Collusion between Church Figures Denied: Inquiry

By Ian Kirkwood
Newcastle Herald
July 10, 2013

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1628813/collusion-between-church-figures-denied-inquiry/?cs=303

Detective Senior Constable Jacqueline Flipo returns to Newcastle Supreme Court after a break.

Donald Mark Brown leaves Newcastle Supreme Court.

A FORMER police officer has denied he was concerned about collusion between senior church figures as depicted by whistleblowing officer Peter Fox.

Donald Mark Brown, who left the force in 2010, was the officer that Mr Fox had assigned to take a statement from Father Robert Searle over a 1998 outburst by AH, a victim of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher.

Mr Fox had expected Father Searle to make  a statement saying that AH had been complaining about paedophile priests. But this detail was absent from the statement Mr Brown obtained from Father Searle.

Mr Brown said Mr Fox had not asked him about the differences after he arrived with the statement.

But he agreed under cross-examination by Mr Fox’s counsel,  Mark Cohen, that he had read AH’s witness statement – in which he confirmed yelling about paedophile priests – before interviewing Father Searle.

It then emerged that Mr Fox had used Mr Brown’s name in a statement to the Ombudsman, in which he said he and Mr Brown had been left with ‘‘a strong impression of collusion’’ between church figures over statements given in relation to Fletcher.

Mr Brown was asked to read witness statements from 2003 given by five priests including then Bishop Michael Malone. Asked whether they indicated collusion,  Mr Brown said: ‘‘ I can’t form that opinion.’’

He said Mr Fox had not told him he was using his name in the report to the Ombudsman.

He said Mr Fox should have asked him before using his name.

The inquiry then turned to investigations regarding paedophile priest Denis McAlinden, and the efforts police took to tracking down in the years before his death in 2005.

In the witness box Detective Senior Constable Jacqueline Flipo was taken through various files about a complaint made in relation to McAlinden.

Ms Flipo told counsel assisting, Julia Lonergan, how she had tried various means to find McAlinden, including checking with the Maitland-Newcastle diocese and various government agencies.

The inquiry then heard Ms Flipo learned through a passport check that McAlinden had returned to Australia.

The inquiry continues with Bishop Malone expected to give evidence later today.