James O'Brien's Deeply Emotional Response To Child Abuse At His School

10 August 2018, 11:48

James O'Brien was left in tears as he responded to a report detailing the child abuse that took place at his school.

Yesterday's report said that Ampleforth School "prioritised monks and their own reputations over the protection of children" and that "appalling" abuse of pupils took place.

And James got angry as he talked about not only the monks who raped children, but the other staff at the leading Roman Catholic school who did nothing.

In a deeply emotional monologue, James said: "I wasn't abused. And I wasn't aware of anything like the abuse that has now been revealed in this inquiry, I feel such vicious anger at these men.

"Not only did they rape children and then cover it up, the people that never abused children are complicit in this in a way that I'm going to struggle to articulate.

"But every other parent that sent their child to this school has been robbed of pride in their own achievements.

"It makes me want to weep.

"I don't know how much of the detail you've seen, but oh my God, these boys, these poor, poor, poor boys. Their victims were as young as seven at Ampleforth.

"And do you know what else has come out? They bloody knew.

"The Abbotts, the headmasters, the housemasters, the teachers who weren't actually raping children, they knew about the monks that were. And they did nothing."

The entire monologue was so, so powerful. You can watch a key moment above or the full monologue below.