Manchester Evening News
December 18, 2009
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1186739_payout_for_man_sexually_abused_by_priest
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| William Green molested his pupil on several occasions in the 1970s. |
A MIDDLE-AGED man who was sexually abused by a priest at a top Catholic school when he was a child has been awarded compensation.
The victim was molested by his teacher, Father William Green, at St Bede's College in Manchester on several occasions in the 1970s.
The man, now in his 40s and no longer living in the city, has been awarded more than ?15,000 in an out-of-court settlement with the Alexandra Park school.
His solicitor, Kim Harrison from legal firm Pannone, described how it left him traumatised and wracked with guilt.
She said: “It had an impact on him as a young man. He was low, he couldn't enjoy life at university and it affected his confidence at a time of life when most people are letting their hair down.
Shame
“He felt a sense of shame and, like many victims of this sort of crime, he felt that if he had done something about his own abuse then maybe it would have stopped it happening to others.”
Pannone is acting for nine victims of Green. This is the first compensation they have secured for the clients.
Fr Green was jailed for six years in October 2008 for 'systematically' sexually abusing a string of boys at St Bede's.
He admitted 27 assaults on boys aged between 11 and 15 while he was head of religious education.
He also pleaded guilty to an assault on an eight-year-old boy at a different school where he previously taught.
Green, who took up his appointment in 1973 after studying for the priesthood in Rome, was given particular responsibility for boarding pupils at St Bede's.
Vulnerable
Passing sentence at Manchester Crown Court, Judge Clement Goldstone told him: “You systematically and sexually abused these boys, who were vulnerable and impressionable, and they were groomed by you for the purposes of your own sexual gratification.”
Since leaving St Bede's in 1990, Green, who lived in Aspull, had been a priest at the Holy Family Church, Wigan.
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