St William's Home: Former Teacher Michael Curran Acquitted of Abuse Charges

BBC News
November 9, 2015

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-34768828

St William's has since closed

A former teacher at a Catholic home and school for delinquent boys in East Yorkshire has been acquitted of assault and indecent assault.

Michael Curran, 62, walked free from Leeds Crown Court earlier after a judge directed the jury to return not guilty verdicts on the two charges.

The allegations related to his time as a teacher at St Williams residential school in Market Weighton in the 1980s.

The trial continues into the case of James Carragher and Anthony McCallen.

Both plead not guilty to allegations of abuse.

Ex-principal James Carragher denies 50 counts of indecent assault between the 1970s at the East Riding of Yorkshire site, and 12 other serious sex offences.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard how the 75-year-old, of Cearns Road, Prenton, Merseyside, was jailed for seven years in 1993 and 14 years in 2004 for sex offences.

The jury was also told how the former chaplain at the home, 69-year-old Mr McCallen of St John's House, Ecclestone, Merseyside, was convicted of abusing two boys in the 1990s.

He denies 18 indecent assaults and seven other serious sexual offences.

Mr Curran, who lives in Stockton-on-Tees, was acquitted of one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and another of indecent assault.