The Herald Scotland has named a child abuse victim called Andi Lavery as one of “Scotland’s heroes”, along with others including former rugby player and charity fundraiser Doddie Weir and surgeon Lindsey Chisholm, in an article here (archive) –

“[…] The fight for justice by survivors of historic abuse has already been a long and difficult one – and much of the way, Andi Lavery has been there speaking up not only for himself, but many other victims of abuse by those in the Catholic Church. This year, he finally saw his primary abuser, Father Francis Paul Moore, now aged 82, face justice, and be found guilty of the shocking sexual abuse of three children and sentenced to eight years in prison – after an appeal reduced it from nine years.

Following the original sentencing, Mr Lavery said, “It’s never going to take away the sickening things that have happened He looked me in the eye when he was walking down to the cells and I realised I didn’t fear him anymore. He had nothing but rage towards me which shows he’s not sorry for anything he’s done. Father Moore poisoned my life.” Lavery was the youngest known victim of Fr Moore, being only five years old when he was the victim of abhorrent sexual violence leaving significant injuries. The trial itself was a difficult experience for him. It was, he said, “worse than the abuse itself – an entirely toxic experience”.

Sadly the battle, for him, continues – not just to see abusers imprisoned, but, he says, also to see “those in authority… both repair the catastrophic harm and offer qualified redress and recognition of how the Catholic Church has destroyed my life […]”.

Note – Mr Lavery has seen a draft of and expressly consented to my including the extract in this blog post.