Church's huge payout to "unsafe" priest
Plus: Attacked PC feared death as thug taunted him
Hello and welcome to today’s edition of The Lancashire Lead. I’ll start with the periodical reminder that I’m always keen to hear readers’ feedback so if you have any thoughts, comments or suggestions please get in touch using this form or using jamie@thelead.uk.
We begin today’s newsletter with a look at an extraordinary story which was published this week after a two-year investigation by the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool and Steve Swann. The report centres on a priest who was assessed as a potential risk to children and young people and ended up receiving a six-figure pay-off from the Church of England.
Canon Andrew Hindley worked in Blackburn diocese for 30 years and was subject to five police investigations relating to allegations of sexual assault. He was never charged in connection with any of these, nor did any church investigation lead to misconduct findings.
He was however assessed by the NSPCC as having “a risk of significant harm to children and young people”, with the charity advising he “should have no unsupervised contact with children or young people”.
Canon Hindley strongly disputes this finding and has repeatedly suggested any accusations were linked to homophobic attitudes towards him. An effort to forcibly retire him was defeated in the High Court and the BBC says a number of attempts were made to pay him to step away.
According to the BBC, this reached as high as £220,000 in 2022 but the final settlement remains confidential. Among those to speak out was Blackburn Cathedral’s vice-dean and head of safeguarding Rowena Pailing.
She said: “I couldn't work for an organisation which put its own reputation and the protection of alleged abusers above the protection and care and listening to victims and survivors,” she tells the BBC, speaking publicly for the first time about the case.
Following the publication of the report, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell, issued a joint statement. They said:
We are truly sorry when survivors are let down by the Church. We were both made aware of this case, including the concerning background and the challenges caused by statutory and Church processes ending with no further action.
We absolutely believe that there is no place in ministry for people who are a risk or pose a risk to others and continue to work to ensure that our systems are made ever stronger and more robust.
This case highlights the complexity of our structures and processes and is just one example of why we asked Professor Alexis Jay, the former chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, to provide options and recommendations for how further independence of safeguarding within the Church of England might be achieved. This work is now being taken forward.
As the Bishop of Blackburn told the BBC, the Church has made huge strides in safeguarding in the past 10 years particularly in listening to the voices of survivors and victims. However, this case, which goes back many years, shows that we are still working to get our processes right and we must learn from the mistakes of the past.
You can read the full BBC report here.
Over at The Blackpool Lead, Ed Walker has reported on the story of a disabled woman who has been left relying on specially-adapted taxis coming from Bolton and Preston to take her on short but very regular trips to Blackpool's hospital.
The lack of wheelchair-access taxis in the town is the source of the problem and means a costly and inefficient solution is needed. According to Belle Garner, who is originally from North Carolina, it’s just one of a number of issues she faces when moving around Blackpool.
In comments originally made on The Other Side of Blackpool podcast she said:
"It's a shocking experience when you move into Blackpool. You're not quite up with the rest of the country. It is very shocking. Lack of drop kerbs, disabled taxis and more.
"I can't even get in my van right now. They can't provide wheelchair taxis, they have to bring them in from Preston or elsewhere.
"Motability have to pay it, they are paying more than £100 each time for a wheelchair taxi to come in."
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Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen lots of police officers bravely putting themselves into positions of dangers, risking injury and worse. While the riots and disorder are thankfully not common in Lancashire, the risk taken on by response officers is not.
Yesterday, Lancashire Constabulary shared the story of one officer who suffered a head injury when he was knocked to the ground by an abusive man - Ian Scott - who had been kicked out of a bar.
Scott continued to hurl abuse as PC Ashley Aspinall lay on the floor confused and losing consciousness and blood poured from his head. Recalling that day, the PC Aspinall said:
“I remember my thoughts at the time where I was genuinely convinced that I was going to die and had mentally made peace with that.
“I thought about the good experiences I had had in life and gave up on myself in that moment. The only thing that kept me going was thinking about my daughter and seeing her again. I thought about taking her to the first day of school, her school prom and all the opportunities that were yet to come that I wanted to make it to. This was the only thing that kept me fighting and kept my mind off the sheer pain I was in.
“I can’t stress enough how much I thought I was going to die in this moment and that this was the end for me.”
PC Aspinall would go on to spend 11 days in hospital and four months off work as a result. Scott, 50, of Cavendish Road, Bispham, pleaded guilty to a Section 20 wounding of an emergency service worker and was given a two year suspended sentence.
You can watch PC Aspinall’s story in the video above or read more here.
Spare a thought for the owners of the Royal Phoenix in Oswaldtwistle - the Cantonese restaurant was left to repair the damage and deal with lost business after a car smashed through the front of the building.
The restaurant - which has been a fixture in the town for 15 years - shared images of the crash on Facebook alongside what might be the most unnecessary apology I’ve ever seen.
They wrote: “Due to an unfortunate accident, we will be closed today until further notice. The Royal Phoenix apologises for any inconvenience caused.”
A final mention goes to West Lancashire MP Ashley Dalton. The Labour representative was first re-elected in July and currently serves as a Private Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Social Care.
She has also been facing her own health problems in recent months and has announced she will be taking leave for the rest of the month as she recovers from complications from major surgery which kept her in hospital for almost two weeks.
In a statement shared on her social media channels, she said:
Massive thanks to the teams across Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Trust and Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for all their care and expertise so far.
Whilst I am not out of the woods yet and there is still much to do I am now able to go home and rest and recuperate. I will therefore be taking the rest of August off to focus on my health and my family. My team remain available for all constituents. Please email as usual and they will all be happy to help.
Ashley.Dalton.MP@parliament.uk
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
🚨 An inquest into the death of a Burnley schoolboy who is believed to have drowned on a school trip has been adjourned pending more police investigations (Lancashire Telegraph).
🚓 Two men have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car mounted a pavement and hit a cyclist (Blackpool Gazette).
🥧 Much loved bakery Lathams is set to go into liquidation amid a dispute with HMRC (Blog Preston).
🛣️ The 16 month long, £30m project designed to tackle congestion at the M65’s junction five near Guide has been signed off (LancsLive).
🛤️ Plans for a new railway station in suburban Preston are back on track after a wrangle over the land needed to build it was resolved (Blog Preston).
🎣 Fishing will be banned in the lake at Blackpool’s Stanley Park for the next six months (BBC).
🏊♀️ Fears have been raised over the finances of a near-150-year-old swimming club in Blackburn (Lancashire Telegraph [£]).
🐟 A new chippy is serving up fish and chips for just 45p for its first 1,000 customers when it opens this weekend (Lancaster Guardian).
🌟 Hollywood star Ewan McGregor stopped to speak with fans and pose for photos during a visit to Lancaster (Beyond Radio).
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