A FORMER pupil of a special school for blind children has spoken out about the physical and emotional abuse she says she suffered at the hands of an “evil” headmistress.

Rachael Alcock, from Bury, attended The Royal School for the Blind in Liverpool from 1956 to 1961, where she and five other former pupils have come forward to claim they were regularly beaten and shamed by the headmistress Margaret MacLennan, who has since died.

Mrs Alcock, 67, says she was seven years old when she was struck by the headmistress on her first day at school. “We were terrified, we all were – we were very young and very vulnerable children,” said Mrs Alcock.

“She was pure evil, and that’s not a word I use lightly.”

Mrs Alcock particularly remembers an incident when she was knitting and says she was smacked repeatedly for not carrying out the task correctly.

She said the abuse was endemic, and included not allowing pupils to go to the bathroom between 7pm and 7am the next day.

When children wet their beds, she says, the headmistress would humiliate them and rub their faces in the sheets.

“She betrayed our parents’ trust,” said Mrs Alcock. “We had no choice but to go to the school and my mum thought she was leaving me in safe hands.

“It’s disgusting what she did to us. She robbed me of my childhood.”

Mrs Alcock said despite managing to carve out a life for herself including performing as a singer she has found it difficult to escape the long-term effects of the alleged abuse she suffered.

“I have very bad dreams, and I have suffered depression because I can still remember what happened,” she added. Having nearly died through illness last year, Mrs Alcock said she wanted to tell her story before it was too late.

The alleged abuse, which was not sexual in any way, was never reported to, or investigated by, police.

Susan George, chairman of trustees at the school, said nobody at the school now has any personal knowledge about the establishment in the 1950s and current managers are “saddened to hear of former pupils having such memories of their time at the school.”

She added: “However, these are historical allegations and we would not be surprised to hear that some corporal punishment was used at that time, as was a common practice in UK schools in the 1950s.

“A search of the archives has produced nothing to support the allegations.

“The school now serves Multiple Disabilities and Visual Impairment children and our Ofsted status is outstanding, confirmed by the Ofsted report in 2016.”