'Move Abuse Brothers', Says Parents

A meeting is to take place this week in an effort to resolve what parents of children in a Londonderry hospital have described as a "complete nightmare".

The parents have been worried since discovering their children are being treated at the same health facility as two high profile alleged serial paedophile brothers.

In a statement, the Western Health and Social Care Trust said a meeting with relatives of those at the Lakeview Hospital would be held in the next few days.

The hospital trust has already moved to reassure the family members that robust protection measures are in place after the brothers from Donagh admitted themselves to the psychiatric ward.

However, the parents of other vulnerable patients - who were at one stage even considering a sit-in at the Lakeview Hospital if the brothers are not moved away - are still unhappy.

Families of patients at Lakeview in the Gransha Psychiatric Hospital complex are now uniting in a bid to see James and Owen Roe McDermott removed on foot of revelations that the pair abused children in their border village for 30 years.

The McDermott brothers have been at the centre of controversy for a number of weeks, after they were declared mentally unfit to stand trial over a wake of child sex abuse in their home village of Donagh.

The pair - and two other brothers - was behind a catalogue of offences against children there over a 30-year period. But there was shock when James and Owen Roe McDermott returned home.

Following appeals from the Western Health Trust for the brothers to admit themselves for treatment, they voluntarily went to Lakeview - a move that received a warm welcome in their home village - but left the families of other patients in the facility very concerned.

The families are now set to meet with the Western Health Trust on Friday, when it is understood senior management will outline what safeguards have been taken.

See: 'Other Abusers' Sought As Brothers Volunteer For Psychiatric Treatment

(BMcC/KMcA)