Kendall House and the mad Psychiatrist?
Pin Down a regime well known for it’s barbaric treatment of looked after children also became part of the structure at Kendall House but a new regime had been mastered and devised by Dr M S Perinpanayagam where young teenage girls in local authority care were given drugs to subdue them into compliance and Miss Law sanctioned it along with others. Compliance was and is an understatement because how far they went with those dangerous drugs far exceeded the word compliance. Kent Police wrote as one excuse not to investigate was that the Pin Down Enquiry was discredited, that of course is their own personal opinion and that letter will be released soon as the content is in short, shocking.
In 1979 a two page article came out after an interview with Miss Law although it wasn’t her first interview in the news. She became a perfectionist when it came to lying.
It states Doris Law is superintendent of Kendall House in Gravesend Kent, a private establishment which advertised it’s use of drugs as part of it’s chemo therapy treatment. She goes on to say they would use the medication to control girls behaviour and said most agreed to the use of the drugs on their children. (I know that is strictly not true and I don’t know of any parent that gave consent and other girls files that I have seen also show that when the parents complained they were either told the girl wasn’t given drugs and was lying or social services told the parents the girls weren’t being drugged. It shows they didn’t have consent because if the parents or girls had consented why was they blatantly lying and saying we weren’t even being drugged? And the staff who were also forcing drugs on us also told our parents we were lying about being drugged as documented and they knew they were lying to our parents so they knew full well consent hadn’t been obtained and they took part in the abuse and covering it up). The girls were under full care orders. Miss Law states
Social workers, she sad, were most “reactive” to the teatment methods, frequently refusing to admit they had tried anything else. A local authority wishing to have a child admitted to Kendall House must agree to the child being placed under the establishments consultant (The consultant was DR M S Perinpanayagam) and the home has formal links with a local psychiatric hospital (That was Stone House adult psychiatric hospital)
This is the part of the interview that stumped me besides the chemo used on girls who didn’t have cancer which was also admitted to being use on them by Dr Perinpanayagam again in 1980 on the front page of another newspaper.
Miss Law said that Modecate was used on children who had symptoms of schizophrenia although the consultant psychiatrist (That was Dr MS Perinpanayagam) WOULD NOT USE ADDICTIVE DRUGS.
(I am not sure what Miss Law and Dr Perinpanayagam considered addictive drugs because Modecate is an addictive drug. Fluphenazine decanoate belongs to a group of medicines known as the phenothiazine antipsychotics. It is sometimes described as a ‘major tranquilliser’ and comes in an injection form. It must NOT be used on children and that was also the case in the 70’s and 80’s and I would think it is suffice to say that the ages of eleven years old to sixteen is considered a child. I was given over twelve different drugs and all were addictive and all in overdose form and up to five combined at the same time in up to four times the male adult crisis doses. It is all documented including the side affects it had on me which the staff told the girls I was making up for attention which is also documented )
Valium she explained was one of the drugs used in crisis intervention. (If that were the case why were we given it every day for three years? Thats a long crisis). She said if a child is hell bent on being disruptive they would use crisis intervention and she goes on to say they gave the children Valium to calm the child down in order for IT to stay in the group.
The article mentions a girl who had been rejected by her foster parents after twelve years because the girl by accident found out her birth mother had a family of her own and she wanted to be part of the family. She was sent to Kendall House and was drugged to help her get over that difficult period.
Kendall House had been using drugs on the girls since 1969. Miss Law believed that all homes should have a psychiatrist oversight and disagrees with the UNCONTROLLED USE OF DRUGS. Miss Law said “We have children brought here with drugs in their hands and when you look at their medical records you find that they have not used the drugs properly.
I almost fell off my chair when I read that. My initial reaction was to laugh because I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The only ones who were misusing those drugs was her and Dr Perinpanayagam.
The article also states she said “Staff in the homes don’t know how to handle drugs”. (Another blatant lie because none of the staff at KH were qualified in anything let alone all the drugs they dished out to us.)
A Doctor Eames said that children having temper tantrums were in fact suffering from epilepsy. (I beg to differ on that one too because many of the girls didn’t have epilepsy until they were drugged and most had eplileptic fits whilst on the drugs and the epilepsy disapeared when they left Kendall House and weren’t on the drugs anymore. They were also then given drugs to control the epilepsy that had been brought on by the dangerous psychiatric drugs forced on them. I have a photo of one of the girls who was at hospital wired up to a machine that was testing her for epilepsy whilst at KH)
It is a very condemning article of Kendall House and runs into two full pages most of which is about KH
A letter written the British Medical Journal by Dr Perinpanayagam shows that he had chosen ten girls and seperated them into two sets of five, using one psychiatric drug on one set of five girls and another drug on the other set of five girls. He took their blood and urine and recorded the effects of each drug and it’s effects on the girls phisical and mental state. He said that only three of the girls had any diagnosable mental illness. The drugs he was giving them was for mentall illnesses. Why knowingly give a child a drug used in mental illnesses if he knew they didn’t have one? He did though with Miss Law by his side every step of the way.
