Trustee News

Allegations about monks and staff at North Yorkshire private school were shared with Charity Commission An inquiry into the running of a prestigious private school said it uncovered a string of “serious abuse allegations” committed against pupils by monks and staff within the last decade. The Charity Commission’s report found “significant weaknesses” in the safeguarding, governance and management of the two trusts responsible for running Ampleforth College, a Catholic private school in North Yorkshire founded more than 200 years ago by Benedictine monks and Ampleforth Abbey. Continue reading…

Refuge raises concerns over measures to ease overcrowding in England and Wales after mistakes made under Tories Keir Starmer’s plan to ease the overcrowding crisis in prisons must not allow high-risk offenders to walk free again, a domestic abuse charity has warned. Labour’s new government is expected to authorise emergency measures this week under which criminals could be automatically freed after serving between 40% and 45% of their sentence. Continue reading…

Bonhams has been forced to clarify how it holds auctions for good causes after complaints about a recent sale Bonhams, the leading auction house, has clarified how it conducts its charity auctions after complaints that it was taking a “buyer’s premium” from a recent sale for a good cause. The buyer’s premium is a charge in addition to hammer price that is retained by the auction house. Continue reading…

Campaigner for human rights and director of Justice, the organisation that pushes for legal reform As a veteran activist, Leah Levin was still delivering rousing speeches into her 90s. Her childhood escape from eastern Europe and experience of South African apartheid fuelled a lifetime’s commitment to upholding human rights. Levin, who has died aged 98, was director of the legal reform organisation Justice for a decade – between 1982 and 1992 – when it was investigating large numbers of claims of miscarriage of justice that were emerging from Britain’s prisons and courts. Under her lead, the charity called for “an independent review body … to examine allegations of miscarriage of justice” and warned that, without reform, “it may well be necessary to consider creating a new [criminal justice] system”. Continue reading…

Readers on the crisis in the criminal justice system that has brought the prison and the probation service to the verge of collapse Samira Shackle is correct to say that Labour and the Tories have been ignoring the crisis in the criminal justice system (The prison and court systems are on the verge of collapse. Why aren’t Labour or the Tories talking about it?, 30 June). But her point about the need for major investment in it is debatable. Even when expenditure was high, in the pre-cuts era, the system still experienced regular crises. The cuts have not caused the current crisis, they have intensified it. And even though budgets have been cut, prison expenditure was still over £18bn between 2015 and 2020. Fundamentally transforming the criminal injustice system should be the goal. Building more prisons has failed in the past, so disinvesting from the current building programme and investing in radical alternatives to prison, operating within a broader system based on social welfare for all, democratic accountability and social justice, is the answer to the crisis, not more of the same failed policies.Joe SimEmeritus professor, Liverpool John Moores University Continue reading…