Ampleforth's Dark Past Scandal Hits ?33k Catholic College of Stars, Amid Suicide and 27yr ‘sex Abuse’ Cover up
By Martin Phillips
And there seems no doubt that it works, with talented ex-pupils including former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio, Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and actors Rupert Everett and James Norton. But now a darker side has been uncovered at the country’s leading Catholic school, following an investigation this week by The Times. It involves the cover-up of alleged sex abuse of children at the school 27 years ago, which has been linked to the suicide of at least one former pupil.
A belated and flawed police investigation into those allegations, centred on one teacher, has left a number of former pupils denied justice, fellow ex-students have claimed. And the inquiry may now be reopened as four new witnesses have come forward. Paul Sheppard, a Canadian who taught science at Ampleforth for a single term in 1989, was last year found not guilty of indecently assaulting one boy during his brief stint at the school, which became mixed sex in 2002. However, the investigation has revealed that the evidence of four other former pupils against Dr Sheppard was kept from jurors. It found that North Yorkshire Police failed to contact at least two other former pupils whose accounts would potentially have led to Dr Sheppard facing further questioning on child sex offence allegations. And two more former pupils have now indicated they are willing to speak to police about alleged incidents in 1989. The force indicated that the file on Dr Sheppard was closed but yesterday a spokeswoman said that the police would like to speak to the potential witnesses. She added: “Anyone who has been the victim of abuse should come forward.” And Ampleforth’s handling of the complaints about Dr Sheppard is also likely to be examined by the national inquiry into child abuse, chaired by Alexis Jay.
Old Amplefordian . . Lawrence Dallagio In summer 1989 several boys from Junior House aged ten to 13 plucked up the courage to tell a member of staff about their science teacher’s alleged habit of touching them in an over-familiar way.When the then headmaster Father Dominic Milroy heard about it, he called 11 boys into his study, one after the other, to hear their claims about their 26-year-old teacher. They described incidents — in the dormitory, the science lab, the infirmary and on a punishment run — in which the teacher stroked, hugged or kissed them. But with the school’s reputation at stake, the police were not called in.
Instead Dr Sheppard was summoned to the headmaster. He denied any wrongdoing, as he still does, but was told that in light of the boys’ complaints, the school “could not consider him staying” and that his contract would not be renewed. Even so he was given a glowing job reference and the matter was hushed up.But three years ago the accusations resurfaced when former pupil James Glynn took his own life after a troubled adulthood during which he had struggled to find work and been treated for drug addiction. Before his death the 35-year-old, who had been a homesick 11-year-old boarder at Ampleforth in 1989, spent Christmas with his sister and told her of his unhappy school days. He recalled how the monks and lay staff had offered him little comfort but there had been one teacher who he thought quite liked him and who he initially felt he could trust. But with tears rolling down his cheeks, he went on to tell his sister that the man had raped him, more than once.
Then he told his stunned sister the teacher’s name. Mr Glynn is said to have told the same story to his best friend before he killed himself. At his funeral, some of his Ampleforth contemporaries heard of the rape allegations and told Mr Glynn’s family their own memories of the allegations which led to Dr Sheppard’s departure from the school. The family contacted North Yorkshire Police who later interviewed 11 former Ampleforth pupils. Eight described incidents of “inappropriate touching” by Dr Sheppard. After Ampleforth he taught in the Dominican Republic, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, China and Congo before becoming director of a Kuwait school, with no concerns raised about conduct at any of those schools.
But in 2014 when he flew to Britain for a holiday he was arrested at Heathrow and held on suspicion of serious sex offences against Mr Glynn. However the Crown Prosecution Service ruled that since the case was 25 years old and the sole witness was dead, there was no realistic prospect of conviction. Even so, the prosecutors decided there was a case for Dr Sheppard to answer over the alleged incidents involving the few of Mr Glynn’s former classmates who police had interviewed, some of whom had been among the 11 boys who went to the headmaster in June 1989. Dr Sheppard was charged with four counts of indecent assault against three boys, then further offences were added.
By the opening morning of his trial at York Crown Court last September, he faced seven indecent assault charges involving five former pupils. But before a jury was sworn in, the judge ruled that the physical contact alleged by four of the five ex-pupils did not meet the legal definition of indecent. They included allegations that the teacher had stroked and kissed an 11-year-old as he slept, and pinned another 11-year-old to the ground by his wrists while straddling him. That left just two charges involving one ex-pupil, to the surprise of police and prosecutors who had argued that a jury might have decided that each of the original charges involved indecent contact in the context of a teacher-pupil relationship.
The ex-pupils whose allegations were not put to the jury were assured by a police employee that they were not needed as witnesses because their written statements had been accepted unchallenged by the defence. That was untrue, and all four have been left feeling cheated of the chance to have their claims heard in court. The one ex-pupil whose claims were put to the jury was not one of the 11 boys summoned to the headmaster in 1989, so his evidence to the jury was limited. Dr Sheppard, who maintains he left Ampleforth of his own volition, was cleared of one charge and the judge directed the jurors to acquit him of the other offence.
The lone alleged victim told The Times: “I agreed to give the police a statement about what happened to me to support what I thought was a much bigger prosecution. Instead, I found myself in the witness box in a trial where the only charges related to me. I was told I mustn’t make any reference to the other complainants and was not allowed to say why Sheppard suddenly vanished from the school. “It was so frustrating, because it must have looked to the jury as if I was jumping on the Jimmy Savile bandwagon.” One former pupil has said: “The jury had to choose between the word of an experienced teacher and that of one former pupil. It was a travesty.”
The ex-pupils told The Times they accept that if a jury had heard all the facts they may still have cleared Dr Sheppard and in the absence of such proceedings he must be presumed innocent. But they said they would at least have felt justice had been served. Dr Sheppard did not respond to questions from The Times and The Sun could not raise Dr Leppard, who is understood to be working in Kuwait. An Ampleforth spokesman said: “Allegations made against Dr Sheppard were investigated by Father Dominic at the time. These investigations did not yield allegations of sexual impropriety.” He said the decision for Dr Sheppard to leave was mutual and that Ampleforth co-operated with all authorities and is committed to ensuring the safety and welfare of pupils in its care.
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