An inquiry which looked into the case of paedophile priest from Burton has issued a raft of recommendations, saying that “time and time again” allegations of abuse in the Catholic church were ignored.
The case of Father Samuel Penney who admitted in court 10 offences of abusing children in the 1970s when he was priest at St Mary and St Modwen Church in Guild Street, in the town, was looked into. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which used Penney’s case in its inquiry, described the sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”. The inquiry has now issued its final; report after an in depth seven-year inquiry look at cases including Penney.
The inquiry concluded by calling for a national compensation scheme for victims to be introduced, along with laws compelling people in positions of trust to report child sexual abuse. The £186.6 million seven-year inquiry looked at 15 areas scrutinising institutional responses to child sexual abuse – including in the Catholic church. More than 7,000 victims…
