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	Former City Priest Is Jailed for Child Abuse News & Star August 11, 2007 http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=531004 A Former Carlisle priest was jailed for more than five years yesterday for sexually abusing children. Father Edmond Cotter told one victim – a girl of nine – he was "like God" and that if she was not a good girl, she would burn in hell. The 60-year-old, who used to work at Christ the King in Harraby, and St Margaret Mary's Catholic Primary School, attacked up to 10 girls and one boy, all aged between seven and 11 years. The abuse occurred while he was parish priest at two different churches in Preston, Lancashire, in the mid 1970s until the mid 1980s. Both churches have their own primary schools where Cotter used his position and authority to prey on youngsters the court was told, Preston Crown Court heard. Hilary Banks, prosecuting, said Cotter, who now lives in Dalton, south Cumbria, befriended the family of one girl and contrived situations where he could be alone with her. He would then kiss and fondle her, sometimes in the vicarage and church and in his car. On one occasion he took children for a school camping trip in the countryside. "During the night the defendant entered the girl's dormitory and got in to bed with her and kissed her," Ms Banks told the court. The girl, now a married woman with children of her own, later told police she could not tell anyone because "she did not think anyone would believe a priest would behave in such a manner", the prosecutor said. In March 2006, the victim discovered Cotter was working as a priest at Our Lady of The Rosary Church in Dalton. She has a child of school age and this brought back memories of the abuse, Ms Banks said. The victim became concerned for the children at the school who might be at risk and drove to Cumbria with her husband to attend a service at the church. She then went to police and made a formal complaint against Cotter. He was arrested and confessed to having a sexual orientation towards pre-teen females, the court was told. More victims came forward following the news of his arrest. The abuse occurred on numerous occasions on up to 10 other victims aged between seven and 11. Cotter would tell his victims they were "special friends" and abuse them during church group meetings. Cotter was jailed for five years and two months, put on the sex offenders' register for life and disqualified from ever working with children.
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