The award-winning documentary maker who interviewed paedo ex-priest Oliver O’Grady has warned he still poses a serious threat to children.

O’Grady, 68, was dubbed the “Hannibal Lecter” of child sex attackers after it emerged he had abused up to 50 kids.

He was freed from Dublin’s Arbour Hill Prison in April after being convicted on child pornography charges.

The defrocked priest, who is originally from Limerick and served in dioceses in California in the 1970s, has claimed he no longer poses a danger to youngsters.

But Amy Berg, who directed the controversial 2006 Oscar-nominated documentary Deliver us from Evil, which centred on O’Grady, said he is not to be trusted.

Speaking to the Irish Sunday Mirror from her home in California, Ms Berg said O’Grady needs to watched closely by authorities.

She added: “Oliver O’Grady is a sick man who needs to be supervised.

“He should not be anywhere around children. People don’t like to think of paedophiles as sick, only as monsters for the horrific crimes they commit.

“We don’t like to deal with the
need for treatment. O’Grady needs treatment and hopefully someone will recognise that.

“The Catholic Church should claim responsibility for him and put him in a safe place, far away from the children of Ireland and rest of Europe where he can still travel to freely.”

It emerged in 2010 O’Grady was hiding out in Rotterdam, Holland, after he had fled Ireland where he was working in a fast-food restaurant organising kids’ birthday parties.

The convicted child abuser had also infiltrated a religious community and helped oversee a number of christenings.

O’Grady pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of possessing child pornography at Dublin Airport on February 15, 2010 and at Citi Hostel on Charlemont Street and Elephant Storage Unit in Tallaght on December 10, 2010.

Nearly 280,000 images were found on O’Grady’s laptops and hard drives, the majority of them showing children in sexual poses.

In 1993 he was sentenced to 14 years in California for four counts of lewd acts against children and was deported to Ireland on his release.