A BOLTON man is preparing legal action after alleging that he was a victim of physical and sexual abuse in homes across the country when he was a child.

The allegations, which centre on Lady Tong clinic in Bolton and children's homes in North Wales and Shropshire, relate to incidents which he says happened in the 1970s.

The man, now aged 31, was a resident at Lady Tong - a Bolton Health Authority-run unit for youngsters with behavioural problems - when he was about eight-years-old and claims he was subject to a reign of terror and mental torture.

And he has instructed his solicitor, Fieldings of Bolton, to initiate legal action against Wigan and Bolton Health Authority and against Bolton Social Services, who he says were responsible for sending him to homes in North Wales and Shropshire where he was allegedly sexually assaulted and raped. He has also been quizzed by Colwyn Bay Police over allegations concerning incidents alleged to have happened at Clwyd Hall School as part of a massive police inquiry into homes across North Wales.

A 66-year-old former house parent at the school appeared in court last week charged with more than 20 offences of male rape and indecent assault on former residents at the school alleged to have happened between the late 1960s and 1981.

The Bolton man says he was at Clwyd Hall between the ages of 10 and 13 after spending time at Lady Tong having been referred there by his doctor.

He says he was then sent to a privately run home in Shropshire where he says he was raped twice a week by a member of staff who later died in prison after being convicted of sex offences.

The man told the Evening News: "My life has been destroyed by the things that have happened to me. "I am 31-years-old and I feel as though my life is over."

He says abuse was a feature of many homes when he was a resident and is calling for a full scale national public enquiry.

He said: "It went on everywhere.

"When I was at Shropshire I was threatened with being sent to Scotland.

"There should be an enquiry into every home in the country.

"The Government is going to have to face up to the fact that abuse was rife in those homes.

"I have never been able to come to terms with what happened to me and I hid it away for years.

"But now I want it all to come out so that justice can be done." Former Bolton North East MP Peter Thurnham said: "I am calling for a public inquiry into what went on in care homes not only in North Wales and the North-west but elsewhere in the country."

A spokesman for Bolton Social Services said the council had not received any correspondence from the man and could not comment.

And Bolton and Wigan Health Authority Chief Executive Mike Ruane said: "This is the first time I have heard of any allegations about Lady Tong Clinic and if he makes a complaint it will be investigated thoroughly.

"The alleged incidents happened a long time ago and it obviously presents some difficulty."

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