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Priest withdrew money and 'went on the run in Albania after being accused of sexually abusing schoolchildren'

By Abe Hawken
Daily Mail
October 10, 2017

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4966932/Catholic-priest-74-withdrew-182-000-Vatican-bank.html

Father Laurence Soper, 74, a former abbot of Ealing Abbey in west London, skipped bail and flew to Kosovo when he was accused of sex offences

Prosecutors say the abuse took place between September 1972 and July 1983 while Soper was headmaster at St Benedict's School in Ealing

Father Laurence Soper, 74, was a former abbot of Ealing Abbey in west London

Soper then skipped bail and flew to Kosovo when he was accused of sex offences

It is claimed the Catholic priest caned pupils to give himself a thrill at the school

A Roman Catholic priest withdrew £182,000 from his Vatican bank account and went on the run in Albania after he was accused of sexually abusing schoolchildren in the 1970s and 1980s, a court heard.

Father Laurence Soper, 74, a former abbot of Ealing Abbey in west London, skipped bail and flew to Kosovo when he was accused of sex offences including buggery and indecent assault on boys under 16, it is said.

Prosecutors say the abuse took place between September 1972 and July 1983 while Soper was headmaster at St Benedict's School in Ealing.

Soper caned pupils to give himself a thrill at the school, where sexual abuse and violence was allegedly widespread, it is claimed. 

One of his alleged victims said children 'had been targeted by predators and assaulted' at St Benedict's and accused the school of a 'serial cover up'.

A series of accusations were made against Soper after he resigned as abbot and went to live at the Benedictine headquarters at Collegio Sant'Anselmo in Rome, Italy, in 2000.

Born Andrew Soper, he took on the name Laurence after being ordained in 1970. 

He flew to the UK to be interviewed by police about the claims in July 2004, June 2009 and September 2010, and was allowed to return to Rome on police bail until 11 March 2011.

But seven days before he was due to attend a police station in the UK, he flew to Kosovo, Albania, with 204,000 euros withdrawn from his Vatican bank account, jurors were told.

Soper, who was then working as general treasurer of the International Benedictine Confederation, claimed he had been paid to study a mystical strand of Islam in the Balkans, the Old Bailey heard.

Gillian Etherton QC, prosecuting, said: 'As a result of the defendant failing to attend his re-bailed date attempts were made by the police and authorities to locate him.

'After five-and-a-half years of being wanted by police the defendant was located in Kosovo.

'A European Arrest warrant was issued for Andrew Soper's extradition. Eventually the authorities deported the defendant.

'The defendant was arrested for these offences at Luton Airport coming off a flight from Kosovo on 21 August 2016.

'He was cautioned and replied: "I vigorously deny these allegations."'

She added: 'You will hear that the defendant is a meticulous man who analyses and plans most things.

'The prosecution say he carefully organised his leaving of Rome. It was his clear intention to fall below police radar.'

Soper has since been expelled from the monatsery of St Benedict of Ealing for 'scandalous behvaiour' but is still a priest, the court heard.

He has been charged with 19 alleged sex offences relating to 10 complainants, including buggery and indecency with a child.

According to charges, he indecently assaulted one boy on a school cycling holiday and anally raped him twice on other occasions.

Soper, who was in charge of discipline at St Benedict's School while he taught there, is also accused of using caning as 'a method to rouse and to gain sexual gratification'.

The defendant, described as 'manipulative', 'perverted' and 'sadistic' by various complainants, allegedly kept canes, a cat-o-nine tails whip and a leather strap in his desk.

One former pupil said he was 'the scariest of the monks there'.

'He was a disciplinarian and never smiled,' added the complainant.

Jurors heard the former pupils were told to pull their trousers down while Soper punished them in his headmaster's room for 'false reasons' such as kicking a football in the wrong direction. 

The boys were left feeling 'dirty and ashamed' after the incidents - but just one of the 10 alleged victims told his parents what had happened.

He claimed his parents, who have since died, didn't tell the police because 'priests were much respected'.

Ms Etherton said: 'A priest or a monk is a person to look up to and hold in deep respect, not someone to challenge or confront.

'A young boy's word against that of a priest - you may think it's little wonder that most of the complainants at the time said nothing.' 

One former pupil was paid £135,000 to settle a sex abuse claim against Soper out of court in 2010, while another one was paid £5,900 after launching a civil claim, the Old Bailey was told.

Former headmaster father David Pearce and former maths teacher John Maestri have previously been prosecuted for child abuse at the school, jurors heard. 

The court heard that several of the complainants came forward after reading about allegations of sexual abuse at the school on the internet.

Soper, formerly of Peja, Kosovo, denies two counts of buggery, one count of indecency with a child, 10 counts of indecent assault on boys under 16 and six counts of indecent assault on boys under 18.

The trial continues.


 




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