Review into abuse allegations in Catholic Church due to be published

An independent review into how allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church in Scotland have been dealt with is due to be published.

Former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Very Reverend Andrew McLellan led the inquiry into the church.

The McLellan Commission, comprising 11 members, was given the task of assessing the church’s procedures for helping vulnerable adults and children and to make sure the church is safe for everyone.

The findings of the commission will be revealed at a press conference in Edinburgh.

It was established in 2013 by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland following a number of scandals in the church including the resignation in 2013 of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, former archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

He was accused by three priests as well as a former priest of behaving inappropriately towards them.

The commission heard from victims but did not investigate allegations.

Among the members were Kathleen Marshall, former commissioner for children and young people, Ranald Mair, chief executive of Scottish Care and Malcolm Graham, assistant chief constable of Police Scotland.

In tandem with the review, the church produced statistics from 2006 to 2012 on incidents reported during that time.

Forty-six allegations were made in that period, with 55 per cent relating to sexual abuse, 19 per cent to physical abuse, a further 11 per cent were in respect of verbal abuse and 15 per cent were about emotional abuse.

Fifty-six per cent of the accused were priests, 22 per cent volunteers and 11 per cent parishioners, with the remaining people having some connection to the church.

No prosecutions were made in 61 per cent of reported cases.

The church is also due to publish allegations of historical abuse between 1947 and 2005.