But now - through leaked Hesley Group documents, including confidential safeguarding reports, and interviews with 15 former staff - the BBC can reveal the scale of the failure of authorities to act. Our investigation found:
South Yorkshire Police - currently investigating some Hesley staff for alleged abuse - was warned by support workers three years before the closures From the moment she arrived at Fullerton House in 2017, Chloe says she was immediately struck by what she saw as excessive punishments for children. The incident logs include reports of one child receiving a black eye, while others were punched and kicked in the stomach. One child was reported to have been swung around by their ankles and another locked outside in freezing temperatures while naked.
The leaked Hesley logs also show that Doncaster Council's safeguarding lead - known as the LADO - was sent 66 warnings about the Hesley homes over the three-year period. Ofsted received 40 separate alerts - but the homes kept their "good" rating. South Yorkshire Police says in both cases there was insufficient evidence to progress with a criminal investigation - but it had referred the allegations to the local authority and had met council staff.
Ruby had only recently been moved to Fullerton from a home run by another care and special education provider, Kisimul.A council investigation found that Ruby had previously been harmed by eight members of staff at the Kisimul home. The abuse was so brazen that staff even referred to "twatting" her in messages.
"Regulators allow private equity firms to operate mostly in private, so they've got used over the last 40 years to not being held accountable."The abuse in the Hesley homes is the worst care scandal since Winterbourne View - an adult care home near Bristol secretly recorded by BBC Panorama in 2011 - according to Dr Mark Kerr, deputy CEO of the Children's Homes Association.
The Director of Doncaster Children's Services Trust (the safeguarding LADO which received 66 warnings over 3 years) went on to become Strategic Director of Children's Services in Bradford. Horrifying. 😪 bradfordmdc kersten_england SHinchcliffe
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