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	Former Child Abuse Priest Who Worked in Huddersfield Named in Shocking Report Huddersfield Daily Examiner December 12, 2009 http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2009/12/12/former-child-abuse-priest-who-worked-in-huddersfield-named-in-shocking-report-86081-25374908/ A FORMER priest who worked in Huddersfield has been named in a damning report into sex abuse carried out by Irish priests. John Kinsella has been named in Ireland’s most shocking child abuse report – yet no-one now knows where he is now. The Examiner can reveal today that he was a lecturer in Huddersfield in the late 1990s. And it cannot be ruled out that he is now back in this area. Kinsella – who was born in 1948 – is one of 46 priests named in a Diocesan Report exposing a litany of abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin. The report released late last month looked into the way the church dealt with such allegations and reveals that Kinsella – who was jailed in 1999 and released in 2001 after serving a jail term for child sex abuse – has ‘disappeared’ since his release. He was not required to report to the Garda as the Sex Offenders Act 2001 was not in effect at that time. But the report states: “It is a cause of concern that his current whereabouts are unknown, but this is the case for many sex offenders.’’ In 1999, Kinsella, then 50, was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault on two Irish brothers aged 12 and 13. He was working as a part-time lecturer at the former Huddersfield Technical College when he was arrested and taken to Ireland for his trial. A spokesman for the college – which has now become Kirklees College – said: “John Kinsella was a lecturer at Huddersfield Technical College between October 14, 1998 and June 30, 1999. “He taught English for speakers of other languages and was in the college’s Community Outreach department.’’ The court heard how the priest first met the brothers while they were on holiday in Lourdes in 1973. He admitted to bringing the boys on different occasions to his hotel room in Lourdes and later his presbytery in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow in Ireland where he was working at the time. Here he sexually assaulted them on several occasions. One of the victims later claimed the abuse had destroyed his life and he first complained to the police in the mid 1990s. At the trial, one of the abused brothers said: “My marriage has broken up, I had to leave Ireland and I can never return because of the memories. “My nerves are bad and I suffer from stress-related illnesses. “I will be haunted by what he did to me for the rest of my days.” Kinsella pleaded guilty, saying he had been abused as a child and wanted to express remorse for his crimes. He said: “I hope they will find it in my heart to forgive me. I have tarnished the name of the church.” Kinsella served three years of an eight year sentence in an Irish prison. Since his release in 2001 his whereabouts are unknown after he made no attempt to contact his own bishop and his UK Diocese in Sheffield told the Commission it had no address for him. The former priest, who was born in 1948, is thought to have been based in Yorkshire for 26 years. He left the priesthood when the allegations became public. A spokesman for the Leeds Diocese confirmed that parts of South Yorkshire fell under the jurisdiction of Leeds in 1974 when Kinsella was appointed to a role as priest at St Marie’s in Sheffield from 1974 to 1982. He then moved to Our Lady Of Beauchief and St Thomas of Canterbury in Meadowhead, Sheffield, but left the diocese in 1992. It is understood he had problems with money and alcohol at that time. The diocese is now known as the Diocese of Hallam and they do not know where Kinsella is. The Commission of Investigation outlined how allegations of abuse against clerics over the period 1975 to 2004 were handled by Church and State authorities. Cover-ups were exposed. Of the 46 priests investigated, some remain within their orders under strict conditions, some have left Ireland and others have disappeared. Deirdre Kenny works for One In Four Ireland, a registered charity which provides support to people who have experienced sexual abuse and sexual violence. She said: “Of course it’s a matter of huge concern that the whereabouts of this former priest is unknown. “As a community we should make sure we do everything to ensure children are protected and in this case, knowing where this man is would help with that.” We need to make sure our children are safe. The Garda in Ireland would not comment on individual cases. But Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said the Report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin “makes for difficult and disturbing reading, detailing as it does many instances of sexual abuse and failure on the part of both church and state authorities to protect victims”.
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