Peter Fox Grilled over Priest Inquiries

The 9 News
December 11, 2013

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/12/11/19/54/peter-fox-grilled-over-priest-inquiries



The NSW detective who triggered a special commission of inquiry with his claims of a child sex abuse cover-up has been given a second grilling in the witness box.

NSW Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox had already given evidence about church and police handling of child sexual abuse allegations against Hunter Valley priests Denis McAlinden and James Fletcher.

He was recalled for another public hearing in Sydney on Wednesday.

During his second turn on the stand, Insp Fox was questioned at length by counsel assisting, Julia Lonergan, about homosexual and pornographic videos and magazines he has testified a parishioner spotted at Lochinvale Presbytery.

Insp Fox previously testified that in December 2003 he approached Father Des Harrigan at Lochinvale, who told him Father Fletcher had given him the porn and he had destroyed it.

The inquiry heard that in 2006, Insp Fox wrote an internal intelligence report accusing Father Harrigan of a possible "pedophile connection" to Father Fletcher, who had died in jail that year.

Ms Lonergan pressed Insp Fox to outline his reasons for making such a serious allegation three years after his December 2003 encounter with Father Harrigan.

"I suggest to you there's nothing in what you've said that in any way suggests a pedophile connection between Father Fletcher and Father Harrigan," she said.

Insp Fox agreed there was "no concrete evidence" to back up the suggestion of a pedophile link but said he found it "extremely unusual" that Father Harrigan had sought an appeal of Father Fletcher's conviction even after the man's death.

The inquiry also heard on Wednesday that Insp Fox's duty books, containing handwritten notes covering investigations from 2003-04, including into alleged priestly pedophilia, disappeared after he was "suddenly transferred" from an office in Maitland to Newcastle in 2007.

But he kept personal photocopies of some notes because he was thinking of writing a book, he told the inquiry.

"It wasn't in anticipation that there would ever be a commission asking for them," he said.

He has denied having written about the church or child sex abuse but said he did dabble in "memoirs".

Insp Fox shook his head and at one stage rolled his eyes as questioning by multiple lawyers stretched into Wednesday afternoon.

Commissioner Margaret Cunneen SC, who is leading the inquiry, is due to report her findings by February 28.