The British Catholic Church could face a slew of U.S.-style compensation claims over child abuse after a former City lawyer today won the right to claim £5 million damages.Patrick Raggett, 50, claims he ruined his life because of years of “insidious” abuse by Fr. Michael Spencer, a teacher at the Jesuit-run Preston Catholic College in Lancashire.
Child abuse has cost the Catholic Church in the US over $2.6 billion, with $436 million paid out last year alone.
Up until now the Church and religious orders in the UK have escaped that level of claims with cases usually settled out of court for a few thousand pounds . . . .
The college closed in 1978 and the governors deny liability, arguing that even if there was abuse the case should not proceed because it was outside the legal time limit. Fr. Spencer died nine years ago aged 76.
Statute of limitations and dead defendant be damned: Justice, it seems, must prevail—especially when finding that justice happens to impoverish the Catholic Church.
