BELFAST (NORTHERN IRELAND)
BBC
May 23, 2018
By David Thompson
The Catholic Diocese of Dromore left Canon Francis Brown in ministry for six weeks after it was informed about a serious sexual abuse allegation against him, the BBC understands.
The Nolan Show has spoken to the alleged victim and confirms the allegation relates to a period when the priest was in St Colman’s College, a boys’ school in Newry.
Canon Brown vehemently denies any wrongdoing.
A police investigation is ongoing.
A Nolan Show investigation has established that when the allegation was brought to a member of the diocese, they failed to record even basic details, as diocesan child safeguarding protocols required.
The complaint was then passed to the Diocese of Dromore’s child safeguarding officer, Pat Carville, who informed the police immediately.
However, she could not do anything about the other member of the diocese’s earlier failure to record basic details of the allegation, which meant she was only able to pass scant information onto the PSNI.
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