UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror
The former dean of Lancaster Cathedral, who abused his power and authority to indecently assault a trainee priest, has been jailed for 12 months.
Canon Stephen Shield, 53, took advantage of his victim, who was learning the priesthood at the time in the early 1990s.
Two assaults took place in Shield’s presbytery in Preston, Lancashire, with one taking place under the table at a dinner party where other priests were among guests.
Giving evidence, the victim said he was convinced that others present knew that Shield had put his hands down his trousers but kept quiet.
Shield committed an indecent assault in a bedroom at the presbytery on another occasion.
He was convicted of the charges last month and was also found guilty of another assault on the same man in the mid-1980s at a Catholic retreat in Cumbria when both were religious students.
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