UNITED KINGDOM
Enfield Independent
Matthew Smith
A man who a priest sexually abused in his teens was sacked because he did not tell his employers.
The victim, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, was targeted by Leonard Skinner at St Peter’s Church in Grange Park, Enfield, from January 1971 to June 1975.
Skinner, 79, of North Tyneside, was jailed for eight years on March 15.
The man only told his wife about the abuse on September 12 before telling the head of the Sixth Form college, which also cannot be named for legal reasons, where he worked part-time.
He said as the abuse took place 40 years ago and as he no longer considered Skinner a threat, he was not planning on pressing charges.
However, this was against the college’s rules on child protection and started a series of events which prompted his sacking.
He said: “Her immediate reaction was not to show concern for me, nor to show any sympathy for what happened to me, but to ask how I knew if other children had not been abused and why I had not reported the abuse at the time.
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