Run by the Church of England Council for Social Responsibility, it was an assisted community home under the auspices of Kent County Council education committee.
Kent education department were also funding Kendall House although the girls education was almost non existent with incompetent teachers demanding girls pay attention whilst they were falling asleep at their desks from the overdose of drugs forced onto them (apart from the needlework teacher who was probably the only decent human being there). The education at Kendall House was critisised in a later DSS report.
Dr M S Perinpanayagam has a very interesting history and one could say he had his finger in many pies.
He was a man of exceptional music tallent and enjoyed entertaining his guests on his squeeze box. I am yet to establish if he learnt his musical tallent from the Kendall House teachers who thought music consisted of recorders or tapping on tins and empty boxes.
Born in Sri lanka he appeared in the UK in 1954 with his MBBS. That apparetly stands for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery or others may know it as Mouth Big Brain Small.
1956 he obtained his DCH which I assume is Diploma in Child Health
1960 he joined Bexley Hospital
DPM Diploma in Psychological Medicine at London university
Senior registrar at Guy’s hospital (one of the teachers sons was a doctor there too)
1967 appointed consultant in general psychiatry at Dartford and Gravesend health authority (who for some reason can’t find he even existed there)
1969 became a clinical tutor and was the driving force behind regional training programmes in psychiatry
He was a founder and organiser of the Bi Annual Residential revision course for the MRCPsych
He was closely involved in many college activities and served on the executive of the southern devision between 1974 and 1977 and was also a member of the central accreditation panel for approval visits.
1975 was elected a Fellow of the college
He stayed there until 1984.and during this time was the consultant advisor to Kendall House and Rochester borstal (there is also article he wrote on the boys and another on Kendall House girls too)
He worked heavily in Stone House Mental assylum where he often locked Kendall House girls up as punishment and included a few zaps on his ECT machine with no sedation (there is an article on his ECT)
A couple of psychiatrists believe he was discredited around this time. Do you know if and where he was discredited and why? Email admin@no2abuse.com if you have any information on this
I have taken this from something someone wrote about him and not sure what the initials KS stand for at the end of the article (although there is another psychiatrist with those initials and same sir name and just happened to also work with so called disturbed children in care and was about the same age.)
I quote
Dr Perinpanayagam’s approach to patients and colleages alike was forthright and unequivocal. Meetings sometimes took on an apocalyptic air but it was well known that none other than the deepest concern lay behind the fireworks of his personality
My view is
Dr MS Perinpanayagam was a manipulative, arrogant, ignorant, selfish, careless, irresponsible and dangerous man and there are more initials in his title and given all the evidence from the era of his reign at Kendall House and all the books and information that was out there on drug doses along with one book he is the foreword in : which is used in teaching psychiatrists and has the drug doses in it, he knew he was without a doubt overdosing the girls at Kendall House with dangerous drugs. He was overdosing the girls with up to fourteen different drugs and up to five drugs at the same time in overdose dosages.
What kind of person would do such a thing to vunerable children?
He was also a psychotherapist to the home office. I recieved an official email from the home office (mental health) who deny he ever worked for them and he is not on their records and yet I can prove he was a psychotherapist for the home office. Perhaps they lost his details like they do everyone elses.
He retired to GUERNSEY around 1984 where he continued his work despite ill health and returned to the UK in 1988 where he died.
I thought he had retired from the NHS so why retire from the UK just to go to Guernsey to continue working when he could of carried on working here in the UK? That doesn’t sound right. Something amiss there? Did he retire by force because he created too much of a stir over his practices here in the UK and perhaps send him off to GUERNSEY to unsuspecting people who wasn’t aware of his bad practices over here? He worked with disturbed children over there too on a private basis.
He left behind a wife and a daughter and the legacy Perinpanayagam left behind will never be forgotten and for those who became his non consenting subjects did not get to see that beaming smile one person saw because he was too busy on his own agenda which was abusing the Kendall House girls with drugs. His admission in 1979 and 1980 to using chemo on the Kendall House girls adds to his jeckal and hyde personality and why no-one stopped it is beyond me unless it was in their interest for him not to stop? Perhaps a psychiatric evaluation on Dr MS Perinpanayagam would of been more appropriate at the time.
