By Peter Edwards
News & Star
August 13, 2007
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=531276
THE Catholic Church remained tight-lipped today about the future of a perverted former Carlisle priest who was jailed for sexually abusing 11 children.
It refused to comment on whether Father Edmund Cotter, 60, would be thrown out of the Church after he was imprisoned for five years and two months last week for attacking up to 10 girls and one boy in the 1970s and 1980s.
Cotter, who used to work at Christ the King in Harraby, and St Margaret Mary's Catholic Primary School in Carlisle, was working as a parish priest in Dalton, south Cumbria, until the allegations emerged.
A spokesman for the Lancaster Diocese, which covers Dalton, said: "It is with great sadness that Bishop Patrick O'Donoghue acknowledges the sentencing of Fr Edmund Cotter, formerly parish priest of Our Lady of the Rosary, Dalton-in-Furness.
"Father Cotter has been on 'administrative leave' from pastoral duties since the allegations came to light.
"First and foremost, the Bishop wishes to fully recognise the distress caused to the families involved in these matters.
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| Imprisoned:Former Harraby priest Father Edmund Cotter sexually abused 11 children in Preston |
"As can be seen from the content of the Cumberlege Commission Report, published last month, the Catholic Church is totally committed to the protection of children and vulnerable adults in its care.
"Bishop O'Donoghue underlines the fact that locally, the Lancaster Diocese is also fully committed to, and rigorously applies, procedures designed to prevent similar abuses of trust.
"He also wishes to stress that the Diocese has and will continue to co-operate fully with the authorities conducting enquiries where such allegations arise."
It is understood that a decision on his future with the Church may even not be made until he is released from prison.
Preston Crown Court heard on Friday that Cotter told one victim – a girl of nine – he was "like God" and that if she was not a good girl, she would burn in hell.
The priest attacked up to 10 girls and one boy, all aged between seven and 11 years, while he was parish priest at two churches in Preston between 1972 and 1984.
Both churches have their own primary schools where Cotter preyed on youngsters.
The abuse occurred on numerous occasions on up to 10 other victims aged between seven and 11.
Cotter told his victims they were "special friends" and abused them during church group meetings.
He pleaded guilty to 13 counts of indecent assault.
He was jailed for five years and two months, put on the sex offenders' register for life and disqualified from ever working with children again.
Contact: PEdwards@cngroup.co.uk
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