The Catholic Roman Church Case Benedictine Study: English Congregation The Roman Catholic Church Case Study: English Benedictine Congregation 1. Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School 2. Ampleforth and Downside: update Investigation Report October 2019 October 2019 2019 The Roman Catholic Church Case Study: English Benedictine Congregation 1. Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School 2. Ampleforth and Downside: update Investigation Report October 2019 A report of the Inquiry Panel Professor Alexis Jay OBE Professor Sir Malcolm Evans KCMG OBE Ivor Frank Drusilla Sharpling CBE © Crown copyright 2019 The text of this document (this excludes, where present, the Royal Arms and all departmental or agency logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium provided that it is reproduced accurately and not in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the document title specified. Where third‑party material has been identified, permission from the respective copyright holder must be sought. Any enquiries related to this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] or Freepost IICSA INDEPENDENT INQUIRY. This report is available at https://www.iicsa.org.uk/publications CCS0919077990 10/19 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled‑fibre content minimum. Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. The following corrections were made to the report on 24 October 2019: Page 2, paragraph 3: 2015 was amended to read 2016 Page 15, section A.2, paragraph 6: 2015 was amended to read 2016 Page 100, section H.1, paragraph 2: 2015 was amended to read 2016 The following update was made to the report on 25 October 2019: Page 106, paragraph 3 was amended to include a clearer description of Charity Commission‑appointed interim manager Emma Moody’s duties with regard to overseeing certain safeguarding matters at Ampleforth College, St Martin’s Ampleforth and the two related charities. The following updates were made to the report on 29 October 2019: Page 39, paragraph 88, the last sentence was amended to read ‘He described Soper visiting him in the infirmary, when he was 11 or 12 years old...’. Page 112, Annex 1: the Independent Schools Inspectorate was added to the ‘Institutional core participants’ table. Contents Part 1: Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School 1 Executive Summary 2 Pen portraits 8 Part A: Introduction 11 A.1: The background to the investigation 14 A.2: The scope of the investigation 15 A.3: Procedure adopted by the Inquiry 16 A.4: Terminology 17 Part B: Context 19 B.1: History and establishment 20 B.2: Governance 21 Part C: Nature and extent of abuse 23 C.1: Introduction 24 C.2: Physical and emotional abuse (1970s and 1980s) 24 C.3: Sexual abuse (1970s to 2000s) 25 Part D: Response of Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School to allegations of abuse 45 D.1: Introduction 46 D.2: 1970 to 2000 46 D.3: 2000 to 2010 51 D.4: 2010 to the present 63 Part E: Response of Catholic bodies 67 E.1: Introduction 68 E.2: Diocese of Westminster 68 E.3: English Benedictine Congregation 71 E.4: Holy See 73 iii Part F: Response of external institutions 77 F.1: Introduction 78 F.2: Metropolitan Police Service 78 F.3: Crown Prosecution Service 81 F.4: Charity Commission 84 F.5: Independent Schools Inspectorate 86 F.6: Department for Education 89 F.7: Ealing Council Children’s Services 90 Part G: Wider developments in the English Benedictine Congregation 93 G.1: Introduction 94 G.2: Responsiveness 94 G.3: Accountability 95 G.4: Transparency 96 Part H: Conclusions 99 H.1: Conclusions in relation to Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School 100 H.2: Conclusions in relation to the English Benedictine Congregation, the abbeys and the schools 102 Part 2: Ampleforth and Downside: update 105 Recent developments at Ampleforth and Downside 106 Introduction 106 Ampleforth 106 Downside 107 Annexes 109 Annex 1: Overview of process and evidence obtained by the Inquiry 110 Annex 2: Glossary 117 Annex 3: Acronyms 122 Annex 4: Summary of allegations leading to convictions 124 iv Part 1 Ealing Abbey and St Benedict’s School 1 Executive Summary Ealing Abbey is an English Benedictine monastery, established in 1897 by monks from Downside Abbey. Ealing Priory, as it was then called, became independent from Downside in 1947. Eight years later it achieved Abbey status, becoming the first Benedictine Abbey in Greater London since the Reformation. The monastery is home to 14 monks who live under the care of the Abbot, the spiritual leader of the community. The Abbot is assisted by his Prior, who acts as his principal adviser, and by his Council. St Benedict’s School, Ealing