In 1979 Kendall House was first exposed
In 1980 Kendall House was again exposed and an alarming documentry aired on national Television
In 1980 the Church of England and the namely Miss Gross refused an enquiry into what was going on behind those closed doors
MP’s refused to get involved as did the government and the college of psychiatry leaving many more girls to be abused
Local authorites carried on using Kendall House although some expressed their concerns
In 1979/80 a letter was written and this is what it says from information given to no2abuse
B** J****** Social Services manager Hastings has informed me that there is currently some disquiet concerning Kendall House and it’s use of drug therapy. I therefor suggest that no placements are made without reference to myself or clarification of the current position with the devisional director of Social Services
132 Windmill Street, Gravesend from R P D***** devisional director
Social services started to withdraw and yet the odd thing is, Kent social services and Gravesend continued to place girls there although Wandsworth social services as highlighted in a DSS report in 1983 were the prodominant users of Kendall House and they didn’t stop girls going there despite all the publicity and when they knew what was going on.
The staff at Kendall House didn’t stop the drug abuse despite all the bad publicity and the drugs got worst because everyone ignored what was going on so is it suffice to assume that the staff knowingly continued that regime because they wanted too as they also didn’t try to stop it and participated fully?
It wasn’t accidental what he done with the drugs. Research? The evidence suggests it was. Dangerous? Very dangerous and put girls in serious danger because the doses (documented) were so excessive it is a wonder we made it out of Kendall House breathing. Sadly girls did commit suicide and it is reported that one girl whilst locked in her room at night after being drugged took her own life. Why have the girls that were drugged gone on to have children with birth defects?
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On 21st Sep 2008 at 09:54 PM Rob said...
Excellent article - keep up the good work!
On 26th Sep 2008 at 03:23 PM Chelle said...
Wow.. This is the first i have heard of this, i have lived in Gravesend all my life, and 41 years is a long time. My heart goes out to you Teresa…. I will get a copy of ‘Pin Down’ asap..
I came online looking for further details, after reading about Kendall House in todays Gravesend Extra 25/09/08.. I reconised the photo, as a homeless hostel i once stayed in named Doris Law House..From a personal view I am truly discusted that Church Housing would, choose to house homeless people in after the abuse that went on in there. Did they not close the childrens home in Guernsey? Did they not take the place apart looking for further. Maybe if they knocked down a few walls and dug up the cellar they may find you more evidence of what you need to bring justice to ourself and anyone else who suffered in the hands of these ‘animals’. I feel sickened to think of all the abuse that took place in that almost ‘haunted’ house. I for one shall be writing to Church housing asking them how they can possibly keep the house standing…
On 27th Sep 2008 at 12:57 AM Teresa said...
Hi Chelle
Thankyou for posting
I have just found the url to the Gravesend Messenger
http://www.gravesendmessenger.co.uk/paper/default.asp?article_id=27921
Kent police refuse to investigate any of the abuse to me during my time at Kendall House.
The police have not informed the Gravesend Messenger the full facts but then i didnt think they would add the rest of it
We were told by the police that because two of the alledged abusers are now dead it would be an unfair trial on the ones still alive. That is reflected in a letter sent to me.
The police also refused to deal with the phisical abuse and drug abuse of the girls and refered to the pin down regime and said it was discredited so instead of basing KH on its own merits that have used the staffordshire pin down regime to not take what happened to us in any serious way.
Out of the girls that have come forward kent police have refused to contact all but two of them back
How can kent police conduct a proper investigation when they have not only not included my abuse which is not reflected in that article but also refused to speak to several other girls they are fully aware of and wont ring back?
On 27th Sep 2008 at 11:07 AM Chelle said...
Hi Teresa,
Your very welcome, Sorry my post was slightly all over the place, proberly out of anger….
I know you have proberly already tried, but maybe contacting Gravesend messenger, letting them know your story, or jog thier memories, then other girls may follow suit, and wish to press charges further.If the whole of Gravesend were to learn of your plight. Making the aware of your horrific past. If there is anything you would like me to help with, maybe a Facebook awareness page??? Please get back to me if you want me to go ahead or sign anything you may have on there already.. I hope you find closure soon…
I am humbled to see you are getting through this day by day.. My thoughts are with you..
Chelle x
On 27th Sep 2008 at 06:11 PM Teresa said...
