Jail for Downside monk who paid boy 50p for sex acts

A MONK who used to teach at one of England's premier Roman Catholic boys' schools has been jailed for five years after being found guilty of abusing pupils under his charge in the late 1980s.
 
Richard White, now 66, was a geography teacher at Downside School near Bath when he was identified as a possible risk to pupils, but no legal action was taken. Instead, Father Nicholas – as he was known at the school - was warned about his behaviour towards a 12-year-old and was switched to teaching older boys.
 
White later admitted to abusing a second boy, whom he lured to the monastery library and paid 50p a time to perform sexual acts, The Times reports today.

Again, the school authorities failed to contact the police, Taunton Crown Court heard yesterday. This time White was removed from his teaching post and for the past 20 years has been kept isolated from children, in various Benedictine monasteries across the country.
 
White was finally brought to court following an investigation by Avon & Somerset police. In sentencing him, Judge Graham Hume Jones said: "It is not part of my function to sit in judgment nor to comment on a lack of action by the authorities when these matters first came to light."

Father Aidan Bellenger, Abbot of Downside since 2006, yesterday claimed that police had known about the allegations against White at the time, but had decided against prosecuting.
 
Father Bellenger also stated: "Since then, Richard White has been through therapy, a risk assessment and has lived under restrictions... It is some consolation that he did not abuse any child during this period of restriction."  
 
Judge Hume Jones drew attention to the "very poignant" victim statement that highlighted the long-term effects of White's abuse.

One of White's victims told The Times: "It is something that has been with me for very many years. I felt I did not have the right tools to address it when I was 12 and 13." ·