The priest overseeing social services in Kent during a period of drug and sex abuse at a Church of England’s children’s home in Gravesend never reported staff to police, it has emerged.

In an interview recorded in 2006, and since uploaded to the British Library’s sound archive, Reverend Nicolas Stacey said that youngsters in care could be “incredibly manipulative” and make things up.

Mr Stacey was a director of social services from 1974 until 1985, with Kendall House in Pelham Road being shut down the following year after decades of abuse.

The former Church of England children's home in Pelham Road, Gravesend

Two reports published last year, one in June and one in December, exposed more than three decades of cruelty through testimonies from former residents and staff.

Girls as young as nine were injected with drugs, locked in an isolation room, kept in straitjackets, given electric shock treatment at a mental health hospital, and raped.

Despite such crimes being reported by the children at the time, staff were told never to go to the police.

Former residents of Kendall House described shocking conditions

Although he makes no direct reference to Kendall House in the interview, Mr Stacey oversaw the placement of children there by KCC. He left in 1985.

Mr Stacey, who died aged 89 in May, said in the interview: “Nobody was to go to the police about accusations against staff without my approval. It is incredible the way times have changed.

“I could never begin to do that now, but children, especially children in care, are incredibly manipulative.

“Children come back late at six or seven o’clock, probably either having sex in the churchyard with somebody or stealing at Marks & Spencer’s, or both. And the staff would say, ‘you’re to go to bed without supper.’

“The kids would go into supper, the child would creep down and telephone Childline, saying, ‘I’m being abused’.”

He said he never reported abuse allegations to the police because he never felt there was “a serious case”.

The original Kendall House report

The interview was discovered online by Teresa Cooper, 50, who was subjected to horrific treatment at Kendall House in the 1980s and repeatedly reported it to police while she was there.

After three decades of campaigning, an independent review was commissioned by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev James Langstaff, in January 2015.

Dr Sue Proctor chaired the review panel and described it as “the most troubling thing she had ever worked on”.

She had previously chaired the investigation into disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile.

She tweeted the content of the newly-discovered interview was “appalling” and that Mr Stacey had “failed” all those who lived at Kendall House.

Sue Proctor, who was on the Kendall House Review panel

A spokesman for Kent County Council (KCC), which was not involved in the running of Kendall House but did send children there, said the interview would be investigated, adding: “This is the first time anyone at KCC has been made aware of the existence of this recorded interview with Mr Stacey.

“KCC takes the safeguarding and protection of children extremely seriously and we would urge anyone who believes that they have been or are the victim of abuse of any kind to contact the police.”

Mother-of-three Teresa Cooper said she was “deeply disappointed” by her latest findings and called for an investigation.

She said: “Every allegation a child makes should be properly investigated, but what we’ve seen here is that they were being discredited before it had even gone anywhere.

“God knows how many children this has happened to, how far it goes.

“The good people who do want to protect children are too scared to do anything.”

Mum-of-three Teresa Cooper suffered years of abuse at Kendall House

Kent Police is facing legal action over its handling of a complaint made by Ms Cooper regarding the release of information from her Kendall House records.

With the abuse survivor continuing to report her experiences at the home in the years after it closed, the force carried out an investigation into the way it handled the allegations in 2009.

They found insufficient evidence to pursue charges, but after the extent of the abuse was revealed by the review, Kent Police received a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from a journalist for the disclosure of their report and an edited version was released.

Ms Cooper made a complaint against the force for a breach of data protection but it was not recorded.

Now she is suing them after the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) ruled that it should have been.

Responding to the IPCC ruling, a Kent Police spokesman insisted the information provided to the journalist had been redacted to remove any personal or identifying features.

They added: “It was deemed that the complaint did not meet the criteria for the Kent Police complaints process as matters relating to disclosure under the FOI Act fall under the remit of the Information Commissioner’s Office.

“Unfortunately, this was not made clear in the letter sent to the complainant due to an administrative oversight and Kent Police has now been directed by the IPCC to record the complaint.

“This has been done and it is being assessed to establish how it will be progressed.”