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Paedophile Priest Father Moore Jailed for Nine Years over Abuse in Irvine

Irvine Times
April 12, 2018

http://www.irvinetimes.com/news/16151511.Disgraced_priest_jailed_for_nine_years_over_child_sex_abuse_in_Irvine/

Disgraced priest jailed for nine years over child sex abuse in Irvine

A DISGRACED priest was today jailed for nine years for the historic sexual abuse of three young boys and a trainee priest.

Eighty-two-year-old Father Francis Moore was told by judge Rita Rae that he had abused his position as a parish priest.

And one of his victims 49-year-old Paul Smyth urged other victims of historic abuse to come forward.

Moore, who was also known as Father Paul, was found guilty after trial at the High Court in Glasgow last month.

Judge Lady Rae told the Moore: “You have been convicted of despicable crimes involving the sexual abuse of three children 40 years and more recently of a student priest.

“The most serious of these crime involved the repeated sodomy of a little boy aged five.

“In carrying out these crime you took advantage of your position as a minister of religion, a profession from which the public, including children, ought to be able to expect integrity, trust, support and pastoral care. What you did was a gross breach of trust.

“The complainers have displayed considerable courage in coming forward to denounce your criminal conduct.”

Lady Rae told Moore that by gong to trial he forced his victims to relive the traumatic experiences suffered at his hands.

Moore showed no emotion as he was led away to begin his sentence.

One of his victims Paul Smyth, now aged 49, who was sexually abused as a boy on Irvine beach, gave up his right to anonymity.

Outside court Mr Smyth said: “I am glad justice is done and I can finally put this behind me. I am sure there are other survivors who were too scared to come forward. I would urge all victims of historic abuse to go to the police and give their testimony. Tell a teacher, tell your parents, tell the police, tell the clergy. There are good clergy as well as abusive clergy in the Catholic Church.”

The court heard that allegations against Father Moore were first raised in 1996, but it was not until 2015 that a major police investigation was launched after former top cop and former Labour MSP Graeme Pearson raised the matter in the Scottish Parliament.

Ninety-one-year-old Bishop Maurice Taylor told the court that Moore admitted he had “an attraction to young boys” and had “a desire to abuse minors.”

As a result of this Moore was sent to a specialist clinic in Toronto for his problem. When he returned from Canada he was told he could no longer serveas a parish priest.

The court heard that the priest groomed some of his victims by taking them swimming or out for meals before sexually abusing them.

His youngest victim was just five when the priest abused him at primary school.

The man, now aged 46, told of how that Moore kissed him and then sexually abused him.

He said the abuse took place for the first time when he was sent to Moore by his teachers after drawing a picture of Jesus Christ with nipples.

The man said he was crying and Moore embraced him and then sexually abused him.

He sobbed saying: “Time sort of froze. He had his hands running up and down my back. He kept saying I was a nice boy. I just wanted to get it over. I just wanted to get home to my mum.”

The witness told the court he was abused by Father Moore on four or five occasions over a six-month period.

Another witness, aged 49, said he was abused by Father Moore, who was his parish priest, when he was 11.

He told the court the priest abused him on two occasions after they went swimming together at Irvine beach.

The victim, who was an altar boy, added: “We would go to a secluded area up the top of the beach to change. He would take an interest in drying me.”

A third victim,, who has been a priest for more than 20 years, told a jury at the High Court in Glasgow that on two separate occasions he woke to find Father Francis Moore, whom he knew as Father Paul, beside his bed.

The priest, said: “I was wakened by Father Moore in my room. I woke up with something touching my genitals. I was woken up and saw him in my room.

“He was standing at the side of the bed. He was quite drunk.”

Some weeks later he again awoke to find Moore on his knees at the side of his bed.

He said: “His hand was under the covers on my genital area. His head was close to my genital area.”

The priest told the court that he reported the incident to his bishop.

He also told the jurors he felt uncomfortable when in a communal changing room at Prestwick swimming pool with Moore after they had been swimming.

The priest said: 'Father Moore was looking at people getting changed. I felt very uncomfortable. He had a fixed smile like it was normal, but I found it embarrassing.

Earlier another man said that when he was aged between 11 and 13 he and a group of others went to the Magnum Leisure Centre in Irvine with Moore to swim.

In the changing room the man, who is now 52, that as he stood getting dried in the communal changing room Moore said: “We're all boys here,” and tried to grab the towel.

Moore told police who interviewed him him about two alleged incidents involving the boy: “I think it is shocking. These are things I've never done.

“It is absolutely untrue. I would take a lie detector test. It disgusts me that would happen to a child.”

Moore denied sexually abusing the three boys and a student priest between 1977 and 1996.

Defence QC Gordon Jackson said: “This was a man who did a lot of good in the community. He is a man who has had tremendous difficulties with his own sexuality.”

 

 

 

 

 




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