Shamed Keith O’Brien in £209k home owned by church

SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Evening News

SHAMED cardinal Keith O’Brien is enjoying a quiet retirement in a comfortable home bought by the Catholic Church.

The UK’s former senior Catholic is staying in a £208,750 bungalow – bought by Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh Leo Cushley – in a Northumberland village.

It had previously been thought O’Brien was living in a monastery in 
England after admitting he had “fallen beneath the standards” expected of him.

But the disgraced churchman has been living in the village of Ellington, Northumberland, since January.

Documents show the house was purchased in the same month by Cushley – who succeeded O’Brien as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – and two other leading churchmen in their capacity as trustees of the 
archdiocese.

Neighbours, unaware of his identity, spoke of regular groups of visitors with Scottish accents.

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