UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph & Argus
By Claire Armstrong, T&A Reporter
A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a teenager is secretly married, a court was told.
William Finnegan, who is standing trial at Bradford Crown Court, yesterday revealed to the jury – and at the same time to his diocese – that despite having taken a vow of celibacy, he got married more than a decade ago and kept it a secret from both the Catholic Church and his parishioners.
Finnegan, also known as ‘Father Bill’, was parish priest at St Clare’s RC Church in Fagley when the alleged assault happened last Easter.
Opening the case for the defence, Finnegan’s barrister Jeremy Hill-Baker said to the jury that when they heard the case involved a sexual allegation against a priest, that maybe “a lightbulb lit somewhere and you thought, ‘This is something I read about, this is something that occurs’”.
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