Paperback: No one heals himself by wounding another. - St Ambrose of Milan
Tell The Truth and Shame The Devil (2015) tells the inside story of the biggest historic sex abuse case ever mounted by Greater Manchester Police - the investigation into the systematic abuse of boys at St Ambrose College in Hale Barns by chemistry teacher and church deacon Alan Morris for nearly twenty years.
"The 2010s has been the decade in which the concept of 'historical abuse' has really hit home. It's no longer just part of the terminology of criminologists and psychologists but a parade of grim incidents and hurtful memories that have entered the culture via a dark series of notorious cases," wrote Nolan in Chapter One of his book.
Author David Nolan was one of Morris's victims and was given unprecedented access to detectives investigating the case. Nolan was there every step of the way, not only experiencing the brutal regime of the school in the 1970s, but also seeing every twist and turn of the case unfold at first hand.
He was even given the opportunity to confront Morris 35 years on from his abusive reign at the school.
Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris, the Westminster sex abuse conspiracy - newspaper headlines have been crammed with historic abuse cases recently. But what really goes on inside such an investigation? What actually happens if you come forward to make a complaint of historical abuse? Where does this clamour for justice to be done over offences committed decades ago come from? How do officers deal with the raw emotions of the victims not to mention their own revulsion at the crimes especially when they uncover a darker secret at the school - stories of even more horrific abuse that have remained hidden for decades.
"The Morris case also demonstrates how many of the assumptions and clichés associated with historical cases do not necessarily apply. There were no care-home victims here; no street urchins from broken homes; no lack of worldliness or intelligence on the part of the victims or their parents. There were 'nice' kids from 'good' families."
"Throughout the investigation, detectives would comment on how highly educated the victims were and how articulately they expressed themselves. When it came to the trial, the witness box was visited by doctors, businessmen, journalists, consultants...even a headmaster. Many of 'the lads' had done well in life."
"They didn't need to be at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester in that baking-hot summer of 2014. But they felt the need to tell the truth. If the Devil would be shamed in the process, so be it."
"Indeed, truth had been a very important facet of life at our Catholic school. Its motto remains to this day 'Vitam Impendere Vero': 'Life Depends on Truth.' It's on the badge of every boy's blazer. However, there was an unofficial motto that some teachers would quote as they doled out terrible beatings that stayed with the pupils for the rest of their lives. It would come back to haunt Alan Morris, the Christian Brothers and other staff from St Ambrose College with its direct quote from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1: 'Tell the truth and shame the Devil!' They would say it just before they hit you," wrote Nolan in the Introduction.
David Nolan takes you on a journey of how the truth would finally be told and the Devil eventually shamed. There has never been a real-life crime story like it.
Astonishing as it seems, it has always been perfectly legal to look the other way when a child is being abused in the United Kingdom, even if it is your job to care for children. Campaigners want mandatory reporting laws to be brought in to force the hands of those who witness abuse but do not report it. David Cameron says child abuse should be treated as a 'national threat' equivalent to terrorism or organised crime and wants to extend the offence of 'wilful neglect' that covers anyone vulnerable, from the elderly to children.
About the author: David Nolan has been a journalist since the day he left school in 1981. He has worked for newspapers and magazines, in radio and television, and has won multiple Royal Television Society awards for his documentaries and current-affairs programmes. Tell The Truth and Shame The Devil is his tenth book.
This book brough back all the horrors of the brutal regime that this school was run under during my attendance. Altough I personally wasn't a victim of any sexual abuse....the vicious unjustifiable punishments that were handed out on an hourly basis and the manner in which they were handed out can only be describes as the stuff that give nightmares. I suffered a 5 year nightmare at that school from 1969-1974 and have had to endure over 40 years of recurring nightmares ever since.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on a gripping book and to those that came out from their safe bccoon-like havens to both report this abuse and help bring about justice