Widnes care home sex abuse allegations: Men given go-ahead for lawsuit

Aug 5 2009
By Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

TWO men who say their adult lives have been terribly blighted by the childhood sexual abuse they endured at a Roman Catholic care home in Widnes have had their compensation hopes boosted by a court ruling.

However, another man who claims he was sexually abused as a youngster at St Aidan’s care home, has lost his chance of a damages payout after the nation’s most senior civil judge – the Master of the Rolls, Lord Clarke – ruled he had launched his claim too late.

The trio, all in their 50s but who cannot be identified because of the nature of their claim, are spearheading a bid for compensation by more than 50 people who say they were abused at St Aidan’s, or at its sister institution, St Vincent’s, in Formby.

The homes operated between 1959 and 1987 and were run by the Nugent Care Society, a Roman Catholic organisation which looked after troubled teenagers.

Last week Lord Clarke gave two of the men – referred to as JPM and DVB – permission to pursue their claims, despite the Nugent Care Society’s plea that its chances of defending itself have been severely prejudiced by the long delay in the cases being brought to court.

However, in the case of the third man – JB – the judge, sitting with Lord Justice Waller and Lord Justice Maurice Kay, said the nature of the alleged abuse was ‘much less stark’ and it would ‘not be equitable’ to allow him to proceed with his case.

Barrister Edward Faulks QC, for the care society, had earlier told the judges that, with some of the alleged abusers now dead or extremely old, it would be impossible to have a fair trial of the allegations, some of which date back as far as the early 1970s.

He said many of the abuse claims had been made only recently and had come ‘out of the blue’.

He said that, with crucial evidence now unavailable or destroyed, it was too late to effectively challenge alleged victims’ accounts in court.

Lord Clarke ruled the court would exercise its discretion to allow the men’s claims to proceed to a full damages hearing in the cases of JPM and DVB – but that JB would have his claim dismissed.

THE Appeal Court’s decision is likely to be used as a yardstick in the dozens of other claims by former residents of St Aidan’s and St Vincent’s who say they were subjected to abuse.

Turning to the details of the three cases, Lord Clarke said JPM was just 14 when he was sent to St Aidan’s in the late 1960s after being convicted of shop-breaking, house-breaking and petty larceny and was handed a three-year approved school order.

Over a period of seven months, he claims he was repeatedly sexually abused by three members of staff, including in the potting shed and boiler room of the school’s horticultural department.

It was only in the mid-1990s, almost 30 years after JPM left St Aidan’s, that he was first able to talk about the sexual abuse he endured.

In a statement to police, he said: “I couldn’t tell anyone about the abuse I was suffering... I wanted to tell my parents but couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

Claiming that the memory of abuse had triggered the alcohol problems that have blighted his adult life, he told officers: “St Aidan’s ruined my life. I’ve never been able to forget it.”

He denied he was motivated by compensation. He declared: “My life has been ruined and I want these people to be brought to justice.”

Lord Clarke said there were ‘good reasons’ why the court should exercise its discretion and allow his case to proceed to a full hearing.

Turning to DVB, Lord Clarke said he ‘grew up in a difficult and poor family’ and was already in trouble with the law by the age of 12. He was eventually taken into care and was placed at St Aidan’s in the late 1970s.

During part of his time there, his housemaster was Colin Dick who, in June 1995, admitted several sexual offences committed during his time at St Aidan’s and was jailed for four years.

DVB described Dick as ‘friendly – indeed over-friendly’ to the boys at St Aidan’s, allowing them to smoke and drink alcohol in his flat.

He says that one night, after Dick returned from the pub, the perverted housemaster subjected him to sickening sexual abuse.

“I was totally numb. I felt trapped. I just sat there,” he said.

It was the mid-1990s before he plucked up courage to go to the police and immediately regretted it.

“It dragged me into the past and all that I tried to push down was suddenly in front of me and would not go away,” he said.

He says the bad memories plunged him into ‘a stormy life’ in which his marriage broke down. He had turned to drink.

JB had his case dismissed. He was a prolific burglar taken into care aged 13.

He complained of ‘sexual groping’ by a housemaster, who has since died.

Lord Clarke concluded: “It would not be equitable to allow this claim to proceed.”

Widnes care home sex abuse allegations: Men given go-ahead for lawsuit