Claims of
abuse at former
home

information on up to 40 cases.

Solicitor David Greenwood is currently handling around 140 compensation claims for alleged sexual and physical abuse at St William’s between the 1960 and 1992.

Mr Greenwood declined to detail the rationale behind the advice provided to the alleged victims. In a statement, he said: “This important case has involved complex issues. Nevertheless I am committed to obtaining fair compensation for all my clients.”

One of the two suspects currently remaining under consideration is understood to be James Carragher, the home’s former principal. He is serving out the remainder of a 14-year sentence for serious sexual abuse at St William’s after previously receiving a seven-year term in 1993 for similar offences at the home.

Carragher, a former member of the De La Salle Brotherhood, a Catholic lay order which ran the home, remains the only member of staff to have been convicted of sexual or physical abuse at St William’s. Eight other staff were either cleared at court or had charges against them dropped.

Humberside Police may not be able to charge Carragher again as the Crown Prosecution Service may decide it is not in the public interest to seek a third conviction for similar offences.

If no one is charged with abuse, the force may find itself in the awkward position of having spent significant amounts of time and money for little end result.

But Mr Andrews said: “I have never met anyone on this inquiry 
who doesn’t believe there was persistent sexual abuse going on at that home.

“But our job has been a search for the truth, not simply to support evidence for a prosecution.

“This has been one of the most complicated jobs I have ever dealt with because of the legal complexities, the child safeguarding issues and the age and nature of the offences alleged.

He added: “In my opinion there is sufficient evidence to meet the prosecutors’ code but it’s a matter for the CPS whether they wish to proceed.”