The trial of Pearce and Maestri

Pearce and Maestri are scheduled to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on 31 January on charges of sexually abusing a former pupil of St. Benedict's School.

The start time and court number won't be known until tomorrow. I'll update this post when I have more details.

UPDATE: Pearce and Maestri will be appearing at Isleworth Crown Court on the afternoon of 31 January to face three charges of indecent assault under the Sexual Offences Act 1956.

The trial will be held in court 7. The exact starting time has not been decided but I am told that proceedings will not begin before 1400hrs.

Setting up the Carlile inquiry

Some very strange correspondence has come into my hands. I have forwarded it to the Abbot, his solicitor Tony Nelson and his press officer Barry Hudd,, along with some questions. But they (as usual) are rendered entirely mute when the issue of communicating with me comes up.

From: Barry Hudd
Sent: 25 July 2010 22:09
To: Jan Musker
Cc: Martin Shipperlee
Subject: For Tony Nelson

Dear Tony,

I was unable to find out any additional information about John Maestri so I am asking Peter Turner the Westminster Diocese Safeguarding Coordinator to see if he can get info from the police.

We ran out of time before we could really discuss the scurrilous blog re Fr Gregory.   I would like a warning shot fired across Mr West’s bow.  He and his supporters are assuming that his claims are correct as there has been no reaction from the Abbey or F r Gregory – most recently as yesterday at 17:26– Since Father Gregory has not taken legal action, I can only assume that he was indeed arrested as Mr West claims.

I think he should be required to remove his Fr Gregory posting entirely and to publish a retraction and apology..... that's my take on it but you are the lawyer so I leave it to you and Fr Martin to decide!

I am meeting with Kevin McCoy tomorrow.

We can update on Thursday.

Best wishes as always,

Barry

==========================================

From: Lord Carlile Q.C.
Sent: 26 July 2010 07:52
To: Jan Musker; Tracey Young
Subject: Ealing

From: Lord Carlile of Berriew Q.C.
9-12 Bell Yard, London WC2A 2JR
Tel 02074001800

This email is intended for the named recipient only. If you receive it in error, please delete immediately. Use of this email without permission of the sender may constitute a criminal offence, or an actionable civil wrong.

Dear Tony

If it would help, I could go to the Abbey at about 4pm next Monday, or any time on Tuesday. I know that Wednesday onwards is hopeless for you because of your operation.

Otherwise I can manage in chambers this Thursday at 3pm or Friday at 1030am.

Hope all is well
As ever

Alex

==========================================

From: Brenda Hudson To: Lord Carlile Q.C.
Sent: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 9:12
Subject: Re: Ealing

EMAIL SENT ON BEHALF OF A J NELSON

Dear Lord Carlile,

Many thanks for your email of this morning. I spoke personally on Friday to the Independent School Inspectorate and attach Curriculum Vitae for Dr. Kevin McCoy CBE. It is suggested at this stage by the lay person advising the Abbey that an independent report, chaired by yourself in conjunction with Dr. McCoy's particular skills, would be advantageous to the Abbey. I await your comments on this. In the meantime I am going to prepare some further instructions for you today with enclosures including a Charity Commission Report and some lengthy details concerning the school and will send this by document exchange to your Chambers.

With kind regards

Yours sincerely

A J Nelson

==========================================

From: Lord Carlile Q.C.
Sent: 26 July 2010 09:26
To: Brenda Hudson
Subject: Re: Ealing

From: Lord Carlile of Berriew Q.C.
9-12 Bell Yard, London WC2A 2JR
Tel 02074001800

This email is intended for the named recipient only. If you receive it in error, please delete immediately. Use of this email without permission of the sender may constitute a criminal offence, or an actionable civil wrong.

Dear Mr Nelson

Thank you for your email. I am aware of Dr McCoy and his excellent reputation, and would happily produce a report with Dr McCoy as expert adviser, if that is what you have in mind.

My only caveat is that working with an expert might add to the length of the Inquiry and the work involved: plainly that is a matter for the Abbey. Realistically we may be looking at the equivalent of up to 20 days work, including the writing.

Please let me know when you have dispatched the further instructions, and I shall collect them from chambers.

Kind regards

Alex Carlile

==========================================

From: Brenda Hudson
Sent: 26 July 2010 09:31
To: Barry Hudd
Subject: Re: Ealing
EMAIL SENT ON BEHALF OF A J NELSON

Dear Mr. Hudd,

I thank you for email of the 25th July. I have spoken to Christine Ryan of the ISA on Friday and await hearing from her with an appointment for a meeting. As we discussed last Thursday she thought it was an excellent idea and she is going to speak to the Department of Education to see if they would like a representative in attendance.

