Abused but not heard: the real story of Rochdale's Knowl View school

It was a programme I wasn't sure I wanted to make: the abuse of boys at the school Cyril Smith started in Rochdale in 1969. He wasn't the only one to abuse boys there - so did some teachers. So did a local paedophile who gained entry to the dormitory at night.

And meeting the men whose lives effectively were over when their childhoods were ruined aged 10 or 11 has been heartbreaking. I learned the abuse went on from the 70s, into the 80s and right up to the mid-90s - the era of social workers and child protection. 

Only a few years later girls were being abused by gangs who groomed them in the takeaways of Rochdale. 

The big question is whether the silence and inaction over Knowl View set the scene for the silence and inaction for many years over the sexual exploitation of girls in the town.

One family discovered it is linked to both child abuse scandals - not from the council or police - but from our BBC investigation. That can't be right can it?

Double child abuse agony for Rochdale family. 

You can hear the File on 4 documentary at 8pm on BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 16th September.