I used to sleep with SCISSORS under my pillow

WHEN Zee Weston was sent to a radical school for children in care, it was meant to be the fresh start that would turn his life around.

- JACKIE ANNETT

Instead, those four years of hell still torment him three decades later.

Zee's eyes fill with tears as he recalls what he endured at The Red House, a children's home in Buxton, Norfolk, where he was sent from 1994 to 1998.

He is one of 43 people suing Norfolk County Council for the physical, psychological and sexual abuse they allege they suffered there.

He says: "I used to sleep with scissors under my pillow. The abuse I suffered at Red House haunts me to this day." Zee has waived his right to anonymity as he feels it is important his story is heard. He says: "I ran away many times but I was always forced to go back." He had been taken into care because of his mother's mental health. He was born a girl called Zara and was sent to The Red House aged 12. He transitioned and became Zee in his late 30s.

Zee, now 43, says: "I thought it was a weird place when I visited, but I was told, 'This is the only place where you're going to get an education'.

"I was acting up and was told it was either there or I'd end up in prison." Hundreds of children from disadvantaged backgrounds were sent to The Red House in the 1980s and 90s. It promised to put them back on track through strict rules, tough physical work, and the chance to join in overseas charity work.

It was one of two schools run in the UK by the Tvind School Cooperative, a controversial radical group founded in Denmark in the 1960s. The other was The Small School, in East Yorkshire. It charged local authorities up to £4,000 a month for each child.