BishopAccountability.org

Court hears boy got himself expelled from seminary so that sex abuse by priest would stop

By Lynda Roughley
Echo
April 4, 2017

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/court-hears-boy-himself-expelled-12842498

Former priest Michael Higginbottom, 73, arrives at Liverpool Crown court
Photo by Julian Hamilton

Former priest Michael Higginbottom, 73, is accused of historic sex offences against two schoolboys at St Joseph's College in Upholland in the late 1970s. Higginbottom has pleaded not guilty to four counts of indecent assault and two counts of buggery, while at the Roman Catholic seminary Upholland, near Skelmersdale Lancashire.
Photo by Julian Hamilton

Liverpool Crown Court and Magistrates Court in Derby Square, Liverpool.

A catholic priest repeatedly sexually abused a young boy in his care “breaching that trust in a spectacular and horrific way,” a court heard.

The boy was just 13 and 14 years old when Father Michael Higginbottom allegedly began seriously abusing him at a seminary in West Lancashire, according to prosecutors.

David Temkin, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that the complainant “recalls the college as a cold, dark and forbidding place” and told police that for him it was the venue for “mental, physical and sexual abuse”.

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.

Mr Temkin told the jury of six men and six women that Higginbottom had been a priest and teacher at St Joseph’s College, Upholland, although he had not trained as a teacher.

The four storey seminary, which no longer exists, catered for boys aged about 11 to 18, many of whom were considering a vocation in the priesthood and they boarded there during term.

The alleged victim “told police that the defendant would use a strap and a cane on him to inflict punishment. He recalls the defendant telling him that he could ‘make this as easy or as hard’ as he wanted.”

The court heard just a week or so he took the boy into his living quarters and locked the door. He ordered him to undress and undressed himself and began molesting him. Mr Temkin said: “The defendant told him that things would get easier for him at St Joseph’s College.”

It is then alleged he committed buggery on him which was the first “of many such occasions” and he often pushed him over the back of a chair in order to do so.

Mr Temkin said that the boy “remembers feeling ‘excruciating pain” and remembers crying. He remembered the Higgninbottom’s ‘big beard and hairy body’ during the act.

He also said he was made to perform oral sex on the priest and that if he did not attend at the appointed time he would be struck with a strap as a form of punishment.

Mr Temkin alleged that even if the boy was in the college infirmary Higginbottom “would come to see him and the same kind of sexual abuse would take place there.

“He cannot remember exactly how many times the sexual abuse took place during his time at the college. All that he was able to tell the police was that it was ‘a lot’.”

The court heard that his alleged ordeal came to an end on a day when students were allowed to go home for St Joseph’s Day and he purposely ensured he would not have to return.

He stole an item and made sure he was caught with it and was expelled. “He ran to meet his parents so that they could take him home and he never went back.”

For many years he did not reveal what had happened to him but in 2013 he told a friend who encouraged him to report matters to the police.

Fr Higginbottom was arrested on April 13, 2015 at his home in Newcastle. When interviewed he denied all the allegations describing them as “total lies” and said he did not remember the boy.

He said he had been ordained as priest on March 1, 1969 and had worked at the college from 1974 to 1987. He had been a physics mater, a football coach and a form teacher.

Mr Temkin said: “He said he had enjoyed his time at the college. He said he was not trained as a teacher and said he lived at the college. He would let boys use his room to make coffee and watch television and watch movies. He said it was common for teachers to let students into their rooms.

“He strenuously denied all of the allegations and added that he had never been attracted to boys or men.”

In his video recorded interview with police played to the jury the complainant said: “I call that man evil because that is exactly what he was.”




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