Roman Catholic Trappist monks are expected to refrain from unnecessary speech, commit to hard labour and devote their lives to piety.
So how on earth did one of the Order’s most prestigious Abbeys, on Caldey Island off the Pembrokeshire coast, become a haven for paedophiles who for three decades abused over 50 children with impunity?
As a new report published yesterday reveals, Caldey Island – owned by the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance – was no sober religious mission, but a sordid den of sexual deviance and moral iniquity.
No wonder then that this seemingly tranquil outpost has been nicknamed ‘Paedophile Island’.
More than 60,000 tourists each year take the half-mile ferry from Tenby to Caldey over the summer months. Among the main attractions are a medieval church, legendary chocolate factory, sprawling bluebell woods and mesmerising beaches.
It is no exaggeration to call Caldey one of the most picturesque spots in Wales.
But the 540-acre island – home to just 40 full-time residents including eight monks – is most famous for a monastic tradition dating back to the 6th Century.
The Abbey standing today was built by Benedictine monks in 1906 but sold, along with the island and its buildings, to the Order of Cistercians in 1925 under whose watch the recent horrific transgressions occurred.
Father Thaddeus Kotik was described by one victim as a ‘Michael Jackson-like’ character, who used a pet tortoise, kittens and gifts of sweets, biscuits and yoghurt from the island’s dairy, where he worked, to groom, rape and molest children
It is now understood that between 1960 and 1992, at least 54 children, some as young as three, were sexually abused by both monks and laymen, including some with criminal records living on the island under fake names. Pictured: Caldey Island Abbey
It is now understood that between 1960 and 1992, at least 54 children, some as young as three, were sexually abused by both monks and laymen, including some with criminal records living on the island under fake names. In the most extreme cases, the abuse extended to rape.
The vast majority of victims are understood to have been visiting the island on holiday with family or on trips arranged and paid for by Catholic youth groups and schools.
The truly damning 73-page report was commissioned in April this year by the recently appointed Abbot, Father Jan Rossey, and was compiled by former assistant police and crime commissioner Jan Pickles OBE. A total of 16 survivors have provided Pickles with their own moving and oftentimes harrowing testimonies.
The majority of the report centres on the serial sex offender Father Thaddeus Kotik – known as ‘Father Thadd’ – who abused a string of children in the 1970s and 1980s and evaded justice up to his death in 1992.
Kotik claimed to have fought with the Polish Free Army in the Second World War, including at D-Day in 1944, before moving to Caldey Island in 1947 and taking up religious instruction. But this elaborate backstory now turns out to be a total hoax. For Ms Pickles’ report reveals that upon investigation, Kotik was actually an ‘Eastern worker’ in a German camp in 1944 – certainly not fighting on the beaches in France.
The revelation led Ms Pickles to conclude that Kotik fabricated his military credentials in order to blag British citizenship, something he successfully obtained in 1959, three years after being ordained into the Cistercian Order.
More than 50 children who visited a remote holy island off the coast of Wales were raped or subjected to vile sex abuse by paedophile monks, a leaked report reveals. Father Thaddeus Kotik (pictured), was a prolific abuser of children in the 1970s and 80s
Children as young as three were allegedly groomed and attacked in ‘plain sight’ on Caldey Island, a picturesque tourist spot off the Pembrokeshire coast. Pictured: Caldey Island
The remote island has a long and tragic history of sexual abuse against minors – pictured is the boat landing point on Caldey Island
Thousands of tourists visit Caldey off the Pembrokeshire coast each year unaware of its dark history of sex abuse
The report found he used ‘complex strategies’ to groom young children and earn the trust of their parents.
Kotik kept a pet tortoise and numerous kittens to perk the interests of young children before luring them to the island’s dairy or to hidden coves where he could commit his abuse unseen.
In some horrific cases, he even won the trust of parents and offered to babysit their children, gaining unfettered access to his prey.
‘Victim 001’ was ten years old when, in his own words, Kotik gave him ‘chocolate and sweets’ before ‘hugging and kissing’ him.
In a heartbreaking admission, Victim 001 revealed to Ms Pickles that he feared getting into trouble if he didn’t agree to meet with the monk, and even that he volunteered to do so in order to protect his younger brother from the same fate.