is the only Benedictine day school in England and is situated adjacent to Ealing Abbey. Although it started as a boys’ school, it became fully co‑educational in 2008 and accepts children from nursery age to 18 years old. The junior and senior schools (the middle school having been absorbed some years ago) have their own headmasters, although since 2006 the headmaster of the senior school has overarching responsibility for the junior school. The number of monks teaching at the school has varied over the years from nine in 1980 to just one in 2018, and none now, in 2019. As well as serving as teachers, monks act as chaplains and lead religious services. Child sexual abuse at St Benedict’s School was extensive. Since 2003, two monks (Laurence Soper and David Pearce) and two lay teachers (John Maestri and Stephen Skelton) have been convicted of multiple offences involving the sexual abuse of over 20 children between at least the 1970s and 2008. In 2016 another teacher, the deputy head Peter Allott, was convicted of offences relating to the possession of indecent images of children. We have also received evidence of at least 18 further allegations against these men and eight other monks and teachers. Material we have seen suggests that the number of complainants is likely to be higher than the figures set out here. The St Benedict’s School of the 1970s was described to us as a “Cold, grim, forbidding” and “beastly” place.1 The atmosphere was sadistic and predatory, and we heard that for many children “coming to school was terrible”. 2 There was a culture of excessive corporal punishment. Physical abuse in many cases was used as a platform for sexual gratification, and a means by which to instigate sexual abuse. Corporal punishment was also used to punish boys who sought to protect themselves and others from sexual abuse, such as RC‑A8. Laurence Soper and David Pearce A particularly startling aspect of the sexual abuse perpetrated at the school was that very senior figures at the school or Abbey were abusers. David Pearce was the head of the junior school and then bursar; Laurence Soper was head of the middle school, bursar, Prior then Abbot. This created particular problems for those who wished to report sexual abuse – not only the victims, but also others, such as members of staff who heard rumours or observed 1 RC‑A8 4 February 2019 129/1, 148/24 2 RC‑A8 4 February 2019 134/21 2 Executive Summary behaviour that caused concern. Reporting such matters was therefore made more difficult by the seniority of those against whom the complaint would have been made. Staff members have described the atmosphere as feeling “like the mafia” and chose not to risk their jobs.3 Pearce was a serial abuser of boys. At least 14 pupils have complained to the statutory authorities of being sexually abused by him. Their allegations span a 32‑year period from 1976 to 2008. In October 2009, Pearce was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment (reduced to five years on appeal in May 2010) for various sexual offences against five of these pupils. That was not the end of the matter, however, and in 2011 Pearce faced a further trial relating to indecent assaults against another pupil but was acquitted. In relation to the eight other boys, there was either no complaint made to the police or a decision made by the police/ Crown Prosecution Service not to proceed. It appears that many in the school and Abbey – teachers and monks alike – were aware of Pearce’s behaviour but were seemingly powerless to do anything about it. Gossip amongst the boys and staff was rife and complaints, including from parents, failed to trigger any action by the school or, in the rare event that information was communicated externally, by the statutory authorities. Staff were afraid that by speaking up they would lose their jobs. Pearce may well have been emboldened by this inertia as his abuse became less secretive, filming the boys at the swimming pool, lining them up naked and committing sexual assaults with apparent impunity. Unsurprisingly, Pearce was protected by Soper, but other Abbots and headmasters throughout this period also failed to act to protect children under their care. Soper is known to have abused at least 10 children at St Benedict’s between 1972 and 1983, including multiple rapes. Many of the assaults were committed during acts of corporal punishment apparently inflicted on the slightest of pretexts. Soper’s predilection for caning boys was well known amongst the boys and staff at the school. He was told to stop by a previous headmaster at some point in the late 1970s or early 1980s. This had no effect, and he continued to cane and sexually assault boys on many occasions.