A FORMER resident of a children’s home in the Borders confided to an ex-employee he had been raped and sexually abused as a teenager, an abuse inquiry has been told.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard claims the abuse happened to a boy who lived at Barnardo’s Balcary House in Hawick during weekends away from the home.

The inquiry, which is currently sitting in Edinburgh, heard that the boy ended up leaving the home after the attacks and had gone on to have a difficult life.

Balcary was initially opened by Barnardo's in 1944 as a wartime evacuation centre to house girls from Kent.

The Hawick property was then used as a holiday home for Barnardo's children until its closure in 1974.

Under the guidance of Judge Lady Smith the inquiry has been hearing evidence from former children and staff at homes, secure units, boarding schools, healthcare establishments and foster care centres, as well as from the organisations which run them.

More than 60 institutions, including several top private schools and church bodies, are being investigated.

Since autumn the spotlight has fallen on residential child care establishments run by large care providers Quarriers, Aberlour and Barnardo’s.

In a written statement read out last week to the hearing by a lawyer, witness Jasmine Bell – who worked at Balcary between 1963 and 1966 – said it was a “very happy home” and she was not aware of any abuse when she was working there.

However, she said she was contacted later in life by a former resident after meeting him at a reunion.

The inquiry heard that in a private message online, he revealed when he was about 14 and a resident at Balcary, he had a weekend job in the area.

The man he reported to, and some of his friends, “would rape and sexually abuse this boy every weekend”, the witness said in her statement.

“I don’t know where this happened but it wasn’t in the home,” the statement continued.

The inquiry heard how the boy withdrew from the work but he was “unable to tell anybody why he left”.

She recalled an occasion on which the man, who cannot be named, went to the home and asked if the boy would return to work for the day – something which “resulted in him being sexually abused and raped again”.

The inquiry heard the boy’s behaviour deteriorated and he was ultimately moved somewhere else.

“This boy went on to have a hard life,” Ms Bell’s statement said.

The hearings, before Lady Smith, continue.