People sent away by UK government as children to sue over abuse suffered abroad

The Independent Inquiry Into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) said in March that 2,000 people should be compensated within a year.

Their lawyer said the government “has a legal responsibility for the harm suffered by those children”.

Some 4,000 children were separated from their families and resettled in Australia and Zimbabwe between 1945 and 1970.

Children were sent abroad to ease the strain on orphanages and increase the British population abroad.

But many of the people sent away say they were sexually, physically and mentally abused.

Rex Wade was sent from Cornwall to Tasmania at the age of 10, where he was treated “cruelly for any misdemeanour”, with those in charge setting a dog on the children when they misbehaved.

He said: “It was physical, verbal and mental abuse.

“I lost everything I ever had; the relationships I had with my family. It’s a lot to deal with and you just don’t get over it.”