Former Nottingham priest Francis Cullen admits sexually abusing children, by Peter Blackburn, Nottingham Post (February 24, 2014)

Former Nottingham priest Francis Cullen admits sexually abusing children

By Peter Blackburn
Nottingham Post
February 24, 2014

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Nottingham-priest-Francis-Cullen-admits-sexually/story-20690859-detail/story.html

A FORMER Catholic priest who was on the run for 20 years has admitted sexually abusing seven children – one of them in Notts.

Francis Paul Cullen, who spent three years working at the Parish Priest of St Mary in Hyson Green from 1988 to 1991, this morning pleaded guilty to 21 charges of abuse against children as young as six, including altar boys, between the 1950s and 1990s.

He appeared at Derby Crown Court this morning.

Cullen, 85, was first charged with sexual abuse against three boys in Nottinghamshire in 1991 but he did not turn up to court and an arrest warrant was issued against him.

However, he was not arrested until more than 20 years later when Derbyshire police, investigating new allegations against him, tracked him down in Tenerife.

In August last year he was detained under a European arrest warrant and extradited to the UK.

He was charged with offences against one of the three alleged victims in 1991 and two other people, who had been abused as boys in Mackworth, Derby and had come forward after Cullen went on the run.