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	Call for Pope to Apologise for the Sexual and Physical Abuse at East Yorkshire Children's Home By Mike Laycock The Press September 15, 2010 http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/8391777.Call_for_Pope_to_apologise/?ref=rss THE Pope was urged today to use his visit to Britain to apologise for the sexual and physical abuse of children at an East Yorkshire Catholic children's home. Robert Maxwell, 61, of New Earswick, York, one of about 150 former pupils at St William's Community Home in Market Weighton who are suing for damages, spoke out prior to Pope Benedict's arrival in Britain tomorrow. He said: "He is the boss. I think he should apologise. We have never had an apology from the Bishop of Middlesbrough." The home's former principal, Father James Carragher, was jailed for 14 years in 2004 after admitting abusing boys in his care. Pupils started legal action for damages in 2006 but have faced lengthy delays because of a dispute as to who was responsible for the home. A judge ruled last year that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough, which owned the home, and not the De La Salle Order of Christian Brothers, a Catholic order of lay teachers that taught there, was responsible for the abuse. An appeal by the diocese against the ruling was heard by the Court of Appeal in July and a decision is expected shortly. Mr Maxwell, who was brought up in Clifton, said he was been sent to the home as a teenager in 1962 because of "minor" misdemeanours, such as being cheeky and playing truant from school. He said being at the school was like being in prison. "It was just evil. I was physically and sexually abused," he said. "I still have a scar above my left eye from where I was kicked. I was taken to hospital for treatment and told to tell staff it had happened on the football field." He said that he did not want revenge, but justice. A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesborough said that he and the Bishop were unable to comment until the Court of Appeal had reached its judgement.
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