Three St William’s children’s home staff accused of almost 90 sexual offences against boys – trial

By Simon Bristow
Hull Daily Mail
October 13, 2015

http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/St-William-8217-s-children-8217-s-home-staff/story-27968967-detail/story.html

ON TRIAL: From left, James Carragher, Anthony McCallen and Michael Curran.

'TROUBLED' BOYS: St William's care home.

THE principal of a former children's home, who has already served 21 years for sexually abusing children, has gone on trial accused of 62 further offences against young boys.

James Carragher, 75, a former headmaster of St William's approved school in Market Weighton, "hid behind a cloak of respectability" to abuse boys in his care, a jury was told.

He and Anthony McCallen, 69, and Michael Curran, 62, are on trial together at Leeds Crown Court, and between them are accused of almost 90 offences against 19 former pupils at the residential home.

The school, run by the Roman Catholic De La Salle religious order, was home to "troubled" boys aged between 12 and 16, who were "undoubtedly amongst the most vulnerable in society", the court heard.

Opening the prosecution case on Monday, Richard Wright QC said there were many dedicated professionals among the staff.

But he said the boys had not been sent to a place of safety, because there were also "bullies and paedophiles who used violence as a way of controlling the boys, and who took the opportunity to work in that environment to use and abuse the boys in their care for their own sexual gratification."

Pupils were "regularly beaten, sexually assaulted and regularly raped," Mr Wright said.

The prosecutor said in the context of the 1970s and 1980s, when the offences are said to have been committed, it was unlikely any of the alleged victims would have been believed had they made a complaint.

"Who would believe the word of a delinquent boy set against those of a respected teacher of a Catholic order?" he asked.

Mr Wright said this had given the men in the dock the belief they were "effectively immune" from complaint.

He suggested to the jury that they should not be influenced by the fact many of the complainants had battled drink or drugs, or both, or had committed crimes.

He also said some of the alleged victims had sought or were seeking compensation, and the jury could expect the defence to attack their characters.

Carragher, known to the boys as "Brother James", was a member of the De La Salle order and was head and principal of St William's from 1976 to 1990.

The jury was told he was jailed for seven years in 1993, and for 14 years in 2004, for offences committed at St William's.

Mr Wright said Carragher was a man who had a "committed sexual interest in children and young boys in particular".

He is on trial with the home's former chaplain McCallen and Curran, a former teacher at the site.

McCallen, an ordained priest, was previously convicted of sexual offences against two young boys, who were parishioners at an east Hull church, after a 1993 police investigation, the court heard.

He also had a "vast" collection of indecent images in 1993 – and used a spyhole to take photographs of boys taking showers or using toilets.

He often appeared in many of the photographs, Mr Wright said.

During a search of his home in the investigation that led to the current trial, police found photographs of boys hidden between the pages of McCallen's books, which "when viewed together establish in the clearest terms where his sexual interest lies", the court heard.

Curran has no previous convictions.

Carragher, of Cearns Road, Prenton, The Wirral, denies 50 allegations of indecent assault, ten of serious sexual assault, and two of attempted serious sexual assault.

McCallen, of Whernside Crescent, Ingleby Barwick, Stockton-on-Tees, denies 18 allegations of indecent assault and seven allegations of serious sexual assault.

Curran denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of indecent assault.

The trial continues.