Latest news with #paedophilia
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Are paedophiles born or made? Forensic psychiatrist reveals the dark truth
A psychiatrist has revealed whether paedophiles are born or made as a result of nature. Dr Sohom Das is a forensic psychiatrist, from London, who also runs an eponymous YouTube channel. He shares content about crime, mental health conditions, and psychology, among other topics. His previous video topics include how having ADHD can affect your love life, why women are more likely to binge watch true crime than men, and six reasons why female prison officers have sex with inmates. In this clip, titled Are you born a pedophile?, he discussed whether the crimes are due to nature or nurture. According to the American Psychological Society's dictionary: 'Paedophilia, in which sexual acts or fantasies involving prepubertal children are the persistently preferred or exclusive method of achieving sexual excitement. 'The children are usually many years younger than the pedophile [...] Sexual activity may consist of looking and touching but may include intercourse, even with very young children. Pedophilia is rarely seen in women.' Speaking in the video, the expert said: 'Are you born a paedophile? Well, essentially, no, but the answer is quite complicated, because it's both nature and nurture.' Dr Das went on to explain that while people 'might have inherent, actual preferences [...] at the same time, external events or scenarios can massively increase the risk'. According to the psychiatrist, those who have suffered sexual assault themselves are most at risk. Research released in 2024 showed the staggering scale of the online sexual exploitation and abuse of children, suggesting that more than 300 million are victims every year. In what marked the first global estimate of the scale of the crisis, researchers at the University of Edinburgh found one in eight, or 12.6 per cent, of the world's children have been victims of non-consensual talking, sharing and exposure to sexual images and video in the past year, amounting to about 302 million young people. In addition, 12.5 per cent of children globally (300 million) are estimated to have been subject in the past year to online solicitation, such as unwanted sexual talk which can include non-consensual sexting, unwanted sexual questions and unwanted sexual act requests by adults or other youths. Offences can also take the form of 'sextortion', where predators demand money from victims to keep images private, to abuse of AI deepfake technology. While problems exist in all parts of the world, the research suggests the United States is a particularly high-risk area. The university's Childlight initiative – which aims to understand the prevalence of child abuse – includes a new global index, Into The Light, which found one in nine men in the US (almost 14 million) admitted online offending against children at some point. Surveys found seven per cent of British men, or 1.8 million, admitted the same, as did 7.5 per cent of men in Australia. The research also found many men admitted they would seek to commit physical sexual offences against children if they thought it would be kept secret. Childlight chief executive Paul Stanfield said: 'This is on a staggering scale that in the UK alone equates to forming a line of male offenders that could stretch all the way from Glasgow to London – or filling Wembley Stadium 20 times over. 'Child abuse material is so prevalent that files are on average reported to watchdog and policing organisations once every second. 'This is a global health pandemic that has remained hidden for far too long. It occurs in every country, it's growing exponentially, and it requires a global response. 'We need to act urgently and treat it as a public health issue that can be prevented. Children can't wait'.
The Sun
28-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
France's worst child rapist jailed for 20yrs after doc abused 299 patients as young as 4 & bragged ‘I'm a proud paedo'
FRANCE'S worst child rapist has been jailed for 20 years after the sick doctor abused nearly 300 patients and bragged in a diary he was a "proud" paedophile. Depraved Joel Le Scouarnec, 73, a former surgeon, admitted at least 299 horrifying crimes against victims who were mostly under the age of 15, with the youngest just four. 9 9 Many of the monster's victims were under the effects of anaesthesia or recovering from surgery, prosecutors said. On Wednesday, Le Scouarnec showed no emotion as jury at the Morbihan Criminal Court, in Brittany, found him guilty of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults. Presiding Judge Aude Burési in turn sentenced him to "twenty years in prison" with a minimum two-thirds term without the possibility of parole "to prevent reoffending". The offences took place between 1989 and 2014, while other