Church of England pays six-figure sum to woman abused by Chichester lay vicar

Alesha Racine was 11 when the abuse by Michael Walsh started.

Walsh ran a choir at a church in Chichester and was a lay vicar at Chichester Cathedral, as well as a teacher at a Church of England school.

The abuse took place in the 1970s and 1980s, when she moved to Chichester from London.

Alesha, 59 who has waived her right to anonymity was asked by Walsh to join his church choir at St George’s in Wyke.

Alesha would attend church multiple times a week, arriving early to help set up.

The abuse started with Walsh making flattering remarks to her accompanied by stroking her shoulders and arms. Within weeks, he began kissing her, telling Alesha ‘This is what grown-up friends do’. Despite Alesha telling Walsh that she did not want to continue, he told her that “it was the will of God”. The abuse escalated, resulting in Walsh raping Alesha multiple times.

Walsh convinced Alesha’s parents to transfer her to the Bishop Luffa Church of England Music School due to her musical talents. This gave Walsh further access to Alesha.

When she refused his advances he made violent threats to harm his wife and Alesha’s cat.

In an interview with the BBC Alesha said: “He was a very charismatic person, he was a sort of pillar of the community and the church and was a teacher at my school and my piano teachers husband. He was a singer at the Cathedral.

“So as far as I was concerned he had a huge amount of authority but he abused that authority in a horrendous way and groomed me and made me feel humiliated and belittled and isolated me from all of my school friends so I was unable to have friendships.

“He really ruined my life as a child as I was constantly frightened of when the next abusive event would happen so I was on full alert all the time. I was unable to concentrate on my school work and I couldn't communicate with my family properly. I was just extremely isolated and traumatised over years, seven years to be exact.”

He was jailed in 1990 for a string of sexual assaults against multiple children, and released in 1992.

On release Walsh was allowed to re-join his local church. In 2019 Alesha learned that Walsh was reportedly attending churches and cathedrals in his capacity as General Secretary of the Guild of Church Musicians, she repeatedly wrote to church leaders voicing her concerns.

Alesha said she decided to sue the church because she felt they had not given her a sufficient apology or responded as she had hoped they would.

She said: “The thing that ignited it for me was I was not asked to contribute as a witness to the IICSA inquiry and hearings and didn’t find out about it until afterwards. And when I asked about it afterwards the safeguarding officer said he’d forgotten me.

“It really just made me so angry that after having such a huge amount of communication with the church over this they still hadn’t felt they should include me in it.”

In 2019, Alesha Racine instructed Slater and Gordon’s specialist abuse team to recover damages she had experienced as a result of her abuse and ensure Walsh was no longer able to access potential victims.

Richard Scorer, head of abuse at Slater and Gordon, said: “There have clearly been very serious safeguarding failings in the Diocese of Chichester with multiple convictions of clergy and other church officials for abuse of children. The fact that Michael Walsh was able to leave prison, guilty of abusing children, and walk into another job at the church highlights just how lacking the safeguarding practices were within the diocese. It now appears that these failings have continued to the present day.

“This disregard for the multiple victims of Michael Walsh is shocking and this acknowledgement of responsibility from all parties involved is the least Ms Racine deserved. The settlement will not change the past for Alesha. Whilst it may help her move forward, the continuing failure of church institutions to protect children from Michael Walsh has a devastating effect on Alesha and other survivors. Despite the Church of England’s claims to have improved safeguarding, it appears from this case that serious breaches are still occurring.”

The process has taken Alesha and her lawyer four years to reach a conclusion.

She said: “The process has been absolutely horrendous, four years of really fighting to be heard.

“It has been retraumatising and has essentially brought up everything that has happened to me over many years and I’ve had to go through it in immense detail and has put my life on hold for four years really.”

"The actual [compensation] doesn't make any difference whatsoever. It's the process that has made a difference, because I feel that they've had to face things, whether they've liked it or not.”

The Church of England spokesman said: "Alesha Racine has shown great courage in speaking out and shining a light on important questions about managing risks presented by ex-offenders.

"The crimes committed by Michael Walsh were abhorrent and have had a lifelong impact on the victims and survivors."