Catholic school faces series of lawsuits over sexual abuse
Claims follow admissions by three monks of assaults on pupils over 30 years
Ian Cobain
Saturday November 19, 2005
The Guardian
Ampleforth College, the country's most celebrated Roman Catholic public school, is facing a series of lawsuits after it emerged that dozens of boys were sexually abused there over a 30-year period.
Ampleforth College, the country's most celebrated Roman Catholic public school, is facing a series of lawsuits after it emerged that dozens of boys were sexually abused there over a 30-year period. A number of former pupils who were abused by monks who taught at the college are preparing to take action. Ampleforth is at the centre of the most serious child sex scandal that the Roman Catholic church has faced in England and Wales, after police discovered that Cardinal Basil Hume failed to alert them to abuse, both while he was Abbot of Ampleforth and after he became Archbishop of Westminster. Police say they discovered clear evidence that Cardinal Hume became aware of abuse as early as 1975, but chose not to contact them or social services. They believe that the subsequent two decades of assaults on pupils at Ampleforth and its prep school might have been avoided if he had alerted the statutory authorities. Three monks have now admitted sexual assaults upon pupils at the college and its prep school between the mid-60s and mid-90s, while a fourth has been removed from his post. Three other members of staff who are alleged to have abused young pupils had died by the time police became aware of problems at the ã21,400-a-year school in North Yorkshire. In a civil action being brought at the high court in Manchester, a former pupil of Ampleforth's prep school is claiming damages "for personal injuries and consequential losses" caused by alleged assaults by its former head, Fr Jeremy Sierla, between 1990 and 1993. Fr Sierla was arrested and his rooms at the college were searched after police obtained a warrant, but he was released without charge. He and the college firmly deny the accusations. Richard Scorer, the solicitor at Manchester firm Pannone who is bringing the claim, is also representing another former pupil whose abuser has admitted the offence. Yesterday, one Ampleforth victim who is considering legal action told the Guardian how his tormentor, Fr Piers Grant-Ferris, was recognised by many boys to be a predatory paedophile, despite the college authorities' reluctance to admit the danger that the man posed. This man, Vincent (not his real name), also told how his whole life had been overshadowed by abuse which he suffered as a very young boy. "Even as an eight- or nine-year-old we knew he was a ridiculous pervert," said Vincent. "He was fondling boys left, right and centre. He was obsessed with bottoms. He was always shouting out strange things like 'beat the bowels!'" Grant-Ferris, 72, the son of a Tory peer, admitted 20 assaults on 15 boys at Ampleforth's prep school, between 1966 and 1975, when he appeared at Leeds crown court on Thursday. The court heard that he would fondle some boys, strip and beat others, and would often insert thermometers up their anuses. Police say that he was a "falsely pious" man who would impose punishments on pupils for imaginary offences, then beat them for sexual gratification. Vincent, who was beaten with a stick by Grant-Ferris, is convinced that the true number of the monk's victims runs to three figures. "Whenever a child fell ill at night after the nurse had gone, Piers would get his thermometers out. There has got to be hundreds who suffered these minor intrusions. "There was a complete failure to address what was going on. It was completely hushed up. And it was not just the monks. Even at the time I could see that there were some lay masters who were there simply because of their affinity with teenage boys. "Looking back, I feel embarrassed when I think of a man fondling me while saying 'Oh Vincent, you are such a good boy,' or 'Oh Vincent, isn't it a nice day?'" A number of Vincent's close friends were also assaulted while they were at Ampleforth, he said. One friend in particular suffered serious abuse at the hands of a lay member of the college staff who has since died. Vincent never settled at Ampleforth, despite remaining there for 10 years. He says he was frequently threatened with expulsion, but cannot be sure whether his teenage rebellions against the rigours of the school were rooted in the abuse that he suffered some time around his 10th birthday. Similarly, he still has "a lot of anger" within him, but cannot fathom whether that is connected with the assaults. He remains single and childless while in his 40s, but is unsure whether the absence of a long-term relationship is a legacy of his encounters with Piers Grant-Ferris, or not. "I am thinking of taking legal action, but how can I tell a solicitor exactly what this has cost me?" Vincent's mother said that the discovery that he had been abused at Ampleforth had been "absolutely shattering". She said that she and her husband had been "delighted and full of hope" when he first attended the prep school, believing he would entering a caring environment. "Instead, my son has been damaged, and I am personally extremely angry. I went to see my parish priest about it, but he was of no help whatsoever." Vincent's ordeal at Ampleforth has not made him cynical about those whose vocation is to raise and educate the next generation however: today he is a teacher. "But it has totally put me off Catholicism."