UNITED KINGDOM
Bedfordshire on Sunday
A PAEDOPHILE scout master at a Shefford children’s home linked to Jimmy Savile has been jailed for sexually abusing boys in the 1960s, it can now be revealed.
John Cahill, 73, attacked four boys, aged between 10 and 15 years old, while leading the scout troop at the Catholic St Francis Boys Home, in Shefford, Bedfordshire.
The case can be reported after a jury found former housemaster James McCann, 80, abused 26 children, aged between eight and 12, in the 1960s and 1970s.
The cruelty was said to be orchestrated by Father John Ryan, who died in 2008, and prosecutor Matthew Walsh said there was a culture of ill-treatment in the home run by ‘nuns and priests from hell’.
Savile was a regular visitor to the area and is believed to have attended the chapel at the home.
The Old Bailey heard Ryan and several nuns would have been prosecuted if they were still alive today.
The Catholic Church has paid out compensation to two victims and more are pursuing civil claims in a class action.
But Cahill, of Chandos Court, Bedford, was the only person to be jailed for any criminal offences at St Francis after pleading guilty to six counts of indecent assault at the Old Bailey.
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