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	Archbishop to Contact Police over Abuse Tip-offs By Nick Mckenzie The Age December 4, 2009 http://www.theage.com.au/national/archbishop-to-contact-police-over-abuse-tipoffs-20091203-k8th.html CATHOLIC Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart will contact police about concerns that the church's chief sexual abuse investigator tipped off two priests that they were under investigation by detectives for alleged sexual abuse. Depending on the advice he receives from police, Archbishop Hart has also said that he may review the process used for 13 years by the Melbourne archdiocese to privately investigate more than 450 cases of church sexual abuse. ''He will await the outcome of the discussions with the police [before deciding whether to conduct a review],'' a spokesman for the archbishop said. Archbishop Hart's move comes after The Age revealed yesterday that church investigator Peter O'Callaghan, QC, told two priests - via their lawyers - that they were the subject of police probes. In both cases, Mr O'Callaghan tipped off the priests without the consent of detectives, before police had interviewed them and while the inquiries were at a covert stage, leaving them open to potential compromise. Archbishop Hart has also said he was unaware until yesterday that a police detective had, earlier this year, expressed concern to Mr O'Callaghan about the way his process interacted with that of the police. In a statement on Wednesday, the archbishop said that his archdiocese had never been told of any concerns held by police about the church inquiry process. The Age reported yesterday that the tip-offs to two priests by Mr O'Callaghan had infuriated police and also drawn a strong rebuke from Victoria's top sex-crime detective. Detective Inspector Glenn Davies said it should be left to police to tell suspects that they were under covert investigation in order to prevent ''collusion between parties involved and ensure critical evidence is not destroyed''. Mr O'Callaghan defended his actions by claiming the priests had a ''natural justice'' right to know that the reason his church inquiry into their conduct was stopping was because police had started their own investigation. Earlier this year, Archbishop Hart resisted calls from a small group of victims, lawyers and senior church officials to review the Melbourne archdiocese's process of investigating sexual abuse allegations.
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