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'I kept the abuse a secret for half a century - but now I'm ready to talk about it'

Lyndsey TelfordBBC Spotlight
BBC A man with grey hair, which is combed back, is sitting in a chair. He is wearing glasses and a pink, open collared shirt with pinstripes. Behind him is a collection of antique furniture and household items including a lamp and photographs. There is also a white cottage style door separating two rooms.BBC
Francis said he was aware of other boys who were abused

Warning: this story includes descriptions of alleged sexual misconduct and explicit language

Francis Bostrom was a boy soprano. At 14, his voice had not yet broken.

He sang with pride for the choir of an east Belfast church.

But he also kept a secret. Behind closed doors, he said, he was abused.

"It was very humiliating," Francis said.

"But you accepted it because this was somebody in authority who was meant to be helping you."

In an interview with BBC NI Spotlight, which examined allegations of safeguarding failures within the Church of Ireland, Francis spoke out for the first time, detailing a pattern of abuse.

Francis Bostrom A young boy dressed in a white choir surplice. It is frilled around the neck and has a large red collar. The boy, who has dark hair, is looking down towards the ground. The background of the grainy image shows a blue sky and red bricked chimneys along a slate roofline. Francis Bostrom
Francis Bostrom said the abuse began when he was 14

In 1971, he said he was studying for his O-levels when the Reverend Billy Neely offered to tutor him.

Neely was the rector of Mount Merrion, a Church of Ireland parish on the edge of the Cregagh estate.

He came from an academic background and had tutored other boys in the choir - so Francis said he jumped at the chance.

But the tuition came at a price.

"You were expected to give accurate answers," he said.

"You were also told that if your answers were not accurate you had to give consent to be punished – with the proviso that you were not allowed to inform your family because they wouldn't understand."

Francis described the punishments as "ritualised".

"It involved the use of his hand, it involved the use of willow sticks, a strap, a belt," he said.

"All sorts of different implements were used.

"You could have up to 500 strokes and he would stop periodically. He would allow you to sort of catch your breath. But then he would carry on."

Francis, who now lives in Kent and has initiated legal proceedings against the Church of Ireland, said he believed the abuse was sexual.

He described having to strip from the waist down.

"He would lay you across his knee. Your penis would be in between his legs," he said.

"He did remain clothed, but I would imagine he got satisfaction from what he was doing.

"There was a smell of BO and sweat, and his trousers were stained, and it looked like it could be semen stains and it certainly smelt of something very unpleasant."

'Sworn to secrecy'

Francis said the abuse happened in the rectory of the church – the lessons in the study, and the beatings in Neely's bedroom.

"It was known that people were punished," he said.

"It was talked about in whispers because of course everyone was sworn to secrecy."

He, along with others, kept the secret. But one boy, unrelated to the choir, did speak out at the time.

Now retired, the Reverend Canon Dr Jonathan Barry was a young minister at a neighbouring Church of Ireland parish when he heard complaints about Neely in and around 1976.

He said two women made "very serious allegations" to him concerning "child abuse".

A man with dark, medium length hair is standing in front of a red bricked wall. His hair hangs down over his eyes as he looks to the right of the camera. The man is wearing a black shirt and coat with a clerical collar.
Canon Billy Neely was a minister at Mount Merrion Parish Church in the 1970s

"He was pulling pants down and thrashing boys and becoming obviously sexually aroused," he said.

Barry said he advised the women to report the allegations to the church and the police.

Shortly thereafter, Neely relocated to a rural parish in Tipperary, in the Republic of Ireland.

Barry said Neely was "taken away from where he was abusing" but "put into a position where he could do it again".

"He was never prosecuted," he said.

"Society did not act in those days, really, about that kind of allegation."

A man with grey hair is sat looking at the camera. He is wearing glasses and a thick, navy twead jumper with a quarter zip. Behind the man is an out of focus industrial space with lots of windows and open space. There are some lamps placed in front of the windows.
Reverend Canon Dr Jonathan Barry worked at a neighbouring parish

It is the BBC's understanding that in Tipperary, Neely continued to have access to children.

In a statement, the Church of Ireland expressed "heartfelt regret at what some individuals experienced".

It said abuse of any kind would "not be tolerated", and that victims and survivors of abuse remained its "utmost priority".

The church added that it would do all it could to offer "maximum protection to those who have been harmed", and would "co-operate fully with any investigation into allegations of criminal acts".

The church statement did not address Neely's move to Tipperary.

He later returned to Northern Ireland in the 1980s, taking up a role in a parish in Armagh.

Neely had lost the rank of canon, but later regained it.

When he died in 2009, he was buried in the grounds of St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh.

Barry said Neely's final resting place would have been a great honour, and one that he imagined would be difficult for alleged victims.

"It says to me that the establishment in the church, when he died, still valued him very highly, more so than his victims," he said.

Years after his alleged abuse, Francis said he suffered a breakdown.

He said he came through it, but it took a lot of support.

In recent years, he returned to the diocese of Down and Dromore, where he said he met with the current bishop, David McClay.

He said they prayed together and the bishop "expressed regret".

A large flat headstone lays on the ground, surrounded by grass which pokes over it's edges. It's a black marble like stone with a cross at the top. Only some text is visible, showing the name 'William George Neely' and his age, of 77. Below it reads 'Rector of Keady'.
William George Neely, also known as Billy, was buried in the grounds of St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh

Francis said as a Christian he forgave Neely but that he believed the church should be held accountable.

His legal proceedings against the church follow another case in recent years which resulted in the church reaching a £100,000 settlement with another alleged Neely victim.

"I think [the church] should recognise publicly the harm the Reverend Neely did, the damage he did to young people's lives, which I don't think has been properly acknowledged," he said.