AUSTRALIA
Maitland Mercury
By ELLE WATSON July 12, 2013
The former Maitland and Newcastle Bishop, Michael Malone, said he was trying to trigger a confession from paedophile priest James Fletcher by warning him that police were investigating allegations he raped a boy in the Maitland area.
Bishop Malone said it never crossed his mind that he hindered Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox’s investigation and told the special commission of inquiry he thought he “may have been able to trigger a confession that might circumvent a police investigation”.
The bishop said he first heard of the allegation from the victim’s father after his son’s attempted suicide but the church did not investigate because there was insufficient evidence to take it further.
He said “based on an educated guess that AH (the victim) and Fletcher would have both denied it” neither were interviewed about the incident.
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