It wasn’t until many years later that Victim 001’s sister admitted that she had been raped by Kotik.
In another disturbing account, a witness to Kotik’s abuse recalled an occasion in which a young girl was ‘half lying on Father Thaddeus’s chest… He was kissing her around her face and on her lips… Part of his hand was under her pants fondling her bottom.’
The witness, who is named only as ‘N’, reported what they saw to the then Abbot, Father Robert O’Brien, but received no response.
Sadly, the story of sexual abuse on Caldey Island is not just one of grotesque misconduct, but also of a protracted and systemic cover up.
Another witness who gave evidence to the report, a teenager at the time of Kotik’s abuse, described the monk as ‘creepy’ and ‘childlike.’ ‘To my mind,’ the witness continued, ‘he was more a Michael Jackson type than Jimmy Savile’.
Father Thaddeus Kotik died in 1992 without facing any criminal charges into claims he abused children on the holy island
Caldey’s Post Office doubles up as a museum with ancient relics on display
The island shop stocks Isle of Caldey chocolate along with souvenirs including tea towels, table mats and teddy bears
These are just a small handful of many disturbing testimonies made against Kotik, a significant number of which are too disturbing to reproduce here.
The now-disgraced Father Thaddeus Kotik was buried on the island after his death in 1992. In 2017, one anonymous female victim called for the monk’s remains to be exhumed and removed from the island, expressing her sadness that a place of such natural beauty ‘had to harbour revolting creatures.’
But if anyone thought that the scandal on Cadley Island died with Father Thaddeus’s generation, they were to be much mistaken. For it remained a safe harbour for paedophiles long into the 21st Century.
In 2011, Father John Shannon, then 58 – who lived on the island for 11 months and was previously chaplain at the University of East Anglia – was sentenced to eight months in jail for downloading 740 indecent photographs of children aged between 9 and 15.
Paul Ashton, originally from West Sussex, went on the run in 2004 after being charged with possessing indecent images of children. For years police were dumbfounded by his sudden disappearance. That was, until 2011 when one Caldey resident recognised Ashton from a Crimestoppers ‘Most Wanted’ list and tipped off the police.
When officers came to arrest Ashton on the island, they found he was living under the name Robert Judd and had become, according to one source, ‘indispensable’ to the running of the Abbey and its Order.
The now convicted paedophile was indeed living a charmed life with rooms in the Abbey’s clocktower and three square meals a day provided by the monks. In return, Ashton is said to have ‘operated the island’s satellite internet and phone system, managed online accommodation bookings and the accounts and worked in the mail room.’
In a sordid twist, it emerged Ashton had abused his access to the Abbey’s IT and internet systems to download thousands more indecent images of children.
Pictured: Aerial view of the Abbey and surrounding buildings at Caldey Island
Today the island is visited by thousands of tourists who know little about its history – pictured is a choir performing inside the Abbey Church
The abbey is now under new leadership in the form of Fr Jan Rossey (pictured)
Then aged 59, Ashton pleaded guilty in March 2012 and was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment and was placed on the Sex Offender’s Register for life.
Eventually, in March 2017, a civil claim against the Abbey resulted in an out of court settlement for six victims. Rebecca, who lived on the island until she was five and a half years old and suffered from sexual abuse, described the compensation as tantamount to ‘hush money.’
Father Jan Rossey – who was appointed Abbot last year – said: ‘I give my sincere apologies. I’m very sorry for all the suffering but also afterwards, for [victims] not being listened to.’
Ms Pickles report included 12 recommendations which the Abbey now says it will implement in full. According to Father Rossey, some of the recommendations have already been actioned including the introduction of safeguarding training and mandatory DBS checks for islanders.
Kevin O’Connell, founder of the Caldey Island Survivors campaign, told the Mail that the recent report marked ‘a step in the right direction’. However, he added that ‘because the recommendations are not legally binding, it does not go far enough’.
The Abbey insists that sexual abuse on the island is a thing of the past. However, one thing is for sure, for an order of monks who claim not to engage in unnecessary speech, their actions speak louder than their words.