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…

Inside was a candle, a books of poems and a tribute which read: “Please remember in your prayers the young girl who died on Wednesday in a tragic accident.

“Remember also all her family and all affected by this incident.”

It is not the first rock fall tragedy to happen along the British coastline.

Villagers living close to where the girl – who has not been named – have said the cliffs there are notoriously unstable.

It is understood the youngster was visiting Staithes with her mother when the tragedy happened on Wednesday, just on the other side of the sea wall to the harbour, at the eastern of the village.

The scene was around 100m beyond a prominent red sign, screwed to the rock face, which warns of the dangers of the cliffs.

But people who live in Staithes said visitors are often not aware of the constantly crumbling nature of the shale rock, saying youngsters often hack it with hammers looking for fossils.

North Yorkshire Police said the girl died after suffering serious head injuries at around 4.45pm on Wednesday.

A spokesman said: “Sadly, despite the efforts of the emergency services, the girl died at the scene from her injuries.”

“The beach was reopen on Wednesday afternoon and some people laid flowers on the harbour wall, close to the scene.”

A single sunflower was…

A reader poll conducted by BBC History Magazine saw Marie Curie come out on top.

The Polish-born French scientist, who became the first person to win two Nobel prizes – one for physics and one for chemistry – carried out important research into radioactivity, a term that she coined.

Her discoveries launched effective cures for cancer and helped in the development of X-rays in surgery.

Civil Rights campaigner Rosa Parks was second while leader of the suffragette movement Emmeline Pankhurst was third.

BBC History Magazine deputy editor Charlotte Hodgman said: “The poll has shone a light on some truly extraordinary women from history, many of whose achievements and talents were overlooked in their own lifetimes.

“It is fitting that, in a year that has seen the 100th anniversary of the parliamentary Act that gave the vote to many British women, suffrage campaigners Emmeline Pankhurst and Josephine Butler have been voted into the top 20.

“Whilst it is unsurprising to see queens such as Victoria and Eleanor of Aquitaine place high, it is refreshing to see some more unfamiliar names make the top 20, such as 19th-century philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts. I’m sure the full list will provoke conversation and debate.”

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Monks at Ampleforth in North Yorkshire (pictured above) and Downside in Somerset hid allegations of “appalling sexual abuse” against pupils as young as seven to protect the church’s reputation.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) made the claims in a withering report on the English Benedictine Congregation, which has 10 monasteries in England and Wales.

Ampleforth and Downside are two schools linked to the monasteries, run at times by “secretive, evasive and suspicious” church officials who avoided reporting misconduct to police and social services.

Allegations stretching back to the 1960s encompassed “a wide spectrum of physical abuse, much of which had sadistic and sexual overtones”, according to the report.

Ten individuals linked to the schools, mainly monks, have been cautioned or convicted over sexual activity or pornography offences involving a “large number of children”.

“The true scale of the abuse however is likely to be considerably higher,” the investigation, led by Professor Alexis Jay (pictured below), found.

The report followed several weeks of evidence hearings at the inquiry last year, which included personal accounts from victims.

Victims were as young as 11 at Downside and seven at Ampleforth.

One alleged offender at Ampleforth abused at least 11 children aged between eight and 12 over a “sustained period of time”, but died before police could investigate.

“Many perpetrators…