AUSTRALIA
The Australian
DAN BOX From: The Australian July 02, 2013
THE detective at the centre of a state government inquiry into church child abuse has given conflicting evidence under oath about claims that a former Catholic bishop told a pedophile priest he was under police investigation.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox told the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry this morning the Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone tipped off the priest, Jim Fletcher, and potential evidence was destroyed as a result.
“It seemed a fully deliberate action by going out and telling Father Fletcher there was an investigation and who the victim was … I did not see why he felt the need to expose those things to Fletcher at the time,” he said.
Detective Fox initially claimed to have recorded his conversation with Bishop Malone in writing within days of the 2002 meeting, a claim which was repeated in his police statement used during Fletcher’s trial.
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