Priest Denies Sex Abuse Allegations

The Blottr
February 2, 2012

http://www.blottr.com/birmingham/breaking-news/priest-denies-sex-abuse-allegations


The Catholic Church has come under fire yet again after another priest was accused of sexually abusing children.

Alexander Bede Walsh has denied the allegations put against him that from the years 1975 to 1994 Walsh committed 27 acts of sexual misconduct.

Walsh told the court that while he was working as a priest in the West Midlands, he did enjoy working with older children, but not for the sinister reasons that many have put against him. Instead, he said that he preferred working with teenagers "because of their honesty".

Walsh had been previously convicted of having downloaded indecent images of children which forced him to give up his position as a priest. He still lives, however, in ecclesiastical accommodation. The prosecutor used this information to his advantage, describing the defendant as a "predatory paedophile" who used his position in the church to make sexual advances on children.

In a report undertaken in 2004, it was revealed that from the years 1950 to 2002, there were 10,667 allegations of sexual misconduct against over 4,000 Catholic priests. Many have blamed the hierarchy of the Catholic church which led many incidents to remain unreported.

The trial of Alexander Bede Walsh continues.