28 November 2008
Hugh Madley
52 Hale Lane
Mill Hill
London
NW7 3PR
Dear Hugh
I am writing to advise you that I have decided not to proceed with the
civil action for damages against you that I have been preparing. My
barrister (a leading specialist in child sexual abuse claims) has
advised me, after looking at my case, and based on all of the evidence
available (which includes the statements you made to Surrey police
after your second arrest in October 2004) that, while I have a 70%
chance of wining a claim against you in the High Court, the amount of
damages I could expect, if I won, would not be that great, probably in
the order of between £15,000 and £30,000 maximum.
Against this, I have had to weight the prospect of taking the claim
through to trial, if you were to decide to fight the claim rather than
make a part 36 offer, something that my barrister said is possible,
given your previous decision to fight the criminal charges against you,
despite you having admitted to the police everything you did to me.
I have also taken into account the fact that any judgement of
damages I might obtain from the court would then have to be extracted
from you, which would involve me placing a charging order on your
house, which could take years to realise.
Then there is the psychological cost of having this hanging over me
for perhaps several more years, as against the more palatable prospect
of being able to draw a line under it all by accepting that we are where we are and leaving things at that.
I think even you would understand that, when everything has been
taken into consideration, there is more likely to be a better overall
outcome for me, in terms of my recovery, in not proceeding with a claim
for damages than there is in me proceeding, so that is my decision.
While this decision, I am sure, will be good news for you, I want
you to know that I still carry the same level of cold hatred towards
you as I did after the trial collapsed in September 2005, which I
accept was partly due to the errors made by the police, but only
happened because you chose to plead not guilty, when, of course, we all
know you clearly are guilty, as you have admitted publicly on at least
two occasions since.
You should also know that your decision to ignore the subsequent
letters both I and David Williams have written to you has not helped
matters in respect of where we go from here, as, my decision not to
proceed with a civil claim for damages against you does not mean that I
have forgiven you, as I have not.
Since my book Conspiracy of Faith was published, numerous other
victims have made contact with me and revealed allegations of child
abuse against the Salesians, which are now the subject of ongoing
police and child protection team investigations and civil actions as
well. You will no doubt have seen the recent criminal trial (September
22nd) of Fr Peter Carr, who is now in prison, this being just one of
them, and others will follow.
I can tell you now that at least one of these allegations involves
you and a Battersea boy called Andrew, whose mother has told me about
the events that occurred when you took Andrew (a vulnerable boy whom I
am told was diagnosed with a mild form of ‘Ausberger’s Syndrome) away
on a camping holiday. She told you subsequently, when you tried to
arrange a further holiday with Andrew, several months after he had
actually left the school, that she did not ever want you make contact
with her or Andrew again.
Her version of events was also confirmed to me independently by a
former teaching colleague of yours, Kevin Boyle, who was also a close
friend of Andrew’s family, and who taught Andrew for a while at some
stage. This particular allegation emerged after my story was published
in the Guardian in August last year, in which you admitted to Frances
Beckett that you had abused me, although you tried to temper the
account by claiming that it was all my fault - we all had a good laugh
at that as it was such a pathetic claim to have made and so typical of
you.
So, I will continue to investigate the allegations against the
Salesians, which continue to grow, passing what information I have to
the relevant authorities as the evidence emerges, which, hopefully will
lead to more prosecutions in time, including yours, as the police, and
myself of course, have never accepted that I was the only child you
abused. It is simply a matter of time before sufficient evidence
emerges to enable the police to prosecute you again, hopefully next
time with a more positive outcome.
I am not expecting you to reply to me, although I would would like
to hear your views on all of the above, but I want you to understand
one thing - I will never give up until I have seen you prosecuted, so
don’t think that ignoring me will make me go away - it won’t. I will
pursue you to the end, wherever, whenever and however that occurs.
Yours sincerely
Graham Wilmer
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19 January 2009 - For the record, as of today, Madley has so far not responded to this letter, nor has he responded to any of my letters over the past year, in which I asked him to explain why he pleaded 'not guilty' at court, having openly admitted to me, the police and the media that he had abused me.