Neil Beckett victims say school did not do enough

Victims of a former school welfare officer who was convicted of sexual assault have told BBC News NI their school did not do enough to prevent the abuse.

Neil Beckett groomed the schoolgirls and used his position as a welfare officer at Lagan College in Belfast to access vulnerable young women.

He was found guilty on 17 counts and jailed in December.

In a statement, Lagan College told the BBC: “We pay tribute to the bravery of those pupils who came forward and we assure you that the school acted properly and promptly and in accordance with Lagan College’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy, which adheres to Department of Education guidance, at all times.”

Two young women, who have spoken to BBC News NI anonymously, and the parents of some of the victims believe the school wasted crucial opportunities to safeguard pupils from harm.

Beckett joined Lagan College in 2021.

In late 2022, allegations were made against him by two pupils.

A pupil said Beckett hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, another said he had given her a hug under her blazer.

The principal, Amanda McNamee, gave evidence during the trial and said the school safeguarding team was involved and that she took Beckett through the school’s safeguarding policy and his job description “line by line”.

Mrs McNamee told the court that the parents involved were content with the school’s actions.

Beckett then continued in his role as before and within a few months, in early 2023, further allegations were brought to Mrs McNamee and a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) investigation began.

Jane and Ann, not their real names, spoke to The State of Us podcast about their experiences.

“There was a grooming pattern of trying to befriend people, he didn’t portray himself as a teacher. he portrayed himself as a friend,” Jane said.

“He wanted to get close to you. He wanted you to let your guard down, and he used that.”

Ann said: “He was unnervingly charismatic. Now that I look back he just had a way of talking to you that made you feel like you could tell him anything.”

She said he had different ways of physically abusing his victims.

“I have a lot of sensory issues and he’d tickled me, and I felt really, really weird about it.”

Both Ann and Jane said the majority of the abuse they suffered at Beckett’s hand happened after the initial allegations against him in October 2022.

“That just felt like a bit of a kick in the teeth that they knew about this,” Jane said.

“There’d been allegations made before it had happened to us.

“The fact that the school didn’t do enough to prevent it then is ridiculous.”

Ann said: “They could have prevented this, they could have stopped it there in October and we wouldn’t have faced as much abuse as we did, but they didn’t.

“I don’t think that’s how a school should handle themselves.”

Both Jane and Ann, and several parents of Beckett’s victims, have told BBC News NI that the school failed in terms of safeguarding, but also in terms of support and care for pupils.

One mother said the priority for Lagan College “was managing their public image, not looking after the girls who had been harmed”.

Another parent said the school showed an “aloofness and detachment” when dealing with the harm done to his daughter.

A third parent claimed the school had taken “no responsibility and wishes to pretend this didn’t happen”.

Both Jane and Ann said they recalled a school assembly at the time of the police investigation.

They said: “We were all taken into the hall. And Mrs McNamee headed the assembly. She told us that people are innocent until proven guilty.

“That, this is a member of staff and we should not be talking about it.

“We can’t talk to the support staff about it, we can’t talk to our friends about it.

“We are not allowed to mention it at all in school.”

They said the reason given for this was “in case they had to be on the stand in the future”.

Jane said her mum received an email from the school’s board of governors.

“It was something along the lines of: ‘As your daughter is no longer in school anymore, there’s nothing, basically, we can do to help.'”

She added they would like an acknowledgment of the hurt caused.

“An apology would be nice. But they’re not going to do that.”

In a statement, Lagan College told BBC News NI: “The safety and wellbeing of all our pupils has at all times been, remains, and will always be Lagan College’s highest priority.

“Mr Beckett had worked in a school environment prior to joining Lagan College, and received a clear Enhanced Disclosure Certificate from Access NI, and had appropriate references for his position.

“We are unable to comment any further at this stage to ensure that we do not prejudice legal action.”

You can listen to this story in full on The State Of Us later today.

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