The Middlesbrough Diocese of the Catholic Church was told by a High Court judge this week that it was responsible for a children’s home that was the centre of a large-scale abuse scandal. The diocese now faces a potential £8m compensation bill.The abuse claims centred on the St William’s Community Home in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire. More than 140 former residents filed claims of physical and sexual abuse but it was unclear who was responsible for the home – whether it was the Middlesbrough diocese or the De La Salle Brothers, an order of lay teachers.
The case concerns alleged systematic abuse of children at the care home from 1960 until 1992 when it closed. St William’s took emotionally and behaviourally disturbed boys, aged 10 to 16, referred by councils largely from Yorkshire and the North East.
Jordans solicitors, based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, took on the case six years ago after an investigation by Humberside Police into the home’s former headmaster, Brother James Carragher. He was jailed for 14 years after being convicted of abusing boys at the home. The case also includes claims against other staff. About 2,000 children and 500 staff passed through the home during the 32 years in question.
Judge Simon Hawkesworth QC ruled at the High Court in Leeds that the claims should be made against the diocese, and it opens the way for the biggest compensation pay outs from the Church that this country has ever seen. It is the culmination of a six year battle in which the diocese has tried every legal trick to delay the issue and try to evade responsibility. The Church still has the option of making a further appeal — claiming that De La Salle should be liable — which would delay matters for at least another year.
Solicitor for the claimants, David Greenwood, said: “It has been a long battle with the organisations responsible for the home. They have used every argument possible to resist the case and I am hopeful that the Middlesbrough Catholic diocese will consider settling the cases now."
The compensation claims, which span a 30-year period and largely involve sexual abuse, could amount to around £4m with the claimants' costs in the region of £2.5m and the diocese’s own costs at an estimated £1.5m.
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