Head of Catholic boys' school forced 14-year-old to lose virginity to his nun wife while he watched

By Jon Dean
Mirror
September 17, 2016

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/head-catholic-boys-school-forced-8853303

James McCann allegedly forced the teen to have sex with his wife

James McCann denied the charges when he was questioned by police

The head of a Catholic boys' school forced a 14-year-old lad to lose his virginity with his nun wife while he watched, a court heard.

James McCann is then said to have had sex with her as the boy looked on during a holiday to Majorca - where the teen was introduced to football legends Bob Paisley and Brian Clough.

The Old Bailey heard the scene unfolded when the boy was asked by McCann, now 80, to fondle his wife's breasts

McCann had married her after she came to St Francis children's home in Shefford, Bedfordshire, as a nun.

McCann is alleged to have carried out 52 physical and sexual assaults against 26 boys at the home in the 1960s and 70s.

Jurors have heard his trademark punishment, dubbed 'the clappers', involved him striking boys' ears with his outstretched hands.

One former resident, who turns 60 this year, told the Old Bailey he received 'preferential treatment' from McCann and could not remember being punished himself.

But he told jurors he would be invited into McCann's bedroom after lights out.

He said: "When I got to the older boys' dormitory, he would have his dressing gown open and I could see his privates and there were times when he made me touch him."

The complainant said it happened at least three or four times, but on other occasions McCann would perform oral sex on him in his dorm.

"I used to pull the sheets so tight so he could not get to me anymore.

"I think he got the message and it didn't happen after that," he said, choking back tears.

The man described how a young nun arrived at the home and wedded McCann.

He said he was one of several boys from the home to be invited on a Majorcan holiday with the couple.

"One night I was invited to Mr McCann's room.

"I was invited into the room and asked to perform sex with his wife.

"He was there all the time," he explained.

"After I had finished, I stayed in the room.

"I was on the bed when they made love and I didn't leave until it was over."

He said he was a virgin before the incident and asked how the situation arose, he replied: "He asked me to feel her breasts, I felt them.

"He said, 'look how beautiful she is'. He asked me to get on top of her, so I got on top of her.

"I was aroused and he asked me to have intercourse with her."

He continued: 'I turned over, away. I wanted to get out of there.

"He asked me to wait.

"'I think it was part of his thrills with me being there but I turned my back.

"I didn't want to look. I heard everything."

But Nicholas Lobbenberg QC, defending McCann, said: "I suggest this never happened."

The man insisted: "I know what the truth is. It happened, really it did."

The complainant said he believed Mrs McCann was also "manipulated" by her husband.

He also admitted visiting the couple on several occasions after they had left the home, adding: "I didn't really hate the guy.

"I still thought of him as a father figure."

Mr Lobbenberg said: "I suggest, when you described oral sex with Mr McCann and masturbating Mr McCann, it didn't happen with him."

The alleged victim replied: "It happened with him, I'm telling the truth."

Before leaving the witness box, he added: "All I'm saying is this person was in a position of trust...and he abused that."

The cruelty at the Shefford home was allegedly orchestrated by Father John Ryan and the court has heard he and several nuns would have been prosecuted if they were still alive today.

McCann joined the home at the age of 29 in 1965 and worked there until it closed in 1974.

He lived there in his own room, but was not a priest or a nun unlike most of the other staff.

McCann, who uses a wheelchair suffered a stroke last week and has been found unfit to stand trial.

He is not present in court as the trial of the facts is being held to determine whether he 'committed the act' in respect of 34 charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, 14 counts of indecent assault and four counts of indecency with a child.

The majority of McCann's 26 alleged victims were between 8 and 12 at the time.

Nineteen of them accuse him of just violent assault, three allege that they suffered both physical and sexual abuse, while four alleged victims claim they were only sexually abused by him.

McCann was interviewed about the abuse between December 2013 and February 2015, when he was in much better health, and denied all the allegations against him.

The trial of issue, expected to last a month, continues.