Hiya
The problem is that many of the girls were incarcirated or moved to other areas. I will definatly talk to the paper. The paper used my name in that story and probably didnt realise the police hadnt even included me in that investigation.
Kent Police werent happy opening up the KH situation.
In the 70’s and 80’s kent police ignored all the girls complaints when they ran away and they didnt deal with the foster father incident at the time either which led to another person being abused and he was then convicted. It is partly their fault he went on to do it to someone else where another life was ruined. That is typical because if we look at the terrible story out in the last week of the young girl Chloe O’Neill. The police said not enough evidence and her rapist went onto rape other girls. She was discredited because of the police and her life made into a misery by ignorant people. Murders are being commited because victims report death threats and the police dont take it seriously until they are murdered. Police failures are too common now. Whilst some forces strive to improve there are those who wont.
Not all police forces like dragging up historic abuse because as far as they are concerned its a drain on their resources/funds. They know its going to be alot of work and they may well see it as a waste of their limited resources. According to other information that has come to us KH was also aparently being used to train potential police and prison officers. That didnt suprise me given the psychiatrists close connection with the prison services and the fact he was devising all these various training methods at the time. I told the police I was going to tell the girls the truth about all the crap ive had from various things and they emailed me back and threatened me with witness intimidation.
If any survivor is seen to speak out you will see complaints that some police have gone out of their way to try and discredit the survivor or try and put them off. It seems to be a classic tale when it comes to historic abuse.Thankfully not all police forces have that attitude. Is it also because the police have targets? Do they reach target if dealing with historic abuse? The police can not deny all the evidence even from before I went to Kendall House but as far as they are possibly concerned, I am a trouble maker for opening up something they dont want opened up.
Recently a senior police officer was convicted of raping a child so its suffice to say that just because they wear a uniform doesn’t always make them decent and law abiding officers of the law.
On 27th Sep 2008 at 06:28 PM Teresa said...
Chelle
did you take any photos in KH or in the back garden or know anyone who did?
we know if they dig up the back garden they will find shocking amounts of drug vials and various other bits.
I am happy to take a garden fork and dig it up. The new owners are probably renovating it by now.
On 27th Sep 2008 at 06:45 PM michaelmac said...
From what i have been told the Kent police never investigated any alligations of rape, And Kent police would know this if they had done a proper inquiry
On 27th Sep 2008 at 10:57 PM Teresa said...
It makes you wonder doesnt it mac?
I was treated badly by Kent police in the 1980’s and again in 94 and now again and to me especially after another person was abused because they let the foster father get away with raping me, now we can see why most rapists get off with raping women and children than get prosecuted. perhaps it has something to do with the attitudes of the police?
On 28th Sep 2008 at 08:13 AM Teresa said...
Kent Police - Gravesend - Kendall House - No charges -
I have added the gravesend news story to the site and that maybe a better place to add a comment.
go to articles and comment there
Isnt it amazing that a senior kent police officer has recently been jailed for stealing from OAP’s
http://www.gravesendmessenger.co.uk/paper/default.asp?article_id=5177
On 28th Sep 2008 at 08:25 AM Chelle said...
Hi again Teresa,
Unfortunately, everything i owned (ie) a camera was all in storage, during my 7 month stay at The Hostel.I will ask my mum if she had taken any, maybe over the Christmas period? As you say it had proberly been renovated since being KH, every door was a fire door, the garden was shabby, but i dont think anyone really went out the back. My 3 Children and I stayed in the attic area, which was a self contained flat, where the rooms below were bedsits. I recall seeing a small locked door in the kitchen area of my flat, may just of housed meter’s or piping, but it gave me the spook’s regardless.. If this flat was not there when it was KH, i can imagine many tell tale signs of KH behind them plaster walls. The Cellar was securley locked, but i dont think i would have gone down there anyways, i recall a girl blowing the electrics one Saturday night, and the Council refused sending anyone out to fix the problem, so a guy smashed the window in the door to gain access to the main electric switch. He resurfaced, saying, ” I am never going down there again”. So it was not just me that felt ‘uncomfortable’ there.
The police.. well i know first hand that they are never around when you need one, and will not help out unless you actually are witnessing a crime in progress.
I know i mentioned Facebook in my last post, but it has alot of influence with so many people, in and outside (Worldwide)of Gravesend. Expats of Gravesend often come back to look up old friends etc, so you may find this a very powerful tool, in tracing any girls who left the area. I hope they find the strengh to come forward, i know it is far from pleasant dragging up past experiences, especially if they have been told to sweep it under the carpet and basically forget about it.
