Victims of Waddington are calling for Lord Hope, who was knighted for his services to the Queen, to be stripped of his life peerage in the House of Lords.

Headed by English judge Sally Cahill, the 12-month inquiry was ordered last year after a joint investigation by The Australian and London's The Times exposed a high-level cover-up into the 1999 and 2003 allegations into the late reverend Waddington.

The Cambridge-educated Waddington was principal of a Anglican boarding school in far north Queensland for almost a decade until 1970, before returning to England where he rose to become the head of education for the church in Britain and later dean of Manchester. The newspaper investigation revealed that at least six boys and a young clergyman were sexually abused and beaten by Waddington in Britain and Australia.

In her 164-page report, released overnight, Justice Cahill recommended sweeping reforms to the handling and reporting of child abuse allegations by the church in Britain.

The reforms are also expected to be considered by Australian church officials, as they face an ongoing investigation into the case by the federal royal commission into child abuse.

Justice Cahill was damning of Lord Hope's handling of the 2003 complaints of Waddington's child abuse of a choirboy in Manchester, four years after Mr Atkinson had levelled similar allegations about his former principal at St Barnabas boarding school in Ravenshoe, in Queensland.

Police were not alerted and the victims were never told of the existence of the other allegations as their claims were dismissed by church officials.

Justice Cahill said Lord Hope "failed to take any action at all'' in 2003 after interviewing the then semi-retired Waddington, who was being treated for throat cancer, and died eight years later.

She said that Lord Hope made no record of his conversations with Waddington, who was serving as a part-time parish priest, and had readily accepted his denials to the abuse.

"His approach to Robert Waddington and the complainant was not even-handed or balanced, and neither fair nor impartial,'' she said. "By failing to establish whether Robert Waddington was or was not in contact with children in 2003, he put any child to whom Robert Waddington might have access at potential risk.

"Throughout the whole episode, Lord Hope made no record at all of any conversations he had, any actions he took, any information he was given, or of his decision-making process.''

Justice Cahill said Lord Hope had also sent documents detailing the allegations to Waddington before he interviewed him.

"By sending the statement to Robert Waddington it meant that Robert Waddington had a full opportunity to rehearse his answers," she said. "Had the police in either Australia or this country decided to take action, then their investigations could have been compromised.''

At the time, Queensland police were investigating the allegations by Mr Atkinson and another St Barnabas student and were considering extraditing Waddington but dropped the case because of a lack of corroborating evidence.

Yesterday, the present Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said child abusers should no longer be protected from justice by the confidentiality of the Confessional.

Dr Sentamu said he had pressed the church to undertake legal and theological study on the secrecy of Confession. Under canon law priests are forbidden from disclosing what is said to them in the Confessional.

But the Archbishop said: "Jesus says no-one is more important than children and I would rather stick with Jesus.''

Mr Atkinson, who first made allegations about his abuse in 1999 and then unsuccessfully asked church officials to investigate Waddington in 2005, said last night he was "over the moon'' about the inquiry's findings.

He was repeatedly beaten and raped by Waddington between 1964 and 1968 while a boarder.

"It vindicates everything I have been saying about this bloke after years of being dismissed, ignored and lied to by the church,'' he said from his home in Ravenshoe.

"Waddington destroyed my life, I went from top of the class to the bottom and have never been able to have a long-term relationship.''

English victim Eli Ward said last night that Lord Hope did not deserve to sit in the House of Lords. "He is hardly a proper and moral man, as he so widely preached others to be,'' he said.

"He should either stand down or, more still, be the first to have his peerage removed.''

North Queensland bishop Bill Ray said he would not comment until he had received the inquiry report. Bishop Ray referred the case to the federal royal commission into child abuse last year after confirming that most of the St Barnabas school files, including enrolment and staff lists, were missing.

*****

Archbishop of York 'wholehearted' apology to abuse victims
John Sentamu, told the BBC's Caroline Wyatt he was "very sorry and ashamed" at the findings

By Caroline Wyatt
BBC News
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29726198
October 22, 2014

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu has apologised to victims of sexual abuse by a former cathedral dean.

Dr Sentamu was responding to a report into how abuse allegations against the Very Rev Robert Waddington, formerly dean of Manchester, were handled.

His predecessor was criticised for not acting on allegations in the report, which found "systemic failures" within the Church of England.

At least two men made claims of abuse in 1999 and at sometime in 2003-04.

The then Archbishop of York Lord Hope of Thorne and others were criticised in the report by Judge Sally Cahill for not acting at the time the allegations were made - and therefore putting other children at risk.

Several other boys the inquiry spoke to said they too had been subject to sexual abuse by the late Dean Waddington, who died in 2007.

'Planning and grooming'

One of the victims, Eli Ward - now in his 40s - was an 11-year-old choirboy at Manchester Cathedral when the abuse started.

Mr Ward, who has waived his right to anonymity, said he and Dean Waddington were cleaning the altar railings when the dean swore, and they both laughed.

"Then it would progress to washing his car, staying over at his house," he said.

"He'd pick me up, we would go to his house, stay over in the spare room, and then stay in his room and so on.

"Over a period of time, little by little - it was very strategic planning. He was a very clever guy, peeling away his victim. It's very much insidious, planning and grooming."

For Mr Ward, the abuse coloured his life, shattered his family relationships, and has left him unable to trust anyone.

'Not qualified'

Responding to Judge Cahill's report, the archbishop said: "Any act of abuse committed by someone in authority in the church is a matter for shame and requires deep repentance.

"Those who trusted us in this only to be grievously wounded deserve not only our wholehearted apology but also the assurance we will keep a watchful eagle's eye and act swiftly."

The report identified "systemic failures" in the Church of England in relation to the protection of the victims from abuse.

"Appropriate referrals would not have taken place in any of the years 1999, 2003 and 2004 because the decision making was in the hands of those not qualified or sufficiently experienced in child protection to make those decisions," it concluded.

Five of judge's recommendations are about the need for "a more consistent approach to safeguarding policy and practice" across the Church of England.

The Church said the issue would be "developed further" when a national safeguarding adviser, who is currently being recruited, takes up a full-time position.

Archbishop Sentamu met Mr Ward and two other abuse survivors for tea before the report was published.

In a statement he said: "Those I have spoken to have expressed clearly that it is important for them to know whether new policies and procedures adopted after 2004 have created a new culture in the Church of England as a whole, which will ensure that all God's children are protected."

'Great regret'

The archbishop is also pushing for priests to be allowed to report to the police any allegations of abuse which are made during formal confession, as currently they are bound to secrecy in such circumstances.

In response to the report Lord Hope said: "It is matter of great regret to me that 12 years ago when the non-specific anonymous allegations were first made in Manchester, the church and I myself were not more proactive in seeking out and/or assisting a reluctant complainant.

"Nor is it any comfort that other organisations were no more diligent at that time when dealing with similar situations.

"If either of the two persons concerned feel in the light of this report they have been denied the justice they deserve then on behalf of the church I offer my personal and profound apology."

Mr Ward said: "I want no other child, person, to go through what I have gone through. I have been through the full range of emotions - that's terrible, disgraceful.

"I should have been enjoying life, getting on with it - my abuse has stopped me doing that."

END