was the care home manager at Merkland Children’s Home in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, in the 1970s and 80s.

They will each receive a six-figure share of a £1.3million payout from Dumfries and Galloway Council after agreeing out-of-court settlements.

The council had already apologised and paid out nearly £1million to 47 of Harley’s victims in 2010.

Richard Pitts, partner at Digby Brown, the law firm which represented the three victims, said: ‘The £1.3million recovered tells you just how serious this abuse was – it’s also landmark for being the highest known sums recovered for survivors with Merkland abuse claims.

‘Harley preyed on the most vulnerable children in the most abusive ways – he was cunning, abused his power and has shown no remorse.’

Harley, 79, has been jailed on three occasions for sexually abusing children in his care and is currently serving a three-year sentence imposed in 2022 at the High Court in Glasgow for preying on boys at Merkland.

He was first jailed for 15 years in 1996 for abusing 16 former Merkland residents and was also sentenced to eight years in Cardiff in 2000 for crimes committed against seven boys in South Wales.

The paedophile – known as ‘Pops Harley’ - abused boys as young as six, and it emerged in court that he had targeted children who woke in the night from bad dreams or as they sat on his knee watching television.

In 2009, Dumfries and Galloway Council apologised to Harley’s victims, which prompted dozens more survivors of his abuse to come forward.

They all received £20,000 each.

Two more Merkland abuse claims against the council are ongoing but details cannot be disclosed to protect survivors.

Mr Pitts added: ‘The payments offered by the local authority 15 years ago were ex gratia – that means they were paid free of obligation and no survivor had to waive any rights to receive them.

‘Victims of Merkland therefore still have a right to seek legal advice and as the council only offered relatively small sums there is a real chance many people could still be entitled to access the enhanced treatment, care and support they deserve.’

Mr Pitts has also called for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to hear evidence about Merkland as soon as possible in case other predators were operating there.

He said: ‘It would therefore be of the utmost importance for SCAI to fully investigate Merkland as quickly as possible to cast light on this dark chapter so survivors get the recognition they deserve because in addition to all survivors getting recognition it is equally important that all perpetrators are brought to justice.’

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