Sex Abuse School: Headmaster Sorry For 'Past Failures' At St Benedict's

Headmaster Apologises For 'Past Failures' At West London Sex Abuse School
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The headmaster of a Catholic school in West London has apologised for “past failures” that resulted in decades of sexual abuse.

The headmaster at St Benedict’s school in Ealing, said the abuse, carried out by lay teachers and members of the monastic community at St Benedict’s Ealing Abbey, had left a “terrible legacy”.

Christopher Cleugh, the current headmaster at the school, said that St Benedict's would adopt the recommendations of the inquiry, led by Lord Carlile, into the systematic failures that allowed 21 reported cases of abuse dating back to 1970.

Launched following the conviction of the school’s former head Father David Pearce, who was jailed in 2009 for abusing pupils over a 36-year period, the report highlighted the “wholly outdated and demonstrably unacceptable” governance of the school.

The report recommended that governance of the school should be made independent from the governance of the Trust of St Benedict’s Abbey, while delivering “effective monitoring, safeguarding policies and procedures”.

Speaking at a meeting on Tuesday, attended by many parents of current pulpils, Cleugh admitted that the school should “have done more”.

He added that St Benedict’s would move immediately “to put into action all the recommendations of this report in order to meet Lord Carlile's suggested implementation date of 1 September 2012.”

This includes stripping the Monks of their role in running the school.

Despite the report, campaigners suggest that the victims of abuse at the school could run into the hundreds.