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Retired Catholic priest Father Mortimer Stanley, who was accused of sexually abusing children, is cleared by jury
By Kim Pilling
A Catholic priest who was accused of sexually abusing nine girls and one boy has been cleared by a jury. Father Mortimer Stanley, 82, had denied a string of indecent assaults said to have been committed in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, between the late 1970s and 2002. The Crown alleged the Limerick-born priest targeted most of the complainants, aged under 11, in his presbytery at St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, when he would sit them on his knee. Fr Stanley, from Ballybunion, County Kerry, said children would often climb on his knee of their own accord but nothing inappropriate ever happened. He dismissed the claims from the male complainant that he was abused after “something like chloroform” was put over his mouth as “totally untrue”. Fr Stanley retired from the priesthood in 2002 and returned to Ireland. Jurors at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court were unable to reach a verdict on one count of indecent assault but prosecutor Andrew Mackintosh said the Crown would not seek a retrial. A not guilty verdict was recorded by Judge John Potter in respect of that count and also another count involving a 10th female complainant who was too unwell to give evidence during the trial.
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