Sex abuse pair who preyed on pupils 30 years ago locked up
A SHAMED headmaster and a teacher at a former school for troubled boys were yesterday jailed for a total of 15 years.
John Farrell, 73, and Paul Kelly, 64, preyed on youngsters who were aged between 11 and 15 at St Ninian’s in Falkland, Fife.
The two men were convicted of sexual abuse against six pupils carried out more than 30 years ago at the school, which was run the Christian Brothers organisation.
Judge Lord Matthews jailed Farrell, who was the headmaster, for five years and Kelly for ten years.
As the pair were led away at the High Court in Glasgow to begin their sentences, their victims and their families cheered and shouted: ‘Hope you enjoy every day of it. May God do to you what you did to others,’
Minutes earlier, Lord Matthews told Farrell and Kelly: ‘St Ninian’s List G school was meant to be, not only an educational establishment but a haven for children in need of care and protection and a place of guidance for them.
‘You were entrusted by the community and the church with those duties of education, care, protection and guidance.
‘You fulfilled these duties as far as a number of children were concerned and you were each acquitted of the vast majority of the charges which you faced.
‘Nevertheless, the jury found you guilty of a number of gross abuses of the trust placed in you in relation to some of the most vulnerable members of our society, children from difficult backgrounds with no effective voice.
‘The vulnerabilities to which all victims were already subject were plainly greatly exacerbated by the revolting abuse to which they were subjected at St Ninian’s and it’s no exaggeration to say their whole lives have been blighted by what went on.’
He added: ‘No sentence I can pass can undo the grievous harm caused to them by your conduct. It can only be hoped that the jury’s verdict can provide some form of closure for them after all these years.’
The man who launched a campaign to bring Kelly and Farrell to justice, who asked not to be named, said outside the court: ‘We have never got closure but we have got justice. Back then, nobody would have believed us if we had said what was going on. We were told, “You’re here because you’re bad, no one will listen to you. We are men of God and they’ll believe us before you”.’
Farrell and Kelly still deny abusing boys at the school.
Defence QC Edward Targowski, representing Farrell, said: ‘After his period of time at St Ninian’s he joined the church as a priest. He gave long service to the charge and to his parishioners without any hint of criminality.’
Mhairi Richards, QC, representing Kelly, said: ‘Mr Kelly continues to deny the offences. He was originally faced with 62 charges. After leaving St Ninian’s he continued to teach until 2012 when his wife’s failing health meant he had to retire from teaching.’
Farrell and Kelly were convicted of abusing three boys each between 1979 and 1983.
The jury heard harrowing claims of how boys were left traumatised by their ordeals.
The tenacity of one victim – who was sexually abused by Farrell – sparked a huge police investigation after he went to the Archdiocese and made a formal complaint in 2013.
Farrell, of Newarthill, Lanarkshire, and Kelly, of Plymouth, were convicted after a 13-week trial of a total of 11 charges involving six victims.
But yesterday Lord Matthews ruled that two of these convictions were not corroborated and gave the pair absolute discharges for those allegations.
On 22 others, involving 18 alleged victims, the pair were found not guilty or the jury found the charges not proven.
Three other men linked to St Ninian’s – Michael Murphy, 75, Edward Egan, 76, and William Don, 62 – also faced abuse allegations but these were thrown out during the trial.
Chief Inspector Nicola Shepherd, who led the investigation, said the sentences ‘reflect the severity of the crimes committed against the young victims’.
She added: ‘The abuse took place over a number of years causing untold misery and suffering to the boys and was a complete betrayal of the trust they placed in these men.’
Farrell and Kelly were both placed on the sex offenders’ register.
‘Their lives have been blighted’