Cleugh's inquiry evidence about me
Cleugh, in giving evidence to the inquiry, was asked at one point "Did you consider that Mr West's interventions were malicious?"I'm not going to repeat his reply here, but you can read it in the...
View ArticleWho knew? Everyone!
Yesterday's Sunday Times carried a powerful piece by Stephen Bleach.Who knew about the abuse at St Benedict’s? The entire Catholic Church(The article is behind a paywall but you can register for free...
View ArticleWhy didn't they have to report?
In a comment on the Who knew? Everyone! article, Elly has made a very pertinent and important point.What I genuinely don't understand is why, when it is clear that various adults knew abuse was going...
View ArticleMr Cleugh's mysterierious memory
My lawyers have been having an exchange of emails with the Ealing Abbey/St. Benedict's lawyers over Cleugh's comments in IICSA hearing. Richard Scorer wrote to Tony Nelson the same dayFrom: Richard...
View ArticleThe Ealing IICSA hearing - comments
I've taken some time off concerning the IICSA and the Ealing hearings. I needed to take a bit of time away from what is an unpleasant subject, and the day job has required some attention.However, some...
View ArticleThe IICSA Report
Well, it has been published at last.And it is utterly damning of Ealing Abbey, St Benedict's School, the English Benedictine Congregation, the Diocese of Westminster and the Holy See. It is easy to...
View ArticleThe IICSA report - Headmaster Cleugh
Next in line for the Inquiry's criticism is Mr. Christopher Cleugh.Christopher Cleugh, during his time as headmaster of the school between 2002 and 2016, repeatedly minimised questions of child sexual...
View ArticleIICSA Report - Abbot President Richard Yeo
One of the reasons Shipperlee and Cleugh did what they did was that they could. There was no effective support or supervision from elsewhere in the church that would prevent them from going off the...
View ArticleIICSA - Wider Catholic Church
There's plenty of blame to go round in this sorry tale. This article covers next two candidates: the Diocese of Westminster and its safeguarding office, and the Holy See.Diocese of WestminsterThe...
View ArticleIICSA - Analysis of CSAS and NCSC Safeguarding policies
This is the text of the covering note of an analysis of CSAS and NCSC Safeguarding policies which I have submitted to the Inquiry.1. I have carried out an analysis of the NCSC/CSAS Safeguarding...
View ArticleIICSA Report - Outside agencies
Those running Ealing Abbey and St. Benedict's School, and those committing abuses there (sometimes but not always the same people) were able to get away with the abuse and the cover up for so long...
View ArticleIICSA report - The Abbey statement
Oh dear. The new Abbot Dominic Taylor has made a statement on the Abbey website, and unfortunately it is clear that they are back to their old minimising tricks.It doesn't start well. The Abbot of...
View ArticleDeparture from Downside
The monks of Downside have announced their intention to leave Downside Abbey and find a new home. In some ways it is not a great surprise. There are only 12 monks left, the governance of Downside...
View ArticleThe ban at Ampleforth
Ampleforth College, St. Benedict's sister school in Yorkshire, has been served with an Enforcement Notice by the Department for Education, banning it from accepting any new pupils. The decision clearly...
View ArticleAmpleforth's ban lifted
The DfE lifted Ampleforth College’s ban on new pupils on 19th April. The decision had been pre-announced to the school, which wrote to parents on 16 April saying.I am pleased to let you know that the...
View ArticleAmpleforth's Ofsted reports
Ampleforth made two applications to DfE to have the ban on new pupils lifted. In each case DfE commissioned Ofsted to conduct an inspection.The first inspection took place on 6-8 February, and was a...
View ArticleAmpleforth's governance
A significant part of the March 23-25 Ofsted report looked at governance of the school. The report said:The St Laurence Education Trust and the Ampleforth Abbey Trust remain linked closely.The...
View ArticleAmpleforth's finances
Ofsted found that "The St Laurence Education Trust and the Ampleforth Abbey Trust remain linked closely" and clearly weren't happy about it for reasons I described in my previous article. So one needs...
View ArticleThe DfE's decision on Ampleforth
On the face of it, the DfE's decision to lift the ban on new pupils at Ampleforth makes no sense at all. Two requests from the school to lift the ban, each of which triggered an Ofsted inspection which...
View ArticleThe legal issues around the DfE decision
The Department for Education isn't free arbitrarily to do what it wants over issuing or revoking Enforcement Notices. There is law defining both the circumstances under which an Enforcement Notice can...
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