An evil vicar who sexually abused a choirboy but was allowed to carry on
working for 24 years ruined the lives of three other victims.
ReverendJohn
Robertswas based at St Peter's Church inWoolton-
the "Beatles church" where John Lennon met Paul McCartney.
The married dad-of-three was convicted of two counts of indecently
assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 1989, butfined
just £500 by magistrates.
And instead of being defrocked, he was reinstated by the then Bishop of
Liverpool, David Sheppard, within a fortnight and eventually promoted to the
position of Canon.
The jury heard evidence from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who
expressed regret for not handling one complaint differently when he was the
Dean ofLiverpool
Anglican Cathedral.
Tragically, one victim - whose complaint to police brought the case to court
- died just two days before the trial began in November.
But today the 86-year-old, of Cherry Vale, Woolton, finally faced justice atLiverpool
Crown Court.
Roberts ministered at St Peter's, close to the Salvation Army-run care home
at Strawberry Fields, from 1980 to 2002, and later worked voluntarily at
Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, before retiring in 2013.
Ben Jones, prosecuting, told the trial Roberts misused his power and
authority to sexually abuse vulnerable boys and young men.
He said his behaviour was "compulsive" and "sadly he has been encouraged in
the belief that he would not be caught by the failure of the Church to
properly investigate allegations".
Mr Jones said when accusations were made, the Church "closed ranks to
protect him" and took the "superficial approach of refusing to believe a
complaint because of the status of the person making that complaint".
He said: "The Church of England today frankly accepts it fell into error in
the way that it dealt with safeguarding issues in the past."
The victim of the 1989 conviction, Victim A, told jurors Roberts lavished
him with gifts and attention, then made him perform sex acts.
In 2017, when taking legal action against the Church, Victim A told the ECHO
about his disgust and anger over the Church protecting and promoting
Roberts.
Victim B, who died in November, contacted police after reading the article
and revealed he was abused by Roberts in the 1980s, when aged 15 to 17.
He had been in Strawberry Fields care home when Roberts, then in his 40s,
kissed him, made him perform sex acts and performed sex acts on him, and
raped him.
Roberts later arrange for him to stay at his own home in one of his
daughter's bedrooms, when he crept in during the night and tried to perform
a sex act on him.
Church goer Victim C also contacted police in 2017 and said Roberts had
groped him when visiting his family's home in the early 2000s, when he was
15 or 16.
He recalled how Roberts told him he was handsome, put his hand down his
trousers and touched his bottom, and warned him not to tell anyone.
CBE for Stephen Slack
recently-retired Chief Legal Advisor to the Church of England. In
2007 Slack advised bishops “not to apologise too fully to sex abuse
victims”.
It is an ecclesiastical protection racket and [the attitude is that]
anyone who seeks to in any way threaten the reputation of the church
as an institution has to be destroyed”~
Revd Graham Sawyer – IICSA Inquiry – July 2018
To all holding the Bishop of
Blackburn’s Licence (Clergy and Readers) and Parish Safeguarding
Officers
Monday June 17th2019
Dear Friends,
The Independent Inquiry into
Child Sexual Abuse
Case Studies into the Diocese of
Chichesterand the response to allegations against
Peter Ball
‘Have mercy on us O God, for we
have sinned.’ (Psalm 51,1)
It is very hard not to hear David’s plaintive cry as we read the
pages of the report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual
Abuse on the Diocese of Chichester and the Peter Ball case. What
cries out most clearly is the desperate suffering of those who have
been victims of sexual abuse by clergy and church leaders and the
lifelong impact it has had on them.
The NSP was set up to resource the Church of England's leadership
(Archbishops' Council and House of Bishops) with good high-level
strategic advice and direction on safeguarding, and provide vital
reference and scrutiny from a range of voices, including survivors,
on the development of policy and guidance.
Meg, who was the first independent chair, appointed in 2018 for an
initial three year period, said: "I am pleased that my appointment
as Independent Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel has been
extended for a further two years, at a time of significant
safeguarding developments within the Church of England. The Panel
will continue to scrutinise safeguarding policy and procedures, to
bring attention to different aspects of safeguarding and to ensure
that the Church benefits from the perspectives of survivors,
safeguarding experts and the experience of other churches."
The Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, Jonathan Gibbs,
said: “I am delighted that Meg will be continuing in role for
another two years. Since becoming lead bishop, I have found Meg’s
leadership and chairing of the National Safeguarding Panel to be a
highly valued source of scrutiny and accountability for the Church.
Her experience and skills, working with the Panel members and
highlighting vital issues have played an important part in the
development of our safeguarding work.”
Julie Morris was the safeguarding lead at St George’s Central C of E
Primary School inWigan.
She and her partner, David Morris, filmed themselves abusing and
raping a girl under the age of 13 in a series of videos.
Safeguarding
KEEPING YOUR CHILD SAFE
St. George’s Central CE Primary School and Nursery is
committed to safeguarding. Safeguarding means keeping your
child happy, healthy and safe in school. All staffand
governorsare trained at regular
intervals and are aware of how to keep our children safe and
what signs to look out for. Our children are
encouraged to share any concerns and we have robust policies
and processes in place that underpin safeguarding.
Please see the 2021 Keeping Children Safe in
Education document by Clicking
Here
KEY PEOPLE YOU CAN TALK TO IN
SCHOOL: (Sometimes called Designated Safeguarding Leads
(DSLs)
CHILD PROTECTION In cases where the school has reason to be
concerned that a child may be subject to ill- treatment,
neglect or other forms of abuse, the Designated Safeguarding
Lead may report this concern to Social Services and/or other
appropriate agencies.
Please remember that when the school refers a concern
about a child to the Social Services Department, it is not
accusing the parents of abuse but requesting that further
investigation takes place to establish whether a child is at
risk.
Please see the Safeguarding, Child Protection and
Early Help Policy byClicking
Here
The School has a Designated Safeguarding Governor: Mrs
Fiona Taylor
WHAT WE TEACH
We offer a secure and encouraging environment where children
feel safe and their spiritual, moral and cultural
development is enhanced through the delivery of our whole
school curriculum, including our Religious Education and
PSHE curriculum, core Christian values, work with external
agencies, charities and the local community.
RECRUITMENT
We carefully check that all staff,governorsand
volunteers are safe to work with our children. A number of
checks are made including DBS checks, references, ID and
employment history. We keep a Single Central Record of
all this information and this is regularly monitored.
Visitors and volunteers are rigorously checked in much
the same way staff are before they can have any unsupervised
access to our children. All adults in school wear an
ID badge.
mission shaped ministry (msm)
is a course produced by the national Fresh Expressions team that takespeople
on a one-year learning journey in a supportive community. The course is
aimed at equipping people for a lifetime of good practice and learning in
growing the church in a changing world. The course is relevant to those
wanting to develop traditional church as well as those developing new forms
of church.
mission shaped intro (msi)is
a much shorter course of 6 sessions and is ideal for those
starting from scratch as well as those who are thinking about joining the mission
shaped ministry course.
UTU has a variety of short courses and study days available on a wide range
of subjetcs, from Exploring Hebew Scriptures to Public
Life and Politics in Multi-Faith Britain. Details of these courses are
available from the UTU Sheffield website.
St. John's Owlerton is committed to high standards in the safeguarding and
care of children, young people and vulnerable adults. Our safeguarding
officer is Rosemary Bletcher and she can be contacted by emailingsafeguarding@stjb.org.uk.
Sheffield Futures is leading the initiative in conjunction with Sheffield
City Council, ACT Sheffield, The Unity Gym Project, St Marks Church,
Broomhill, Manor Castle Development Trust, My Life Project, Princes Trust,
and Change Grow Live (CGL).
We understand ourselves to be called to: gather together to worship as the
body of Christ in this place which welcomes and celebrates human diversity
serve our parish and congregation in ways which show the love and compassion
of Christ relate our faith to the world around us and campaign for justice
both locally and worldwide Create a safe and welcoming space where people
can question and discover the sacred in their own way Living Thinking Loving
Faith We see faith as a journey; dynamic rather than static, with questions
as a crucial part of faith and welcoming intellectual challenge as part of
our own process of theological discovery. As followers of a faith inspired
by the life and work of Jesus, we work to positively relate our theology and
worship to the world we inhabit.
