guardian.co.uk,
Press Association, Saturday 14 January 2012
Richard
White was jailed for sexually
abusing two boys in the 1980s.
Photograph:
Avon & Somerset Police/PA
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Seven Roman
Catholic monks with links to a top public school have faced police
investigation over child sex and pornography offences, the school admitted
today.
In a letter
to the parents of the 1,500 pupils at Downside School in Somerset, Dom Aidan
Bellenger, the Benedictine Abbot of Downside, apologised to parents and named
some of the monks who were picked out by a criminal investigation looking at 50
years of confidential school records.
Of the
seven monks from Downside, he said four had faced police action and two,
against whom allegations "were founded" , had restrictions imposed on
their ministry. The seventh was cleared and allowed to return to his monastic
life.
The school
has already announced a review of the school's governance after a monk and
former teacher at the school, Richard White, was jailed for five years for
sexually abusing two 12-year-old boys in the late 1980s.
His abuse
was known about by monastic and school staff at the time but he evaded criminal
charges for more than 20 years.
"We
are truly sorry that children and young people have been abused by those whom
they should have been able to trust," Dom Bellenger wrote.
"We
are committed to doing everything possible to ensure that such things do not
happen again."These unhappy events inevitably cast a long shadow, but your
chief concern will of course be the welfare, security and happiness of children
currently at Downside. Many steps have been taken to ensure that the Downside
portrayed in some parts of the media is a thing of the past."
Records
stretching back 50 years were made available to Avon and Somerset Police.
These
records brought to light the abuse carried out by White, known as Father
Nicholas when he taught geography at the school.
Downside
has been criticised by one of White's victims, Rob Hastings, who waived his
right to anonymity and urged other victims of abuse at the school to contact
police.
The
35-year-old said it was time the school faced up to the level of abuse which
went on, criticising the school for covering it up for so long.
"I
feel that Downside had been infiltrated by paedophiles at all levels," he
said.
"The
school needs to admit its level of failure to support the safeguarding of children.
Once it has done that it is in a place to move forward and make it a safer
place."
.
.
"The angel's phone, at St John’s Cathedral, has just one button,"
the sculptor told journalists. "It directly dials God."
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