UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo
Joe Willis, Regional Chief Reporter
AN alleged sex abuse victim has spoken of his anger after the Catholic priest he claims abused him apparently committed suicide hours before he was due to answer bail over historic child sex allegations.
Father Ernest Sands, 67, was found dead at his remote cottage in North Wales last Monday (April 11).
The Northern Echo has learnt prosecutors were looking to charge Mr Sands with the indecent assault of five boys aged between 11 and 15 and the priest was due to answer bail later that day.
The offences are alleged to have taken place at St Joseph’s College, in Upholland, near Wigan in the late 1970s and 1980s where Mr Sands was a music teacher.
Father Sands was a renowned musician who wrote several well-known hymns including one, Sing of the Lord’s Goodness, chosen for the enthronement of the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, in 1991.
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