Gloucestershire Echo
August 30, 2011
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Paedophile-writes-Gloucestershire-Echo-claiming/story-13229290-detail/story.html
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| Bill Carney |
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| Carney's former stepson Paul Clayton |
PAEDOPHILE Bill Carney has written to the Echo claiming he deserves a second chance because he does not pose "any threat or danger" to children.
His former stepson, however, has accused the former priest of attempting to manipulate others – as he says Carney did his family for more than a decade.
Paul Clayton spoke out after Carney – branded one of the worst child sex abusers in the Murphy report into clerical abuse in Ireland – criticised the Echo for reporting that he was living in the Cotswolds, near a children's play area in Northleach, at the home of his ex-wife, Mr Clayton's mother.
Carney claimed he was not a threat to children and that the only mark against his name during the last 30 years was three points on his driving licence for doing "38mph in a 40mph area".
But Mr Clayton, a well-known journeyman woodcarver from the Cotswolds, hit out at the suggestion Carney deserved anything other than being brought to justice.
He said: "He should say sorry and then maybe people will give him a second chance.
"I believe Carney is sneaky about everything. I don't trust him as far as I could throw him. He is so clever – now I think he's trying to manipulate the press. He makes people feel sorry for him, but he will never admit everything he's done. He will take it to his grave. I don't feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for his victims."
The Murphy report – published in November 2009 – described Carney as "a serial sexual abuser of children" linked to at least 32 complaints and suspicions of abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin.
Compiled by Judge Yvonne Murphy, it cited Carney's abuse of children as some of the worst investigated, while a psychiatric assessment in the report said the former priest's "refusal to acknowledge his paedophilia means the prognosis for a cure is bleak".
The Irishman is understood to have admitted two counts of indecent assault in 1983 and, in 1992, he was defrocked after church authorities convicted him of child sex abuse.
Nevertheless, he has never been tried for the numerous allegations outlined in the Murphy report, all of which he has consistently denied.
In May this year, the Echo reported that the former Catholic priest was living near a children's play area in Northleach, back in the home of his ex-wife, Joan.
For 14 years, Carney's dark past was kept secret from her and her sons, and no one from the Irish authorities even notified her when they married in 2004, the source of much of Mr Clayton's anger towards the man.
Following the Echo article, Carney is thought to have fled to Spain, although Mr Clayton believes he is back in England, possibly around Cheltenham and the Cotswolds, where he has many links and is free to move under the radar and without notifying the authorities.
Curate Rev Nick Fisher, a Northleach town councillor, said it was reasonable for Mr Carney to expect a second chance as the concept was at the heart of "human compassion and Christian teaching".
But he warned: "In the light of the serious allegations – and only he knows the truth of them – it would be reasonable for that further chance to be given with prudence, which would involve safeguards being put in place to ensure that further allegations could not arise while he was regaining the trust of the community."
CARNEY'S LETTER IN FULL:
Dear Editor,
I have to write to you to take issue with you about your front page article you published about me on May 22. I have needed to wait to write to you as I have needed some time to cool down. I also write to you for my own benefit as it helps me get it out of my system.
Your article depicts me as a threat or a danger to children. Nothing could be further from the truth. For over 30 years now I have been a recovering alcoholic and the only mark against my name is three points on my driving licence for doing 38mph in a 40mph area.
In these 30 years there has not been the slightest suggestion of anything that would indicate that I am a danger to any child. I have lived in Northleach for about seven years and I have been in that playground once and again in my time and years in Northleach nothing has occurred to suggest that I was in any way, shape of form a danger to the welfare of any child.
The Prime Minister said he gave Mr Andy Coulson a second chance and that everyone does deserve a second chance. Over 30 years ago was a very low and sad time in my life I was given a second chance. A chance to stop drinking and begin again to live a good life and be a good person. I grabbed that chance with both hands and I am today a good person doing my best to have a good life, one day at a time.
Unfortunately your paper's article has not helped in any way whatsoever. The power of the press is huge and it can bring about much good, but in this case I believe you have failed. I know in my heart what kind of person I am today and I know that I do not pose any threat of danger to any child, 30 years surely must mean and say something.
I am a good honest Christian living as best I can one day at a time and your article and whatever others say, thank God, does not change that. All I ask for is a chance.
In case you do publish this letter I believe it would be very remiss of me not to mention my good, lovely and beautiful wife Joan. She is the most wonderful, honest, kindest person you could ever met. There is not a bad bone in her entire body. I am sorry for the pain she has been caused – God knows she does not in any way deserve it.
Your sincerely,
Bill Carney
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