alleged crimes were not prosecuted because they happened too long ago. During a three-month trial, the court heard how Le Scourarnec mainly abused patients while they were still under anaesthetic, or slowly waking up following operations. Thomas Delaby, a barrister representing one of his victims, told Le Scourarnec he is "the worst mass paedophile who ever lived" and "an atomic bomb of paedophilia" He added: "Your victims will never forgive you." Speaking just before the verdict, Le Scourarnec said: "I'm not asking the court for leniency. Simply grant me the right to become a better person." The defendant also explained how he had caused the the deaths of at least two of his victims. Le Scouarnec said: "I am responsible for the deaths of Mathis Vinet, who died after an overdose in 2021" and Alan Roux, who was found hanged at his home in 2020. In turn, prosecutors who had heard Le Scouarnec described as "France's worst ever paedophile" said he was "a devil" and there was "a very high risk" of him re-offending if ever allowed out of his cell. Stéphane Kellenberger, the Attorney General, said his proven crimes were committed against 158 males and 141 females, with an average age of 11. Requesting a "maximum possible sentence of twenty years" for Le Scouarnec, Mr Kellenberger said there needed to be "additional security measures," because of the danger Le Scourarnec still posed. The former surgeon is already serving 15 years behind bars after he was found guilty in 2020 of raping and sexually assaulting four young girls. Two of these victims were his nieces, one was his neighbour, and the fourth was a former patient of his. He stopped working at the hospital and was arrested in 2017 when his six-year-old neighbour reported being raped. After his 2017 arrest, investigators made shocking discoveries at his home, including the repulsive diary where he detailed sexual acts with children. The monster doctor described himself as an 'exhibitionist, voyeur, sadist, masochist, scatologist, fetishist, pedophile'. Every year on his birthday Le Scouarnec would record his age and write a vile message to himself. He wrote: "I am a paedophile and I am proud of it." His diaries reportedly described the apparent crimes in great detail and without an ounce of regret or empathy. He also included the children's names, the date he allegedly abused them, and where it happened. Le Scouarnec denied these words were a reality and claimed they were just his sick "fantasies". Cops also discovered horrifying child-sized sex dolls, some of them chained up, and over 300,000 child abuse images were discovered. MISSED CHANCE Worrying questions have been raised after it was revealed a litany of chances to stop the monster were missed. An FBI warning had alerted the French authorities that the former surgeon had been visiting child abuse websites. The disgraced surgeon had been convicted of downloading pornographic images of children in 2005. A psychiatrist at the hospital Le Scouarnec was also working raised the alarm and said this conviction should lead to him being kicked out of his job. It was revealed the French health ministry was made aware of this conviction in 2006 but decided to take no further action. 9 9 9 In June 2008, Le Scouarnec moved to a new hospital in Jonzac, in south-west France, and told the director he was being investigated. This was disregarded and the monster worked there until he retired in 2017. WIFE 'COVERED UP DRUG AND RAPE HORROR' Le Scouarnec's ex wife was said to have covered up his crimes for decades, a court heard in February. Many victims of the surgeon accused his ex-wife Marie-France Le Scouarnec of covering up his "paedo criminal activities" for decades. Ms Le Scouarnec, the mother of their three sons, insisted she knew nothing about her ex-husband's crimes. She told the court: "I wondered how I could have not noticed anything. "It's a terrible betrayal that he committed against me and my children." However, a letter handwritten by Ms Le Scouarnec in 2010 that was also entered as evidence read: "I ask you to please protect my youngest son, the only one who does not know his father's past." Ms Le Scouarnec also said her husband was an "ideal father" to his sons. She regretted that her domestic life had in fact been "sewn with lies". One of her sons said in an interview that Le Scouarnec was "an intelligent man, a little cold, who is interested in many things", the court heard. Marie-Caroline Arrighi, a spokesman for four victims, said outside court at the time: "She knew. Marie-France Le Scouarnec knew and protected her husband." Referring to Ms Le Scouarnec's denials, Ms Arrighi said: "Reading such comments is truly disgusting. "We affirm, with supporting evidence, that this woman knew about her husband's paedocriminal activities well before the case broke in 2017. "She knowingly concealed them, allowing him to act for more than 30 years." Calling the couple "evil", Ms Arrighi added: "Reporting sexual crimes and offences against minors is a legal obligation." 9 9 9
