AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
May 7, 2013
Jason Gordon
A ”Catholic mafia” within the ranks of Newcastle police colluded with church leaders to cover up sex abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle diocese, an inquiry into the abuse has been told.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox told the inquiry on Monday that while on leave his office had been raided, he and other police had been pulled off investigations into the alleged cover-up of child sex abuse and a colleague told him about a ”Catholic mafia” within the ranks of Newcastle police.
”I just didn’t trust other police,” he said.
The inquiry, headed by Commissioner Margaret Cunneen, was told police chose not to charge former Catholic Bishop Michael Malone with hindering police investigations into paedophile priests.
The inquiry was also told that senior police were gagged from talking to Newcastle Herald journalist Joanne McCarthy, despite her being ”the genesis” of a strikeforce investigating the cover-up of child sex abuse within the diocese.
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