ONE of Scotland's leading children's charities has backed calls for an independent public inquiry to be held into claims of sexual and physical abuse at a Catholic boarding school.
Children 1st, which works with those affected by abuse in Scotland, said a police investigation into historic allegations at Fort Augustus Abbey School in the Highlands may not be enough to address victims' concerns.
The charity has also called on the Catholic Church to fully co-operate with the ongoing investigation and for it to pass on any information it has to the police.
More than 50 former pupils of the school and its preparatory school Carlekemp in East Lothian, which have now closed, came forward last month with allegations of ill-treatment at the hands of monks from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Ten monks have been accused of physical abuse and four monks and one lay teacher face claims of sexual abuse, including the rape of a schoolboy.
In addition, three headmasters stand accused of covering up the scale of the abuse.
Chief among those identified is Father Aidan Duggan, an Australian monk who taught at Fort Augustus between 1953 and 1974, who is accused of grooming young boys during piano lessons.
Father Duggan died in 2004, but some abuse claims relate to men who are still alive.
The children's charity, NSPCC, has called for a full independent inquiry.
Children 1st Chief Executive Anne Houston has now added her voice to the calls.
She said: "Where there are worries the police investigation won't address victims' concerns as the accused are now dead, we would support the need for an independent inquiry, as long as the expectations of what it could achieve for both the adult victims and for children now and in the future is clear at the outset.
"The focus here must always remain on what's best for those who were abused in the past and what will make a positive difference to them; that and helping protect children now and in future by taking steps to minimise the risk of this ever happening again.
"It is crucial that the church fully and openly co-operates with the ongoing police investigation and passes on any and all relevant information it may have relating to any allegations of abuse at these schools.
"It would be actively unhelpful to set up expectations that cannot be met and could serve to make those abused feel further let down."
The charity runs a dedicated abuse support line staffed by trained volunteers to offer emotional and other support to victims of abuse.
Hugh Gilbert, the Bishop of Aberdeen, has apologised on behalf of the Catholic Church for the Fort Augustus scandal, as has the Benedictine order which ran the schools.
Speaking to parishioners earlier this month, Bishop Gilbert said that the abuse was "a most bitter, shaming and distressing thing".
On Wednesday, Father Francis Davidson, a former headmaster at the school, resigned from his senior role at a college of Oxford University.
He has quit as monastic superior of the Benedictine college St Benet's Hall, where he was responsible for the welfare of student monks at the university.
Father Davidson is accused of covering up child abuse during his time at Fort Augustus Abbey School in the Highlands.
As the only surviving headmaster of the school, he offered his sympathies to former pupils and their families and said he was shocked and saddened to hear the allegations.
However, he said he did not recall them being reported to him during his time in charge.
A spokesman for Police Scotland said the investigation was ongoing.
Carlekemp closed in 1977 and Fort Augustus Abbey School was shut in 1993.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article