[23 OCT 00] CRIMES, FIRES & ACCIDENTS
Church Accused Of Abuse Cover Up

The Catholic Church could be investigated by Warwickshire police over allegations that it committed a criminal offence by failing to report abuse at a county children’s home.

One of the victims of the abuse at Father Hudson’s Home in Coleshill in the 1950s and 1960s has passed on a dossier of papers to detectives.

He has alleged that the church knew of abuse committed by Father Eric Taylor, but did not report it to police.

Taylor, then aged 79, was investigated by the Warwickshire Child Protection Unit and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in 1998.

Since then victims have been pressing for an apology from the church. They have also set out to show that the church knew what was going on, and therefore committed a crime by failing to report the allegations to police.

Det Supt Steve Hussey said:

“Until the police have considered the papers, it is unclear whether the allegations do in fact amount to an offence under Section 4 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 as it is claimed.

”However, even if they do, it would be highly unusual to investigate allegations of corporate culpability against the church so long after the alleged offence.

“Warwickshire police fully sympathise with the victims of this terrible and unforgivable abuse by a priest.

“However the view of the police at the moment is that their investigation has ended with imprisonment of the man who committed these offences.

“The victims have a civil remedy against the Catholic Church for any suffering they have undergone, which some of them are pursuing.”