Exlondon Abbot Goes Missing after Allegations of Child Abuse, by Justin Davenport, Crime Editor, London Evening Standard, October 14, 2011

Ex-london Abbot Goes Missing after Allegations of Child Abuse

By Justin Davenport, Crime Editor
London Evening Standard
October 14, 2011

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23998237-ex-london-abbot-goes-missing-after-allegations-of-child-abuse.do

[with photo]

Jumped bail: Father Laurence Soper

Police and prosecutors are preparing an international arrest warrant for a Roman Catholic monk who has jumped bail on child abuse charges.

Father Laurence Soper, 80, a former abbot of Ealing Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, is wanted over allegations of child abuse dating back 20 years.

They relate to the time when he was a teacher at St Benedict's, a private school attached to the abbey.

Father Soper was arrested by police in September last year but failed to answer bail in London in March. The cleric is believed to be in Rome where he has lived for the past 10 years but efforts by abbey officials to contact him have been in vain. A message on Ealing Abbey's website from Abbot Martin Shipperlee condemned his predecessor's failure to co-operate with police.

It said: "Early in March he left the monastery in Rome where he had been living to travel to London for an appointment with the police. Unfortunately he failed to keep that appointment and we have heard nothing from him since and all efforts to contact him have been without success.

"I must condemn without reservation his failure to co-operate with them."

A number of alleged victims of Father Soper contacted police last year after another teacher at St Benedict's was jailed for assaulting young boys.

Father David Pearce, a former head of the school, was jailed for five years for indecently assaulting five young boys between 1972 and 2007.

Two other former teachers, including Father Soper, faced similar allegations. The school announced a review to be carried out by Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC, who is expected to publish his findings this month. Father Soper taught at St Benedict's from 1972 to 1984 and was abbot at Ealing until 2000.