The Roman
Catholic Church has ordered a widespread review into its safeguarding children
procedures in the South West.
 |
| Jarvis was investigating allegations of abuse at a school run by Buckfast Abbey |
It followed
the arrest in March of Christopher Jarvis, 49, who was employed by the Devon
diocese to investigate sex abuse allegations.
Jarvis, of
Penrose Road, Plymouth, has been jailed for a year after admitting 12 counts
involving indecent images.
A Plymouth
Crown Court judge said children who had confided in Jarvis would feel
"sullied and let down".
Former social
worker Jarvis had worked for the diocese since 2002, checking on volunteers who
wanted to work with children.
He was also
authorised to counter-sign applications for Criminal Records Bureau checks and
he had access to confidential church files on child abuse cases.
Independent
chairman of the Plymouth Diocesan Safeguarding Commission
The court
heard that he was arrested after uploading images of pre-pubescent boys to
social networking website and was sacked immediately by the diocese.
Police
found more than 4,000 child porn images, mainly of boys aged 10 to 12, on his
church-supplied computer and a memory stick when they raided his home.
Jarvis, who
the court heard claimed he was abused as a child, admitted 12 counts of making,
possessing and distributing indecent images.
'Great
shock'
Judge Paul
Darlow told him: "Children who had confided in you may feel sullied and
let down when they find out the person they were confiding in was downloading
images in this way.
"You,
of all people, were more aware than others of the massive theft of innocence
and long-term damage exacted on the children whose images you downloaded for
your own sexual gratification."
The diocese
said Jarvis had been conducting an investigation into allegations of historic
child abuse at a former preparatory boarding school run by monks at Buckfast
Abbey before he was arrested.
Ordained
priest William Manahan, 80, was jailed for 15 months in 2007 for sexually
abusing boys at Buckfast Abbey Preparatory School between 1971 and 1978. The
school later closed.
 |
| Bishop Christopher Budd ordered an investigation by the NSPCC after Jarvis was arrested |
Another
monk at the abbey, Paul Couch, was convicted in 2007 of two serious sexual
offences and 11 indecent sexual assaults against boys at the school and was
jailed for 10 years and nine months.
Jarvis was
removed from the investigation after he was arrested and Bishop Christopher
Budd ordered the review by the NSPCC.
The NSPCC
has already produced a report into case files which Mr Jarvis was involved with
over the last three years.
It said
"safeguarding concerns have been appropriately responded to and overall,
safeguarding practices are sound".
It has also
started the second phase, into child protection procedures, policies and
training for the protection of children by the Church in the South West.
The diocese
said Jarvis had been checked for criminal records and had worked in social
services before working for the diocese.
A
spokeswoman said the recommendations from phase one were for "very
minor" changes, but declined to say what they were.
A diocese
spokeswoman said: "The recommendations are not for huge changes.
"What
can you do? He had worked for social services."
She said
the second phase would look at "how we do things and how we move
forward".
She said:
"It's extremely sad for everyone."
David Pond,
independent chairman of the Plymouth Diocesan Safeguarding Commission, said
Jarvis's crimes had been "a great shock to the many people who had placed
their trust in him and worked with him to protect vulnerable children and
adults".
He added:
"This particular incident was not a systemic issue in the Roman Catholic
Church.
"It is
about an individual who had got himself into a position of trust."
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