A prolific abuser, a deathbed promise, and the boys who fought back

A school tutor who sexually abused boys more than 100 times was allowed to continue to prey on his pupils despite two complaints against him, victims say.

Prolific predator Patrick Sharkey, jailed for six and a half years in June, worked at the County Londonderry school for more than a decade after the complaints and attacked more boys.

One of his victims, Eamon McLaughlin, said his parents went to the principal after he was attacked during a weekend in Donegal.

He said Dermot McNally, who's now dead, put his parents off going to police by raising the issue of the cost of a solicitor.

The Catholic Council for Maintained Schools (CCMS), formed in 1991, said it has no records from his tenure.

Sharkey was jailed after he pleaded guilty to 132 charges of sexual assault on 19 boys across more than 20 years.

He worked as a 'youth tutor' at St Joseph's High School in Coleraine from the 1970s to the 1990s, organising after-school activities, like canoeing.

The school closed in 2019.

Five of Sharkey's victims have waived their right to anonymity to speak to BBC Spotlight, describing years of sinister manipulation and harrowing attacks.

Eamon McLaughlin is one of many boys who Sharkey attacked at his family home in Donegal under the pretext of a weekend of outdoor pursuits.

He told Spotlight he and another boy were sleeping beside Sharkey in the same bed in the cottage in Donegal in 1982.

Eamon, who was aged 14 at the time, woke up in the middle of the night to find Sharkey abusing him and fought him off.

When his parents heard what had happened, they went with Eamon to the school principal Dermot McNally.

He added: "My mother and father were wanting to talk to the police. And his response to my mother was, 'Mrs McLaughlin, do you know how much a solicitor costs?'

"[It was] as if he was knew that they weren't of great wealth to pay for a solicitor."

Eamon believes there was no action as a consequence of his parents' warning.

He said: "Nothing. There was nothing done in the months after it, the weeks after it. There was nothing."

Spotlight has also spoken to the other boy in the bed with Sharkey and Eamon that night.

He had already been abused on other weekends. He doesn't want his name disclosed – we're calling him 'Jack'.

He said: "Sometime during the night I woke up and Eamon [was] standing at the end of the bed shouting at him, cursing at him.

"I knew what had happened and Eamon lay down at the side of the bed and I fell asleep again.

"The next thing I remember is just sitting at the kitchen table in the morning and Eamon telling me what, not exactly what had happened, he just said, Sharkey tried his hand with him."

'Jack' told Spotlight that he and his parents were also called in by Dermot McNally.

He said he confirmed what he had seen and that McNally also asked his parents if they could afford a solicitor.

He too believes nothing was done as a consequence of the warning.

Gary Farren is one of four men Spotlight has spoken to who were abused as boys after Eamon says his parents warned the school.

He said: "If those allegations had been looked into, all of this would have stopped.

"He should have been removed from those positions of trust that he was in, taken out and dealt with then, and that didn't happen."

Because McNally is now dead, we do not have his account of what happened.

CCMS said Sharkey's crimes were appalling and a devastating abuse of trust.

It added: "Had any member of staff and most particularly a principal, received a report of sexual assault on a child in their care, the only appropriate response would have been immediate referral to the police and to the relevant statutory authorities."

Spotlight has also interviewed Sharkey's brother Colm who says their mother asked him on her deathbed to do something about the paedophile.

"I was not the best son. I said to my mother on her deathbed, 'I apologise if I had caused you grief. I was young and stupid at the time'.

"As far as I was concerned, everybody looked at me as the black sheep of the family.

"And she said, 'No. You're not the trouble in this family. Paddy is the trouble in this family. And you know what I'm on about'.

"And she said, 'You're the only one and I want you to take him down'."

Colm Sharkey said in the early 1990s he became aware of attacks by his brother on young boys and helped ensure they were reported to Gardaí (Irish police).

"He was interviewed two or three times and then it was sent to the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) in Dublin.

"They came back and said because it was two young boys' statements, they wouldn't be reliable.

"They said they didn't have a good enough case."

More than two decades later, Colm Sharkey was in the front row of the public gallery at the sentencing, the closest person to his brother in the dock.

The victims Spotlight has spoken to were also there. They have supported each other through years of investigation and hearings, travelling together from Coleraine to Donegal.

Gary Farren said: "Having those guys and being able to help each other has been amazing.

"It's just made people that much stronger."

• If you are affected by any issues raised in this article, help can be found at BBC Action Line

Spotlight: Old Boys United will be on BBC One Northern Ireland on Tuesday 30 June at 22.40. It will also be available on the BBC iPlayer.