Former Bos Editor Steve Lowe Speaks out after Shefford Boys" Home Verdict
Bedfordshire on Sunday
TODAY James McCann, 80, was found to have responsible for 42 charges of physical and sexual assaults against young boys at St Fancis Boys' Home in Shefford. Former editor of BoS, Steve Lowe, has followed the story closely since 1997. He worked to expose the wrongdoings at the boys' home and bore the brunt of the backlash from doing so. Now he shares his view on the outcome. It was 1997 and I was asked to meet someone who had a complaint about a former Catholic Boys Home. The newsroom was not that excited and I was told not to take too long. That was the first time I met Damian Chittock. He told me about Shefford Boys Home, run by the Catholic Church where the residents were mainly abandoned or orphaned boys between the ages of six and seven. Damian said he had suffered abuse, both physical and sexual, and that such abuse was rife in the home. Damian named several priests, who committed this abuse over several years, who were aided and abetted by the nuns and some helpers who came into the home. The chief perpetrators were Father John Ryan, who ran the home in the 1960s, until 1973 when it was closed down, and his brother Gerry. But they were not the only ones. I wrote a story and, strangely for such a tale, got some response, from others who had endured life in the home. So I have been writing stories about it ever since. A writ was filed against the church by Damian in 2001 and the church made a large out of court settlement five years later. Two years later another former boy, Tony Walsh, also received another large settlement. Father Ryan was arrested and questioned but not charged.
In 2006 I managed to track the now retired priest down to a Catholic home in Olney. I 'doorstepped' him, as the saying goes but he admitted nothing and very soon his younger, more belligerent brother turned up and we had quite a row. He said the payouts proved nothing as it was the insurance company taking the 'easiest route out'. At that time I put in a Freedom of Information request to the police for all the paperwork connected to the case but this was denied. I did this after discovering two children had been killed at the home in the 1960s, both recorded as accidents, and both caused by Canon William Hunting. Some of the former boys spoke of a paedophile ring, including another Catholic home in Northamptonshire, and some famous names. One of those names was Savile and I found a picture of him in Shefford in 1984, celebrating the 40th anniversary of VE Day. He was know to have an association with nearby Henlow Grange and the nearest Catholic Church was St Francis Boys' Home. Savile was a devout Catholic. The subsequent exposure of Savile led to many more former St Francis boys coming forward and to the police re-opening the case. That did not mean it would suddenly be easy. The interviews with Father Ryan were critical to any case reaching the courts and the police first said they had been lost, then said they had been destroyed. Eventually, with some prompting by a solicitor, they found them. That solicitor was Tracey Emmott, who offered to help, as being local and a specialist in unlawful or negligent acts of conduct.
The police then said the case would be closed as all possible perpetrators were dead, before, with some help, I managed to find a name, and the police found two more. I then, again after difficulty, managed to access the home's inspection reports at the National Archive. They showed concern and a former director of Bedfordshire social services told me the home was closed because, in part, a belief that the boys were suffering abuse. Then the police worked hard and efficiently, and the solicitors Emmott Snell took out a 'class action' so the former boys began to believe they would have their day in court. And so they did. And now the world knows how they suffered at the hands of people who were supposed to cherish and protect them. How do I feel? Pleased beyond measure that at last it has been proved what horrors they went through. The 'Shefford Scruffs' as they were know in local schools, have never stopped fighting for justice and have now won that justice. But we must not forget, either, the damage such abuse has caused some of them. Definitely emotional and a little unbelieving that it has taken so long. Thanks you as well to all those who have helped, especially those not normally at the top of my list – lawyers and police officers. And, finally, I kept saying the Catholic Church needs to say sorry, needs to practice what it preaches, and ask forgiveness.
Sadly I still doubt that will happen. No-one in the Catholic Church would ever talk to me about the case, apart from offering platitudes. I was called scum for reporting these allegations but still not a word of apology from the church and how its priests, nuns and staff behaved towards innocent children. Sorry truly is the hardest word.
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