Ex-carer, 80, involved in sadistic regime of cruelty and abuse at Bedfordshire boys’ home

A former carer at a Catholic children’s home has been found to have been part of a sadistic and vindictive regime of abuse involving nuns, priests and a paedophile Scout master.

Despite three previous police investigations, details of what went on at the St Francis boys’ home in Shefford, Bedfordshire, were aired publicly for the first time in the case of 80-year-old James McCann at the Old Bailey.

McCann was accused of 50 charges of violent and sexual assault on 25 boys aged between eight and 12 in the 1960s and 1970s.

As he suffered from dementia and had had a number of strokes, McCann was deemed unfit to stand trial and jurors were told only to decide on the facts of the case rather than his guilt.

Jurors decided that he was responsible for 30 physical attacks and 12 indecent acts on the boys, who are now in their 50s and 60s.

Judge Rebecca Poulet told jurors the only course of action in the circumstances was an absolute discharge.

Around 40 former Shefford boys, who are now in their 50s and 60s, are now suing St Francis Children’s Society, which ran the home until its closure in 1974.

It can now be reported that St Francis’s Scout master, Christopher Cahill, 74, from Bedford, was jailed for three-and-a-half years earlier this year after pleading guilty to a string of sex assaults.

Three out of four of Cahill’s victims also complained about abuse at the hands of McCann.

Other members of staff were involved in abuse, including nuns and a priest named Father John Ryan who was in charge at the time, the court heard. They died before the latest police investigation was launched.

Father Ryan was described by one witness in the McCann trial as “the most evil man I have ever met in my life”.

The man also told jurors how “sadistic” Sister Xavier was in charge of the kitchen and would force boys to put their hands in boiling water and rap them with a steel ruler if they dared take them out.

He told said another nun, Sister Realino, had sexually molested him on more than one occasion and told him “I know you like it”.

The trial had heard that McCann was responsible for the “cruel and sadistic” practice of hitting boys around the ears from behind, known to residents as The Clappers.

Prosecutor John Price QC said McCann’s activities were carried out amid a “deeply ingrained” ethos of violence and corruption.

On the former residents’ evidence, Mr Price said: “On their accounts this is not a case of a rogue violent and abusive carer operating secretly in an otherwise benign and caring environment. Quite the reverse.

“Theirs is a truly shocking story of a cruel and vindictive regime, the tone it seems being set by Father Ryan, who himself often behaved towards them in much the same way as is alleged by them against Mr McCann.

“There were nuns who worked at the home who do not escape blame. Members of staff appear routinely to have brutalised many of the children in a gratuitous fashion.”

The court heard that McCann would also beat boys with a belt or stick and had punched one of them with full force in the face.

He also forced youngsters to engage in indecent acts for his own sexual gratification in a wash room, bath and in bed, jurors were told.

During the 1960s, the home was regularly visited by Home Office officials who noted beatings and children running away, but still described it as a “cheerful” place.

McCann was described as being a “great asset” and “the best assistant we have ever had”, according to one report.

The nuns were recorded as dealing with the children in a “kindly and realistic manner” and were “warm-hearted and conscientious in their care”, although “out of touch with modern ideas”.

After St Francis was shut down, police launched three investigations into complaints, in 1996, 1998 and 2003 but no-one was charged.

When he was interviewed by police about the allegations in 2013 and 2015, McCann, of Swaffham, Norfolk, denied they took place.

Senior investigating officer Mark Ross said: “McCann and Cahill were incredibly cruel, abusing the very children they had a duty of care to protect and look after.

“This has been a lengthy investigation which was extremely complex given the time that had elapsed since the offending and the sheer number of victims affected. Those victims have shown tremendous bravery in coming forward and I am delighted they finally have justice. Every victim has had at least one proven outcome and for them to have been ‘believed’ will hopefully give them some closure.

“There can be no excuse for abuse, sexual and physical, and we will always thoroughly investigate every allegation passed to us. I hope this case will also give other survivors of historical abuse the strength to come forward.

“Both McCann and Cahill probably thought they had got away with their offending, but this should serve as a warning that anyone who commits abuse can expect a visit from the police.”

A total of 103 crime reports have now been finalised against deceased suspects, as part of the on-going investigation.

Mr Ross has concluded that if the 13 suspects who have had allegations made against them were still alive they would have been interviewed and a file submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision in relation to the reports from 60 victims.

The suspects comprise seven men and six women who held varying roles in the home, both religious and also a teacher, choirmaster and handyman.

Lead investigator Mr Ross said: “These offences date back until the 1940s and the victims have had to deal with what happened to them for many years.

“While of course it would have been preferable for them to have got justice at court, hopefully the knowledge that their cases would have been sent for consideration will give them some closure and they can finally start moving on with their lives.”

Forty of those who complained about abuse at the home are represented by specialist child abuse lawyer Tracey Emmott.

The lawyer, of Bedford-based Emmott Snell, said civil action against St Francis Children’s Society is now under “immediate consideration”.

She said: “While today is to an extent a victory, justice would have been better served had complaints made earlier been taken more seriously, when other abusers were still alive.

“These men are in their fifties and sixties now. Some tried to speak out at the time but were punished for doing so.

“Perhaps today’s outcome can be seen as a victory symbolic of the wider abuse and cruelty meted out by other staff which in some cases was much worse.

“Over the decades, going back to 1996, police investigations have been opened but, for various reasons, have faltered and closed. In some instances, police and prosecution files have been lost.”

She added: “Nothing will repair the damage my clients have suffered. In the first instance and as a bare minimum we will seek an apology and a recognition of the hurt and damage caused to so many young lives and which has stayed with them.”

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