Catholic Abuse in England and Wales Revealed, by Antony Barnett, Channel 4 News, September 14, 2010

Catholic Abuse in England and Wales Revealed

By Antony Barnett
Channel 4 News
September 14, 2010

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/catholic+abuse+in+england+and+wales+revealed/3767082

See also Paedophile Priests Remain in Catholic Church, by Antony Barnett, Channel 4 News, September 15, 2010.]

Channel 4 News has compiled the first map of Catholic abuse detailing some 38 cases across England and Wales where Catholic priests have committed sexual offences against children.

Over the last few months more evidence has emerged of systematic child abuse within the Catholic church from around the world, writes reporter Antony Barnett.

So what about the Catholic Church in England and Wales? What is the true scope and scale of the child sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests in England and Wales?

Channel 4 News has trawled through public records and double checked with court documents to put together a map of Catholic clerical abuse.

It lists some 38 cases of priests who have committed sexual crimes against children. The map is broken down by region, as defined by the Roman Catholic Dioceses of England & Wales. It contains details of convictions for sexual abuse and the sentences handed down. [See the lists below.]

But even this is likely to fall short of the real numbers. In some cases claims have never come to court because the priest has died, is believed to have been too old to come to court or has simply absconded.

Ten years ago the Catholic Church in England and Wales was battling against claims that senior members of the clergy had covered up cases of child abuse and moved paedophile priests to parishes despite knowing they were abusers.

The then-Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, was himself facing allegations he personally allowed Father Michael Hill to work as a chaplain at Gatwick Airport even though Hill was known to have abused in the passed. Hill went on to abuse again and was jailed after pleading guilty to nine counts of indecent assault and one of gross indecency. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor later said he regretted what had happened - and that at the time he was acting on advice from professionals, when the behaviour of child abusers was not as well understood as it is now.

As a result of the growing unease, in 2001 Cardinal O'Connor announced that the senior judge Lord Nolan would carry out a review of child protection policies.

While this was almost universally welcomed, Nolan's review was not designed to be an independent investigation into what had happened in Britain. Its primary objective was to suggest new procedures to deal with abuse allegations in the future and ensure mistakes were learnt from past behaviour.

Nolan's recommendations were fully adopted by the Catholic Church and widely greeted as an important step forward.

A Channel 4 News investigation has, however, raised questions over one of Nolan's key recommendations: that priests who were jailed for serious sexual offences against children should normally be dismissed from the church, or 'laicised'.

It is often described as "historic abuse" yet anybody hearing the testimony of some of the hundreds of victims still living with the trauma of what happened to them, the abuse is very much a contemporary issue.

Many have had to fight for years for justice and compensation, claiming their lives have been ruined by sexual assaults carried out by members of the Catholic clergy.

It is true, new much-improved child protection procedures have been brought in since Lord Nolan and the Pope and senior church leaders have made public apologies and offered contrition.

Yet until a complete picture of what happened in Britain emerges, then new abuse scandals will continue to dog the Catholic Church. Campaigners in this country want a full inquiry and demand that church files are handed over to an independent committee.

The only people that know the full story are the bishops and religious orders themselves. They have released some information. After Nolan, the Catholic authorities in England and Wales created a body called the Church Office for Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (COPCA) headed by the now Archbishop of Westminster Vince Nichols.

Each year it – and its successor body – has produced an annual report revealing statistics about the number of allegations of abuse and giving some indication of the subsequent action taken against members of the clergy.

To date it has detailed 302 sex abuse allegations made to the church since 2003 but – as our map of abuse shows – it only tells the partial story.

Unless the Church authorities open their files to full independent scrutiny we will never know the full extent of the scandal.

ARUNDEL & BRIGHTON [1]
• Fr Michael Hill
Conviction: 6 counts indecent assault
Sentence: 5 yrs (2002)

BIRMINGHAM [5]
• Fr John Gerald Flahive
  Conviction: 4 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 9 mths (2002)
• Fr Thady Francis O'Malley
  Conviction: 12 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 3 years (1999)
• Fr Eric Taylor
  Conviction: 16 counts indecent assault, 2 counts buggery
  Sentence: 7 yrs (1998)
• Fr Samuel Penney
  Conviction: 10 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 7 1/2 yrs (1993)
• Fr Christopher Clonan
   High court ruled in 2010 that Clonan abused.
   No conviction as he fled the country. Church
   has paid out in excess of £1m to his victims to date.

CARDIFF [2]
• Fr Joseph Jordan
  Conviction: 10 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 8 yrs (2000)
• Fr Michael John Lloyd
  Conviction: Buggery, rape and 12 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 11 yrs (1998)

CLIFTON [1]
• Fr Peter Carr
Conviction: 14 counts indecent assault
Sentence: 12 mths (2007/8)

HEXHAM & NEWCASTLE [5]
• Fr Adrian McLeish
  Conviction: 12 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 6 yrs (1996)
• Fr William Jacks
  Conviction: Gross indecency with a child, 4 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 5 yrs (2001)
• Fr David Taylor
  Conviction: 5 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 30 mths (2009)
• Fr Patrick Fitzpatrick
  Conviction: 7 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 30 mths (2004)
• Fr John Corrigan
  Conviction: 9 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 4 yrs (2007)

LANCASTER [3]
• Fr Edmund Cotter
  Conviction: 15 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 5 yrs 2 mths (2007)
• Fr James Chaning-Pearce
  Conviction: 7 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 3 yrs (1997)
• Fr Anthony McKay
  Conviction: 3 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 18 mths (2002)

