Conspiracy of Faith

In this powerful book, Graham Wilmer recounts the traumatic experience of being sexually abused as a child by a teacher at the Salesian College in Chertsey, Surrey, and explores the life-long impact that child abuse has on males. He exposes the Salesians in the UK who failed to report the abuse and protected the teacher, painting a disturbing picture of the ineptitude and incompetence of the police, the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), central and local government, NASUWT (The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers), the Roman Catholic Church, and the criminal justice system in their collective failures to act when he finally disclosed what had happened. Despite the recommendations of the Nolan Enquiry into child abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, and the recommendations of the Bichard Enquiry, Graham Wilmer's story shows just how difficult it is to prosecute teachers who abuse children in Roman Catholic schools. This is a brave account by a man who suffered in forced silence for forty years until finally making the difficult decision to lay bare the truth, seek justice and bring those who had conspired against him to account. It raises many important issues about the way our society deals with sexual offences against children, and draws the disturbing conclusion that the vast majority of child abusers still operate with impunity, and will continue to do so unless the criminal justice system is radically changed in favour of the victims of abuse rather than the perpetrators. This is the only book dealing with sexual abuse in a Salesian school. Although it may make you angry, it is not without hope, and will help others who have been through similarly traumatic times at such a young age.