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Sex inquiry Tolkien son dies
Jan 27 2003
By Staff Reporter, Birmingham Post
The eldest son of The Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien has died at the age of 85.
Father John Tolkien, heir to the multi-million family estate, died after a 50-year career with the Catholic church in the Midlands.
He had been the subject of a police investigation into allegations of sex abuse against young boys during his time as a priest.
He was investigated in 1994 and 2001, following allegations made against him by Christopher Carrie, who sang in the choir when Fr Tolkien was curate at the Church of the English Martyrs, Sparkhill, Birmingham.
Fr Tolkien had moved to the parish in 1950 where he resided until 1957 before moving to Knutton, Staffordshire.
He stayed there until 1966 and then moved on to Hartshill, Staffordshire until 1987, before finally residing at Eynsham, Oxfordshire where he remained until retirement in 1994.
Mr Carrie first made a formal complaint to West Midlands Police in 1994 but after no action was taken. He approached them again in 2001.
He claims he was sexually abused by Tolkien when he was a ten-year-old in the presbytery of the church in Sparkhill.
Following an investigation, a police file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, but the CPS said while there was sufficient evidence to proceed with the case, Tolkien would not be charged because he was too ill, suffering with dementia.
Mr Carrie is now in the process of taking legal action against the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham because of Tolkien's alleged abuse.