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Surgeon dubbed 'the worst serial paedophile who ever lived' after sexually abusing hundreds of patients over three decades is jailed for the maximum 20 years in France
A French surgeon described as 'the worst mass paedophile who ever lived' and an 'atomic bomb' of child abuse was today sentenced to two decades in prison for raping scores of youngsters over three decades. Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, admitted at least 299 horrifying crimes against victims who were mostly under the age of 15, with the youngest just four. On Wednesday, Le Scouarnec showed no emotion as jury at the Morbihan Criminal Court, in Brittany, found him guilty of 111 rapes and 189 sexual assaults. Presiding Judge Aude Burési in turn sentenced him to 'twenty years in prison' with a minimum two-thirds term without the possibility of parole 'to prevent reoffending'. The offences took place between 1989 and 2014, while other alleged crimes were not prosecuted because they happened too long ago. During a three-month trial, the court heard how Le Scourarnec mainly abused patients while they were still under anaesthetic, or slowly waking up following operations. Thomas Delaby, a barrister representing one of his victims, told Le Scourarnec: 'You are the worst mass paedophile who ever lived' and 'an atomic bomb of victims will never forgive you.' Speaking just before the verdict, Le Scourarnec said: 'I'm not asking the court for leniency. Simply grant me the right to become a better person.' The defendant also explained how he had caused the the deaths of at least two of his victims. Le Scouarnec said: 'I am responsible for the deaths of Mathis Vinet, who died after an overdose in 2021' and Alan Roux, who was found hanged at his home in 2020. In turn, prosecutors who had heard Le Scouarnec decribed as 'France's worst ever paedophile' said he was 'a devil' and there was 'a very high risk' of him reoffending if ever allowed out of his cell. Stéphane Kellenberger, the Attorney General, said his proven crimes were committed against 158 males and 141 females, with an average age of 11. Requesting a 'maximum possible sentence of twenty years' for Le Scouarnec, Mr Kellenberger said there needed to be 'additional security measures,' because of the danger Le Scourarnec still posed. Le Scouarnec is already in prison after being sentenced in December 2020 to 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting four children, including two of his nieces. The surgeon practised for decades until his retirement in 2017, despite a 2005 sentence for owning sexually abusive images of children. His wife, Marie-France Le Scouarnec, was also portrayed as a ruthless accomplice, while denying any wrongdoing. She spent her days taking lovers and going to aquaerobics, while her once highly respected surgeon husband repeatedly attacked children, it was alleged. Ms Le Scouarnec, the mother of his three sons, lived with him throughout that time, and has always denied knowing what he was doing. But Patrick Le Scouarnec, the 70-year-old brother of the defendant, told the court that she was being untruthful. 'There is another person who could have ensured that my brother was arrested – it is his wife, Marie-France,' said Mr Le Scouarnec. Victims of Le Scouarnec have also accused Ms Le Scouarnec of covering up his 'paedocriminal activities' for decades. Ms Le Scouarnec said: 'I wondered how I could have not noticed anything. It's a terrible betrayal that he committed against me and my children.' Those watching Le Scouarnec intently today as the verdict was read out included many of his victims. They want the authorities, who they say should have stopped Le Scouarnec earlier, to answer for the scandal. In comments that have been published and broadcast across France, victims called for Le Scouarnec's wife to be prosecuted too. Marie-Caroline Arrighi, a spokesman for four victims, said outside court: 'She knew. Marie-France Le Scouarnec knew and protected her husband.' Calling the couple 'evil,' Ms Arrighi added: 'Reporting sexual crimes and offenses against minors is a legal obligation.' The Lorient public prosecutor's office has opened two new investigations into Le Scouarnec's professional career, which ended in 2017. They include 'possibly unidentified and newly reported victims' of sexual abuse and rape. The Le Scouarnec case follows last year's conviction of Dominique Pelicot, 72, after the so-called 'Monster of Avignon' was found guilty of drugging his wife Gisèle Pelicot, also 72, over a decade, while allowing strangers to rape her repeatedly. Such crimes have led to calls for great public vigilance, and more efforts by the authorities to clamp down on sex criminals.
