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21 Feb 2011

UK diocese appeals ruling that it is responsible for compensating survivors of children's home raped by principal

The Northern Echo  -  UK   February 12, 2011


Diocese allowed to appeal child abuse ruling

By Graeme Hetherington


A ROMAN Catholic diocese has been given an opportunity to appeal a ruling that it is responsible for an £8m compensation claim by child abuse victims.

Middlesbrough Diocese is facing its last chance to have the landmark claim dismissed by the Supreme Court The Court of Appeal ruled last October that the diocese was responsible for compensating victims of child abuse at St William’s Children’s Home, Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, between 1960 and 1992.

Judges ruled that the De La Salle Brotherhood, a Catholic organisation which provided teachers for the home, had no legal responsibility.

This left the Catholic Child Welfare Society of the Middlesbrough Diocese, which at various times was the “responsible organisation”.

Solicitor David Greenwood, who is representing 158 of the victims, said: “The Supreme Court obviously feels this case is of major importance.

“The Catholic Church has for years tried to escape liability for its priests and members and I hope this case will decide the issues once and for all.

“I am anxious to achieve justice for the victims of abuse at St William’s as quickly as possible and the Supreme Court appeal will cause six to 12 months of delay.

“Despite this, I am undeterred by the appeal.

“I am certain that either the Diocese of Middlesbrough or the De La Salle institute are responsible for compensating victims.”

In 2004, James Redmond Carragher, the former principal of St William’s Children’s Home, was found guilty of a catalogue of serious sex crimes against 22 boys, some as young as 12. He was jailed for 14 years.

He had earlier served a seven year sentence imposed in 1993 for indecent assaults, taking photographs of young boys and importing videos of mainly children between 1985 and 1992.

The home provided residential care and education for boys with emotional and behavioural problems, mainly from Yorkshire and the North-East.

Father Derek Turnham, a spokesman for the diocese, which covers an area of 4,000sq km spanning Teesside, North Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire, said there was little it could say given the ongoing legal action.

He said: “The diocese is pleased that the Supreme Court has given permission to appeal against the ruling from the Court of Appeal.”


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3 comments:

  1. Perry Bulwer20 July 2012 at 12:42

    Supreme Court to rule on Catholic Church’s attempt to escape responsibility for child abuse

    by National Secular Society, UK July 19, 2012

    A landmark hearing at the Supreme Court in London on Monday will consider who is responsible for compensating victims of child abuse by Catholic priests.

    The case is being brought by 170 men who allege that they were sexually and physically abused at a Roman Catholic children’s home.

    The High Court at Leeds and the Court of Appeal have already decided that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough is responsible for compensating victims of child abuse at the St William’s children’s home, Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, between 1960 and 1992.

    In December 2003 James Redmond Carragher, the former Principal of St William’s children’s home was found guilty of 7 counts of buggery and 14 counts of indecent assault against 22 boys, some as young as 12. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. He had earlier served a seven year sentence imposed in 1993 for indecent assaults, taking photographs of young boys and importing videos mainly of children, between 1985 and 1992.

    Compensation proceedings on behalf of claimants were started in 2004. Although two Roman Catholic organisations were involved in running the St William’s children’s home, both organisations have attempted to use legal technicalities to escape responsibility, a tactic mirrored in other Catholic child abuse cases.

    Despite a series of shocking examples of Catholic priests being convicted over the past decade, the Catholic Church continues to argue that it is not responsible for abuse committed by its priests and officials. In the most recent example the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth attempted to argue that he was not responsible for compensating a victim of abuse by a priest named Father Baldwin, on the basis that he did not employ him but simply allowed him ministry in his Diocese. Unsurprisingly on 12th July 2012 the Court of Appeal decided that the Bishop was indeed responsible.

    David Greenwood, solicitor for the claimants says: “The Supreme Court obviously feels this case is of major importance. The Catholic Church has for years tried to escape liability for its priests and members and I hope this case will decide the issues once and for all.

    “I am anxious to achieve justice for the victims of abuse at St William’s as quickly as possible. One of the Catholic organisations is trying to escape responsibility. I am certain that either the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough or the De La Salle Institute are responsible for compensating victims.”

    “Churches have had unquestioned access to vulnerable children. The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal. The St William’s case represents an opportunity to make churches responsible for the past wrongs of abusers within their organisations. I also hope that the court will send a signal to all organisations that care for children that they must rigorously enforce safeguarding responsibilities.”

    http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2012/07/supreme-court-to-rule-on-catholic-churchs-attempt-to-escape-responsibility-for-child-abuse

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  2. Perry Bulwer22 November 2012 at 16:14

    Supreme Court rules on compensation to Catholic child abuse victims

    National Secular Society Wednesday November 21 2012

    The Supreme Court has today ruled on a dispute between two Catholic organisations about who is responsible for paying compensation to over 170 victims of alleged physical and sexual abuse at a Yorkshire children's home.

    The case involves the Catholic diocese of Middlesbrough and the Catholic De La Salle Brothers order, in respect of alleged systematic abuse of children going back more than fifty years at the St William's children's care home and school at Market Weighton. It was ruled that the De La Salle Brothers were "vicariously" (financially) liable for wrongdoing of the members of the Order, even though they are not employees, despite the Order's attempts to evade responsibility for this reason.

