Priest Sex Trial: Boy Was Disgusted at "Abuse" by Priest

The Sentinel
January 26, 2012

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Priest-sex-trial-Boy-disgusted-abuse-priest/story-15041836-detail/story.html

A TEENAGER was so upset after being sexually abused by a priest that he tried to kill himself, a court heard.

The alleged victim is one of eight people who have come forward to claim they were abused by Alexander Bede Walsh as youngsters. The alleged abuse is said to have taken place over 20 years between 1974 and 1994.

Walsh, aged 58, is currently on trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court facing 27 charges including indecent assault and indecency.

Yesterday, jurors heard from one alleged victim who claimed he went to stay with Walsh when he worked at Cotton College in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Walsh touched him inappropriately when he was in his pyjamas and then indecently assaulted him on the bed.

He told the court that Walsh left and he later found the defendant in a bed in another part of the college.

The man said he had previously felt "honoured" to be touched by a man of God during other incidents, but told the court yesterday that he ended up feeling "sick and disgusted".

He said: "I wanted to kill myself. I wasn't happy with myself at all.

"I thought God had fallen out with me and I was no longer on the path to God."

The court heard that the suicide attempt took place the following day in woods near the boy's home.

The jury was told the alleged victim has since gone on to suffer with anxiety, depression and he had a breakdown in 2003.

Mark Watson, defending Walsh, accused the witnesses of making up the abuse claims.

He said: "It is something you have imagined since your breakdown."

The man, who gave his evidence behind a screen, replied: "It did happen. That is why I have got post traumatic stress disorder."

Other allegations made in court include Walsh indecently assaulting another boy by touching him during swimming trips and carrying out indecent behaviour in a toilet cubicle.

Another alleged victim claimed Walsh, of Church Lane, Abbots Bromley, near Rugeley, indecently assaulted him by pressing himself up against the boy.

He also told the court about other incidents in a changing room at a swimming pool.

In his evidence before the jury he added: "He used to dress me up in a nappy and take pictures.

"I didn't know what that was all about, I just thought it was really strange."

Walsh, who served as a priest in Cheadle for 14 years, denies all the allegations.

The trial continues and is expected to last at least two weeks.