23 Sep, 2024: Our collection of material documenting harassment, doxing and allegations of illegal behavior against MAPs, on the part of a purportedly "MAP" group, is now complete. A second article documenting a campaign of disinformation by said group is nearing completion, and will be shared here.
Michael Ingram
Father Michael Ingram, O.P., (ca. 1932–2000) was a Catholic priest and child psychologist, who carried out an important study of a sample of 92 sexual contacts between men and boys.[1] He was also briefly embroiled in controversies involving PIE in 1977.
Views about pedophilia
While he did not defend pedophilia per se, Ingram believed, on the basis of his experience and empirical studies, that children could benefit from the physical affection often shown in these relationships. He also believed that if and when they came to light, the processes of investigation and interrogation could often be more damaging to the child than the sexual contact itself. In general, Ingram was highly critical of those who appeared to think that sexual 'sins' were the only sins worth being concerned about.
Involvement in PIE controversy
For the most part, 1977 was the year that the British public became aware of PIE through several reports in national papers. While these were mostly hostile, a few were more balanced and these included discussions of the views of Michael Ingram as briefly outlined above. In September of that year, PIE held a public meeting at Conway Hall, London. They had intended to present Ingram as a 'mystery' guest speaker, but he had been prevented from attending by his church superiors, and so Tom O'Carroll read out his speech instead. The meeting was notable for the hysterical lynch mob atmosphere surrounding it, with furious and violent reactions shown to those trying to enter and leave by the crowd assembled outside.
Trial and Death
In 2000, Ingram, then 68 years old and living in Cambridge, was accused of having molested boys in the 1970s,[2] when he was a parish priest in Leicester's Holy Cross Priory Church and active helping disadvantaged children.[3] He died August 26 in Leicester Prison,[4] after having been convicted at Leicester Crown Court two weeks earlier.[5] Prior to his Trial he had suffered severe injuries when driving his car into a wall.[6]
References
- ↑ M. Ingram, A study of 92 cases of sexual contact between adult and child', British Journal of Sexual Medicine, Vol 6, No.44,January 1979, p, 22f(Part 1), and Vol 6, No.45, February 1979, p. 24f (Part 2).
- ↑ Birmingham Post, Aug 1, 2000, “Michael Ingram (68) denied four charges of indecent assault, two of gross indecency and one of serious sexual assault from 1970 to 1978 against boys . . .” (via Google)
- ↑ As reported in [1] and [2] (from Google cache as of April 2009)
- ↑ Birmingham Evening Mail, Aug 28, 2000, “Michael Ingram (68) originally from Cambridgeshire, died in the health care centre of Leicester Prison on Saturday night.” (via Google)
- ↑ The Mirror, Aug 15, 2000 “. . . convicted at Leicester of assaulting boys up to 30 years ago” (via Google)
- ↑ Daily Record, Aug 15, 2000 “But Roman Catholic Father Michael Ingram was in intensive care as the jury returned their verdicts, after driving his car into a wall at high speed.” (via Google)
External link
Paedophilia: The Radical Case (Most of this article is based on O'Carroll's account.)