The Power of the Paedos - another high profile case hits the 'never happened' wall?

[Jan Klimkowski]

Paedophile monk allowed to strike again at abbey school

Charity Commission criticises trust that oversees St Benedict's school in Ealing

A Benedictine monk who abused children at an independent abbey school in west London was allowed to strike again despite senior officials in the Catholic church and regulators being warned about his record as a paedophile, an official inquiry has revealed.

A highly critical report published by the Charity Commission concluded that the trust that oversees St Benedict's school in Ealing failed to protect pupils from Father David Pearce, 67, despite assurances that he would be kept away from children as a result of his history of abuse.

Pearce, who lived and worked at the £12,000-a-year school, whose alumni include the writer Peter Ackroyd and former Europe minister Denis MacShane, was jailed for eight years in October for indecently assaulting five boys. The most recent case, when he abused a teenage pupil who was hired to wash up for the monks in the abbey, took place between July 2006 and January 2008. It happened despite the civil courts already having awarded damages against Pearce following accusations of paedophile activity with pupils in 1984 and in the early 1990s, when he was headmaster of the junior school and taught in the senior school.

The child protection commission of the diocese of Westminster also knew about Pearce's past but advised the abbey that he could continue to live at the abbey under restrictions. Its involvement could embarrass the head of the Catholic church in Britain, the archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, who has campaigned vigorously against child abuse among priests.

Following revelations of Pearce's history of abuse, the abbey assured the Charity Commission that he could continue life at the monastery "as long as this does not bring him into contact with children and young persons". It promised he would have "no public ministry within the parish setting" and would only be allowed to "say mass in private, or within the monastery setting, with no members of the public present".

After the assurances were made the pupil who washed up revealed he had been abused by Pearce, who was arrested in January 2008.

A Charity Commission inquiry report was "extremely critical" of St Benedict's failure to implement the restrictions, but stopped short of demanding the removal of trustees. It said it was awaiting the results of the abbey's internal inquiry.

"One of the terms of [Pearce's] continued role in the charity was that he was to have no access to children and young people on the charity's premises," the Charity Commission concluded. "The trustees failed to ensure this was the case."

"If this were a secular school I am sure the headmaster and the chairman of governors would have been removed," said Jonathan West, a local parent whose son attended the school while Pearce was a teacher and who remains critical of the school's child protection measures.

Martin Shipperlee, abbot of St Benedict's, issued an apology. "We were in error allowing the young man to work in an area where he could potentially come into contact with David Pearce," Shipperlee said. "It is a very sad situation and we didn't care for him as we should have done. Hindsight makes that devastatingly clear. I am quite aware of child abuse happening among priests as a wider issue, but I wasn't aware enough of how paedophiles work and how they exploit situations."

Asked why he did not expel Pearce from the abbey when the first allegations of abuse were proved, Shipperlee said: "Where else is he going to go? If I sent him anywhere else I would have had no idea of what he was up to." He added it was "highly unlikely" Pearce would return to the abbey when he is released.

A spokesman for the diocese of Westminster described Pearce as "a cunning and determined paedophile able to exploit any restrictions placed on him". He added: "The advice provided by the diocese of Westminster followed the guidelines laid down by Copca (the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults), which established robust child protection and safeguarding procedures for the Catholic church in England and Wales."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/28...criticised