UNITED KINGDOM
Daventry Express
A Roman Catholic priest from Solihull has gone on trial accused of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl while her parents were in the same room.
A jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told that Father Edward Simpson, who has now retired, committed the offence at the home of a devout Catholic family in the mid-1980s.
Simpson, 85, of Olton Friary in Solihull, denies indecently assaulting the alleged victim, who made a complaint to police last year.
In evidence to a jury of eight men and four women, the woman claimed Simpson, who was routinely known as Father Ted, groped her underneath her top and then put part of his hand into the waistband of her skirt.
Estimating that the initial touching had lasted for around 15 seconds, the woman told the court: “I just got out of the room as fast as possible.
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