AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Helen Davidson
theguardian.com, Wednesday 22 October 2014
Senior members of the Church of England have issued formal apologies after an inquiry found a high level Anglican clergyman made serious failures in addressing allegations of the sexual abuse of children in Australia and Britain.
The year-long independent inquiry in Britain examined an alleged cover-up by the Anglican church in response to allegations made in 1999 and 2003 against a former Queensland school principal, Robert Waddington, and revealed by the Times of London and the Australian.
Waddington, who died in 2007, was a principal of North Queensland’s now closed St Barnabas boarding school from the early 1960s to 1970. He was unexpectedly sent to Queensland in 1954, one year after he joined the church, very soon after abuse allegations were raised, and in circumstances one former victim suggested were suspicious. After he left St Barnabas, Waddington returned to England where he held senior roles in children’s education and became the dean of Manchester.
At least six boys and one clergyman were allegedly abused by Waddington, the Australian reported, as far back as the early 1950s and as recently as 2003.
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