Speak Soon
Chelle
On 28th Sep 2008 at 08:46 AM Chelle said...
A reminder of Gravesend Police.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/pc-kills-his-wife-and-two-children-with-hammer-667492.html
As traumatic as this was, it was in the news and out again within just 1 week.
Aug 2001, how well the stick together..
On 28th Sep 2008 at 09:29 AM Teresa said...
Take a look at this chelle
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/28/police.ukcrime
800 policemen arrested for serious crimes including child abuse,paedophilia and child porn.
Im just writing an article on kent police and the kent justice system.
Yes the cellar had a few odd things down there and the floor was always disturbed.OMG the attic. Now you were brave to be up there. The attic area was possibly the last floor. It had one room to the left,one to the right and one straight ahead?
There was a fire escape in the room on the left?
That house has a history and I bet it has many hidden secrets. I personally would go and dig it up and check out the cellar. It was very dingy when we were there. Miss Law is probably haunting the place now which is scary
On 28th Sep 2008 at 11:41 AM Chelle said...
Typical how people with authority, or who think they are above the Law can get away with being monsters!
In a ‘nutshell’ it’s not a very nice world we live in. My other half, is pretty sure that within the next 20 years this country will be led by a Dictator. ( Big Brother is watching You ! ). On saying that if it makes the world a safer place, especially for vunerable children I think I would support this.
As for the Hostel, I cannot believe they renamed it Doris Law house after one of the so called ‘carers’. Also, the attic was just how you said, the room straight infront was where my eldest son slept, the room to the right was the kitchen/diner, the room to the left was the my youngest two and i slept in, which had the fire escape.
I wasn’t brave enough to look in the cellar, in hindsight, I wished I had. My Daughter reminded me of a few photos that were taken, but they were in the first room beyond the firedoor on the ground floor on the left,(infront of the communial kitchen) of nothing in particular just a young mum I befriended with a little boy, so nothing to show of the garden. The garden was split by a hedge, which my three explored, they indeed found a bunch of used needle’s, but newly used, obviously left by ‘local druggies’. ( kept them indoors after that)
The kitchen on the groundfloor was not a place i liked to be in for a long period of time, so i was ‘lucky’ to have the upstairs flat i guess. Infact the kitchen area was proberly the room which gave out the worse ‘vibes’.
I am seriously contemplating, drafting out a few flyers, to post into the hostel, making the dwellers aware of the hostels past. Also writing to Gravesend Council and Chruch Housing asking them, 1. why is the house still standing, 2. How they can say they are believers on God, yet still home people there, knowing it’s past. If they closed it temporarily, then it may open more eyes, and an investigation may take place.I know there are a shortage of hostel’s for the homeless, and these people are in desperate need, but I for one would have refused Doris Law House, had I known the circumstances before hand,I also would have ‘expected’ the formailty for it to undergo investigation. As i mentioned in an earlier post, they closed the childrens home in Guernsey, and found alot of evidence of cruelty and murder.Ironic how you mentioned Dr M S Perinpanayagam, had moved to Guernsey at some point.???
I am now desperate to get a copy of your books, I am at present on an access course, to help my entry into Uni, to study as a Children’s nurse. If it’s ok with you, i would like to put your story towards my oral exam. I will suggest your books to my college collegues.I know they will also be humbled…
On 28th Sep 2008 at 02:42 PM Teresa said...
Hiya
It was jersey
but guernsey has been brought up amongst that. It would be unlikely Perinpanayagam didnt do the same to the kids there unless he had a change of heart which I doubt.
My book is being used in a London Uni in training social workers so your welcome to use it for your oral exam.
It wasn’t just the girls being abused at KH. My heart goes out to the staff who were also abused by those bad staff and all I can do now is urge them to speak up.
Flyers might be a good idea to urge anyone including staff who witessed bad things to come forward. They are not alone in this and they will get alot of support from various sources.
That story on the officer who murdered his family in Gravesend seems to of been forgotten in the main media since more and and more men are following the same pattern and murdering their wives partners and children.
On 4th Nov 2010 at 01:43 PM Sally nee Miller said...
I Lived in Pelham Road from 1962 - 1972 and always thought it was a home for un-married mothers. My brother aged 14/15 had letters sent from somebody in Kendall House who I believe had learning disabilities, when my brother died in 1972 we moved to Norwich and within a year met a girl called sally who had lived there and never ever knew what went on, it was a strange place and very secretive, but sometimes you would see the young girls pushing their babies in their prams into town.All very spooky if you ask me.