AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
May 31, 2014
Rachel Browne, Jason Gordon
The ”hero cop” whose explosive claims about NSW Police handling of Catholic Church child abuse helped spark a royal commission, has been branded a liar in a report handed to the state government on Friday.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox claimed that a police investigation into child sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle was a ”sham” and asserted there was a ”Catholic mafia” in the NSW Police that covered up crimes.
He also claimed he was forced to ”stand down” from the investigation into allegations surrounding two paedophile priests who had abused children in the Hunter area for decades.
The Special Commission of Inquiry into whether the Catholic Church covered up or NSW Police failed to properly investigate paedophile priest activity found there was no evidence to support Chief Inspector Fox’s claims.
It also found the response by senior church officials into abuse claims made against Father Denis McAlinden and Father James Fletcher, both now dead, was ”inexcusable”.
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