Dr Samantha Pegg: Priest Sentencing Sends out a Clear Message

Nottingham Post
March 28, 2014

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Dr-Samantha-Pegg-Priest-sentencing-sends-clear/story-20876133-detail/story.html

Francis Cullen, sentenced to 15 year imprisonment

In the week that 85-year-old former priest Francis Cullen was jailed for 15 years for historic sex crimes, Dr Samantha Pegg, senior lecturer in law at Nottingham Law School, looks at the issues raised by the case

FRANCIS Cullen was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after admitting sexual offences against seven children.

Cullen, who served as a priest in Nottingham and Derbyshire, admitted 21 counts of sexual abuse over a 34-year period.

He was charged by Nottinghamshire Police with sexual offences in 1991 and swiftly absconded from bail, before being extradited last year on a European arrest warrant after he was discovered in Tenerife.

Interestingly, Cullen was not – in a strict legal sense – "wanted".

Although an arrest warrant had been issued when he fled, such warrants are not issued in perpetuity, and his was withdrawn in 2000. Warrants are subject to review and can be withdrawn if the evidence no longer supports a prosecution, there is no public interest in pursuing the case or it is unlikely an arrest will be made.

Undoubtedly many will question the wisdom of withdrawing the warrant when Cullen was suspected of such grave offences, particularly in the current climate of concern regarding historic sexual offences.

But if there was no realistic prospect of apprehension we must accept it would have been a waste of police time and resources to periodically renew the warrant. The police can, as they did here, reopen a case when new evidence arises.

But at 85 years of age, does Cullen deserve to effectively be sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life? Should the judge have taken Cullen's age into account as a mitigating factor?

When sentencing, the judge will assess the seriousness of the offences by reference to two principal factors – the culpability of the offender and the harm caused.

An offender's age is usually only an issue when it affects responsibility for the offence charged and it seems doubtful Cullen's age was relevant in this respect.

Moreover his age at sentencing was irrelevant, as the judge stated: "You can have no complaint that you are now having to face sentence so late in your life. You have brought that entirely on yourself."

Of greater relevance to Cullen's sentence would have been the harm caused to his victims. In the wake of the Savile Inquiry, Rochdale sex trafficking case and the abuses at North Wales care homes, we are now much more aware of the exploitation of young victims. Cullen's abuse of trust against multiple vulnerable victims over a long period of time weighed heavily against him.

Due to his advanced age Cullen may no longer pose a danger, but the judge has sent out a message that this is not a barrier to a high sentence.