UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet
22 October 2014 14:38 by Christopher Lamb
The Archbishop of York has said he is “deeply ashamed” that the Church of England failed to stop abuse by a former Dean of Manchester Cathedral, Robert Waddington.
An independent inquiry by Judge Sally Cahill found that the allegations made against Waddington, who died in 2007, had not been adequately responded to by the Church and puts forward a series of recommendations for improvement.
Complaints were made against Waddington between 1999 and 2004 relating to incidents that took place in Australia in the 1960s and when he was Dean of Manchester in the 1980s.
Archbishop John Sentamu, who commissioned Judge Cahill’s report, said the inquiry had shown “systemic failures” by the Church.
Archbishop Sentamu’s predecessor Lord Hope was among those singled out for criticism for how he responded when he heard of allegations against Waddington.
These included not taking advice from his child protection officer, failing to take action that might have led to a prosecution, not establishing the risk to children and the fact that he interviewed Waddington about the allegations.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.