Mr Grant was stationed at Cessnock in the mid-1990s as part of the Northern Region Crime Squad and Child Protection Team.

He told Sydney District Court on Wednesday that he interviewed Mr Ryan in 1995 after two boys complained they had been abused by him while he was parish priest at St Josephs The Junction about 20 years earlier.

Mr Ryan, 79,is standing trial on charges of abusing a boy at The Junction in the mid 1970s and another at Cessnock in the early 1990s.

He has pleaded not guilty to five charges against the boys, including indecent assault on a person under 16 and attempted sexual intercourse on a person between 10 and 16.

Mr Grant recalled Ryan had become upset while being interviewed about three complainants at Cooma jail in 1996.

“He admitted to committing the offences but he became upset when we went into details,” Mr Grant told the court.

However, Ryan offered the names of another 17 boys who he had abused following a break in the interview.

Mr Grant said he was unable to contact a significant number of the men.

Mr Ryan was ultimately jailed for the abuse of 35 boys between the 1970s and 1990s.

Earlier, the court heard a man who was allegedly abused by Ryan during altar boy training at The Junction in the mid 1970s confided to another musician about what he had experienced in 2016.

Gionni DiGravio told the court that he had attended Marist Brothers, Hamilton with the man.

They had not seen each other for more than 30 years before they met again at a reunion party for Newcastle’s independent musicians in 2016.

Mr DiGravio testified that the man approached him and asked if he would be around later in the evening.

“I want to talk to you,” he said.

Mr DiGravio said the man had recounted his experiences of school, including that he had attended St Joseph’s primary school, The Junction while Vince Ryan was there.

 “I was sympathetic about what he told me. I said was this person involved in what happened to you? He said yes,” Mr Di Gravio said.