Former carer accused of abusing 26 boys was an ‘evil man’

  A former carer accused of abusing 26 boys at a Catholic children’s home was an ‘evil man’, a court heard today (THURS). James McCann, 80, is alleged to have carried out 52 physical and sexual assaults against residents at St Francis children’s home in Shefford, Bedfordshire in the 1960s and 70s. The Old Bailey has heard his trademark punishment, dubbed ‘the clappers’, involved him striking boys’ ears with his outstretched hands. A former resident, now in his sixties, told…