The Specials frontman Terry Hall speaks out about paedophile abuse at age of 12

The Specials frontman Terry Hall has spoken out about being abducted by paedophiles when he was aged just 12.

In a candid interview with comedian Richard Herring for his Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, the singer, now 59, brought it up after talking about growing up in Coventry.

He said “the route” for teenagers in the city was usually to work in a car factory, but that the incident changed him.

Hall said he took valium to cope and ended up dropping out of school.

“At 12 I got abducted by a paedophile ring in France and that was a real eye-opener,” he said.

“I can laugh about it now but it sort of switched something in my head and it’s like I don’t have to do that, and that’s when I started not listening to anyone.”

Herring asked if that was part of the reason why he left school early, to which Hall replied: “I was sort of drugged up then on valium for about a year and I didn’t go to school.”

Later in the interview, Herring asked about The Specials’ splits and rifts, and how Hall gets on with his band members now.

The band, who have had several members over the years since their formation in 1977, have been back together since 2008 following the last break in 2001.

Hall said: “I find it quite easy to forgive and forget. It’s like, going back to my abduction, it’s like you can let that eat away at you but then, well, it’s paedophilia, and it’s part of life really.

“It’s unfortunate it happened to me, but you can’t just let it destroy your life, it’s not good.”

Herring asked: “But how do you even begin to overcome something like that?”

Hall replied: “Valium. And then I fancied David Essex which was a bit wonky, but it was like, so I kind of connected the two.

“But then I’ve started discovering girls and you just forget about it, it’s too short.”

Herring said it felt like the incident had led to Hall “at least leaving education earlier than you might have done”, as well as “something incredible in terms of getting into these bands”.

Hall, who was also a member of Fun Boy Three and other bands, and has released music as a solo artist, told Herring it was a “journey” and that he found it “fascinating how outside elements affect you”.

(c) Sky News 2019: The Specials frontman Terry Hall speaks out about paedophile abuse at age of 12