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Victims in French Le Scouarnec child abuse trial shocked at public indifference
It was supposed to be a defining, catalytic moment for French but unmissable. seaside town of Vannes, in southern Brittany, had carefully prepared a special venue and a separate overflow amphitheatre for the occasion. Hundreds of journalists were accredited for a process that would, surely, dominate headlines in France throughout its three-month duration and force a queasy public to confront a crime too often shunted to the Some of the details of this story are disturbingComparisons were quickly made with - and expectations tied to - last year's Pelicot mass rape trial in southern France and the massive global attention it the trial of France's most prolific known paedophile, Joel Le Scouarnec - a retired surgeon who has admitted in court to raping or sexually assaulting 299 people, almost all of them children - is coming to an end this Wednesday amid widespread frustration."I'm exhausted. I'm angry. Right now, I don't have much hope. Society seems totally indifferent. It's frightening to think [the rapes] could happen again," one of Le Scouarnec's victims, Manon Lemoine, 36, told the BBC. Ms Lemoine and some 50 other victims, stung by an apparent lack of public interest in the trial, have formed their own campaign group to pressure the French authorities, accusing the government of ignoring a "landmark" case which exposed a "true laboratory of institutional failures".The group has questioned why a parliamentary commission has not been set up, as in other high-profile abuse cases, and spoken of being made to feel "invisible", as if "the sheer number of victims prevented us from being recognised."Some of the victims, most of whom had initially chosen to testify anonymously, have now decided to reveal their identities in public – even posing for photos on the courthouse steps – in the hope of jolting France into paying more attention and, perhaps, learning lessons about a culture of deference that helped a prestigious surgeon to rape with impunity for decades. The crimes for which Le Scouarnec is on trial all occurred between 1998 and 2014."It's not normal that I should have to show my face. [But] I hope that what we're doing now will change things. That's why we decided to rise up, to make our voices heard," said Ms what has gone wrong?Were the horrors too extreme, the subject matter too unremittingly grim or simply too uncomfortable to contemplate? Why, when the whole world knows the name of Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot, has a trial with significantly more victims - child victims abused under the noses of the French medical establishment - passed by with what feels like little more than a collective shudder? Why does the world not know the name Joel Le Scouarnec?"The Le Scouarnec case is not mobilising a lot of people. Perhaps because of the number of victims. We hear the disappointment, the lack of wide mobilisation, which is a pity," said Maëlle Nori, from feminist NGO Nous Toutes (All of Us). Some observers have reflected on the absence in this case of a single, totemic figure like Gisèle Pelicot, whose public courage caught the public imagination and enabled people to find some light in an otherwise bleak have reached more devastating conclusions."The issue is that this trial is about sexual abuse of children. There's a virtual omertà on this topic globally, but particularly in France. "We simply don't want to acknowledge it," Myriam Guedj-Benayoun, a lawyer representing several of Le Scouarnec's victims, told her closing arguments to the court, Ms Guedj-Benayoun condemned what she called France's "systemic, organised silence" regarding child abuse. She spoke of a patriarchal society in which men in respected positions like medicine remained almost beyond reproach and pointed to "the silence of those who knew, those who looked the other way, and those who could have – should have – raised the alarm". The depravity exposed during the trial has been astonishing – too much for many to court in Vannes has heard in excruciating detail how Le Scouarnec, 74, wallowed in his paedophilia, carefully detailing each child rape in a succession of black notebooks, often preying on his vulnerable young patients while they were under anaesthetic or recovering from surgery. The court has also been told of the retired surgeon's growing isolation, and of what his own lawyer described as "your descent into hell", in the final decade before he was caught, in 2017, after abusing a neighbour's six-year-old the end, alone in a filthy house, drinking heavily and ostracised by many of his relatives, Le Scouarnec was spending much of his time watching violent images of child rape online, and obsessing over a collection of lifelike child-sized dolls."I was emotionally attached to them... They did what I wanted," Le Scouarnec told the court in his quiet monotone. A few blocks from the courthouse, in an adapted civic hall, journalists have watched the proceedings unfold on a television screen. In recent days, the seats have begun to fill up and coverage of the trial has increased as it moves towards a commentators have noted how the Le Scouarnec trial, like the Pelicot case, has exposed the deep institutional failings which enabled the surgeon to continue his rapes long after they could have been detected and Pelicot had been caught "upskirting" in a supermarket in 2010 and his DNA quickly linked to an attempted rape in 1999 – a fact that, astonishingly, wasn't followed up for a whole Le Scouarnec's trial a succession of medical officials have explained – some ashamedly, others self-servingly – how an overstretched rural healthcare system chose, for years, to ignore the fact that the surgeon had been reported by America's FBI in 2004 after using a credit card to pay to download videos of