Abuse apology ‘can help me heal and progress’ | Manchester News

Frankie was repeatedly abused by a priest who took him out of his primary school classroom to rape and sexually abuse him over a two-year period.

The priest, who died in 2011, told 10-year-old Frankie he would “go to hell” if he reported the abuse.

Frankie, whose name has been changed, has since received an out-of-court settlement, but says he did not immediately receive any apology from the institutions involved, something he regards as “more important” than the monetary compensation.

He is backing a call for new legislation to be implemented and expanded, so employers and those indirectly responsible, can apologise without necessarily leaving them liable for compensation payouts.

Frankie received a “sincere and unreserved apology” apology from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford – but only after the covered his story.

Trafford Council has not apologised.

To Frankie, an apology is paramount, because it represents “a recognition that things have gone wrong”.

“It can help me heal and progress with my life,” he says.

Frankie’s abuse took place when he was in Years 5 and 6 at St Hugh of Lincoln RC Primary School, in Stretford in Greater Manchester, in the 1990s.

His abuser, Father Aidan O’Reilly, was based at St Hugh of Lincoln RC Church, which shares its grounds with the school.

Frankie reported his abuse to Greater Manchester Police six years after O’Reilly’s death.

Officers concluded it was “very likely” the priest would have been charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault if he had been alive at the time of the allegations.

Frankie later took Trafford Council and the Catholic Diocese of Salford to court, resulting in an out-of-court financial settlement, but no immediate apology.

He said: “When we finally reached a settlement, I hoped the school would apologise to me for the abuse I suffered during school hours, whilst I was a child in their care, and for the disruption the teachers caused to my education by allowing Father O’Reilly to take me to the church during lessons.”

However, instead of an apology, Frankie describes the response as “an emphatic refusal”.

Three years ago, the government-commissioned Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommended the government change the Compensation Act “to make clear that institutions may apologise for abuse by persons for whom they may be vicariously liable, without those apologies amounting to admissions of legal liability”.

The current government has said legislation would be amended to encourage employers to apologise “where currently they fear doing so because of institutional liability”.

Abbie Hickson, from law firm Bolt Burdon Kemp, who have represented Frankie, said the legislation should be “implemented as a priority”, and should be expanded so that it doesn’t just encompass employers.

“Survivors who have already been through the litigation process should have the right to return and ask for an apology under the new rules, and importantly – sanctions imposed if apologies are refused,” she said.

When the contacted the Diocese of Salford, the diocese sent the following statement.

“We offer our sincere and unreserved apology for the abuse ‘Frankie’ suffered whilst a pupil at St Hugh’s, and all the subsequent pain and trauma which followed the actual abuse.

“We now have enhanced safeguarding policies that are regularly reviewed, which aim to prevent any possible recurrence of what happened.

“We continue to place the protection of the young and the vulnerable at the heart of what we do.”

A spokesperson for Trafford Council said the authority “cannot comment on individual cases”, but the council was “committed to providing advice, support and guidance to schools on all areas of safeguarding, and work with them to put all appropriate measures in place to ensure children are kept safe”.

Ms Hickson hailed the apology from the Diocese of Salford as “incredibly positive”, but said it was “disappointing” that an apology had been sought “many years ago, and it’s only as a result of media intervention that an apology has now been offered”.