Beatrix Campbell spent the 1980s and 90s promoting the now discredited fantasies of 'satanic abuse' that culminated in the breaking up of many families in Cleveland, Orkney and else where. He writings really were
quite incredible:
'Within two weeks of the first published report of the first discovery of alleged satanic abuse in Britain, an organisation of satanists circulated chief constables, directors, of social services and the Home Office with reports that tried to undermine the credibility of the care workers involved in the case . And they have responded similarly to subsequent controversies.'
Amazingly in some circles she is still considered to be a serious commentator on child abuse. Today she writes about the scandal of the systematic abuse by the catholic church in Ireland, Irish Republicanism is another of her causes so naturally a scandal in which the crucial factor appears to have been the entwined relationship between the Irish state and the Catholic church* has to reflect badly
on Britain:
In Britain, by contrast, the child protection system has tottered from crisis to crisis. The UK story began with a child's terrible life and death, in conditions that echo the case of Baby P. Louis Blom-Cooper's inquiry into the 1984 death of Jasmine Beckford transformed children's services: the state took the side of children; social work became an enlightened, empathetic and empowered profession. British paediatricians made world-class discoveries about the hazardous lives of children whose bodies told stories, of intrusion and cruelty that had been, until then, literally unspeakable.
Child protection was then no longer a clerical function of the "cruelty man", it became a subtle child-centred project. But the system could not withstand the resistance of accused adults and their advocates, nor could it cope with the unsettling evidence of scale. While Ireland was taking testimony from survivors, Britain was disdaining them, blaming them for making up all sorts of nonsense.
Actually Britain blamed fanatics like Bea Campbell for promoting silly ideas and incompetent psychologists and social workers for subjecting young children to ludicrous interrogations where they were forced to confess to being abused. I won't comment on the part I bolded, but if anyone else wants to have their say, feel free.
She isn't explicit in the article about what she is referring to, so readers who are unaware of her history won't know that she is still implying that the satanic abuse claims she promoted are true.
* See the comments by Irish senator and journalist, Eoghan Harris, here:
“However, as one born and reared as a Roman Catholic, I ask is there something in the religion of my childhood that allowed this systemic abuse.” At first glance. It would appear that there was. In Northern Ireland, institutional abuse of Protestant children was very rare, apart from the Kincora incident, and almost unknown in Roman Catholic institutions.
“There is not something inherently bad about Roman Catholicism but there is clearly something inherently bad about Roman Catholicism’s relationship with the Irish Republic.
“Under British rule, these abuses were not practised in Roman Catholic institutions and Protestants did not practise them. The responsibility belongs to the Republic as a whole.”
The Catholic Church in Ireland is a cross border body, so any differences between how it behaved north and south of the border have to be explained in terms of the political entities.