Yours sincerely

A J Nelson

 There are some important questions that arise from this.

1. What is the involvement of the ISA, ISI and Department for Education in the inquiry?
2. Was the inquiry set up as a result of pressure from, or at the request or suggestion of one or more of those bodies?
3. What is the role of Dr. Kevin McCoy in the inquiry or any related matter?
4. What was the reasoning behind the choice of Lord Carlile to conduct the inquiry?
5. In what way was it anticipated that the inquiry "would be advantageous to the Abbey", as referred to in the email sent on Mr. Nelson's behalf to Lord Carlile on 26 July?
6. What is Mr. Nelson's role in the setting up of the inquiry, and how is the conflict of interest being managed given that he also acts on behalf of alleged perpetrators of the abuse which Lord Carlile is inquiring into?

Downside Abbey

It seems that Ealing Abbey isn't the only Benedictine monastery and school with child protection problems. There is an investigation going on at Downside Abbey as well.


Four monks investigated over abuse claims at Somerset school

My father, Roger West

Below is the text of the tribute I gave to my father, Roger West, at his funeral yesterday, 10th January 2011.

Wasn’t he a lovely man!

Dad was born in Ashford in 1926, but his parents moved to Coventry when he was four years old. He was bright and got into trouble from time to time for answering back at teachers, and worked out his 7 and 8 times tables by himself from the other tables. He took his 11+ a year early and passed, and because Bablake School didn’t have a first form, he went straight into the second form there. So he took his School Certificate exams (equivalent of GCSEs) two years early at just 14, and went on to study science in 6th form.

He was at home in Coventry the night of the terrible bombing raid in November 1940 which devastated the city and burned the cathedral to the ground. The school buildings were damaged and it was decided that the school should be evacuated to Lincoln. He didn’t have a happy time there, but one very important event occurred while in Lincoln. He turned on the radio during a broadcast of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, just at the start of the slow movement. He was so captivated by it that he immediately decided that he wanted to learn an instrument so he could play music like that. A second-hand clarinet was found for him and he started lessons with a local teacher.

He then went to Queens’ College Cambridge to study Natural Sciences, which included Physics, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Maths and Electronics (valves, not transistors in those days!) He continued to learn clarinet, and in July 1945 he first fulfilled his ambition of being able to “play music like that”, taking part in a performance in Kings College Chapel of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius.

After National Service as an RAF Signals Officer he obtained work in the electronics industry, and eventually became one of the world’s leading authorities on the manufacture and performance of capacitors. In 1956 he was asked by his employers to look into why the company’s factory in Chessington had such bad manufacturing yields for its capacitors. His report so impressed them that he was appointed Chief Engineer and told to implement his own recommendations.

For 20 years he was chairman of the British Standards Institute technical committee which wrote all the British Standards for capacitors, and he travelled the world representing UK industry at international standards meetings on that subject. I was once told a story by one of his work colleagues at the time, when they were travelling down to London by train to attend a BSI meeting together. After a few minutes chat at the start of the journey, Roger said he would have to stop talking and study the papers for the meeting. He explained “I must maintain my reputation for omniscience.” When he finally retired from the chairmanship, BSI awarded him a Distinguished Service Certificate in a ceremony at BSI headquarters.

As a young man Roger met and married Beryl Hyde. She had spent the war years in Canada with cousins, and had returned to her family in the West Midlands. They set up home in Harrow, and Matthew and Barbara were born to them. Beryl’s increasing mental health problems eventually lead to divorce, with Roger being given custody of Matthew and Barbara. Matthew and Barbara spent a year living with grandparents, until Roger could set up a new home in Twickenham and hire a housekeeper to look after them.

Roger joined the Harlesden Symphony Orchestra, later renamed the Willesden Symphony and later still the Brent Symphony Orchestra. It was as a result of his membership of the orchestra that Roger met and later married Janet, a marriage which lasted until Janet’s death 42 years later, and which resulted in the birth of me and Joanna. Even though the family moved to various addresses in London as he took different jobs, still Roger and Janet would make the weekly trip to the Brent orchestra rehearsal every Wednesday evening. It was only when we moved to Norfolk that they left the orchestra.

