UNITED KINGDOM
Express
By: Paul Jeeves
Published: Fri, March 15, 2013
A CATHOLIC priest accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl has a wife, a court heard yesterday.
Finnegan, 59, confessed to the marriage during his trial at Bradford Crown Court. Finnegan, known to parishioners as Father Bill, of Castleford, West Yorkshire, was parish priest at St Clare’s, in Fagley, Bradford, when the alleged assault happened last Easter.
He denies sexually assaulting the girl, aged 17, by touching her bottom and forcefully kissing her. His barrister Jeremy Hill-Baker told the jury: “We are going to hear evidence from Father Bill and we are going to be hearing evidence from his wife, Beverley Dawson.
“No, you didn’t miss-hear me. His wife. He and Beverley Dawson secretly married abroad in September 1999.”
The court heard they had travelled to Cyprus to wed in a civil ceremony, a fact known only to close friends and family.
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