A teacher known as the “cool monk” sexually abused a pupil at a top Catholic boarding school in the 1990s, it’s alleged.
Michael James Callaghan, 71, was a middle-aged house master at the time of the alleged offences at Ampleforth College, the prestigious private school for boys near York.
Mr Callaghan, who denies all allegations, appeared for the first day of his trial at Teesside Crown Court today (Monday).
He is accused of 12 counts of indecent assault against one boy in the 1990s and one count of sexual assault against another pupil in 2013.
Prosecutor Mark McCone said that Callaghan was in his early 40s when he started abusing the boy who had accused him of multiple counts of indecent assault which allegedly occurred over a period of years.
He said the abuse began when Mr Callaghan kissed the boy when the pupil was under 16 years of age and that this behaviour occurred on “no fewer than 10 occasions” thereafter.
It’s also alleged that the monk made the boy perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on him during first-aid role play in which the then teacher “pretended to have a heart attack”.
Mr McKone said this occurred on “no less than three occasions” thereafter.
In other instances, Mr Callaghan allegedly made the boy sit astride him and simulate sex with him.
In other incidents, Mr Callaghan, known to pupils as “Father James”, allegedly grabbed the boy’s bottom, and in others he allegedly made the pupil rub an intimate part of his body over his clothing.
The former teacher is also accused of making the teenager bite him on an intimate area over clothing on at least six occasions.
‘Really bad place’
Mr McKone said that the kissing and the “mouth-to-mouth resuscitation role play” occurred when the boy was under 16 years of age and therefore by law he couldn’t have consented. The other incidents occurred when the boy was 16 or over but without consent.
The alleged victim, now a middle-aged man, finally came forward to police in December 2022 to make allegations against Mr Callaghan.
He told officers he had been in “survival mode for 25 years” after realising, in his adult years, that what the former teacher had done “wasn’t right”.
He said that at the time he was “in a really bad place and was going through hell at the school”.
The former boarding pupil said that Mr Callaghan would take him shopping in York and take him out for lunch. These “outings” in the teacher’s car would become “frequent”.
He said that after school mass, Mr Callaghan would ask to meet him at “different places” including in guest rooms.
At these meetings, the monk would use “sexual language” towards him. There were “lots of hugs, lots of touching”.
“I was made to feel very special,” he added.
He said the hugs were “too long and too tight” and that the monk was “pushing into him”.
“The defendant got (the boy) a key cut for a room at the school used for homeless people, where the defendant and (the boy) would meet,” said Mr McKone.
In this room, there would be “kissing, hugging”, and the monk would get the boy to “sit on top of him, simulating sex”.
The alleged victim said this behaviour continued until he left school and that he had been “guilty-tripped” into seeing “Father James” who once gifted him a present.
‘I was shocked’
Another former pupil at the boarding school in the North York Moors – known more formally as Ampleforth Abbey and College – claims that the former teacher sexually assaulted him by “groping” his bottom in 2013.
The complainant made disclosures to police in September last year. He told officers that Mr Callaghan had been popular with pupils and was thought of as a “cool monk”.
He said that one day Mr Callaghan – who was 59 years’ old at the time – invited him for a glass of wine, but he refused. However, on a subsequent occasion, the teacher sexually assaulted him when they were in a room together.
The complainant said he was about to leave the room when Mr Callaghan followed him to the door and hugged him, which felt more like a “tight squeeze”.
“We were facing each other and then I felt his hand,” he added. “He groped me on the bottom and I froze. I was shocked.”
Mr Callaghan, now living in of Harrogate Road, Moortown, Leeds, made no comment when quizzed by police about the allegations brought by the first complainant who was allegedly abused over a period of years.
“The prosecution understands that the defendant’s case is that he had some sexual activity with (the first complainant) but only after (the complainant) was 16 and with (the complainant’s) consent,” said Mr McKone.
He said there were also likely to be disputes with the defence over “how far the sexual activity went”.
During police questioning about the allegation made by the second complainant who alleged sexual assault, Mr Callaghan claimed it didn’t happen.
Neither of the complainants can be named for legal reasons.
The trial continues.