Shefford Boys Home: Mystery of the Missing Police Files and Jimmy Savile Clipping

By Steve Lowe
Bedfordshire on Sunday
July 17, 2013

http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/SHEFFORD-BOYS-HOME-Mystery-of-the-missing-police-files-and-Jimmy-Savile-clipping-20130717161354.htm


A COMPLAINT to Bedfordshire police has been made by a former resident of a boys home concerning missing files relating to previous inquiries.

Former residents of St Francis Boys Home in Shefford, which was run by the Catholic Church, are taking a 'class action' against the church over claims they were both physically and sexually assaulted.

As reported by Bedfordshire on Sunday, one of the priests alleged to have abused children in the 1950s and 1960s, Father John Ryan, was twice interviewed by police concerning these allegations, in 1997 and 2003.

This newspaper interviewed Father Ryan in 2006 and put these allegations to him but he made no comment. He died in 2008.

We also reported that there were accusations that boys who had run away from the home were taken back by police officers, and subsequently received even greater punishment and abuse.

Damian Chittock, who won damages from the church concerning abuse, has complained about the missing police files.

Bedfordshire Police said they have received a complaint and it was being investigated.

The police started a new investigation this year, after more former boys complained about abuse at the former orphanage run by the Northampton Diocese of the Catholic Church.

Damian Chittock said: “It seems to me incredible that two files concerning very damning allegations can go missing. I worry about how seriously the police are taking these matters, which have blighted people's lives for decades.”

Steve Lowe, group editor, said:“I believe more in the cock-up than conspiracy theory but losing both sets of files is worrying.

“We also found that there was a picture of Jimmy Savile attending a VE commemoration day in Shefford, in April 1985, in the local paper of the time. He visited the home often,as there is a Catholic Church attached and Savile was a committed Catholic.

“We went to Bedford library and it had every copy of this paper since it started publishing until the present day, apart from the first half of 1985, which had gone missing.

“Another cock-up I guess but they do seem to be mounting.”