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Cardinal George Pell "Tried to Get Journalist to Destroy Correspondence in Which He Demanded Onerous Conditions for an Interview for Book on Child Sex Allegations"

By Brianne Tolj
Daily Mail
May 17, 2017

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4514206/Cardinal-Pell-lawyers-order-reporter-destroy-communication.html

An ABC journalist claims Cardinal George Pell's lawyers urged her to delete any correspondence between them after she asked for an interview.

Louise Milligan said she tried to contact the cardinal and his lawyers repeatedly while working on her book 'Cardinal: The rise and fall of George Pell,' which looks at the allegations of child sexual abuse surrounding him.

'I made several attempts to try and engage with him, through his office and his lawyers and he declined to take up that invitation except on the most onerous grounds, which included giving him the entire manuscript of the book. I've never heard that happen in two decades of journalism,' the 7.30 reporter told 9News.

ABC Journalist Louise Milligan has claimed Cardinal George Pell's lawyers urged her to delete any correspondence between them after she asked for an interview

Milligan said she tried to contact the Victorian cardinal and his lawyers repeatedly while working on her book 'Cardinal: The rise and fall of George Pell'

'When we refused to do that his lawyers asked us to destroy the correspondence and if we didn't destroy the correspondence they wanted us to give it back to them.'

Cardinal Pell has since slammed Milligan's recently published book as a 'character assassination.'

He has strongly denied the allegations.

'Each and every allegation of abuse and cover up against him is false. The book is an exercise in character assassination,' a statement from Cardinal Pell's office issued on Monday night reads.

'The decision by MUP to bring forward the publication of the book prior to any findings by the Royal Commission and while allegations are still under consideration by the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions is a blatant attempt to interfere in the course of justice.

The book looks the allegations of child sexual abuse surrounding the Cardinal (pictured)

Milligan said when she refused to let Cardinal Pell's lawyers see her book's manuscript, they ordered her to delete their conversations

'Unlike MUP, the Cardinal will not interfere with the course of justice. He will await the outcome of due process before launching defamation action.'

Milligan has covered the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse and last year interviewed two men who claimed they were abused by Pell in the 1970s, when he was a priest at Ballarat.

Her book details allegations of sexual assault by Pell against choirboys at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in the 1990s.

The alleged abuse took place after Pell launched the Melbourne Response, an internal Catholic scheme for abuse victims.

Victoria Police in March delivered a brief of evidence concerning historical claims of sexual abuse by Cardinal Pell to prosecutors for consideration.

The alleged abuse took place after Pell launched the Melbourne Response, an internal Catholic scheme for abuse victims (pictured with Pope Francis)

 

 

 

 

 




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