Richard Scorer

Richard Scorer is a lawyer in Slater and Gordon Lawyers in Manchester where he is Head of Abuse Law. He was formerly Head of Serious Injury at Pannone solicitors.

He has represented hundreds of child abuse victims in cases against local authorities, schools and churches[1] and was a founder of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers. He acted for some of the victims of John Worboys.[2] He now acts for some of the victims of John Smyth in their claim against the Titus Trust.[3]

Catholic Church

In his book about abuse in the Catholic Church he presented a selection of case histories running from the 1960s to the present day, including that of John Tolkien. He gave some credit to the efforts of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Cardinal Vincent Nichols, but the picture he painted was not optimistic. His case is that the Church continued to deny and ignore the scandal of child sexual abuse and he criticised it for the inadequate support it provided for victims.[4] He shows how victims were disbelieved and offending priests were moved to different parishes where they found new victims to abuse and then given the chance to vanish before the law closed in.[5] He said that the Papal document Crimen sollicitationis showed that the Church systematically covered up abuse and tried to silence victims.[6]

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

He represents 68 victims and survivors of abuse before the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.[7] including former pupils of Downside School, Ampleforth College[8] and Chetham's School of Music, and victims of the late Sir Cyril Smith MP. In 2019, following oral evidence to the inquiry by Cardinal Nichols, he called for Nichols to step down from his role as Archbishop of Westminster, stating that "the charge sheet against Nichols is a long one. Having failed in his leadership roles in both Birmingham and Westminster, he cannot credibly lead the Catholic Church on these issues in the future. The systemic problems of the Catholic Church in relation to safeguarding are not capable of resolution by a single individual. But the Church needs leaders who command respect on these issues; Cardinal Nichols does not" (Tablet, 11 November 2019).

Addressing the inquiry in March 2020, he called for an end to religious groups' self-regulation on safeguarding and stated that "Religious freedom is not an absolute right. It can legitimately be adbridged to protect the rights and freedoms of others. There are few rights and freedoms more important than the right of children to be free of sexual abuse".

In 2018 he called for Richard Farnell, the former leader of Rochdale Council to be prosecuted for perjury when he was found to have lied under oath to the inquiry. He said that staff attitudes in the council had improved but that Rochdale political culture was still stuck in a backwards timewarp and remained in desperate need of reform.[9]

He has written extensively about the work of the inquiry for the National Secular Society,[10] of which he is vice-president.[11]

David Steel was suspended from his membership of the Liberal Democrat Party in 2019 after he admitted to the inquiry that he had known about Cyril Smith's child abuse. Scorer said “His failure to stop Smith in 1979, allowing him to go on and abuse more young boys, is inexcusable and he must be held to account." He called for him to be stripped of his peerage.[12]

Church of England

He denounced the Church of England saying that it had orchestrated years of institutional cover-up and denial and could not be trusted to put its own house in order. It had created a perfect environment in which abusers could flourish. He called for an independent body to be set up which could investigate allegations of abuse and override bishops who were unwilling to comply with their responsibilities.[13] He said that Bishop Peter Ball had found his fellow bishops to be the “perfect accomplices, prepared to turn a blind eye to his abuse over many decades”.[14]

Safeguarding boards

He attacked proposals to dispense with local safeguarding children’s boards in the Children and Social Work Bill, because there would be no statutory obligation to involve all the relevant agencies.[15]

Publications
  • APIL Guide to Child Abuse Compensation Claims (with Elizabeth-Anne Gumbal QC, and Malcolm Johnson, 2011
  • Betrayed - The English Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis, Biteback Publishing, 2014
  • Contributor to "Letters to a Broken Church", Ekklesia Publications, 2019
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References
  1. "RICHARD SCORER". Biteback Publishing. 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  2. Booth, Robert; Weaver, Matthew; Dodd, Vikram; Bowcott, Owen (5 January 2018). "John Worboys: alleged victims ready to bring fresh prosecutions, lawyer says". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  3. "John Smyth's accusers launch claim against Titus Trust". Church Times. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  4. "Betrayed: the English Catholic Church and the sex abuse crisis by Richard Scorer". The Tablet. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  5. "Book review: Betrayed: The English Catholic Church and the Sex Abuse Crisis". New Law Journal. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  6. "Vatican told bishops to cover up sex abuse". Guardian. 17 August 2003. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  7. "Catholic priest John Tolkien returned to Birmingham ministry despite ordering scouts to strip naked". Birmingham Mail. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  8. "Child abuse inquiry: School 'reputations put before victims'". BBC. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  9. "Lawyer calls for perjury charges to be considered against Rochdale's former council leader Richard Farnell". Manchester Evening News. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  10. "Author: Richard Scorer". National Secular Society. 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  11. "Survivors say Church hierarchy failing to lead on child abuse". National Secular Society. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  12. "David Steel suspended from Lib Dems over Cyril Smith revelation". Guardian. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  13. "Church of England put reputation first, child abuse inquiry told". Guardian. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  14. "Establishment 'rallied to help ex-bishop later jailed for abuse'". Guardian. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
  15. "The government is jeopardising progress on child sexual exploitation". Guardian. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
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