Church backs tightening of abuse law

The Church has welcomed a call from the former Director of Public Prosecutions for teachers and other professionals who fail to report child abuse to face criminal prosecutions.

Keir Starmer QC, who stepped down from his post on 1 November was speaking on BBC's Panorama, broadcast on Monday evening. He said it was time to "plug a gap in the law" which had been there for a "very, very long time".

He said: "If you're in a position of authority or responsibility in relation to children, and you have cause to believe that a child has been abused, or is about to be abused, you really ought to do something about it." 

A criminal penalty - which could be a short prison term or a fine - would "focus people's minds". 

He also suggested that there should be "immunity for individuals if they did report".

Danny Sullivan, chairman of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission for England and Wales said: "We don't have any problem with a new law because we think it's a good principle. Since the Lord Nolan review [in 2001 on the state of child protection in the Church in England and Wales] it has been part of our policy to refer any allegation, whether historic or current, to the statutory authorities. In principle we are already doing it."

He was interviewed by BBC's Panorama and was asked about historic abuse at Downside, the prestigious Benedictine-run boarding school in Somerset. "I didn't defend the indefensible," he said. "If there had been statutory reporting then, there would not have been further abuse.

"This is putting the needs and the rights of the victim at the centre. If victims know that there has got to be statutory reporting, it might make it easier for them to come forward and to limit abuse that is going on. It is also a message to perpetrators that if somebody reports them, then its got to be done in a statutory way."

In a landmark case in the United States 13 months ago Robert Finn, the Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was put on two years' probation for failure to report a parish priest who had hundreds of pornographic images of young girls on his laptop.