An independent government inquiry is investigating how the Archdiocese of Birmingham handled allegations of child sexual abuse made against four priests.
Fr John Tolkien, who died in 2003, allegedly abused a boy during Saturday morning "reading lessons" at the priest’s home in 1970, and afterwards told the boy to keep the abuse a secret. Fr Tolkien is the son of author and philologist J.R.R. Tolkien.
In addition, investigators reported Nov. 12 that they had found evidence that Fr. Tolkien had privately admitted to forcing a group of boy scouts to strip naked while on a camp-out in the 1950s, and may even have been sent for treatment. Allegations were eventually brought to the police in 1994 but no charges were filed.
