BBC News [Northern Ireland]
May 24, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6688659.stm
A County Londonderry priest has been acquitted on two charges of sexually abusing a teenager almost 30 years ago.
But the jury failed to reach a verdict on another two charges of indecent assault against Father Patrick Crilly, 63, from Desertmartin.
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The judge has discharged the jury and the Public Prosecution Service will consider whether Father Crilly should face a retrial on those two charges.
The alleged incidents occured in the 1970s when he was a vocations director.
The jury at Londonderry Crown Court announced the two majority verdicts of not guilty after more than two and a half hours discussion.
After a further 30 minutes' debate, the jury foreman told the trial judge Corinne Philpott that they were "inextricably hung".
The judge dismissed the jury, and a barrister for the prosecution said he would inform the court as quickly as possible whether they would be asking for a retrial on the two remaining charges.
Father Crilly was released on continuing bail.
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