‘The Catholic Church has blood on its hands’ says abuse survivor

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found monks covered up criminal offending at Downside and Ampleforth across 40 years.

Responding to the report in a statement released by legal firm Slater and Gordon, the victim said: “I was vulnerable, broken and needed help from the church when I was a child.

“I trusted them to help but instead my life was destroyed and I was handed a life sentence of suffering by my abuser and those who failed to act against it.”

They added: “Many people who were abused by clergy have ended up taking their lives or lived lives of self destruction because of the unbearable pain they have suffered.

“The Catholic Church has blood on its hands as a result.”

“The findings leave no doubt that there must be mandatory safeguarding reporting, nothing less. The church must cease to be its own judge and jury. The network of collusion and cover up amongst clergy has to end,” it concluded.

Richard Scorer, a lawyer from Slater and Gordon who represented several victims from Ampleforth and Downside at the inquiry, said: “The abhorrent and disgraceful abuse in the Catholic Church has once again been laid bare by this inquiry.

“This familiar and shameful story of cover-up has been told time and time again, and is a devastating indictment of an organisation guilty of gross failures on child protection.

“It is clear that the Catholic Church is woefully…