Roger and Janet were both founder members of the Edinburgh Rehearsal Orchestra, which met for a residential course during the Edinburgh Festival each year – and does so to this day. Rehearsals would take place during the day, and members were free to go out and attend festival events in the evenings. Their trips to Edinburgh were a regular feature of their summer for some years.

When helping us with our homework, Dad would always insist that he wasn’t just going to feed us the answers, though for the most part he knew all the answers perfectly well. Instead when we needed help, he made sure that he would help us understand how to work out the answers for ourselves. It was exceedingly irritating, but very good for us!

At home, Dad was a source of lovable little eccentricities. For instance angles for slices of pudding or cake would usually be expressed in radians rather than degrees or fractions. “I’ll have pi by 3 radians please.” And at meals he would go round offering seconds to everybody, and then solemnly offer some to himself. “Roger, would you like some more? Yes, thank you Roger, that would be lovely!” and then would serve himself a generous extra portion. At restaurants when the dessert trolley was brought up, he would often ask the waiter which one was the most fattening – and have that. This would occasionally bring forth an exasperated exclamation from Janet “Roger, think of your waistline!”, to which he would reply “I am thinking of my waistline!” Made-up words or odd phrases have become part of family discourse – a tree or lamppost leaning at a drunken angle was “slopendicular”, waiting or resting might be described as “intensive inactivity”.

He had a kind but extremely dry and deadpan wit. On one occasion one of Janet’s friends whom Roger had not previously met was coming to stay for a few days, and had said she would arrive at 3 o’clock. At 2.55, the doorbell rang, Roger opened the door, and accusingly said “You’re early!” – and just for a second, she thought that he meant it! Of course, his normal welcoming smile followed immediately after. A few years ago when Hyacinth and I were visiting at Christmas the conversation light-heartedly got round to the subject of new year’s resolutions. Did he have a new year’s resolution? “Oh yes”, he answered in all seriousness. “This year I’m going to avoid organic food.”

On moving to Norfolk to take up the position of Quality Manager for Erie Electronics at Great Yarmouth (later ITT Components and then STC Components), Roger and Janet both joined the Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra, which Roger remained a member of for over 30 years as second clarinet and bass clarinet, and was orchestra librarian for 27 years.

In 1978, Roger and Janet formed the Brundall Music Club, which formed a huge part my and Joanna’s childhood. The club held 9 concerts a year, all performances given by members and their friends, and developed a regular and loyal audience of over 100 for every concert. Roger announced every item and was very much the face of the club, while Janet’s talents as an accompanist were relied on almost every concert. They made a great team.

At one November concert, he had two clipboards in his hands, which he announced would be handed round, for people to write down if they could volunteer to bring mince pies for the Christmas concert the following month – one clipboard would be circulated round the right-hand side of the hall, the other round the left. And as he gestured to the right and the left, the two pencils attached to the clipboards became tangled together on their strings. He had a clipboard in each hand, and had no free hand to untangle the pencils, and he just stood there looking slightly helpless as the audience fell about laughing.

Roger played clarinet many times at Music Club concerts, either with Janet accompanying on piano, or in other chamber groups, and in the Music club’s final concert laid on in honour of Roger and Janet, he played two movements from the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, accompanied by an orchestra made up of past and present music club members. Performers and their families would be invited back to our house afterwards and offered a glass of Dad’s homemade wine – parsnip, rhubarb and lemon balm among others.

Roger and Janet had been regular members of Postwick Church since we moved to Norfolk, and on his retirement he studied to become a Lay Reader. Once he qualified, he took most of the services at Postwick. He also joined the diocesan finance committee and was involved in finding a fair and equitable way of allocating the “parish share”, a thankless and impossible task if ever there was one. But after a few years of this he announced that he was going to give up church committees and take up bowls instead. And for a late starter he became surprisingly good at it, and occasionally arrived home in proud possession of a trophy or prize he had won in a club competition.

He also sang for many years with the Brundall Singers, and I would like to thank you for coming today to lead the singing.

In the weeks and months after Janet died, it was clear and obvious how much respect and affection there was for him, if only from the number of cakes baked for him by the ladies of the village. Ladies, let me tell you now – Roger had an extremely sweet tooth, and he ate and thoroughly enjoyed every single one of those cakes!

Mary became a close companion after Janet’s death, and Roger and Mary decided to marry. This shouldn’t be regarded as a footnote to Roger’s life, but an integral part of the story of it. He had clearly become devoted to Mary, and from the incredible kindness and heroic effort Mary put into looking after Roger as he became ill, it is obvious that the devotion was returned. At intervals, we would come over to look after Dad for a few days while Mary took a break. It was a wonder and a pleasure to see how his eyes lit up with joy when she returned.

