Dozens of attacks on children are to be investigated by police following a regional daily’s award-winning investigation.

The Derby Telegraph’s 2016 exposé into experiments on children at Aston Hall mental hospital led to dozens of former patients sharing claims of abuse at the hands of Dr Kenneth Milner in the 1960s and 1970s.

Now Derbyshire Police has announced it is investigating more than 100 claims of abuse at the hospital.

Detectives have questioned 115 patients and say 65 are being treated as victims, with the force also confirming that if Dr Milner, who died in 1976, were alive he would have been quizzed over rape, indecent assault and child cruelty allegations.

Telegraph editor Steve Hall told HTFP: “The official report into events at Aston Hall supports the Derby Telegraph’s view that the suffering endured by children sent to the hospital was a national scandal.

“It also vindicates our decision to spend so many months investigating the abuse that took place there and to name the man responsible for so much of the pain and anguish inflicted, Dr Kenneth Milner.

“Our crime reporter Isaac Crowson pieced together the stories of dozens of victims. Their accounts were harrowing. For many, the hurt is still very real, even decades later.

“The Telegraph will continue to investigate and to support those who were so badly wronged in their battle for justice.”

Isaac has written in detail here about how the Telegraph revealed the abuse allegations.

The investigation earned the paper the Scoop Of The Year prize at last year’s Regional Press Awards and also helped land the Newspaper Of The Year at the same awards, where the judges praised the paper’s expose.