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It’s also commonly – and often wrongly – thought that a child’s statements about experiences of abuse would remain consistent over time.

We also tend to believe that parents would know if their child was being sexually abused or that children would tell someone immediately and that they would display fear towards the perpetrator. These include the belief that sexual abusers are monsters who are violent and frightening to children. There are several common misconceptions about child sexual abuse which can make it hard to believe allegations when they are made. So we find it difficult to comprehend that bad things happen to those who do not deserve it. Just world beliefs encourage us to conform to the rules and regulations of our communities, since we believe that this will be rewarded with a safe and orderly existence for us and our families.

Several theoretical explanations have been offered for this, including our need to believe in a just world where this kind of thing isn’t done by adults to children. Historically, as a society we have actually found it very difficult to believe allegations or to acknowledge possible signs that child sexual abuse is occurring. But, true or not, they raise important issues which we need to better understand if we are to prevent abuse happening. I’m not going to speculate on the accuracy or otherwise of the two men’s stories.