Cop in Nuns Case Was Investigated by Top Brass

By Lynn Jolly
Paisley Daily Express
April 30, 2013

http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/2013/04/30/cop-in-nuns-case-was-investigated-by-top-brass-87085-33256674/

The policewoman who investigated two nuns accused of abuse was pictured wearing a Loyalist ‘No Surrender’ badge on her uniform at a Rangers game, a court was told yesterday.

DC Lesley McAuley faced a probe by the force’s top brass, it was revealed.

Nuns Anne Kenny, 79, known as Mother Rosaria, and Agnes Reville, 77, known as Mother Martin, deny assaulting eight girls at Dalbeath Approved School in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in the early 1970s.

Yesterday, the jury at Paisley Sheriff Court heard that DC Lesley McAuley – also known as Lesley Strachan – was in charge of the probe into alleged wrongdoing at the approved school.

One of her colleagues who worked with her on the inquiry in 2009, PC Nigel Gilmour, who has since been promoted to sergeant, was asked by defence QC Ronnie Clancy, representing Kenny: “Was Lesley McAuley in the driving seat?” and he replied: “Yes.”

The QC then produced a copy of a national newspaper from February last year which showed a picture of a policewoman in uniform at Ibrox wearing a ‘No Surrender’ sticker.

Sergeant Gilmour was asked who was in the photograph and replied: “DC McAuley.”

Mr Clancy then asked: “The headline is ‘Her crime was no surrender’. She was on duty at Ibrox and wearing on her uniform a Union Bears ‘No Surrender’ badge?” and Sgt Gilmour replied: “Yes.”

The QC added: “The message was posted on Facebook and sparked fury among rival fans, is that what it says?” and the officer replied: “Yes.”

Mr Clancy said: “The article goes on to say the police officer has been suspended from football duties and she insists that she was the victim of a prank,” and Sgt Gilmour said: “Yes.”

Earlier in evidence, 56-year-old Kathleen Humphries, who was a pupil at the school, told the court she had been hit with a carpet beater by Mother Rosaria in her office.

She told prosecutor Douglas Hamilton: “She battered me about the body with it every couple of days.

“She threw me across the room and hit me with the carpet beater when I was on the floor. I was screaming.”

Miss Humphries asked if there was any reason for this and replied: “I was trying to run away.”

She also claimed that she was shut in a cupboard in Mother Rosaria’s office twice. Once for three or four hours and the second time for a few minutes.

Mr Hamilton asked: “Were you assaulted with anything else?” and she replied: “She dug into my ribs with a riding crop. She had a carpet beater at one side of her desk and a carpet beater at the other side.”

Miss Humphries was asked why, if she was being hit and screaming, the office staff who were in the next room had heard nothing and she replied: “What I said happened.”

She admitted having previous convictions for dishonesty, but claimed that she was telling the truth.

The trial before Sheriff Susan Sinclair continues.