A WOMAN who was sexually abused in the 1970s by a lay vicar has received a six-figure compensation payment. But she says that the Church failed to prevent her abuser’s continued involvement in church music after he was released from prison.
Alesha Racine, now 59, was abused when she was 11 by Dr Michael Walsh, a teacher and a lay vicar at Chichester Cathedral who was also involved in parish-church choirs.
Dr Walsh was convicted of five indecent assault charges and confessed to sexually abusing a further eight children. He was sent to prison in 1990, and released in 1992.
But Ms Racine — who has waived her right to anonymity — told the BBC that she was “extremely angry” to discover that he had continued to play a part in church choirs after his release. He also became general secretary of the Guild of Church Musicians.
The BBC reports that the Revd Tim Ward, Vicar of St Mary’s, Walberton, in West Sussex, one of the churches where Dr Walsh worked, said that he was shocked to hear that Dr Walsh was a convicted child abuser. He said that no one in the diocese had warned him of the potential risks.
The situation is complicated by the fact that freelance organists are not subject to criminal checks. A spokesman for the Church of England said: “At present, playing an organ in services, without other responsibilities, does not provide a legal basis to conduct a criminal-record check.
“The Chichester Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser made representations to IICSA in 2018 that the law should change to allow local churches to conduct criminal-record checks prior to hiring organists.
“Unless the law changes, it will continue to be impossible to conduct such checks on organists. We continue to believe that the Government must change the law.”
Ms Racine said that the abuse had affected her entire life. “The actual [compensation] doesn’t make any difference whatsoever,” she told the BBC. She had lobbied church leaders about Dr Walsh’s involvement in church music after his release, but to no avail.
“[Walsh] had gone straight back into the church and was running some of the choir rehearsals at St George’s Church in Whyke, and had access to young girls again.”
She said: “I think [the Church] was going through the motions, so they could say, ‘Yes we’ve done this, we’ve done that.’
“There didn’t feel any sincerity in any of it. It felt like a game was being played.”
A spokesman for the Church of England said: “Alesha Racine has shown great courage in speaking out and shining a light on important questions about managing risks presented by ex-offenders.
“The crimes committed by Michael Walsh were abhorrent and have had a lifelong impact on the victims and survivors.
“Since his release in 1992, he has been involved in a number of independent organisations, including the Guild of Church Musicians.
“After a number of requests, Lambeth Palace contacted the Guild in 2019. He stepped down as . . . general secretary in 2020.”
The Guild of Church Musicians confirmed that Dr Walsh had served in various capacities. “There has never been any concern about his behaviour. At no time during his membership of the guild has Dr Walsh had unsupervised contact with children or vulnerable persons,” a statement from the Guild said.