Education secretary urged to act over report on abuse at his former school

Survivors of abuse committed at a Catholic school attended by the education secretary, Damian Hinds, are asking him to press for the publication of an independent review they claim has been hushed up.

Hinds was a pupil in the 1980s at St Ambrose College near Altrincham in Greater Manchester. Alan Morris, a former chemistry teacher, was jailed for nine years in 2014 for indecent assault and gross indecency against 19 boys between 1973 and 1990.

Police said it was likely that two other teachers would have been charged with serious sexual offences but had died.

After Morris’s trial, the Christian Brothers – the Catholic order that runs the school – and the Safeguarding Commission for Orders in Education (SCOE), another Catholic body, commissioned an independent review into abuse and safeguarding at St Ambrose. The report is believed to have been delivered in the autumn of 2016.

David Nolan, a former pupil and one of about 70 survivors of abuse at the school who remain in contact, said the “disappearance” of the review was “immensely frustrating”.

There has never been a suggestion that Hinds was abused, but Nolan said that he hoped the education secretary, in his new role, could ensure the report was published. “Hinds was there when some of the worst abuse happened,” he said. “Now, as education secretary, he could help us get at the truth. Publication of the report would go some way to acknowledging what happened.”

Nolan, who wrote a book, Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil, about abuse at St Ambrose, said he had attended the funerals of two former pupils – one who “drank himself to death” and another who killed himself – in the past year.

Another former pupil who was abused, Derek Scanlan, gave evidence at Morris’s trial and was in the year above Hinds. “All of us who were there knew there was a culture of sexual, physical and mental abuse in that era,” he said.

“Morris was convicted and sent to prison, but we want the findings of the inquiry to be made public and the lessons to be learned. But it’s been brushed under the carpet.

A third ex-pupil who asked not to be named said: “Given Hinds’ history with the school and the position he now holds, he should step in and ensure this report is made public.”

At the trial and in Nolan’s book, former pupils recalled a windowless cubicle at the back of Morris’s chemistry lab, known as “the Dark Room”, where boys would be taken to be beaten. Sometimes Morris forced boys to beat one another while he photographed them; sometimes he forced them to strip naked.

Most of his victims were just 11 or 12, and came from devout Catholic families. Morris exerted a psychological power, terrorising and humiliating them, according to Nolan.

Morris was ordained as a deacon after retiring from St Ambrose. Police were first alerted to claims of abuse in 2001 but it was not until more than 50 ex-pupils came forward 10 years later that they were able to prosecute.

After his trial, police said Morris “revelled in his fearsome reputation, taking it upon himself to seek out and punish pupils, using corporal punishment to cloak his real motive for chastising young boys: sexual gratification”.

James Keulemans, principal of St Ambrose, said he had asked for the inquiry report to be published in its entirety and as soon as possible. “I’ve no idea what’s causing the delay,” he said.

Vicki Lawson-Brown, an investigator who carried out the review, said confidentiality prevented her from commenting but publication of the report was not her decision.

In a statement, the Christian Brothers said: “The SCOE together with the Shrewsbury diocese are reviewing the report and its recommendations to identify learning and action steps, following which the report is due to be published. The trustees of the Christian Brothers will publish the report and are now taking action to expedite this matter.”

The SCOE said it planned to consider the report at a meeting next week and anticipated it would be released subsequently.

The Department for Education declined to comment.