Top Judge Slams Catholic Church for Being "in Denial” over Sexual Abuse

By Neil Docking
Liverpool Echo
March 22, 2018

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/top-judge-slams-catholic-church-14442279

A top judge slammed the Catholic Church for being in “denial” over sexual abuse problems within the priesthood.

Former Liverpool priest Father Thomas Wood, 55, yesterday admitted possessing and making indecent images of children.

He visited internet chat rooms to join other perverts watching videos of young children being raped in November 2015.

Wood’s Internet Protocol (IP) address led police to the presbytery of Our Lady’s church in Southport Road, Lydiate.

But he was spared jail after convincing Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, that he wanted help to address his problems.

Damian Nolan, defending, provided Liverpool Crown Court with a number of references on behalf of the disgraced priest.

Judge Goldstone said: “Some of the references I find much more compelling than others.

“Those which emanate from within the community and that which emanate from the defendant himself, appear to have a far more realistic and insightful approach to this defendant, rather than those which come from within the church.

“It is a source of great concern that even now, years after the sort of problems that beset the reputation of the church came into the public domain, that there is still a sort of denial that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.”

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” is a line spoken by the character Marcellus in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.

According to Dictionary.com, the phrase “is used to describe corruption or a situation in which something is wrong”.

Father Thomas Wood outside Liverpool Crown Court.

Mr Nolan told the court his client had voluntarily sought help from child sexual abuse charity The Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

He said Wood did not have any previous convictions and urged the court to follow the recommendation of a pre-sentence report by sparing him jail.

Judge Goldstone said Wood wrote a letter which was “one of the most powerful statements of mitigation the court has ever considered”.

He told Wood: “It’s unfortunate that the realisation and candour in which you have approached this case is not always matched by those who on behalf of the Catholic Church seek to provide you with their support.

“They too it may be said are, or have been, in a state of denial about the extent of abuse and the consequences of it.”

Judge Goldstone said a short jail sentence would not be in the public interest, as it would not address Wood’s problems.

He handed him a three-year community order, with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement of up to 30 days.

The judge ordered Wood to take part in a sex offender treatment programme and to pay ?650 towards court costs.

He must sign on the Sex Offenders Register for five years and comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for seven years.

Wood, of Liverpool Road, Birkdale, was formerly the long serving priest at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Seaforth.

Father Thomas Wood

He took a dual role in Lydiate at Our Lady’s and St Gregory The Great in 2015, but stepped down when arrested last March.

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Liverpool told the ECHO that Wood no longer held any role with the church.

He said: “There is no evidence to suggest that images were made during the course of his work and no evidence to suggest that he has had sexual contact with any children.

“Thomas Wood has not been in ministry in the archdiocese for the last year and remains out of ministry.

“Such crimes are not victimless, and the archdiocesan authorities have co-operated fully with the police and statutory bodies in this investigation in line with the robust safeguarding procedures, which are in place to protect the vulnerable.”