Christian Brother Who Exploited Position at Liverpool School Jailed for Historical Sex Offences on Student

By John Siddle
Liverpool Echo
October 9, 2014

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/christian-brother-who-exploited-position-7911215

Paul Davey, 58, jailed for 16 months

A former Catholic Brother at De La Salle school was sent to prison for a second time for abusing young boys.

Paul Davey, who served as head of music at the Croxteth school between 1983 and 1989, was jailed for 16 months for sexually assaulting a former pupil.

The 58-year-old had previously served 30 months in prison after being convicted in 1996 of abusing four boys in the late 80s.

Judge David Aubrey, QC, told him: “The purpose and principle and mission of the De La Salle order is to touch the hearts of their students and to inspire them.

“You betrayed that, particularly you betrayed your victim.”

Liverpool Crown Court heard how Davey’s fifth victim stepped forward in 2012 after the death of his mother.

He told police he had been abused at the school when auditioning for a school performance in 1987 or 1988, and at a De La Salle retreat in north London at the turn of the decade.

On the second occasion, Davey told his victim to “keep your mouth shut” once he had removed his cassock and assaulted him, having pinned him down on a bed.

Summarising a statement made by the victim detailing the impact of the abuse upon him, Judge Aubrey told how the victim also suffered hands at the abuse of another involved with the Catholic church.

He said: “He now finds it hard to trust people; teachers and members of the Catholic church.

“He also stated that the abuse had affected his faith and that he had been brought up in believing that members of the church were meant to help and protect him, and that trust had now been broken as a result of that which occurred while he was a scholar.

“He suffers certain flashbacks and the trauma will live with him forever. You were responsible in part for how he is now.

“You were there to protect him but for your own sexual gratification you abused him.”

Davey worked for the Inland Revenue after his release from prison but resigned after his arrest over these matters.

Tom Watson, defending, called for the prison sentence to be suspended.

He said of Davey: “He has come to court with no illusions, he has come to court with his bag packed. He is very frightened at the prospect of going back to prison. It was an experience on the last occasion that he will never forget.

“But despite the label that these offences gave him within the prison setting, he did his best to use his time positively.

“This court is dealing with a reformed character.”

Judge Aubrey said the offences were so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence was justified.

He told Davey: “The court has reminded itself of the trauma you occasioned upon your victim, the trauma that still lives with him 20 years and more after the commission of these offences.”

Davey, of Bentinck Steet, St Helens, admitted two counts of indecent assault on a boy under 16.

The De La Salle mission is to “to provide a human and Christian education to the young, especially the poor, according to the ministry entrusted to them by the church”.