I don’t pretend to be able to explain or even understand how monstrously unfair it is that Mary had so little time with Roger in full possession of his faculties before his decline started. All I can do is to say thank you on behalf of Matthew, Barbara, Joanna and myself for the utterly devoted and unstinting love and care you gave him. We know the decision to move him into Brundall Care Home was a difficult one, but it was absolutely correct and necessary, for the sake of your own health as much as his. We know also that you don’t think of yourself as a hero, that you just carried on day by day doing what had to be done. But that is exactly what real heroes do.

As dementia advances, sometimes a patient displays what care staff euphemistically call “challenging behaviour”. But there was none of that with Roger. His inner traits of gentleness, acceptance, calm and dignity came to the fore, and the staff at Brundall Care Home became very fond of him, and cared for him with great kindness.

The last time I saw Dad was a fortnight before Christmas. He was only occasionally conscious and clearly fading. Joanna had brought her violin into the home to play some carols to the residents. To my surprise, Dad woke, and was obviously trying to sing along to the chorus of O Come All Ye Faithful. Little or no noise was coming out, but he was quite definitely mouthing the words “O come let us adore him” in time to the music. It is completely characteristic of Roger that about the last remaining conscious corner of his mind involved both his faith and his love of music.

When he died peacefully on the morning of Christmas Eve, Mary was at his side.

Roger lived such a full life and brought light into so many lives that even we, his family, don’t know the full story of it. If you have any anecdotes or reminiscences of Roger that you can share with us, we would love to hear them. My sister Barbara will be collecting them into a “Book of Memories” for the family.

If you knew Roger and have a story of him that you would like to share with the family, please email it to me at jonathanwest22@googlemail.com, and I will forward it to Barbara for her to include in the book. It is not intended for publication, just for members of the family to read.

Pearce and Maestri update

Pearce and Maestri appeared again at West London Magistrates Court yesterday to answer bail. Their case was transferred to Isleworth Crown Court and they will appear on the morning of 31 January.

Why do I keep on at this?

I have accounts from victims of abuse by monks and teachers at St Benedict’s School stretching back to the 1940s. I know that that abuse has continued to occur almost to the present day, with the suspension and subsequent departure of a teacher from the school this year. Given the length of time it can take for victims of child sexual abuse to come forward, it is likely that new reports of abuse that occurred at the school or the Abbey will pop up from time to time for the next 30 years or so, even if no further abuse occurs from now on. And abuse could well be continuing now, as the school's child protection procedures are still considerably short of best practice - a fact tacitly accepted by the Trustees when they appointed Lord Carlile to conduct an inquiry.

Unless something decisive is done by the Trustees, this is just going to go on and on. As things stand, every newly-reported case, even if it is of abuse that happened 30 years ago, will reflect badly on the school and the Abbey, and cause the headmaster and the Abbot sleepless nights.

Some people here have suggested that I’m obsessed about St. Benedict’s, that I’m anti-Catholic, that I bear some kind of deep and abiding hatred of the school. Nothing could in fact be further from the truth. I don’t care much about St. Benedict’s one way or another, and I have many things I would prefer to do with my time rather than chivvy the school into making its child protection procedures fit for purpose. For instance I’d like to spend more time on the music I play and write about.

But I’m going to continue to chase this issue until it is sorted, because it is the right thing to do for the safety of the pupils there, of whom my son was one many years ago. If by my inaction further abuse occurred which I might have prevented by shouting louder, then I would feel that I had some small share in the responsibility. I have nothing to lose – at worst this takes up a modest amount of my spare time, and I can afford that.

That spare time is not spent merely writing this blog. Victims contact me from time to time, and I encourage them to come forward to the police with their accounts. I know that some lines of police investigation have been triggered by statements made by victims who contacted me and who I have pointed in the direction of the police. It would be wrong of me to name names or be specific about anything in public, but there is more going on behind the scenes than I describe in the blog.

I do bits of research here and there. I review the reports that are produced by various bodies – the ISI, the DfE, the Charity Commission, the Diocese of Westminster and so on. I have several strands of ongoing correspondence at present, so there is going to be continued official interest in the school. For instance it was as a result of my reporting the discrepancies in the November 2009 ISI inspections that the DfE ordered the ISI to make unannounced inspection in April 2010 (I specifically suggested that the initial visit be unannounced).  So those who try to discourage me by writing comments saying that I'm achieving nothing might as well rest their fingers. I've seen the results of my actions.

