Former Solihull priest groped 11-year-old girl beneath her top, court told

By James Cartledge
Birmingham Mail
October 21, 2014

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/former-solihull-priest-groped-11-year-old-7969368

Edward Simpson denies indecent assault

A Roman Catholic priest from Solihull has gone on trial accused of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl while her parents were in the same room.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told Father Edward Simpson, who has now retired, committed the offence at the home of a devout Catholic family in the mid-1980s.

Simpson, 85, of Olton Friary, denies indecently assaulting the alleged victim, who complained to police last year.

In evidence to a jury of eight men and four women, the woman claimed Simpson, who was routinely known as Father Ted, groped her beneath her top and then put part of his hand into the waistband of her skirt.

Estimating the initial touching had lasted for around 15 seconds, the woman told the court: “I just got out of the room as fast as possible.

“As far as I was concerned I never wanted to be near him ever again.”

The woman, who became tearful during parts of her evidence, said she had mentioned aspects of her alleged ordeal to a doctor in 1988 and her mother in the mid-1990s.

Under cross-examination by defence QC Rex Tedd, the woman denied his suggestion that any movement made by Simpson would have “inevitably been obvious” to her father.

The alleged victim also disagreed with Mr Tedd’s assertion that she thought an accusation against Simpson would be “wounding” to her mother, who held him in high regard.

In opening the case, prosecutor Anthony Potter said Simpson’s work as a parish priest meant he was attached to Olton Friary and also had links to a Roman Catholic primary school.

Simpson had opted not to answer questions when interviewed by police officers, Mr Potter told the court, and had instead provided a statement which amounted to a denial of the offence.