UNITED KINGDOM
Echo
BY LYNDA ROUGHLEY
7 APR 2017
A Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a young boy nearly 40 years ago has strenuously denied the allegations.
Father Michael Higginbottom told a jury that none of the allegations were true.
He also told Liverpool Crown Court that he did not even remember the alleged victim, who is now in his 50s.
The complainant has claimed that while he was a pupil at St Joseph’s College, a seminary for prospective priests, in Upholland, near Ormskirk, Higginbottom repeatedly seriously sexually assaulted him.
Fr Higginbottom, now aged 74, of West Farm Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, denies eight offences – four of buggery and four of indecent assault – alleged to have taken place between September 1978 and March 20, 1979.
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