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06 June 2014
Issue: 7609 / Categories: Features
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Book review: Betrayed: The English Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis

"His book is exhaustively researched, beautifully written, passionate yet objective & a major contribution to the literature on this heart-breaking subject"

Author: Richard Scorer
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 9781849546829
Price: £20

In 1956 Christopher Carrie, then 11 years old, was called to see Father John Tolkien, a Roman Catholic priest and son of the famous author, at the English Martyrs Presbytery in Birmingham. Tolkien gave Carrie a long talk about the “facts of life”, and then said that he needed to examine him. He ordered Carrie to strip naked, and then gave him a “special blessing”, which involved pouring holy water on Carrie’s penis and massaging it. Carrie was ordered to return the next week. The ceremony then involved rubbing Carrie’s penis between Tolkien’s praying hands. Don’t tell anyone about this, Carrie was told. If you do, Jesus will be offended, and you might lose your soul. Carrie was terrified.

The abuse wrecked Carrie’s life. He was full of self-disgust, suffered a mental breakdown, and his marriage fell apart. In 1993, having established that Tolkien was still a serving

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NEWS
Talk of a reserved ‘Welsh seat’ on the Supreme Court is misplaced. In NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC explains that the Constitutional Reform Act treats ‘England and Wales’ as one jurisdiction, with no statutory Welsh slot
The government’s plan to curb jury trials has sparked ‘jury furore’. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke, partner at Hill Dickinson, says the rationale is ‘grossly inadequate’
A year after the $1.5bn Bybit heist, crypto fraud is booming—but so is recovery. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Holloway, founder and CEO of M2 Recovery, warns that scams hit at least $14bn in 2025, fuelled by ‘pig butchering’ cons and AI deepfakes
After Woodcock confirmed no general duty to warn, debate turns to the criminal law. Writing in NLJ this week, Charles Davey of The Barrister Group urges revival of misprision or a modern equivalent
Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
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