DEAF children who suffered sexual abuse at a school in Woodford have spoken out about their ordeal at the hands of a man who targeted vulnerable pupils for decades.

Not knowing how to sign, and being unable to speak, the children who attended the Woodford School in Snakes Lane were easy targets.

Until recently, most special education took place at residential schools, where deaf children would board in on-site rooms.

In 1951, Eric and Beatrice Ingall set up their private school for deaf children in Woodford.

Beatrice was headmistress and Eric the bursar, driver and handyman.

Not only did they teach them, they lived with them too.

For the first time ever, the Ingalls have been named after a Newsnight and See Hear investigation.

Some who suffered years of abuse, unable to communicate their suffering at the time, have now told their harrowing stories.

"There was a busy road with a playground and there'd be people walking past but we had no communication because we couldn't speak, we couldn't sign and they couldn't understand our voices," one man told Newsnight.

"We'd try and write notes but our vocabulary was limited.

"We'd make paper aeroplanes and throw them. People would pick them up, laugh and wave and go on their way and we would feel frustrated.”

Children at the school were taught ‘lip-read’ English and were punished for signing.

Some would have their hands taped behind their backs by the leaders of the school who they were forced to call mummy and daddy.

"It was something that took place every day, at any time, morning, afternoon, evening, round the clock.

“And I didn't see my family from when I was 4 until 11," one pupil said.

"I was a prisoner in that school."

Another victim said: "He smiled at me when he was doing it.

“I never smiled back. I just sat there terrified.

“What was I supposed to do? He abused me nearly every week for two years.

“When he left the bedroom I cried. I refused to cry in front of him because it would be more pleasurable for him. He enjoyed seeing me suffer and I didn't want him to see me like that."

In 1964 a case was taken against Ingall at the local magistrate's court. He pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting two pupils and, even though he asked for seven other offences to be taken into consideration, was fined only £50 and banned from the school for two years.

A former mayor of Woodford had testified in his favour, suggesting that overwork might have caused the "lapse".

But the abuse continued as Ingall’s wife continued to allow him in the school, turning a blind eye to the abuse.

One male victim said: "I didn't know anything. I thought it was supposed to be fun and that it was acceptable. I didn't realise so I didn't try to stop him. I thought it was a part of normal life."

This particular victim ‘David’ was abused from the age of three, not realising he had been abused until he attended a course as an adult.

"Ingall's wife came and she saw," a female victim added.

“She completely wasn't bothered and left me there with him and went back to her bedroom."

It takes, on average, seven-and-a-half years for a sexually abused child to finally disclose to anyone what has happened to them and, for many, disclosure does not take place until well into adulthood, according to recent research by the NSPCC.

Victims have recalled their terror at ‘being the one picked’ that day –with some remembering deliberate attempts to get arrested such as stealing, or wishing they had hurt themselves to get away.

Mrs Ingall retired as headmistress in 1984 and the school itself closed in 1991 after her husband had abused children for three decades.

In 1992, nearly 30 years after the original conviction, another complaint was made but the police did not investigate it because Ingall was believed to be senile.

Despite this, seven years later a group of ex pupils rallied together to make fresh charges against Ingall and others

With Ann Stuart, a child abuse police investigator for the Metropolitan Police, they worked on this case for nearly five years and were disappointed when the case was discontinued in 2004 on its second day.

Judge Michael Burr cited the reasons that Ingall was too old, and some witnesses had died.

Those who spoke out, however, did receive CICA compensation from the Home Office as victims of crime.

Beatrice Ingall died in 2007 and Eric Ingall died in 2012.