BishopAccountability.org
	Stockton Child Abuse Victim's Outburst in Church By Gareth Lightfoot Evening Gazette September 16, 2011 http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2011/09/16/stockton-child-abuse-victim-s-outburst-in-church-84229-29430001/ A CHILD abuse victim confronted two priests to express his animosity towards the Catholic Church after years of abuse, a court was told. Alan Elsworth’s ire could have been directed at any Catholic church, priest or school, a court heard. He focused his attention on the English Martyrs and St Peter and St Paul Church on Redhill Road, Stockton, Teesside Crown Court heard. He was restrained by churchgoers after he berated a priest conducting mass on April 30 last year. Prosecutor Jacqui Edwards said: “He was pointing and shouting at the priest and making reference to child abuse.” He was given a 12-month conditional discharge and a restraining order in July last year for using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. This week, he admitted breaching the restraining. He went to the same church and confronted a different parish priest on June 9 this year, but the court heard his actions could have been directed at any Catholic priest. Duncan McReddie, defending, said Elsworth acted in emotional turmoil after a “lifetime marred by abuse” and personal tragedy. He said: “There is some animosity on his part towards the Catholic Church. The animosity he feels is born of years of systematic abuse when he was a child being educated at a Catholic institution. “There followed intervention by the Catholic Church in a very long-standing marriage, of 37 years, which caused that marriage to collapse.” He said Elsworth, 61, now realised a court was not a “soapbox” and sought legal redress through the right channels. “He understands that he is not to approach or interfere with Catholic institutions of any description,” said Mr McReddie. Judge Howard Crowson accepted Elsworth, of Cornriggs Walk, Stockton, was driven to behave in his “unorthodox” way by what he believed, after an otherwise productive and honest life. Elsworth was conditionally discharged for one year and ordered to pay ?250 costs.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.