And the DfE assured me within a few days of the publication of the May 2010 version of the school’s child protection policy that they were continuing to work with the school to ensure that the its policy met regulatory requirements and that they did not regard the May 2010 version as being the final compliant version.

I’m in contact with the press of course. When a paper runs a story on St. Benedict’s, they frequently get in touch with me to check aspects of their story. And I have made an occasional phone call to a journalist when there is something worth reporting.

Quite a number of parents have been in contact, very concerned for the safety of their children and asking what could be done about it. I was barred from attending the safeguarding meeting on 14^th September, but parents weren’t. Several parents who attended had contacted me prior to the meeting, and I know that in the days immediately prior to the meeting there was a lot of traffic on the blog as parents were doing their research. So I wasn’t there but my questions were, and of course the answers were reported back to me.

I can immediately see through half-hearted efforts to make token or minimal improvements to the child protection policy. Good child protection procedures aren’t all that hard to recognise once you have taken the trouble to understand the language. In a previous career I was responsible for regulatory and highly technical documents in the telecoms industry that ran to thousands, even tens of thousands of pages, where an error might cost the industry millions to put right if not caught in time. Reading through and analysing the 17-page child protection policy of St. Benedict’s School is nothing in comparison, and even the 538 pages of the London Child Protection Procedures isn’t all that hard to follow, especially as it is possible to skip quite large parts of it which are obviously not relevant to schools.

I have of course met Lord Carlile in the course of his inquiry and provided several hundred pages of documentary evidence to him.

So, I can keep going for ever, until I’m satisfied that the Trustees are doing the right thing and the school has become and will remain safe, or until the school closes because of a falling roll or a deregistration by the DfE. Until they really get to grips with this and start doing the right thing without reservations and qualifications, the Trustees will never know from what direction the next issue will come - press, officialdom, police, irate parents or blog post.

I know several former pupils who would obtain great satisfaction from the school’s closure because of the way in which they suffered when at the school – not just because of sexual abuse but also because of the bullying by staff and pupils, the beatings (thankfully now illegal), and the generally oppressive atmosphere of the place. But I would be satisfied with knowing that the place has genuinely turned over a new leaf.

It will be obvious when this happens. I will be the first to applaud when it does and I will thankfully get on with other much more enjoyable and interesting activities. But there is no evidence as yet that I can do that.

Father Gerard Hayes

The list goes on. the following is taken from a comment put up on the blog some weeks ago.

I was at St Benedicts' in the late 60s. Dom Gerard, initially headmaster of the Middle School, was notorious for his interest in little boys. Later he moved to the Senior school, where he attempted to abuse me, amongst others. I ran away, kept on running. Others weren't so quick or so lucky. Point being that everyone knew about Gerard – boys and teachers alike. But to go against him was seen as going against the Church and that was the worst sin of all. Anyway, the Abbey at the time was a hot-bed of bullying, waspish homosexuality. . .I knew at least one postulant who left because the atmosphere was so poisonous. Gerard continued his career and activities into the 70s, ending as headmaster of the Senior school. God only knows how many lives he and others like him ruined.

There's a pattern here. Horsey, Hayes, Soper and others. The abuse is widespread. The perpetrators often seem to have been made headmaster of the middle school at some point in their career. The abuse was common knowledge - to both boys and teachers. And nothing was done, because the authority of the church was behind the abusers. They were monks and priests as well as teachers. Sometimes senior monks - headmaster or even Abbot.

And the same management is still in place at the Abbey. Francis Rossiter was Abbot at the time referred to in the account above, he is Prior now.

UPDATE 10th November 2011

With regard to the above article about Father Gerard Hayes, I was repeating a comment which had been made by somebody else on the blog, and the description was clearly indicated to be a quotation, both in my introduction and my use of blockquote formatting

I accept that the original comment was very probably incorrect. Lord Carlile has not indicated in his report that he has received any allegations against Father Gerard Hayes, and I am entirely willing to concur with his conclusion.

I apologise to any of Father Gerard's colleagues or family who may have been distressed by the article.

The point I made in the article was a more general one, as follows. "The abuse was common knowledge - to both boys and teachers. And nothing was done, because the authority of the church was behind the abusers. They were monks and priests as well as teachers. Sometimes senior monks - headmaster or even Abbot."

I think that point has been entirely borne out by subsequent events and has been made in the strongest possible terms by Lord Carlile himself.