I was taken to UK's ‘paedo island' and subjected to horrific abuse from age 6… why I know I'll never get justice

The Sun

a day ago

A BRAVE victim of the UK's 'paedo island' has refused to help investigators in their efforts to improve safeguarding, fearing it is an impossible task.
Caldey Island, off the coast of Tenby, Wales, has a dark past - with children being systematically sexually abused by a number of monks there for more than 50 years.
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Multiple men with convictions for sexual offences have been known to have resided on the island at various times for decades.
In December, a report was published following a 'thorough review' and has recommended several safeguarding measures.
But one victim, who was abused for several years on the island during visits with her family, from age six, told The Sun this week: 'It's just posturing, I'm not going to take any notice.
'They say they've got this review and we're going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that.'
The victim - who previously described to us the horrors she suffered - went on to explain why she believed the systems overseeing the island would make it impossible to prevent future abuse.
Mum told me not to report sick cult's abuse so I was silent for decades
By Ryan Merrifield
Evil monk Father Thaddeus Kotik, stationed at Caldey Island's monastery from 1947 until his death in 1992, never faced any criminal charges despite countless claims against him.
However, six victims were paid compensation after a 2016 civil case found the Cistercian priest had sexually abused them between 1972 and 1987.
One victim - who received a £19,000 payout - told The Sun she was advised against taking action by her mum and some former islanders who didn't want her to 'blacken the good name of Caldey'.
She made the trip to the island over school holidays and was preyed on almost every day by Kotik - also claiming she saw him abuse others, including babies.
The victim told us how the priest would wear Y-fronts back to front to seem harmless and naive, and 'to pretend he didn't know how it all worked'.
'We just thought, 'This is an adult who is interested in us.''
She continued: 'What I noticed about Father Thaddeus, he always abused [the children of] vulnerable families.'
She described coach loads of kids from care often visiting the island for days at a time, who he would prey on as they visited the Abbey grounds, often after luring them into the garden.
'The other monks said he was a bit of a joker, a bit of a child," she explained. "They didn't take him that seriously, but they knew there was something dodgy about him.'
Referring to the other monks and staff, she said: 'The whole island was like a cult, it was a feudal hierarchy. You had them at the top and then everybody else underneath.'
She claims in 1990 she told her mum - who died several years ago - about the abuse but was warned not to report it or Kotik would be segregated from the other monks on the island.
'Father Thaddeus would abuse us three or four times a day,' she recalled. 'His hands were very rough, and he always stank of BO. We would get infections because his hands were so dirty.'
She described how Kotik was 'so compulsive' and would invite kids to a makeshift office he had near the dairy.
His myna bird would chatter and he'd offer them biscuits before abusing them.
She said the Lincoln biscuits had 'lumps all over them'.
'I remember thinking they were the tears in my eyes and how sad they were. Thinking of somebody's eyes."
The victim finally stopped going to the island regularly at the age of 16.
By then, she had gone through puberty, so Kotik had lost interest in her.
But the trauma has remained, and she was later raped by someone linked to the Catholic church when she was 15.
'I felt I didn't have any rights over my body, I didn't feel I could say, 'No, I don't want to do this',' she said.
'What I tend to do now is just avoid people because I was never brought up to have the self confidence to say no.
'What I've realised is I'd rather be busy and lonely than in a relationship.
'When a relationship gets remotely sexual I'm right there and it's too loaded and too many conflicting feelings."
The probe was overseen by Former Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner for South Wales, Jan Pickles OBE.
It came after Maria Battle, former chair of the Howell Dda University Health Board in Wales, had been appointed to oversee the island earlier in 2024.
She is a director of the Caldey island Estate Company Ltd which has led anti-abuse campaigners to question her independence.
The report - which focused largely on accusations against the late Father Thaddeus Kotik - concluded victims of sexual abuse on the island were treated in a hostile, heartless and cruel way.
In response, Caldey Abbey, which commissioned the report, apologised for the suffering caused.
Father Thaddeus Kotik and Caldey Island
Victim testimonies from the 1970s collected by Ms Pickles suggest Kotik - who lived on Caldey from 1947 until his death in 1992 - was a 'serial and prolific abuser of children', often in 'plain sight' of others on the island.
The report states there were multiple other occasions where accusations of child sexual abuse were not appropriately logged or reported to the authorities.
Six of Kotik's victims were paid compensation after a 2016 civil case found the Cistercian priest had sexually abused them between 1972 and 1987.
The victim we spoke received a £19,000 payout. She told us Ms Pickles' has been 'very good' but added: 'They're not going to put the right things in place.'
They say they've got this review and we're going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that.
Caldey Island victim
She described the island itself as still 'a very feudal society' and said her and other victims have been invited to join the board which oversees the island, to help implement new safeguarding measures.
But she declined, telling us: 'I just don't really trust anyone who wants to sit on that board because it is like Sherry Arnstein's Ladder of Participation.'
This refers to a framework developed in the 1960s which shows who had power when important decisions are made.
'It looks at how undemocratic inviting people to give their views is,' said the victim.
HOW TO REPORT HISTORICAL SEX ABUSE
This guide was produced by Operation Hydrant - a coordination hub
established in June 2014 to deliver the national policing response,
oversight, and coordination of non-recent child sexual abuse
investigations.
It specifically looks at cases concerning persons of public prominence, or in relation to those offences which took place within institutional settings.
You can report to the police at any time.
