North Yorkshire Police ‘hugely Disappointed Catholic School Child Sex Claims Weren’t Heard by Jury’
Yorkshire Post
A Yorkshire police force has said it is “hugely disappointing” that a number of historic child sexual abuse allegations made against a teacher at a leading private Catholic school were not put before a jury. North Yorkshire Police today issued a statement in relation to the case of Paul Sheppard, a former teacher at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire who was last year acquitted of indecently assaulting a pupil. The force said it had carried out a “complex investigation” into allegations made against Dr Sheppard and made “considerable efforts to present a strong case on a number of allegations” to prosecutors. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, four charges of indecent assault were made against the former teacher when the case was brought to trial at York Crown Court in 2015. Prosecutors said they believed “there was sufficient evidence to allow a jury to consider four charges of indecent assault”. Prosecutors later applied to add three more charges of indecent assault, something a CPS spokeswoman said was not uncommon “ahead of trial as circumstances can change such as additional allegations being made”. The spokeswoman said: “However, following representations from all parties, the judge offered a firm view that two of the original counts and the three new proposed counts should not be placed before the jury, on evidential grounds. “Following the indication that the judge would not allow these counts to proceed, the prosecution team reviewed the counts and decided to withdraw them thus only proceeding with the remaining two counts.” During the trial, one of the two remaining counts was withdrawn from the jury by the judge, and Dr Sheppard was found not guilty on the final count, a CPS spokeswoman said. Dr Sheppard was employed by Ampleforth College as a temporary supply teacher for four months in the summer term of 1989, but left in July of that year in what has been described as “mutual consent” when his supply contract ended. The Times alleged today that a North Yorkshire Police employee told witnesses that they did not need to give evidence in person at Dr Sheppard’s trial, because their written statements had been accepted by the defence, and that this was misleading to the victims. The newspaper also claimed that two former pupils of the school had information about further alleged sexual offences, but were not interviewed by the police. Assistant Chief Constable Lisa Winward, said: “This complex investigation spanned two years, and despite considerable police efforts to present a strong case on a number of allegations to the CPS, it was hugely disappointing that not all of these were heard in court. “We have asked The Times to provide the police with the contact details of the two former pupils who have information, and we also urge them to come forward and speak to us. “Until we know who they are, it is not possible to confirm whether or not they were known to the investigation at the time. “If offences have been committed involving other pupils, we will investigate them thoroughly. If there is new evidence to consider, and new matters to investigate, then we will do so. “In relation to the allegation that witnesses were misled when they were advised that they were no longer required to attend court, we have launched an internal investigation to establish who spoke to the witnesses regarding their statements. “Our investigation will look at the timeline of the court proceedings and what was said, in order to establish whether they had been intentionally misled as the newspaper has reported. “We have asked The Times to provide the police with the contact details of the two former pupils who have information, and we also urge them to come forward and speak to us. “Until we know who they are, it is not possible to confirm whether or not they were known to the investigation at the time. “If offences have been committed involving other pupils, we will investigate them thoroughly. If there is new evidence to consider, and new matters to investigate, then we will do so. “In relation to the allegation that witnesses were misled when they were advised that they were no longer required to attend court, we have launched an internal investigation to establish who spoke to the witnesses regarding their statements. “Our investigation will look at the timeline of the court proceedings and what was said, in order to establish whether they had been intentionally misled as the newspaper has reported.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.