Four years' jail for priest on abuse charges

May 14 2008 by Hilary Clixby, The Journal

A CATHOLIC priest who sexually abused four children escaped justice for 40 years after complaints from two of his victims were ignored by the authorities, a court heard.

John Corrigan molested three altar boys and a teenage girl at a church in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Although allegations relating to two of the victims were later reported to the Church and police, no action was taken at the time and it was nearly 40 years before Corrigan – by now retired and living in his native Ireland – was arrested.

He was finally brought back to England to face the charges in October last year after lengthy extradition proceedings.

Corrigan, 72, went on to plead guilty to seven offences of indecent assault relating to three boys and two offences of indecent assault against the girl when they were aged between eight and 15.

The pensioner, of County Mayo, was yesterday jailed for four years, ordered to register as a sex offender for life and disqualified indefinitely from working with children.

Judge David Hodson said there was no evidence that Corrigan had behaved in a similar way towards anyone else since the early 1970s and he accepted he was genuinely remorseful for what he had done.

He said he also took into account Corrigan’s age and poor health and the fact that on release from prison he would live out his life as a pariah in the community.

But he told him: “By virtue of that priesthood, you were in an especially privileged position.

“You were regarded by your parishioners as a person in whom the safety and innocence of the children in your charge would be safe yet over a period of about five years you breached that trust in the grossest way.

“A striking feature of all these offences is that you chose either the sanctity of the sacristy or the safety of the vestry to commit these offences, either when altar boys or the helpful teenage girl were alone and no one else about.

“You believed your position was unassailable. You thought no one would complain and if they did, their word would not be believed against yours.

“When complaints were later made, those thoughts, which I am sure you must have had, were in fact proved true.

“Both the Church and the police did nothing, but you will not be punished for the failings of others.”

Corrigan worked in the North East from his ordination in 1961 until 1989 and worked as an assistant priest at St Robert of Newminster in Fenham, Newcastle, parish priest at St Wilfrid’s, Gateshead and also at St Cuthbert’s, New Seaham, County Durham.

He will never be allowed to work as a priest again.

Penny Moreland, prosecuting, said: “Because of the high regard in which a priest was held during that time period, the defendant knew that the victim would comply with whatever he chose to do. If anything was said, no one would believe the children against a priest.”

Ms Moreland said that one of the male victims had, from 1980 onwards, attempted to bring the abuse he suffered to the attention of the police and the Church.

“Perhaps because of the climate that prevailed and because he accepts he was an extremely troubled and angry man, those attempts were unsuccessful,” Ms Moreland said.

“It was a very different time and the climate was very different in the way events were received and treated.”

Ms Moreland said the female victim had confided in friends and the allegations were reported to another clergyman.

She said the girl was given a dressing- down and told she was a bad girl saying wicked things about the priest.

The female victim finally came forward after learning that Corrigan had admitted molesting the three male victims.

Tony Hawks, defending Corrigan, said: “One has to look at the offences in the light of a man who is now 72 years of age and one is now punishing him for a short period of shameful and disgraceful behaviour which occurred in a life on any view entirely devoted to the service of others.

“The reality is he has breached his position of trust as a priest in the grossest way and he is going to have to live with it for the rest of his life.

“He has been removed of his priesthood and the reports show that his attitude is that were it not for his own strong religious beliefs, he would want to take his own life.”

Procedures now in place

A SENIOR Church official said yesterday that the Church had moved on since the days when victims of abuse went unheard.

Father Dennis Tindall, safeguarding co-ordinator for the Hexham and Newcastle Diocese, said procedures had been in place for the past 14 years to ensure allegations are properly investigated.

He said those who used their privileged position as Corrigan had to act in ways which were the polar opposite of everything the Church stands for committed a grave crime.

Father Tindall said of the four-year jail term imposed on Corrigan: "I think justice has been done for the people who have been harmed by Father Corrigan.

"I have worked with the victims for a number of years now and I know they have suffered a great deal and from members of their families who are here today I know they will feel they can move on.

"The sentence doesn’t take away the pain, but it does help them feel acknowledged in a way they haven’t felt before.

"A priest is given privileged access to the lives of very many people.

"It is not earned. It is given freely and for anyone to use that privilege in order to carry out actions which are the polar opposite of everything that the Church stands for is a serious breach of trust and a grave crime.

"All Church people feel badly let down when a priest is accused of abusing others.

"We realise that the whole reputation of the community is harmed but, in fact, most priests do a very good job and will continue to do that as we now work in a transparent way with any information given to us about any member of our community who has infringed the rights of others."

Fr Tindall added: "We need to acknowledge things were not always done correctly in the past.

"Where information was shared, it was often not passed on to the people who could do something about it.

"But since 1994 we have had thorough procedures in place and we always work now in tandem with police and statutory agencies to make sure the requirements of the law are honoured and justice is done."

Fr Tindall said formal procedures would now be put in train which will ensure Corrigan will never practise as a priest again.