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Former residents of children's homes who claim they were abused while in care, have had claims for compensation rejected on the basis that they have criminal convictions. But the convictions, mostly for petty crimes, were acquired after the abuse occurred, and their lawyers will argue at appeal hearings next month that in some cases the abusive experiences created the lifestyles which led to the convictions.

A total of 44 people who made claims are appealing against decisions by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board to either make no payment at all or to reduce the amount. Around 30 of the cases are from England and 10 from North Wales. A number of cases have already been settled for. In some of these, the young men who received compensation suffered the same kind of abuse over the same period of time as those who have been refused. Roger Dobson