Three decades of abuse at St Ninian’ s

Children at a Fife boys’ school lived in fear of attacks by serial sexual predators who had “unrestrained” access to their victims.

Published yesterday as part of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, the findings of Lady Smith give a “depressing” account of vulnerable boys being subjected to rapes, beatings and humiliation at the former St Ninian’s Residential Care Home run by the Christian Brothers near the village of Falkland.

Lady Smith said abuse occurred for virtually the whole of the school’s timespan between 1951 and 1983 with three serial sexual predators in particular contributing to the reign of terror endured by children, many of whom had already suffered trauma and neglect before arriving at St Ninian’s.

“Abusive Brothers had unrestrained access to the vulnerable children they wished to target. That such abuse was possible for virtually the entirety of St Ninian’s existence represents serious failures in oversight, management, and governance,” she said.

“Children were betrayed by serious breaches of trust and, for many, it caused lasting damage.”

A worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, the Christian Brothers set up a school for orphans and homeless boys in the House of Falkland, an imposing mansion surrounded by woodland about a mile from the village.

The abuse began almost immediately, with the earliest account of a sexual attack being provided by a boy who attended the school between 1953 and 1955.

Lady Smith said over the years “the abuse was pervasive, and it became normalised”.

The St Ninian’s case study, which is the first of three relating to residential care of children provided by male religious orders in Scotland, named Brother Gerard Ryan, who died in 2013, and former Brothers John Farrell and Paul Kelly, who were jailed after a High Court trial, as the most prolific predators.

Between them, they subjected boys to horrific ordeals over a period of 14 years – from late 1969 up to the school’s closure in 1983.

Ryan would “creep around” the younger boys’ dormitories at night, and children would be pulled from their beds to be abused.

He told one boy he had raped he would not see his parents again if he spoke about what had happened.

Meanwhile, evidence given by survivors recounted brutal physical violence they suffered at the Falkland school.

Christopher Mcnamara, the St Ninian’s superior from 1970 to 1973, appeared to target one boy in particular, Frank Mccue.

Mr Mccue, who is now involved in supporting other abuse survivors, suffered a sustained and prolonged attack during which Mcnamara hit him with a golf club with such force the metal head snapped off.

Lady Smith said: “The physical abuse included punching, belting, hitting with implements, kicking, beating on the soles of feet, and being beaten while naked.

“To increase a child’s humiliation, some beatings were carried out in public.”

Lady Smith’s findings paint a grim picture of boys living in constant fear and unable to escape.

“Brothers who acted as housemasters also had rooms in the dormitory area and had ready access to children,” said Lady Smith.

“In one of the shower areas the batwing doors to the shower cubicles, which would have allowed for some privacy, had been quite deliberately removed.

“The showering areas were locations where the sexual abuse of children ranged from voyeuristic practices to more direct sexual contact, including rape.”

Boys at St Ninian’s regularly tried to run away because they were scared of subsequent attacks.

“Runaways were beaten upon their return,” said Lady Smith.

“On occasions these beatings involved several Brothers. No serious attempt was made to discover why a particular child had run away.”

In addition, children at St Ninian’s were forced to carry out unpaid labour, which the report described as “not age-appropriate”.

Lady Smith said there was “systemic failure” which allowed the abuse to continue.

“The transfer to St Ninian’s of two Brothers against whom allegations of sexual impropriety with children had been made – Brother Raphael Gavin and former Brother John Farrell – was a systemic failure at the organisational level,” she said.

“It allowed these Brothers to sexually abuse children at St Ninian’s.

“A clear warning that John Farrell should not be placed in a residential school was ignored.”

“The Order offered a genuine apology to survivors of abuse at St Ninian’s while recognising that ‘sorry’ has very little content of itself, and that what really matters is admission and recognition of what happened and that what happened was wrong.”

Kim Leslie, a specialist abuse lawyer at Digby Brown Solicitors, said: “We have acted for numerous survivors affected by abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers and I hope this report encourages others to step forward and secure their own justice and recognition.

“This report rightly shines a light on the horrifying campaigns of abuse of children while in the care of the Christian Brothers.

“These physical and sexual attacks were utterly horrific and life-changing and permanently harmful to those who were subjected to them.”

The Christian Brothers have been asked to comment on the findings.

“These attacks were horrific

The findings of an inquiry into abuse at a Fife residential school do indeed, in the words of Lady Smith, make for depressing reading.

For three decades those trusted with the care of some of the most vulnerable boys in society abused them in the worst possible manner.

The report contains some harrowing detail.

The depravity of those running St Ninian’s Residential Care Home in Falkland is unthinkable to rightminded people.

The silence of those who knew of, even if they did not participate in, the insidious activities makes them complicit.

Management who turned a blind eye to the evil cannot absolve themselves of blame.

That the Order of Christian Brothers has since said sorry will mean little to those whose lives were shattered.

Sadly, this is merely a single case study released as part of the wider Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

Set up in October 2015 — amid objection from some senior government officials — the inquiry is shining a light on some of the darkest corners of Scottish history.

It is an uncomfortable time for the authorities under whose governance it happened but the work is vital, not just in bringing to justice those who took part in young lives’ ruination, but allowing survivors to be heard at last and guarding against it happening again.