LEEDS [1]
• Fr Neil Gallanagh
  Conviction: 2 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 6 mths (2005), suspended for 2 years

MENEVIA [1]
• Fr John Michael Kinsey
Conviction: 5 counts indecent assault
Sentence: 3 yrs (2005)

MIDDLESBROUGH [6]
• Fr Noel Barrett
  Conviction: 15 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 3 yrs 9 mths (2004)
• Fr Michael Dunn
  Conviction: Indecent assault, 2 counts gross indecency
  Sentence: 18 mths (2005)
• Br James Carragher
  Conviction: 2 counts buggery, indecent assault
  Sentence: 14 years (2004)
• Fr David Crowley
  Conviction: 13 counts indecent assault, 3 counts gross indecency with a child
  Sentence: 9 yrs (1998)
• Fr Gregory Carroll
  Conviction: 3 counts gross indecency with a child, 11 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 4 yrs (2005)
• Fr Piers Grant-Ferris
  Conviction: 21 counts of indecent assault
  Sentence: 2 yrs (2005)

PLYMOUTH [1]
• Fr Paul Couch
Conviction: 2 counts buggery, 15 counts indecent assault
Sentence: 10 yrs 9 mths

PORTSMOUTH [1]
• Fr Brian Rutledge
Conviction: Attempted buggery, 2 counts indecent assault
Sentence: 4 yrs (2008)

SALFORD [3]
• Fr William Green
  Conviction: 26 counts of indecent assault
  Sentence: 6 yrs (2008)
• Fr Thomas Doherty
  Conviction: 5 counts indecency
  Sentence: 6 yrs (1998)
• Fr John James Pearson
  Conviction: 15 counts indecent assault, 11 counts gross indecency with a child
  Sentence: 2 yrs (2000)

SOUTHWARK [2]
• Fr Malcolm McLennan
  Conviction: 3 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 18 mths (2009)
• Fr James Murphy
  Conviction: Indecent assault
  Sentence: 30 mths (2000)

WESTMINSTER [5]
• Fr David Pearce
  Conviction: 10 counts indecent assault, 2 counts sexual assault
  Sentence: 8 yrs (2009)
• Fr John Coghlan
  Conviction: 5 counts of indecency
  Sentence: 15 mths (2005)
• Fr William Hofton
  Conviction: 7 counts gross indecency, 9 counts indecent assault
  Sentence: 4 yrs (2004)
• Fr Peter Grant
  Conviction: 4 counts sexual activity with a child
  Sentence: 4 yrs 3 mths (2007)
• Fr Michael Hobbs
  Conviction: Indecent assault
  Sentence: 3 yrs (2000)

Antony Barnett is an investigative reporter, working with Channel 4 News. His full report will be shown at 7pm on Channel 4 News, Wednesday 15 September and will be available online at channel4.com/news afterwards.

But even this is likely to fall short of the real numbers. In some cases claims have never come to court because the priest has died, is believed to have been too old to come to court or has simply absconded.

Ten years ago the Catholic Church in England and Wales was battling against claims that senior members of the clergy had covered up cases of child abuse and moved paedophile priests to parishes despite knowing they were abusers.

The then-Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, was himself facing allegations he personally allowed Father Michael Hill to work as a chaplain at Gatwick Airport even though Hill was known to have abused in the passed. Hill went on to abuse again and was jailed after pleading guilty to nine counts of indecent assault and one of gross indecency. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor later said he regretted what had happened - and that at the time he was acting on advice from professionals, when the behaviour of child abusers was not as well understood as it is now.

As a result of the growing unease, in 2001 Cardinal O'Connor announced that the senior judge Lord Nolan would carry out a review of child protection policies.

While this was almost universally welcomed, Nolan's review was not designed to be an independent investigation into what had happened in Britain. Its primary objective was to suggest new procedures to deal with abuse allegations in the future and ensure mistakes were learnt from past behaviour.

Nolan's recommendations were fully adopted by the Catholic Church and widely greeted as an important step forward.

A Channel 4 News investigation has, however, raised questions over one of Nolan's key recommendations: that priests who were jailed for serious sexual offences against children should normally be dismissed from the church, or 'laicised'.

It is often described as "historic abuse" yet anybody hearing the testimony of some of the hundreds of victims still living with the trauma of what happened to them, the abuse is very much a contemporary issue.

Many have had to fight for years for justice and compensation, claiming their lives have been ruined by sexual assaults carried out by members of the Catholic clergy.

It is true, new much-improved child protection procedures have been brought in since Lord Nolan and the Pope and senior church leaders have made public apologies and offered contrition.

Yet until a complete picture of what happened in Britain emerges, then new abuse scandals will continue to dog the Catholic Church. Campaigners in this country want a full inquiry and demand that church files are handed over to an independent committee.

The only people that know the full story are the bishops and religious orders themselves. They have released some information. After Nolan, the Catholic authorities in England and Wales created a body called the Church Office for Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (COPCA) headed by the now Archbishop of Westminster Vince Nichols.

Each year it - and its successor body - has produced an annual report revealing statistics about the number of allegations of abuse and giving some indication of the subsequent action taken against members of the clergy.

To date it has detailed 302 sex abuse allegations made to the church since 2003 but – as our map of abuse shows - it only tells the partial story.

Unless the Church authorities open their files to full independent scrutiny we will never know the full extent of the scandal.

Antony Barnett is an investigative reporter, working with Channel 4 News. His full report will be shown at 7pm on Channel 4 News, Wednesday 15 September and will be available online at channel4.com/news afterwards.