[23 OCT 00]
CRIMES, FIRES & ACCIDENTS
Church Accused Of
Abuse Cover Up
The
Catholic Church could be investigated by Warwickshire police over
allegations that it committed a criminal offence by failing to
report abuse at a county children’s home.
One
of the victims of the abuse at Father Hudson’s Home in Coleshill
in the 1950s and 1960s has passed on a dossier of papers to
detectives.
He
has alleged that the church knew of abuse committed by Father Eric
Taylor, but did not report it to police.
Taylor,
then aged 79, was investigated by the Warwickshire Child
Protection Unit and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in
1998.
Since
then victims have been pressing for an apology from the church.
They have also set out to show that the church knew what was going
on, and therefore committed a crime by failing to report the
allegations to police.
Det
Supt Steve Hussey said:
“Until
the police have considered the papers, it is unclear whether the
allegations do in fact amount to an offence under Section 4 of
the Criminal Law Act 1967 as it is claimed.
”However,
even if they do, it would be highly unusual to investigate
allegations of corporate culpability against the church so long
after the alleged offence.
“Warwickshire
police fully sympathise with the victims of this terrible and
unforgivable abuse by a priest.
“However
the view of the police at the moment is that their investigation
has ended with imprisonment of the man who committed these
offences.
“The
victims have a civil remedy against the Catholic Church for any
suffering they have undergone, which some of them are
pursuing.”
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