AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

NEIL KEENE
The Advertiser

THE “extraordinary” police case against Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson is both unprecedented and “foredoomed to fail”, a court heard this morning.

An application to grant a permanent stay on proceedings against Wilson got under way in the Newcastle Local Court in NSW on Tuesday, with Wilson’s barrister, Ian Temby QC, arguing there were no grounds for the case to proceed to trial.

Wilson is the highest ranking member of the Catholic Church to be charged with concealing child sex offences.

Police allege a teenage victim of paedophile priest Jim Fletcher told Wilson in 1976 about his abuse – five years after the incident took place in Newcastle.