Child Abuse Priest Says He Is the 'Victim' As He Seeks Apology from Record for Exposing Him

By Keith McLeod
Daily Record
January 3, 2013

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/child-abuse-priest-says-he-is-the-victim-1515741

A paedophile priest forced to flee his home has written a self-serving letter complaining of his own "pain" and "hardship"

PERVERT Bill Carnery expressed no sign of an apology in his letter to the Record, instead he blamed his previous crimes on alcohol.

A PAEDOPHILE priest who abused dozens of children has written to the Record whining about his own “pain” and “hardship”.

Pervert Bill Carney wants us to apologise for writing about him, but his self-serving letter contains no hint of an apology to any of his victims.

Instead, he claims he is no threat to kids – and blames his crimes on alcohol.

We exposed Carney in 2009 after he fled his native Ireland and opened a family-friendly guest house in St Andrews.

And last November, we revealed he had mingled with families with children on a luxury Mediterranean cruise.

He was with wife Joan, who had earlier disowned him after we reported his crimes.

Carney had told Joan nothing about his abuse of children. An official report linked him to 32 named victims and said there was evidence he had abused many more.

The former priest bleats in his letter that our coverage of his activities has caused “real hardship”, “untold pain and upset” and “wreaked havoc”.

He quotes from the Leveson report into press standards, claiming “press behaviour at times can only be decribed as outrageous”. And he says of our stories: “How you can call that work is beyond me.”

Carney says our coverage has been “very objectionable and very offensive to my ex-wife Mrs Clayton”.

And he claims: “Children are not in any danger from me.”

Carney, 62, stalked children’s homes around Dublin with another pervert priest, Father Frank McCarthy. He molested boys and girls from at least eight homes.

An Irish government report into abuse by priests described him as “a serial abuser of children, male and female”.

Its author, judge Yvonne Murphy, wrote: “The Commission is aware of complaints or suspicions against him in respect of 32 named individuals. There is evidence he abused many more children.”

In his letter to us, Carney passes off his crimes as a result of drinking. He says he has been sober for 30 years and adds: “In that time there has not been the slightest indication that I am in any way a real danger to children.”

Carney’s only convictions came in 1983, for two counts of indecent assault. He got probation and the Dublin archdiocese compensated six victims. He was finally kicked out of the priesthood in 1992 and paid £30,000 to go quietly.

The Murphy Report branded the archdiocese “inept” and “self-serving” for their handling of Carney.

Carney is not on the sex offenders register in the UK.