Shirley Oaks care home appeared to be a "child's paradise", in the words of one former resident.

A picturesque village for vulnerable young people, complete with a swimming pool, school and surrounding green fields, its 52 houses were supposed to provide a family life for children without parents.

Instead many young residents suffered appalling sexual and physical abuse that has haunted them for life.

YESTERDAY: Sexual abuse victims pledge to finally expose 'paedophile ring' at Shirley Oaks children's home

Sandra Fearon, one of those children, was 12 years old when her mother died of a heart attack in 1964 and her father "went to pieces".

She was initially placed into care at a children's home in Wandsworth where she say she was drugged each night and often awoke suffering from horrific sexual injuries.

After eight weeks she was moved to Shirley Oaks, where the drugging stopped but the abuse did not.

For two years staff would regularly send Sandra from the cottage she shared with 10 other children to see a man she was told she was doctor.

He would rape her and she returned to her house "hysterical" and in tears.

"I just felt very ill," said Sandra, now 63, who has waived her right to anonymity to speak out to the Croydon Guardian about the abuse.

"It devastated me because I knew it was wrong. They must have known why they were sending me because they saw me come back a hysterical, crying child."

The abuse stopped when Sandra was 14 after her distress became evident at school and, she believes, teachers intervened. But she continued to live at Shirley Oaks for another three years.

"I witnessed horrific abuse every day," she said. "Beatings, mainly the boys, who would be taken out of bed in the night and put outside in the winter in their pyjamas.

"When we were put to bed we were warned not to dare come out of your room. I wouldn't have dared all the years I lived there. I used to go to sleep hearing children crying.

"I have since learned that a couple of the paedophiles that were being looked at were regularly visits to my house."

One of the boys who suffered beatings was Leigh Gocan, who moved into Shirley Oaks as an 11-year-old in 1970 after his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

Your Local Guardian:

Shirley Oaks was run by Lambeth Council until it closed in 1983

He was also sexually abused by three visitors to the home who molested boys while staff, he alleges, turned a blind eye.

"The environment of Shirley Oaks was a child's paradise if you want to run around and play," said Leigh, now 54.

"But you had well-to-do people coming in and out that didn't belong to the home and weren't members of staff. Certain things started to happen to the kids. 

"When things started to happen, I told a staff member: 'This is what this person is doing to me and I don't like it.' They said, 'Oh, he's only playing'.

"No one ever listened to the kids. All of the boys in my house were molested. 

"When we knew that [the men] were coming we used to run away and play until they had left."

The abuse inflicted lasting psychological scars on Sandra and Leigh, who have both suffered depression in the following decades.

Leigh's life spiralled out of control as he became violent and turned to drink and drugs. He spent time in jail for offences including armed robbery and kidnapping before turning his back on crime.

He said: "You just go down the wrong road. Shirley Oaks killed me, basically. You don't have no self-esteem. Opportunities were taken away from us.

"It stole our childhood. It sets you up in the wrong way. You are always lashing out."

Your Local Guardian:

Leigh Gocan has described being sexually abused and beaten by three visitors to Shirley Oaks

He now lives in Streatham with his wife and six-year-old son and works as a tree surgeon.

But he remains troubled by memories of Shirley Oaks: "My little son looks at me and says, Daddy what's the matter? And I can't tell him."

Sandra appeared to have fared better, landing a job soon after leaving Shirley Oaks before eventually starting her own holiday company in Exeter.

But she says: "I have struggled. I have really suffered mentally. It has affected my relationships. I have struggled with depression. I have just fought it."

Both Leigh and Sandra found strength from the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (SOSA), formed more than a decade by former residents who have united to support each other and fight for justice.

They hope the group's campaign will help a public inquiry to expose a paedophile ring alleged to have operated across Lambeth Council children's homes for three decades - and lead to prosecution for perpetrators.

Your Local Guardian:

Shirley Oaks comprised 52 homes spanning 70 acres of land

Many victims had suffered silently and were unaware of the scale of the abuse until years after leaving Shirley Oaks.

"I call it the secret silence," said Leigh. "Things were happening to each other that we never knew about. It's only now this campaign has come out that we know about it."

SOSA has spoken to more than 400 former residents and says it has identified at least 32 paedophiles that preyed on Lambeth Council children's homes.

The group plans to submit hundreds of pages of evidence to the Goddard Inquiry, set up by the Government to independently investigate child sex abuse.

As well as Westminster, churches and other local authories, the inquiry will look at the extent of exploitation of children in Lambeth's care and the failures - and potential complicity - of police and the council.

Sandra said: "We want to truth to come out - the absolute truth.

"There are a lot of people who have committed crime who haven't been found yet but I believe they will be found. We have got to think about the children of the future.

"It is just so vitally important that people come forward. People are frightened to come forward. They are carrying the suffering for life.

"You think no one will believe you, especially when you're children. This is how people get away with it."

Find contact details for Shirley Oaks Survivors Association on their website. If you can have affected by child abuse, you can also call the NAPAC on 0808 801 0331. To a report a crime, call the police on 101.

Do you have a story? Call the newsdesk on 020 8722 6351 or email chris.baynes@london.newsquest.co.uk