Michael Ingram

Michael Ingram, a Catholic priest and child psychologist, carried out an important study of a sample of 92 sexual contacts between men and boys. 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.

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.