UNITED KINGDOM
Local Guardian

by Laura Proto, Chief reporter – Richmond and Twickenham

A Catholic priest faces prison today after being found guilty of indecently assaulting a boy at a Richmond Council-run children’s home in the 1970s and 80s.

Father Tony McSweeney, 68, was found guilty last month of one charge of indecent assault against a boy under 16 at Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hanworth.

He was also found guilty of three counts of possessing indecent images of children.

McSweeney was acquitted on three other charges of indecent assault on boys under the age of 16 and one count of taking an indecent photograph of a child.

The priest was charged alongside John Stingemore, the former manager of the children’s home, under Operation Fernbridge.