    The case has huge implications, potentially beyond the UK, but particularly for the Catholic Church, where many of those responsible for child abuse – such as "brothers" are not, technically, employees. This decision is likely to finally resolve another recent similar case involving the Catholic diocese of Portsmouth, where the appeal court ruled on vicarious liability in the same direction as the Supreme Court has done today.

    St William's took emotionally and behaviourally disturbed boys, aged 10 to 16, referred by councils largely from Yorkshire and the North East. The former headmaster James Carragher has twice been convicted of a series of indecent assaults, buggery and taking photographs of young boys. In 2004 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison, having already served a seven-year sentence imposed in 1993. The institution was closed down in 1992.

    Lawyers for the victims have accused the Catholic church of delaying, or attempting to avoid, compensation payments.
    Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, said: "This case lays bare the shameless and continuing evasion by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church of paying compensation for the horrendous abuse for which those acting in its name have been responsible, and compounds the abuse suffered by victims. This case has taken so long to resolve that some victims have died, relieving the Church of paying them compensation. Even for those remaining, it goes nowhere near repairing the lives ruined by this brutal abuse carried out on an industrial scale by clerics on youngsters supposedly in their care."

    "I am told by a Yorkshire solicitor acting for many of these victims that in every case the Church has fought, and continues to fight, tooth and nail, to evade every penny of compensation. This case is essentially a battle between two departments of the Catholic Church. The Church has demonstrated by its actions that it does not care one iota for the victims, nor for being seen to have acted with compassion, far less decently. Otherwise it would have resolved the case many years ago by paying the compensation centrally from the Church's vast wealth and deciding in Rome how the cost was to be apportioned.

    "The Church's failure, clearly with the complicity — if not the direct instructions — of Rome, to minimise compensation (as in this case), and also to protect clerical abusers from the criminal courts, as demonstrated most clearly in Ireland, demonstrates that the only way that victims can be better protected in future is by tightening up the criminal law.

    "I recommend that Parliament brings forward legislation to make it a criminal offence not to disclose to the police all credible allegations of child abuse and to preserve and furnish them with all available evidence."

    http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/11/supreme-court-rules-on-compensation-to-catholic-child-abuse-victims

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  3. Perry Bulwer22 November 2012 at 16:16

    Catholic teaching institute liable for abuse at school

    BBC November 21, 2012

    A Catholic teaching institute is liable for alleged physical and sexual abuse at a former boys' school, the Supreme Court has ruled.

    Claims of abuse are being made by 170 former pupils of St William's in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire.

    Judges said the De La Salle Brotherhood was liable along with the Middlesbrough diocese which owned the school.

    The BBC's Danny Shaw said it was a landmark ruling which could affect other claims of abuse at institutions.

    St William's, which looked after boys aged 10 to 16 with emotional and behavioural problems until it closed in 1992, had been owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough, but many of the staff were members of the De La Salle Brotherhood.

    A former principal at the school and former De La Salle member, James Carragher, was jailed in 2004 for abusing pupils.

    Brother Aidan Kilty, from the brotherhood, said they accepted the court's decision.

    He said: "We deeply regret what happened at St William's and the harm that was done there through the behaviour of James Carragher.

    "Even before this matter first came to light, the De La Salle Order completely reorganised its safeguarding procedures and remains committed to robust compliance with the procedures laid down by the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission on behalf of the Catholic Church in England and Wales."

    Graham Baverstock, who says he was repeatedly attacked at the home from the age of 14, said it was a relief to now know who was liable.

    Mr Baverstock, from Bridlington, said he felt it was time for both the diocese and brotherhood to make settlement offers to stop the "protracted suffering" of the claimants, but feared the process of claiming compensation would be drawn out.

    "They'll continue this game until all of us are dead, simple as that. We are all getting old, we have to live daily with the nightmares, with the knowledge of what went on."

    The Court of Appeal ruled in 2010 that the Middlesbrough diocese was solely responsible for an £8m compensation claim.

    'Justice at stake'
    But the Supreme Court judges said it was "fair, just and reasonable" for the De La Salle Brotherhood to share liability.

    In a statement, the diocese said it appealed against the 2010 ruling because "there was an important principle of justice at stake, that those who ran St William's on a day-to-day basis at the time the alleged abuse took place should share the burden of compensating its victims".

    "We are also pleased that, now that the question of who is legally liable for the historic abuse at St William's has been decided, the individual claims for compensation can begin to be examined by the courts."

    Humberside Police began an investigation in 2001, which focused on child abuse at the home.

    Former principal Carragher was jailed for 14 years in 2004 for abusing boys in his care over a 20-year period.

    Compensation claims on behalf of former pupils were first submitted in 2004. The alleged abuse is said to have taken place between 1958 and 1992.

    Solicitor David Greenwood, who is representing the claimants, said: "This case should have been settled years ago.

    "I hope that the recent news events regarding the Jimmy Savile cases and the public's new understanding of the effects of sexual abuse on victims means that both Catholic organisations are now prepared to reach a sensible negotiated settlement."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-20424136

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