The Manchester Evening News report on a man who says he was raped by his primary school headmaster more than 45 years ago and why he intends to sue Manchester council and asks other victims to speak out.
The late John Mulligan is alleged to have molested the boy in his office and the sick bay at St Anne’s Catholic School in Ancoats in the 1960s.
The alleged victim told the M.E.N. how the abuse started out as serious sex attacks when he was 10 and escalated to rape by the time he was 13.
He claimed he would be rewarded with half a crown after the abuse – and that Mulligan threatened to have him put in a children’s home and his parents sent away from Manchester if he told anyone.
The alleged victim, a 58-year-old living in east Manchester who asked to remain anonymous, now intends to sue Manchester council over the rape and sex attacks claims.
He said: “The abuse has had a devastating effect on me and my mental health. I was frightened to death of Mulligan. He was in charge and I had to do what he said. “I hate him. I should have done something but I was only a boy – what could I do?
“It was only after I left school that I realised that what happened to me was wrong.”
Peter Garsden, from Abney Garsden solicitors, who are representing the man, said:
“My client was the victim of protracted and serious sexual abuse whilst a child at St Anne’s.
He was let down by the very person who should have been responsible for him. We would like to appeal to anyone who remembers Mr Mulligan at St Anne’s School in Ancoats to call us on 0345 357 9200 or email peter.garsden@simpsonmillar.co.uk.”
