Priest Accused of Historic Sexual Abuse Allegations

ITV
November 13, 2014

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2014-11-13/priest-accused-of-historic-sexual-abuse-allegations/

Canon Mortimer Stanley. Credit: Manchester Evening News.

A Catholic priest has been charged with a string of sex offences dating back 30 years.

Canon Mortimer Stanley returned to Greater Manchester from his home in Ireland to face the allegations at Bury Magistrates court today.

The Crown Prosecution Service authorised Greater Manchester Police to charge Canon Stanley, 82, after complaints by former pupils at a Rochdale school.

He is accused of 17 charges of indecent assault on a girl under 14 between 1977 and 1988.

The allegations involve ten victims. All the alleged victims were pupils at St Vincent’s Primary School, which has been historically linked to the parish.

Canon Stanley, who joined the church as a parish priest in 1972, retired to his native Ireland in 2002.