It can be done in a number of ways – going to a police station, dialling 101, reporting online via a police website, or even through a third party, such as a friend or relative.
When you first make contact with the police, they will take an initial report, a 'first account'.
The force will then make contact with you to take more detailed information.
An impartial investigation will then be launched based on what you have told officers.
'It's just posturing, I'm not going to take any notice.
'They say they've got this review and we're going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that.'
She added the measures are just 'playing lip service' to 'show that they're doing due diligence… it doesn't help anything'.
As part of the review, the monks are not allowed to give religious or pastoral advice to visitors, even if asked, or pose for a selfie with them.
And under a 'no touch' policy will be obliged to report any accidental physical contact.
The victim described the selfie ban is 'pathetic', adding: 'It's not the selfies, it's the grooming of the families who come and stay.'
She said it is 'systemic' to the way the Catholic church often attempts to 'deal with things internally… they don't want to hand over the criminals to the law'.
She recalled during the 1980s an article in a Catholic publication blaming paedophilia on divorcees.
'It said if people didn't get divorced you wouldn't have this problem,' she said.
The review revealed that a number of sex offenders had spent time on Caldey, including Paul Ashton, who lived there for years under an alias while on the run from police.
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He had unrestricted access to the IT system and used it to download indecent images of children.
A visitor who discovered his true identity informed police and he was later jailed.
When he was discovered at Caldey Island in 2011, more indecent images were found on his computer in the monastery.
The visitor believed he had been operating a distribution network for indecent images of children, masquerading as a cleaning company.
Two other men, Father John Shannon and John Cronin, convicted of sexual offences involving children, have also been linked to Caldey Island.
Harrowing 'grooming' letter
In a letter from an island resident seen by The Sun, it was alleged that a 'grooming' culture still persists and that offenders are 'protected'.
The unnamed victim went on to tell us: 'If you're going to encourage people to take the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, it's going to attract somebody, a certain sort of person, and quite likely that sort of person might be a little bit inadequate emotionally, or has something wrong.'
She continued: 'I just think you've got the same situation now as you had back then.
'There's plenty of opportunity for a paedophile to groom families.
'There'll be someone on that island now who is a paedophile and it's just attracting that sort of person.'
She said: 'The problem is, people turn up there who are dodgy. They are looking to run away - like any kind of grass roots community, you're going to get some people who are on the run from something.
'There's quite a lot of dodgy people there.'
The problem is, people turn up there who are dodgy. They are looking to run away - like any kind of grass roots community, you're going to get some people who are on the run from something.
Caldey Island victim
Father Jan Rossey, who took on the role of abbot in 2023, said he'd read the review with "deep sorrow and regret" and that it was "particularly heartbreaking to hear children spoke up to adults and no action was taken.
"Children and their families were failed when they should have been supported and listened to,' he said.
He went on to 'sincerely apologise' to the victims of Kotik and 'past failures'.
He added: "Since becoming Abbot, I have ensured that many safeguarding improvements have been put in place. These are detailed in the review.'
Father Rossey said he had also reached out to anyone who came forward for the review 'offering to meet with them in person to apologise'.
The victim we spoke to, who was not involved in the review, said she had not received such an offer.
But said: 'I would meet him in person and I would tell him where I think the Catholic church has gone wrong - and how hollow some of these apologies are, and defensive, and not really genuine.'
She added: 'I know there are people who are happy to speak about what happened but I try to have as little to do with it all as possible.
'I don't like to talk about it, I like to forget it. It's very haunting - this thing is still living with me.'
'Committed to ensuring highest standards'
The Sun understands Safeguarding Officers and Trainers from the Religious Life Safeguarding Service (RLSS) have visited Caldey Island on multiple occasions since the investigation began, with the most recent visit taking place at the end of May.
Melissa Andrews, CEO of the RLSS, said: "We are working closely with Caldey Island to ensure best practice in safeguarding.
"Our team recently visited the island to deliver a series of training courses on-site, and we will continue to collaborate with their safeguarding lead to support and encourage their ongoing engagement."
A spokesperson for Caldey island Estate Company Ltd said: "We are committed to ensuring the highest standards of safeguarding on Caldey Island.
"Following the Independent Review led by Jan Pickles OBE—conducted entirely independently of Caldey Abbey—we have taken significant steps to implement all of the recommendations made.
"Safeguarding matters are now overseen by an independent committee, which includes representation from victims and survivors. In line with the Review's guidance, our Safeguarding Lead is a qualified and experienced social worker who operates independently of the Island.
We remain deeply committed to creating a safe, respectful, and transparent environment for everyone connected to Caldey Island, and we are grateful for the continued support and engagement of our wider community.
Caldey Island spokesperson
"We've made meaningful progress, much of which is detailed in the 2024 Annual Safeguarding Report, available on the Caldey Island website.
"Looking ahead, the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency will be conducting an independent audit of our safeguarding practices in June 2025.
"We welcome this review, and its findings will be made publicly available.
"We remain deeply committed to creating a safe, respectful, and transparent environment for everyone connected to Caldey Island, and we are grateful for the continued support and engagement of our wider community."
The Sun has also contacted Father Rossey for further comment.
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