During his lifetime and after his death, there were a number of allegations of child sexual abuse against him: he was questioned by the police but never charged or convicted.
He returned to Oxford in 1987 and settled in Eynsham, serving as the parish priest at its St. Peter's Catholic Church until he retired in 1994.
[7][8] Tolkien also served as a governor of St Joseph's College[9] and was the scoutmaster of the 159th English Martyrs Scout Group in Sparkhill.
[14] The Sunday Mercury made allegations against him in an article published soon after his death in January 2003, but was censured by the Press Complaints Commission for presenting them as facts when they had never been proven in a court of law.
[13] The West Midlands Police began their enquiry and interviewed alleged witnesses after Christopher Carrie, one of the accusers, contacted them in 2001.
[16][17] Vincent Nichols, then Archbishop of Birmingham, authorised a payment of £15,000 in an out-of-court settlement to Carrie without admission of liability in 2003 after the archdiocese was sued by him.
[18][19] Lawyers representing the archdiocese had concluded that Carrie was "likely to satisfy the (civil) court, Fr Tolkien abused him in the manner he alleges.
[23][22] At a hearing of the Inquiry, a lawyer representing the accusers claimed that diocesan documents showed Nichols being aware of allegations involving Tolkien, but deciding to reach a settlement in order to avoid disclosing them.
[24] Nichols apologised in November 2018 stating, "Often in the past we failed to respond promptly and vigorously to the cries and accounts of victims.