'Manipulative' monk jailed for abusing boys

Michael James Callaghan, known as Father James, has been jailed for seven years

A "manipulative and controlling" monk who sexually abused two pupils at a North Yorkshire public school has been jailed for seven years.

Michael James Callaghan, 71, abused his position of trust when he preyed on the teenage boys at Ampleforth College, a Catholic boarding school, Durham Crown Court heard.

Callaghan, of Moortown, Leeds, was found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault on one pupil in the 1990s and one count of sexual assault on another teenager in the 2010s.

Known as Father James at the college, Callaghan will be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offenders' register for life.

The older victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, read out a statement during the sentencing hearing.

"Father James was manipulative and controlling," he said.

"My life was hijacked when I was just 14 and I have been dealing with the fallout ever since."

The court heard how Callaghan groomed the boy and engineered ways to be alone with him, took him out of school for meals and gave him cigarettes.

The complainant described to police how Callaghan would "take on the role of a boy I had a crush on" and they would kiss and simulate sex.

He told police he "hated the sexual bit of it" and realised as an adult it "wasn't right", the Teesside Crown Court trial previously heard.

The second victim described how he suffered from nightmares and panic attacks.

"I looked up to him, I trusted him," he said in a statement.

"He chose to violate my boundaries; first to groom me over a period of time and then to sexually assault me."

Judge Richard Clews, sentencing, told the defendant right-thinking people would "recoil in horror" at the idea of a Roman Catholic priest having a sexual relationship with a boy.

The offences took place at Ampleforth College between 1994 and 2013, a court hears

David Lamb KC, defending, said Callaghan had no previous convictions and he had expressed remorse for his actions after conviction.

The school, described in court as "the Catholic Eton", said it had "overhauled" safeguarding systems and actively offered help to survivors of abuse.

In a statement, it said: "Ampleforth College deplores abuse and offers a heartfelt apology to the victims and their families for the profound suffering and pain that Michael James Callaghan has inflicted upon them.

"We acknowledge past failings and feel great sorrow at the terrible betrayal of trust."

It said the monk left the school in 2018 and it fully supported the police investigation, which started in 2022.

Det Con Alison Morris, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "Not only did Callaghan abuse his position of trust in the most appalling way, taking advantage of vulnerable boys he should have been caring for and protecting, he denied his offences throughout.

"He showed no remorse for the pain and suffering he caused."

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