Top school’s abbot in sex abuse inquiry

THE most senior figure at Britain’s top Catholic school is under police investigation for alleged indecent assaults on pupils, it was revealed yesterday.

The Right Rev Cuthbert Madden, 61, has ‘stepped aside from his responsibilities’ as Abbot of Ampleforth College pending inquiries into historical sex abuse involving boys dating back to the 1990s.

The priest, who is chairman of governors at Ampleforth in North Yorkshire, is said to deny all wrongdoing after he was interviewed by detectives under caution.

News of the sex abuse claims – days before the start of the academic year – will be a devastating blow for the boarding school, which is attended by children from some of the country’s wealthiest Catholic families. Since 2005, two monks and a lay teacher at the college have been jailed for abusing pupils, and the Abbot has previously apologised for the ‘grievous abuse of trust’.

Police are investigating the behav- iour of Father Cuthbert when he was a junior monk and tutor at one of the school’s boarding houses two decades ago. They said information received last month prompted the inquiry.

A police spokesman said: ‘North Yorkshire Police is investigating non-recent allegations of indecent assault against four pupils at Ampleforth College which took place in the 1990s.

‘The investigation remains ongoing and a man in his 60s has been interviewed under caution.’

Fr Cuthbert was not available for comment yesterday.

The inquiry comes a week after revelations about alleged abuse by former Ampleforth teacher Paul Sheppard and claims pupils had been unfairly ‘denied justice’.

North Yorkshire Police were criticised in an investigation by The Times for not speaking to all potential victims and the force promised to investigate any new evidence.