Police arrest man over alleged sexual abuse at Ampleforth College
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Version 0 of 1. Police have arrested a man as part of their investigations into historical sexual abuse allegations at Ampleforth College, a prestigious Catholic boarding school in North Yorkshire. The school is being investigated by the independent Goddard inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales. The inquiry was announced in July 2014 following the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal. North Yorkshire police confirmed two investigations into alleged sexual abuse at the school were being carried out by the force and that one man had been arrested. A police spokesman said the force was fully cooperating with the Goddard inquiry and was keen to work closely with all those involved. “We have already provided a considerable amount of information, and we may be in a position to provide more as the inquiry progresses,” he said. Ampleforth College was founded in 1802 and is run by the Benedictine monks and lay staff of Ampleforth Abbey. Allegations of sexual abuse at the school date back decades but police first started investigating in 2003 when a psychologist employed by Ampleforth to carry out risk assessments on pupils turned whistleblower. Since 1996, a number of staff and former staff have been convicted of offences including indecent assault and downloading indecent images of children. Judge Lowell Goddard confirmed in November last year that, among other things, her inquiry would examine reports of abuse in the Roman Catholic church. The £17.9m investigation – the biggest public inquiry into institutional child abuse and accusations of establishment cover-ups held in England and Wales – does not have the power to convict or punish people. However, Goddard has said she would not shrink from naming individuals who have abused children and the institutions that allowed it to happen. Former pupils at Ampleforth – known as Old Amplefordians – include Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, sculptor Anthony Gormley and actor Rupert Everett. It was a boys’ school until 2002, when girls where first admitted to the sixth form. The school became fully co-ed in 2010. |