BishopAccountability.org
	Sex Monster May Get Life By Philip Cullen The Courier-Mail [Australia] October 11, 2003 NOTORIOUS pedophile priest Michael Charles Glennon may spend the rest of his life behind bars. The serial child molester folded his arms and shook his head as a County Court jury yesterday found him guilty of 23 charges of abuse on three boys from 1986 to 1991. He stared at the jury from the dock and mouthed the words "no", "wrong", "absolute crap" and "never" as the foreman sealed his fate. The jury heard Glennon, defrocked by the Catholic Church in 1984, used his knowledge of Aboriginal customs to abuse children and scare them into silence. Judge Roland Williams noted it had been a "lengthy and demanding trial" and excused the nine men and three women from sitting on another case for seven years. The bony-faced monster has now been convicted over the past four years at three trials of 50 sex offences, which carry maximum penalties of up to 25 years' jail. The trials could not be reported until today for legal reasons. Glennon preyed on young boys while awaiting trial on other sex charges - even after broadcaster Derryn Hinch was jailed in 1987 for exposing him in a radio campaign. Glennon, 59, is currently more than half-way through a 6 1/2 year minimum jail term imposed after another jury convicted him in 1999. The former priest, karate teacher and scout chaplain has now been convicted of abusing 15 children, including altar boys, over 17 years. Many of the attacks took place at a youth camp at Lancefield he helped establish. He is now classed a serious sexual offender under legislation that treats the protection of the community as paramount and allows longer jail terms than would otherwise be justified. His latest shameful crimes can finally be revealed after the lifting of suppression orders banning publication of three trials that began in 1999. Hinch, who spent 12 days in custody in 1987 and paid a $15,000 fine after being convicted of contempt of court in May 1986, yesterday said he would do it again. "He is one of the most evil men I have ever known of in this town," he said. "These charges relate to assaults on children up to 1991 and that means he never stopped. He is a predator - he is just the most evil human being." Hinch said he hoped Glennon, who has tasted just two years of freedom in the past 11, spends the next 20 years behind bars. Glennon was first convicted in 1978 when he was sentenced to two years' jail after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting a girl under 14. It is the only crime he has admitted. In 1991, he was jailed for nine years with a seven-year minimum term after being convicted of five sexual assaults on three girls and a boy between April 1979 and December 1980. Glennon was acquitted when the Full Supreme Court found that Hinch's campaign had made a fair trial impossible. But his five months of freedom ended in May 1992, when the High Court reinstated the convictions and sentence. He was released in November 1997 soon after being charged with 65 sexual offences. These were dealt with in three separate trials, which have now finally been heard. In August, a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting and raping a 12-year-old boy in 1984. And in 1999, Glennon was jailed for 8 1/2 years with a 6 1/2-year minimum for assaulting six victims between May 1974 and May 1978. Glennon will appear in court next week for a plea hearing before he is sentenced.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.