AN ABUSE victim who was routinely beaten while growing up in state care has told how reliving his experiences at a government hearing had left him suicidal.

Richard Tracey was violently abused by his late foster father George Tracey - who died in 1993 - but his complaints to Kilmarnock social services and his GP were recorded but seemingly not acted upon.

The 47-year-old claims to have been sexually abused by a family friend, before being taken into care where he was assaulted by a worker who was meant to be looking after him.

His ordeal took place in Ayrshire in the 1970s and 80s but he has revealed how he was unprepared to cope with the aftermath of reliving the incidents in a government 'truth and reconciliation' style forum.

These are designed to allow abuse survivors to speak out about their experiences in institutional care homes in Scotland.

Mr Tracey said he regularly received a "leathering" from his foster father and has records of a short inquiry into an incident in which one of the staff at a secure school pushed and hit him. Social workers took no further action.

More alarmingly, allegations of sexual abuse are recorded but not apparently followed up.

But the abuse survive has now lodged a complaint with the National Confidential Forum (NCF) after he was left feeling suicidal with no after-care or support from the agency.

"It has been entirely left to me to deal with the horrors afterwards," he said. "That has meant horrendous nightmares, the flashbacks, the self loathing and wanting to commit suicide, which I very nearly did."

Mr Tracey now works supporting a cancer patient through the night as a part-time carer.

After making a new life in Plymouth, he returned to Scotland in the last few years to report his abuse to police.

Police in Kilmarnock had investigated his claims in the 1990s but dropped the case. They subsequently denied they had investigated it at all, only to later concede that they had, when Police Scotland reopened the case in 2014.

Last year, Mr Tracey responded to an invitation to participate in Scotland’s National Confidential Forum which allows victims of abuse to have their accounts listened to and recorded.

Mr Tracey said that rather than helping him come to terms with his abuse, is was just the latest stage in a catalogue of failure by Scottish institutions to acknowledge how badly he he was let down, or attempt to put it right.

Mr Tracey has written to Education Secretary Angela Constance with his concerns about the forum.

Both Scottish Government officials and the NCF itself are understood to be considering how lessons can be learned from his case about the support of victims.

Eddie Fraser, director of East Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership said it could not comment on specific cases.

Dr Rachel Happer, Head of the Forum, National Confidential Forum said: “The confidential nature of our work means we are unable to comment on individual cases. However, this does draw attention to how powerful the experience is of being heard and acknowledged.

“Sadly, too many people who have spent time in institutional care have lived through traumatic experiences. Coming to the Forum is a big step and it can trigger distressing memories for some people. The team at the Forum is very supportive to those who talk to us throughout their engagement with us, but we are not an ongoing support agency."

She said robust measures were in place to support those who take part in the forum, including a dedicated advice line, but those taking part should consider the risk of 're-traumatisation'.