'I can't believe people are still supporting him': Nephew describes uncle's 'calculated' sexual abuse

Five 'glowing' sworn affidavits were given to Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin from a former teacher and colleagues, despite Paul Craven being found guilty by a jury of sexual assaulting his nephew

'Irish Examiner' reporter Alison O Reilly speaking to Alan Jenkins outside the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin. Picture: Gareth Chaney

“I can’t believe he made a career out of looking after vulnerable kids and people are still supporting him.”

That was the reaction of the nephew of a former Daughters of Charity youth worker who was jailed this week for sexually assaulting him 30 years ago.

Alan Jenkins, 41, waived his right to anonymity in December when his uncle Paul Craven from Ballyfermot, west Dublin was convicted on 11 counts including sexual assault and indecent assault on dates between 1989 and 1999.

Craven, aged 55, was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. During the trial, he was supported by his wife Breda, his siblings and mother, and some former colleagues.

The court was told he worked for two decades with vulnerable children at St Laurence's detention centre in Finglas, and the Daughters of Charity, as well as Dublin Safer Families and Jobstown Family Centre.

Five “glowing” sworn affidavits were given to Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin from a former teacher and colleagues, despite him being found guilty by a jury of sexually assaulting his nephew.

Five years ago, Mr Jenkins and his sister Gillian had also reported the offences to Tusla, who said the allegations were “unfounded”.

Mr Jenkins, who was a promising goalkeeper with Cherry Orchard before he was left “broken” over the abuse, said it left him “battling against the system”.

“Nobody believed me,” he said. “My granny gave evidence during the trial saying none of that (abuse) would have happened in her house.

“She said I was angry about the death of my mother and that’s why I did this. Even now, they are still turning up to court. My mum was their sister, they had a duty of care to protect me, I am their dead sister’s little boy.

He used all of this to his advantage. Throughout the trial it really hurt me that they stood by his side, they made me feel like I was in the wrong when I wasn’t.

He said two of Craven's brothers gave evidence against him. 

"They went too far and never reached out to me. A jury found him guilty of 11 counts of abuse and yet still people are sending in character references for him.” 

Mr Jenkins said he looked up to his uncle and described him as a “hero” and “father figure” after his parents died.

During the court case, he said the abuse began shortly after he moved to his grandmother’s house following the death of his mother, who fell down the stairs in 1989.

“My dad had died in a car crash the year before,” he said. “I was five and Gill was going on seven.

“We went to live with my granny. Paul was there, he was like a father figure, he would always be there for me.

“That bond developed, and he was very good to me. But then things happened that I was thinking, ‘this isn’t ok’, but I never said anything, I convinced myself I was wrong.

“He made me believe he was the only one I could trust because no one else liked me.

Alan Jenkins, Paul Craven, and Gillian Jenkins.

“He used to tell people ‘Alan is an awful liar’, he was constantly putting people off the scent, all the time, I didn’t know whether I was coming or going. He was isolating me. I know now he was preparing in case I told them what he did.

“Everything he did was calculated. He was one step ahead all the time.” 

The trial heard Craven would call his nephew up to his room when he was six or seven and would play a game where he hid cards behind his body before asking Alan to find them. He would take the child’s hand and guide them to his genital area.

More inappropriate touching happened over the following years and as he got older, Craven would lie “naked” on the bed in front of his nephew touching himself.

At 12, he would ply the child with alcohol and began inspecting his genital areas under the guise of examining him for sexually transmitted infections.

The child found ways to avoid Craven as he got older until he finally broke his silence when he was 21 after a trip to Manchester for a football game with his uncle.

“He booked a double bed,” he said. “I woke up and he was masturbating me. I kept saying ‘did that just happen?’.

“I turned and turned, and his hands came at me again. I jumped out of bed. He said, ‘get back into bed, you’re sleepwalking’. I had to sit in the corner to get myself together.

“After that, I had very little contact with him.

“I blocked it all out. I knew, but I had this angel and devil on my shoulder. This is the man you idolise; he’s your hero. He’s always been there, that’s what I kept telling myself, but I knew deep down.

My mental state was that bad I was thinking I was imagining it; I went to his brother’s party; Paul was belittling me in front of everyone and I got a drink, and he followed me.

“He said you’ve had enough, he put his hand on my chest and I headbutted him, I said, ‘that is for what you have done to me in Manchester."

“That’s when it all came out. I told my ex-wife, my sister, and my father’s sister Val. They all believed me.

“We reported it to the gardaí, but I felt fobbed off, they prejudged me, I was drinking heavily, and I could not cope with it. Paul was a pillar of the community.

“Then I met my Anna, my partner, she told me this is not your fault. We have two small children together; I have five children, and I always struggled changing them.

“I wanted to hang myself in the woods and Anna stopped me."

Paul Craven at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin for his sentence hearing last year. Picture: IrishPhotoDesk.ie

Mr Jenkins did make a statement to gardaí, and his uncle was arrested and charged. But he no longer speaks to his mother’s family.

He said their support and the five affidavits given to the court describing his uncle as a good character around vulnerable children were “devastating”.

“One of them was from Finn Essex,” said Mr Jenkins. “He was my teacher and Paul Craven’s teacher.

“Paul Curtis was a care worker in St Laurence’s, and they were friends, that didn’t surprise me either, but they are putting their names to supporting a paedophile.

“It’s one thing your family going against you, and then people working with kids do this. This was a 10-day trial, and he was convicted by a jury.

“And these are people who worked with children. Sometimes I think if I knew how difficult this was going to be I’d have left it, but then I also know he’s locked away now and his supporters should know, that you never really know anyone or what goes on behind closed doors.”