Retired Roman Catholic Priest, 83, Pleads Not Guilty to Indecent Assault Charges Involving 10 Young Girls

By Paul Britton
Manchester Evening News
March 6, 2015

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/retired-roman-catholic-priest-83-8786598

Retired priest Canon Mortimer Stanley appeared at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court via a video link from Ireland

A retired Roman Catholic priest has denied a series of sex offence charges involving young girls dating back more than 30 years.

Canon Mortimer Stanley, 83, a former parish priest in Norden, Rochdale, appeared at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday via a video link from Limerick in Ireland.

He pleaded not guilty to 19 separate counts of indecent assault involving 10 young girls and will now face a trial in Manchester in November.

Wearing a black jumper, a blue and white checked shirt and glasses, Canon Stanley spoke only to confirm his name and to enter a plea of not guilty after each charge was read out to him by the court clerk during the brief hearing.

He also nodded to say he understood the proceedings and instruction given to him after he was addressed at the end of the hearing by Judge John Potter.

Canon Stanley was parish priest at St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, Rochdale, and the alleged victims were all pupils at the neighbouring St Vincent’s RC Primary School on Edenfield Road in Norden.

The charges that Canon Stanley faces involve 10 alleged victims, all girls aged under 14 at the time. The charges span a period between January 1977 and February 2002.

The clergyman, who is now living in Ballybunion in Kerry, Ireland, after retiring from the parish in 2002, was first quizzed by police in Manchester in 2013. The Crown Prosecution Service authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge him last November after the complaints by former pupils of the school.

He joined the church as a parish priest in 1972.

Canon Stanley was remanded on unconditional bail and his trial, expected to last for around three weeks, is due to start on November 2 at the same Manchester court.

Judge Potter granted a special measures application for witnesses giving evidence.

He also warned Canon Stanley that he must appear in person for his trial or it could proceed in his absence.

In a statement issued in 2013 when the investigation first came to light, the Roman Catholic Salford Diocese said in a statement: “The diocese is co-operating fully with the police and the statutory agencies in these investigations in line with the robust safeguarding policies put in place by the church in this country in recent years.”