Conviction of Ampleforth College Monk: The Role of Religion in Abuses of Trust

In June 2025, Michael James Callaghan, also known as Father James, was sentenced to seven years in prison for a series of historic sexual offences against two boys at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire. This case highlights not only the severe consequences of abusing a position of trust but also the vital importance of recent changes to the law aimed at preventing similar abuses by religious figures in the future.

Callaghan, 71, was convicted of 13 charges including 12 counts of indecent assault against one boy between 1994 and 1997, and one count of sexual assault against another in 2013. Both victims were under his care at the time in his role as a housemaster. Despite denying any criminal wrongdoing, the jury found him guilty after over six hours of deliberation. The offences involved calculated grooming and exploitation under the guise of a mentoring relationship, with the court hearing disturbing evidence of role play, sexual contact, and the devastating emotional aftermath for the victims.

A key part of Callaghan’s defence involved the claim that no sexual activity occurred before the boys turned 16. By arguing this Callaghan attempted to make use of a recently changed law which, at the time of his offending, did not classify sexual relationships between religious figures and children aged 16 or over as a criminal offence. 

Despite this, the jury felt there was sufficient evidence of sexual activities with the boys prior to their sixteenth birthday, leading to Callaghan’s conviction. However, this case does raise a serious issue about the nature of how sexual abuse within religion is classified. As Judge Richard Clews pointed out, the case involved “a considerable breach of trust”, forcing the boys to engage in roleplay where he pretended to be a fellow pupil while grooming through his safeguarding role.

According to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, children who are victims of sexual abuse in a religious context are mostly commonly aged between eight and eleven years old; however, often this abuse is long-lasting and can continue into later teenage years. Equally, while less common, abuse in a religious context can also still begin when the child is aged sixteen or over. 

Until 28 April 2022, when the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 came into effect, sexual relationships with children aged 16 or 17 was only criminalised, from a safeguarding perspective, in ‘positions of trust’. Religious education and faith was previously excluded from this class, meaning abusers such as Callaghan could attempt to avoid criminal culpability under this part of the Sexual Offences Act. 

However, this reform means that faith leaders, sports coaches, and others who teach, train, or supervise young people are now legally prohibited from engaging in sexual activity with 16- and 17-year-olds in their care.

This legal change has closed a dangerous loophole. The kind of defence Callaghan attempted can no longer even be attempted in similar abuses of a position of trust occurring after the change. Regardless of age, the imbalance of power is now recognised and criminalised.