child rapes on his computer."I was advised not to talk about such and such a person," said one doctor who'd tried to sound the alarm."There is a shortage of surgeons, and those who show up are welcomed like the messiah," explained a hospital director."I messed up, I admit it, like the whole hierarchy," a different administrator finally conceded. Another connection between the Pelicot and Le Scouarnec cases is what they've both revealed about our understanding – or lack of understanding – of warning or support, Gisèle Pelicot had been abruptly confronted by police with the video evidence of her own drugging and rapes. Later, during the trial, some defence lawyers and other commentators sought to minimise her suffering by pointing to the fact that she'd been unconscious during the rapes – as if trauma only exists, like a wound, when its scar is visible to the naked the Le Scouarnec case, French police appear to have gone about searching for the paedophile's many victims in a similarly brusque manner, summoning people for an unexplained interview and then informing them, out of the blue, that they'd been listed in the surgeon's reactions of Le Scouarnec's many victims have varied widely. Some have simply chosen not to engage with the trial, or with a childhood experience of which they have no others, news of the abuse has affected them profoundly."You've entered my head, it's destroying me. I've become a different person – one I don't recognise," said a victim, addressing Le Scouarnec in court."I have no memories and I'm already damaged," said another."It turned me upside down," a policeman admitted. And then there is a different group of people who – not unlike Gisèle Pelicot – have found that knowledge of their abuse has been revelatory, enabling them to make sense of things they had not previously understood about themselves or their have connected their childhood abuse to a general sense of unhappiness, or poor behaviour, or failure in life. For others, the links have been much more specific, helping to explain a litany of mysterious symptoms and behaviours, from a fear of intimacy to repeated genital infections and eating disorders."With my boyfriend, every time we have sex, I vomit," one woman revealed in court. "I had so many after-effects from my operation. But no-one could explain why I had this irrational fear of hospitals," said another victim, Amé have described the trial itself as being like a group therapy session, with victims bonding over shared traumas which they'd previously believed they were suffering alone."This trial is like a clinical laboratory involving 300 victims. I sincerely hope it will change France. In any case it will change the victims' perception of trauma and traumatic memory," said the lawyer, Ms her concerns about the lack of public interest, Manon Lemoine said the trial had helped the victims "to rebuild ourselves, to turn a page. We lay out our pain and our experiences and we leave it behind [in the courtroom]. So, for me, really, it was liberating."Having confessed to his crimes, Le Scouarnec will inevitably receive a guilty verdict and will almost certainly remain in prison for the rest of his life. Two of his victims took their own lives some years before the trial - a fact which he acknowledged in court with the same penitent but formulaic apology that he's offered to everyone some activists remain hopeful that the case will prove to be a turning point in French society."Compared to the Pelicot trial... we can see we don't talk very much about the Le Scouarnec case. We need to unite. We have to do this, otherwise nothing will happen, and the Le Scouarnec trial will have served no purpose. I was also a victim as a child. We're obliged to react and to organise ourselves," said Arnaud Gallais, a child rights campaigner and founder of the Mouv'Enfants NGO.A more wary assessment came from the lawyer, Ms Guedj-Benayoun."Now, there is a very important standoff between those who want to denounce child sexual violence and those who want to cover it up, and this standoff is taking place today in this trial. Who will win?" she you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC's Action Line.
ABC News
16-05-2025
- ABC News
Church report revealed concerns about paedophile links at Queensland school
A report by Catholic church authorities raised concerns about the links between known paedophiles and their associates accused of historical child sex abuse at a rural Queensland boarding school. Warning: This story contains distressing content about The report, which was handed to Queensland police in 2022, detailed the connections between seven men who worked at St Teresa's College in Abergowrie, near Ingham, between 1989 and 2012. Three of them have since been convicted of child sex offences, including former school safety officer and boarding master David Justin Crisp, who was jailed this week after more than three decades on the run from police. Alastair McDougall, a former detective who issued the warrant for Crisp's arrest in 1993, said he had no inkling then that the case would lead to the exposure of a disturbing web of offenders at an "out of the way" school catering to vulnerable teenagers. "When you look at who was there at the time and what positions they held, and the allegations proven and unproven against them, those boys just didn't stand a chance," Mr McDougall said. Jacqui Francis, the current chief executive of Townsville Catholic Education which runs St Teresa's College, said its handling of allegations against Crisp between 1989 and 1993 was 'totally inadequate". "We acknowledge historical abuse and the pain and suffering that past students have been subjected to," she said. "No student or family should be subjected to this pain." The "Connections at St Teresa's College" report, seen by the ABC, shows the seven men shared personal and professional histories, helped