Five years ago, the headmaster of a leading public school made trips with a loaded wheelbarrow to a distant part of its grounds, where he made a bonfire. Consumed in its flames were staff files dating back to the early 1980s.
Father Leo Maidlow Davis, 63, is today the senior monk at Downside Abbey. In 2012 he was in charge of its neighbouring boarding school. The fire may have destroyed evidence of child sexual abuse. The monk was one of the senior Benedictines who gave evidence during three weeks of hearings that ended yesterday at the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/downside-head-may-have-burnt-evidence-of-sexual-abuse-qm75khgm9
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/downside-head-may-have-burnt-evidence-of-sexual-abuse-qm75khgm9