I have said this before but it bears repeating: God created Adam and Eve,
not Adam and Steve. The Bible, God?s holy word for man to follow, speaks
clearly that homosexuality is an abomination and perversion of His creation
and plan (Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1). As a Christian I can and do love the
person bound by homosexuality, but I cannot agree with or condone the
behavior.
Marriage by definition is a covenant agreement between a man and a woman to
love and serve each other. The natural result is children, the blessing or
fruit of the relationship. Our government recognizes that marriage is the
foundation of family and order in a civilized society. That is why marriage
is controlled through a legal process.
There are those forces today that would like to change the definition of
marriage to legitimize their lifestyle. To do so would be a grave error for
our society and a slap in God?s face.
Don Wallace, senior pastor
Redlands Christian Center
head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,who
said on Linkedinthat the world had the “tools to end this
calamity”.
“After two years, we now know this virus well,” he wrote. “We know the
proven measures to control transmission: mask use, avoiding crowds,
maintaining physical distancing, practicing hand and respiratory hygiene,
opening windows for ventilation, testing and contact tracing. We know how to
treat the disease it causes and improve the chances of survival for people
suffering serious illness. With all these learnings and capacities, the
opportunity to turn this pandemic around for good is in our grasp.”
The Past Cases Review is a comprehensive safeguarding review, currently
underway across churches and key institutions within the Diocese of
Sheffield. The purpose of the Review, is to help find out whether all
known cases of concern about the behaviour of clergy and church officers
towards children and vulnerable adults, have been considered, risk assessed
and dealt with appropriately.
There may be incidents or concerns that have not been brought to light
before, so this is an important chance for the church to learn about those
matters. We appreciate that being made aware of this Review, or the
highlighting of high-profile cases of church abuse in the media, may be
triggering for many different reasons, for people living with a history of
abuse in or outside of the church. Support is available if you are affected
in this way.
Abusers had 'benefit' of Bible, teaching of JC etc
St. George’s Central CE Primary School and Nursery is
committed to safeguarding. Safeguarding means keeping your
child happy, healthy and safe in school. All staffand
governorsare trained at regular
intervals and are aware of how to keep our children safe and
what signs to look out for. Our children are
encouraged to share any concerns and we have robust policies
and processes in place that underpin safeguarding.
Please see the 2021 Keeping Children Safe in
Education document by Clicking
Here
KEY PEOPLE YOU CAN TALK TO IN
SCHOOL: (Sometimes called Designated Safeguarding Leads
(DSLs)
CHILD PROTECTION In cases where the school has reason to be
concerned that a child may be subject to ill- treatment,
neglect or other forms of abuse, the Designated Safeguarding
Lead may report this concern to Social Services and/or other
appropriate agencies.
Please remember that when the school refers a concern
about a child to the Social Services Department, it is not
accusing the parents of abuse but requesting that further
investigation takes place to establish whether a child is at
risk.
Please see the Safeguarding, Child Protection and
Early Help Policy byClicking
Here
The School has a Designated Safeguarding Governor: Mrs
Fiona Taylor
WHAT WE TEACH
We offer a secure and encouraging environment where children
feel safe and their spiritual, moral and cultural
development is enhanced through the delivery of our whole
school curriculum, including our Religious Education and
PSHE curriculum, core Christian values, work with external
agencies, charities and the local community.
RECRUITMENT
We carefully check that all staff,governorsand
volunteers are safe to work with our children. A number of
checks are made including DBS checks, references, ID and
employment history. We keep a Single Central Record of
all this information and this is regularly monitored.
Visitors and volunteers are rigorously checked in much
the same way staff are before they can have any unsupervised
access to our children. All adults in school wear an
ID badge.
Julie Morris was the safeguarding lead at St George’s Central C of E
Primary School inWigan.
She and her partner, David Morris, filmed themselves abusing and
raping a girl. under the age of 13 in a series of videos.
