FOI 0137-2025/26 Ampleforth Abbey Investigations

Request
I am looking to get some more information in regards to police investigations into sexual abuse allegations made against staff and members of the Monastic community at Ampleforth College, Ampleforth Abbey and the now-closed St Martin's Ampleforth prep school, they are located outside York. 

In July 2024 the Charity Commission, following an inquiry into Ampleforth Abbey and St Laurence Educational Trust who run the abbey and school, published a report into following allegations made in The Times newspaper of allegations of abuse of pupils at the College (and the now-closed St Martin's Ampleforth prep school) by both monks of the Abbey and employees as well as reports of individuals that had been convicted of historic sexual offences against pupils at the College. The inquiry revealed a raft of abuse of children by adults at the school which stretched back decades.

With that in mind, please:

1.) Confirm the number of active investigations North Yorkshire Police have ongoing into all sexual abuse allegations at Ampleforth College, Ampleforth Abbey and the now-closed St Martin's Ampleforth. 

2.) For each active investigation, please may you confirm and list it in this format:

- Date of alleged incident

- Victim (former/current pupil)

- Victim's age at time of alleged incident

- Defendant (former OR current staff member/monk/other)

- Defendant age at time of alleged incident

- Location of alleged incident

- Severity, nature and details of allegation

- Date allegation was reported to the police

- Date investigation was opened

3,) As a result of these ongoing active investigations, have there been any arrests, interviews under caution, charges, convictions or sentences? If so, please list where relevant, including date and whom it involves.

Decision
Your request for information has now been considered and I am not obliged to supply the information requested pursuant to Section 30(1)(a) – Investigations and Section 40(2) – Personal information.

Explanation of Exemptions

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies. Please see the exemption explanations below.

Section 30 - Investigations
Section 30 is a qualified, class-based exemption, which requires that I conduct a public interest test to balance the legitimate interests of the public in knowing the information against the interests of non-disclosure.

Public Interest Test
Reasons for Disclosure
The public have an interest in understanding how the police investigate crimes and they may also have information relating to the case matter.

Reasons against Disclosure
There are times when releasing data is necessary for the investigation and only when those circumstances arise will any publication be presented.

Disclosure of the information requested could hinder the investigation and any individuals/offenders could potentially take further measures to avoid detection if details are released into the public domain.

Any offences reported, are a very sensitive in nature and individuals need to ensure that the reports they provided are confidential. Individuals may therefore become reluctant to provide information, which could assist an investigation, due to concerns that the information provided may be requested and released under Freedom of Information.

Balance Test
The safety of the public is of paramount importance and the Police service will not divulge the information, if to do so would place the safety of individuals at risk or compromise law enforcement.

Whilst there is a public interest in the transparency of policing, ongoing criminal activity and providing assurance that the police service is appropriately and accurately recording and investigating crime, there is also a very strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of police reports and those that report crime especially in the highly sensitive areas such as sexual offences.

After considering the reasons for and against disclosure, it is my opinion that the reasons for non-disclosure outweigh the reasons for disclosure.

Section 40 – Personal Information
I am exempting providing you with the information requested at Question 2 pursuant to Section 40(2) Freedom of Information Act (the Act).  This is because any disclosure under FOI is a release to the public at large.

Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.  In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned. 

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.