Police Whistleblower Labelled an Obsessive and Zealot in Catholic Child Abuse Inquiry Report

ABC News
May 30, 2014

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-30/police-whistleblower-labelled-an-obsessive-and/5490652?section=nsw

[with audio]

A special commission of inquiry into allegations that a Catholic mafia in New South Wales colluded with the Church to cover up child sexual abuse by clergy has today handed down its findings. But the main target of its criticism is the man who became a national champion for child abuse survivors when he blew the whistle on so-called 'sham' investigations that were 'set up to fail'. Detective chief inspector Peter Fox has been labelled in the report as an obsessive and a zealot, whose evidence lacked any credibility. But the public report of the inquiry is also notable for what's not in it. There are also adverse credibility findings about senior church officials, but they're in a confidential volume of the report that won't be released until potential criminal proceedings have been determined.

A special commission of inquiry into allegations that a Catholic mafia in New South Wales colluded with the Church to cover up child sexual abuse by clergy handed down its findings today.

But the main target of its criticism is the man who became a national champion for child abuse survivors when he blew the whistle on so-called "sham" investigations that were, as he put it, "set up to fail".

Detective chief inspector Peter Fox has been labelled in the report as an obsessive and a zealot, whose evidence lacked any credibility.

But the public report of the inquiry is also notable for what's not in it.

There are also adverse credibility findings about senior church officials, but they're in a confidential volume of the report that won't be released until potential criminal proceedings have been determined.

Our coverage tonight begins with this report from Nick Grimm.

NICK GRIMM: "Evil flourishes when good men do nothing:" It was that saying that galvanised Peter Fox to speak out about his experiences as a New South Wales detective, continually frustrated in his effort to investigate paedophile priests within the Catholic Church.

In 2012 he told the ABC he was prepared to live by that decision for better or worse.

(Extract from Lateline interview on November 2012)

PETER FOX: There's also been the uglier side of it where, you know, this is the end of my policing career, I realise that from the moment that I decided to speak out last week.

NICK GRIMM: Today the man who set in train the series of events that led to the establishment of the Cunneen inquiry was not in the country to await its findings.

Three days ago Peter Fox boarded a flight overseas marking his departure to his followers on social media with this tweet.

"About to fly out on a long awaited OS (overseas) holiday," he tweeted. "Promised my wife no social media or e-mailing so not sure I'll survive." And he added, "Keep up the support."

But today the chief inspector did break his self-imposed silence to issue a written statement in response to the findings of the inquiry. In it he says;

EXCERPT OF PETER FOX STATEMENT: I have been dismayed by the process and findings, but do not shy away from my comments of 2012. Throughout the special commission I felt more like a criminal on trial than a witness. After the example of my ordeal, I can only imagine the effect on others who might have contemplated coming forward.

NICK GRIMM: Peter Fox's ordeal began 18 months ago when he spoke out at a rally of sexual abuse victims and their families in the Newcastle area, making the call for the establishment of a royal commission.

PETER FOX (Archival): There are very good reasons, let me tell you, that we need a royal commission.

NICK GRIMM: Interviews on national television soon followed.

Peter Fox told the ABC's Lateline program that he believed there had been a police cover-up of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.

PETER FOX (Archival): You know alarm bells were ringing there for me many, many years ago, so much so that I actually detailed a number of reports to hierarchy within the police department to launch fuller investigations. It was quite evident that something was going on.

NICK GRIMM: The New South Wales Government appointed one of the state's most senior legal prosecutors, Margaret Cunneen, to investigate Peter Fox's allegations.

Set up just days before the Gillard Labor government established a wider royal commission into the problem of institutionalised child abuse, the Cunneen inquiry was dubbed the Special Commission of Inquiry into Matters Relating to the Police Investigation of Certain Child Sexual Abuse Allegations in the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

Today the findings of that inquiry were handed down and with them, a damning assessment of the credibility of the man who became a national hero to child abuse victims, their families and their supporters.

MARGARET CUNNEEN (voiceover): The commission formed the view that detective chief inspector Peter Fox was an unsatisfactory witness in a number of respects. In evidence before the commission, Fox made claims for which there was no proper basis.

Fox maintained that there was a group of senior police, in effect a Catholic mafia. No evidence emerged to support that claim. The commission regards Fox's claims as wholly unfounded.

NICK GRIMM: Margaret Cunneen's report goes on to spell out how she formed the view that Peter Fox had lost all perspective on the issues he was investigating.

MARGARET CUNNEEN (voiceover): Fox had developed what amounted to an obsession about both the Catholic Church and alleged conspiracies involving senior police. His email communications revealed a degree of paranoia and self-aggrandisement.

Fox had lost the objectivity required of an investigating officer regarding such matters. He no longer possessed the detachment necessary for properly investigating. In short, he had become a zealot.

MARK COLVIN: A reading from the report of the special commission of inquiry presided over by Margaret Cunneen ending Nick Grimm's report.