ENGLAND
Daily Mail
December 6, 2017
By Richard Spillett
– Andrew Soper, 74, raped and groped pupils at St Benedict’s School in Ealing
– He later used £182,000 from Vatican bank account to flee justice to Albania
– Soper was convicted of several counts of sexual and indecent assault on boys
– Victims said they had breakdowns because they ‘would not be believed’
A Roman Catholic priest who sexually abused children at an abbey school which became one of Britain’s most notorious dens of paedophilia is set to die behind bars.
Andrew Soper, 74, raped and groped pupils at St Benedict’s School in Ealing in the 1970s and 80s and used £182,000 from his Vatican bank account to flee to Albania when victims came forward decades later.
Former headmaster father David Pearce and former maths teacher John Maestri had been jailed for abusing children at the £12,000-a-year private school.
Soper 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, Italy, on police bail until 11 March 2011.
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