Police set to question celebrities, politicians and sports stars in investigation into child abuse on island of Jersey, Top Vatican Cardinal Pell trailed by old child abuse scandal from Australia

Top Vatican cardinal trailed by old child abuse scandal from Australia
"a notorious pedophilia ring just down the road from where Pell once served as parish priest"
"abuse victims and fellow priests have given testimony under oath that Pell knew about the dozens of children who were mistreated there"
"Other priests gave testimony that Pell was probably part of high-level meetings about Ridsdale’s offenses by 1977, an allegation Pell has denied"


Police set to question thirteen 'celebrities, politicians and sports stars' in investigation into historic child abuse on island of Jersey
    States of Jersey Police say they are to imminently quiz 13 famous figures
    They are among the 45 suspects identified as part of Operation Whistle
    The investigation is looking into allegations of child sex abuse on Jersey 
By Jennifer Newton for MailOnline  4 June 2015

Police investigating child abuse claims on the island of Jersey say they are set to question 13 celebrities, politicians and sports stars.

Detectives have revealed that the prominent figures, who are 'well known' will be quizzed 'imminently' into allegations of institutionalised sex offences on the Channel island.

Their identities have not been revealed but police have said that 13 of the 45 suspects are public figures, including media personalities, politicians and sports people and they will be questioned as part of Operation Whistle.

The alleged abuse is said to have occurred between the late 1930s until the mid 2000s across four institutions, including the Haut de la Garenne children's home.

The other institutions, which have not been named, are no longer functioning....

An investigation was launched into allegations of historic child abuse in Jersey in 2007 with former children's home Haut de la Garenne becoming the focus.

By February 2008, the investigating team had received some claims about possible murders at Haut de la Garenne, a children's home for 86 years until it closed in 1986....

the investigation did show numerous instances of abuse against past residents, with one former staff member being convicted of abuse.

Gordon Wateridge, was found guilty of eight indecent assaults on teenage girls and jailed for two years in August.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3111224/Police-set-question-thirteen-celebrities-politicians-sports-stars-investigation-historic-child-abuse-island-Jersey.html



Top Vatican cardinal trailed by old child abuse scandal from Australia
By Sarah Kaplan June 3

Cardinal George Pell left Sydney two years ago to great fanfare. The longtime archbishop of Sydney and lauded “defender of the faith down under” had just been appointed chief of the Vatican’s finances — sometimes described as the second most powerful position in Rome. It is the highest an Australian has ever ascended in the church.

But Pell couldn’t leave behind the child sex abuse scandal that had rocked his hometown or the hushed accusations that he had a part in it. Those accusations have grown louder and much more public since last month, when an Australian commission began hearings into a notorious pedophilia ring just down the road from where Pell once served as parish priest.

Amid fervent coverage in the Australian news media, an accusation that his handling of the issue was “sociopathic” and testimony that Pell ignored warnings about his abusive colleagues and attempted to bribe one victim to stop him from speaking out, Pell has now hired lawyers to fight off attacks from the decades-old scandal he can’t quite shake....

Ten thousand miles from Rome, in Pell’s hometown of Ballarat, abuse victims and fellow priests have given testimony under oath that Pell knew about the dozens of children who were mistreated there....

Pell was ordained in Rome in 1966 and moved to Oxford for his PhD. But when he returned to Australia in 1971, he moved back to his home state of Victoria, and two years after that he was back in Ballarat. There he served as a parish priest and vicar. Just down the road, St. Alipius Primary School had become the site of one of Australia’s most notorious pedophilia rings....

One of the worst abusers was Gerald Ridsdale, a now-defrocked priest convicted of sexual offenses against more than 50 children. Ridsdale lived with Pell in Ballarat for two years.

Ridsdale, who told his family he had “hundreds” of victims, according to the Australian newspaper the Age, was moved to nine different parishes over the course of his career — something the church is often accused of doing when faced with allegations of abuse.

Pell said he knew nothing about his colleague’s treatment of children until the 1990s, when Ridsdale was arrested and charged with dozens of counts of sexual assault over the course of two decades.

When Ridsdale appeared in a Melbourne court in 1993, Pell stood alongside him, dressed in a priest’s garb....

In 1994, Ridsdale pleaded guilty to 46 counts of sexual abuse and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was sentenced to an additional four years in 2006 after pleading guilty to 35 more charges, and eight more years in 2013, after additional offenses came to light during the Australian inquiry into the Church’s handling of abuse allegations. All told, he is convicted of abusing 54 children. The youngest was 4 years old....

Meanwhile, Pell’s star continued to rise. He was named archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 and then Archbishop of Sydney in 2001. A 2003 article on his appointment as cardinal called his ascent to the upper echelons of the Church “inexorable,” noting Pell’s moral fervor and reputation as a “staunch and public upholder of Catholic purity.”....

Last August, when Pell appeared before the commission for a broader inquiry on the Church’s handling of abuse cases, he said that the Church should not be held legally responsible for the actions of its priests, comparing it to a hypothetical trucking company that hired a driver who molested women....

Other priests gave testimony that Pell was probably part of high-level meetings about Ridsdale’s offenses by 1977, an allegation Pell has denied....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/03/top-vatican-cardinal-trailed-by-old-child-abuse-scandal-from-australia/