each other get jobs, and some were accused of targeting the same victims. It reveals that five of the men have been accused of sexually abusing up to 14 boys at the school between 1989 and 1998, while the other two were accused or convicted of abusing children elsewhere. Some complaints emerged in recent years and were settled with church payouts of up to $70,000, according to church documents. But only one complaint from the school has resulted in a criminal conviction. Crisp, 57, was sentenced in the Townsville District Court on Wednesday to serve eight months in prison for indecent treatment of a boy in his care. Mr McDougall, who went on to work for some of Australia's top crime-fighting agencies, said it was his only "unresolved" case and he never expected Crisp to be caught. Crisp was 25 years old and facing charges of abusing three boys when he fled to the UK via Vanuatu and New Caledonia. He finally returned to Australia last year to care for his sick mother in Toowoomba, where police swooped in to arrest him after a tip from Crime Stoppers. "And I'm just really hopeful that that sense of closure is one that's also felt by the remaining complainant." Two alleged victims did not live to see Crisp face court and those charges were withdrawn. But their original statements were admitted as "tendency" evidence in the case and Crisp pleaded guilty, which spared surviving victim the distress of giving testimony in court. The victim was exposed to abuse after Crisp was allowed to return to the school despite allegations by the other two boys prompting him to resign in 1990. An internal investigation at the time found one boy had "mistaken a medical examination" by Crisp for sexual abuse, which a later church report found 'inherently' unlikely. The school priest Brooks Patterson told church officials he believed the other boy's account was truthful — but privately he told Crisp that "there are those of us who believe in you and will support you to the hilt". The decision by principal James Sampson Doran to rehire Crisp in 1992 was "extraordinary and indefensible", according to a 2016 internal report. When then Detective Senior Constable McDougall asked for files about earlier complaints against Crisp, he was told that "details of the previous incident would not assist" and a church investigation had resolved the matter. Mr McDougall said this was "completely incorrect". He said that given Crisp was welcomed back to the school by a "principal who was [later] a convicted paedophile… you have to say it was a cover up". The principal, Doran, died in 2018 while serving a 13-year sentence for child sex abuse. The 2022 church report highlighted close ties between Doran and Crisp, who was suspected of sexually abusing up to seven boys and harassing two others at St Teresa's. Three of them alleged they also were sexually abused by Doran. In one complaint referred to police in 2016, a former student alleged that Crisp "would masturbate over him and other students", while Doran allegedly abused him in so-called counselling sessions after plying him with alcohol "laced with drugs". The report says the two predators were "strongly suspected as having a sexual relationship whilst they both worked at [the school]". Crisp was a former student of Doran's at St John's College in Lismore, where Doran preyed on boys in the 1970s and 1980s. Crisp then worked at the school as a boarding supervisor alongside Doran, who gave him a glowing work reference. After Doran became principal of St Teresa's in 1989, he recruited both Crisp and his father as boarding masters. Church documents show Townsville Catholic Education officials knew Doran was accused of sexual misconduct in Lismore in 1983 but "noted [this] as having been dismissed". Doran was eventually jailed for his earlier offences — but he was never charged over his time at St Teresa's. A fourth former student accused Doran of sexual abuse in 2021. The church report a year later noted Doran had hired three other alleged paedophiles who had close associations with convicted child sex offenders who provided work references. The church referred one of these men to NSW police after an informant accused him of being a "notorious paedophile who fled from Sydney to North Queensland to avoid persecution". It said NSW police knew of no allegations against the man but urged the church to notify Queensland police given his "connection to Doran" through a Sydney boarding school in the 1970s. The report also named Raymond Frederick Ayles, an Anglican priest who was assigned to support non-Catholic students at St Teresa's in 1989. There were no complaints at the school about Ayles but he was later jailed for molesting boys in Adelaide in the 1970s. The church in August 2022 reported its findings on the "possible connection of multiple alleged/ potential offenders" to child protection police in Townsville, who "advised that they have generated an intelligence submission" to share with police interstate. Ms Francis said the Catholic church in Townsville was "committed to assisting investigations for victims to receive justice, healing and compensation". "We have welcomed and embedded legislative changes and prioritised student protection within our current system's policies and procedures," she said. "The safety of students is our number one priority and we have had a dedicated student protection team at Townsville Catholic Education since 2014." Mr McDougall said it was "pretty disappointing" the same information was not shared with police years earlier. He said it revealed a network of convicted and alleged offenders who had "assisted each other to find employment with each other, which has allowed them to cover up effectively any complaints that come forward". Mr McDougall said he thought it would "never have seen the light of day" without that first complaint to police by the teenager from St Teresa's.
