‘I suffered child sex abuse – Andy Burnham needs to take urgent action’

A victim of child sexual abuse has said he does not think he will live to see the Government enact all the recommendations of a nationwide inquiry. Rafael Viola, 67, who was born in Glasgow and moved to England in 1969, says he was subjected to “unspeakable” abuse at Catholic schools in the West Midlands – such as Croome Court and St. Gilbert’s in Worcestershire. He provided a witness statement to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) by Professor Alexis Jay, published in 2022. Now, he has said Andy Burnham needs to enact all of its recommendations, such as a redress scheme for survivors, as Prime Minister.

Mr Viola said: “That inquiry cost £200million. Nothing came out of the inquiry; nothing at all. Twenty recommendations were put forward to the Government. This Government has shelved these recommendations. These recommendations are just rotten, left on the shelves.”

He added that “this Government isn’t fit for purpose” and told Mr Burnham: “Survivors’ lives, they matter. They do matter, Andy Burnham. Show your colours… Andy Burnham, this is your chance now to show the British public what kind of man you are… Don’t betray us no more, Andy.”

Mr Viola said there is “no help” for victims like him, and he suffers “traumatisation all the time”.

“Every time we speak out, we get silenced,” he added.

Sir Keir Starmer announced a national statutory inquiry into grooming gangs in UK towns and cities in June 2025, following an audit by Baroness Louise Casey. At first, the former prime minister said the Jay inquiry was sufficient, but U-turned after critics suggested it did not go far enough.

Mr Viola is sceptical about the new inquiry.

He said: “They’ve got to finish off this old inquiry. I was a core participant in that inquiry. We got silenced.

“Nothing is done about this old inquiry, and you’re going to have a new inquiry that’s going to cost £60million.

“£60million is going to turn into £100million and you’re going to have the same problem.

“These inquiries are not fit for purpose.”

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 introduces a new statutory duty for individuals undertaking key roles with responsibility for children and young people in England to report sexual abuse when they are made aware of it

Criminal offence to cover up abuse

In the same Act, there is also a new criminal offence of attempting to prevent someone reporting child sexual abuse

Scrapping of three year time limit for civil claims

The government has abolished the time limits for child sexual abuse claims made by victims in respect of their own abuse, “recognising that child sexual abuse claims are nearly always brought some time after the incidents that gave rise to the claim and responding to a specific recommendation of the IICSA”.

Axing of DBS “supervision” exemption

The Act removes the exemption “so that everyone in relevant roles will be eligible for the highest level of criminal record check, regardless of whether they are working under supervision, and so that those who have been barred from working with children due to the risk of harm they pose, will be prevented from doing so, even if supervised”.

Grooming as an aggravating factor

In May, the government committed to “legislate to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences”. This means “where a sentencing court concludes that a child sex offence involved or was facilitated by grooming behaviour, it will be obliged to treat this as an aggravating factor”.

Online age verification pre-screening of content

The Online Safety Act made it so commercial platforms and pornography sites operating in the UK must implement “highly effective” age-assurance methods.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are committed to tackling the horrors of child sexual abuse and exploitation and recognise the immense courage of victims and survivors.

“We have introduced mandatory reporting, made grooming a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing, and a nationwide police operation is looking again at closed cases to bring vile offenders to justice.”