Catholic Church 'apologises for the suffering' caused by 'sexual sadist' priest

By Hayley Parker
StokeOnTrentLive
February 8, 2021

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/catholic-church-apologises-suffering-caused-4976936

To the outside, 'Father Joe' was seen as a saviour, a man carrying out God’s work. Behind closed doors, he was a sinner possessing sewer urges

The Roman Catholic Church has apologised for the 'suffering' caused by a 'sadist priest' when he sexually and physically abused a teenage boy.

Depraved Father Joseph Quigley committed a catalogue of offences against his teenage victim.

These included:

• Rubbing the boy's inner thigh after making him wear gym kit;
• Making him take showers with the door open;
• Inflicting 'sado-masochistic' punishments on him such as locking him in the church's crypt, a cold and dark room containing tombs;
• Beating the boy with a hurling stick and;

• Making the boy do sit-ups and press-ups as punishments, to stand in the corner and suck paracetamols, which have a bitter taste.

Quigley, aged 56, of Aston Hall, Church Lane, Stone, was convicted of a number of offences in December following a trial.

He was then jailed for 11-and-a-half years on January 29.

The offences took place while he was the parish priest at the church from 2002 until he was forced to resign in disgrace.

Now the Birmingham Archdiocese has spoken out, describing his crimes as 'unacceptable', BirminghamLive reports.

A spokesman said: “There is no excuse for any kind of abuse and the archdiocese apologises for the suffering he has caused.

“Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those who have suffered and we again acknowledge their courage in coming forward to provide evidence.”

The spokesman added: “We cannot change the past, but if there have been failings we must identify them and learn from them so they do not happen ever again.

“Joseph Quigley will now face church disciplinary processes that will address the seriousness of his offences. The archdiocese is committed to best practice in safeguarding, offering a compassionate response to victims/survivors of abuse.

“The archdiocese will always co-operate fully with statutory authorities in investigating and prosecuting allegations of crimes.”

Quigley, a former national education advisor for Roman Catholic schools, was convicted following a trial at Warwick Crown Court.

He had denied four charges of sexual activity with a child, two of sexual assault, two of false imprisonment and one of cruelty, but a jury took less than four hours to find him guilty of all nine charges by majority verdicts of 11-1.

The court had heard that although the case involved one victim, at the time Quigley was at St Charles Borromeo RC church there was another key witness who had also been abused by the priest.

That boy was aged 16 to 17 when he fell under the abusive influence of Quigley – and there were a number of similarities between what the two boys suffered.

Quigley was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

Following the sentencing, investigating officer Detective Sergeant Abigail Simpson, from Warwickshire Police, said: “I welcome the sentence and hope this sends strong a message to other perpetrators of child sexual abuse that we will always thoroughly investigate sexual offences against children and do everything in our power to bring offenders to justice, regardless of when the offences took place.

“Thankfully Quigley is now behind bars paying the price for his reprehensible crimes committed against a vulnerable child.

“The victim in this case has demonstrated immense bravery in disclosing what happened to him, and I hope today’s sentence offers some comfort and closure.

“I would urge anyone who may have been a victim of sexual abuse to come forward and report this to us, regardless of when the abuse happened. We will always investigate offences of this nature and are committed to ensuring victims have the necessary support in place to help them.”